When most couples meet, it’s at work, through a dating app, or through mutual friends. However, if you’re the lead in a Hallmark Christmas movie, those are way too normal ideas for a meet-cute. In the Hallmark universe, the more unbelievable the introduction the better.
Every December, Hallmark’s slate of channels takes over holiday programming with its nonstop Christmas movies. Any fan worth their salt will tell you it all starts with the first meeting. Impossibly adorable intros only. Let’s all countdown to Christmas with the 10 weirdest ways couples meet in Hallmark Christmas movies.
Military Pen Pals
Perhaps the most mundane option on this list usually features a woman writing a supportive letter or sending a care package to a soldier during the holidays. Naturally, he suddenly gets time off and decides to track down his mystery pen pal.
Though this works in perennial favorite The Christmas Card, it would actually be super creepy in real life. Imagine sending a Christmas card to a stranger then next thing you know, they’re showing up at your house. Stalking isn’t a good ice breaker.
They Both Have Dogs
People love dogs more than they love other people, so, putting dogs in a Christmas movie is a no brainer. How it usually works is, two dogs meet and fall in love at a dog park, leading to their owners doing the same.
We’re not saying couples don’t normally meet because of their pets. It happens all the time. However, we assume dogs in the regular world don’t normally have a deep understanding of what’s happening with their owners and take an active role in facilitating the romance.
Christmas Pageant/Competition
Christmas is the most fun time of year, but, if Hallmark Channel is to be believed, it’s also the most competitive. Holiday singing, dancing, ice sculpting, and, of course, baking contests are all hotbeds of romance.
Obviously the heat of battle is where everyone wants to meet their soulmate. This goes double if the town is throwing a Christmas pageant that’s in danger of being canceled because they can’t find the right person to lead it. Luckily, a qualified person just happens to be in town and they’re perfect for the organizer/parent of the child star.
Canceled Travel Plans
Everyone knows traveling during the holidays is terrible, though no one knew it was so romantic until Hallmark gave us so many examples. Picture yourself exhausted from dealing with airport nonsense, then you find out the last rental car is gone and apparently your only option is to share that car with a complete stranger.
Thankfully that person is a super nice gorgeous guy. The only drawback is that you’re headed home to see your fiance, who’s clearly not as perfect for you as the random stranger. Only in a Hallmark movie is anyone ever in the mood for romance at the airport.
Business Competitors
Whether it’s rival bakeries or two people competing for the same job, business feuds almost always lead to love. We suppose they already know they have at least one thing in common.
As the rivalry gets more intense and the stakes get higher, the pair gets closer, and, yes, falls in love. What annoys us about this one is that the woman, who we know has had to work harder for her opportunity is usually forced to compromise her success to have a happy relationship.
Mistaken Identity
Stop us if this has happened to you. You’re finally meeting your significant other’s family, but you mistakenly meet the wrong family, bond with them, and even develop feelings for your future brother-in-law.
This is the plot to fan-favorite A Very Merry Mix Up. While it’s cute in the movie, we can’t imagine how someone could possibly spend so much time with the wrong family without realizing it. Suspending belief is a requirement for enjoying these films, but sometimes it gets so crazy that we have to stop and recognize how ridiculous it is.
One Of Them Doesn’t Believe In Christmas
The holidays aren’t everyone’s favorite time of year. For any number of reasons, people don’t like Christmas. However, that’s not allowed in the Hallmark world. All characters must be 100 percent committed to all things Christmas.
Inevitably, someone will disregard their friend’s deep emotional issues and decide they have to love the holiday. This Christmas campaign always proves helpful in leading the love interest to overcome their past, which obviously leads to love for Christmas and the one who helped them. Despite this, we still find it an invasion of privacy.
Letter To Santa
Whether it’s to the real Santa or a department store Santa, letters to Kris Kringle have a habit of bringing couples together. Sometimes, when a child writes a letter to Santa, it actually gets to the North Pole, where either Santa or his handsome son comes to meet the kid in person, where he falls in love with his mother.
Even when the letter is found by a department store Santa, it follows the same path. Turns out Santa doesn’t just deliver presents to kids, he also moonlights as a matchmaker. No one tell Cupid.
Amnesia
Soap opera fans are very familiar with amnesia as a storyline. In Hallmark Christmas movies, the outcome is generally much happier than it is in soaps. The lead has a random accident during the holidays, which unfortunately leads to memory loss. Thankfully, there’s a good samaritan, doctor, or nurse who decides to help them get their life back together.
What makes this so crazy, is throughout the process no one discusses how completely weird all of this is. They learn new Christmas traditions, make new friends and start a new life, but no one ever struggles with the fact that they can’t remember their family and friends.
Time Travel
Sometimes true love isn’t available in your own time, and the only person you can emotionally bond with lives in the past. Whether it’s Christmas ornament or long lost letters or just unexplained time travel, this idea is used to add magic to ordinary stories.
The issue with time travel is that we’ve seen so many different origins and mythologies, it’s hard to make it feel new. In Hallmark movies, the time travel usually feels out of place, as it doesn’t really fit in with the holiday genre. The romance is forced into the movie around the time travel.
