If I Only Had Christmas: Our Hallmark Movie Review

If I Only Had Christmas is one of the more creative movies to come out of Hallmark’s 2020 Countdown to Christmas, and it takes a little while to realize exactly why. Megan and Wendy are here to talk about the Wizard of Oz angle, the Kansas City setting, and everything in between.

Listen to Girls Gone Hallmark’s Review of If I Only Had Christmas

What Is If I Only Had Christmas About?

Haley is a cheerful PR executive in Kansas City who lands an assignment to help a charity called the Christmas Dream Foundation raise its profile during the holidays. As she digs into the work she meets some interesting characters along the way, including the man behind the foundation, and starts to find something she did not expect: a real connection during a season that tends to bring out the best in people. The movie has an overarching Wizard of Oz theme woven throughout, which is either something you notice immediately or something that suddenly clicks about twenty minutes in. How long did it take you?

The movie premiered on November 29, 2020 as part of Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas. It was filmed in Canada, not Kansas City or New England despite the setting.

About If I Only Had Christmas

Candace Cameron Bure stars as Haley. Candace was one of Hallmark’s biggest stars for nearly a decade, appearing in dozens of movies and becoming synonymous with the network’s Christmas programming. She left Hallmark at the end of 2022 to join Great American Family, where she has since become the anchor of that network’s holiday slate. At Great American Family she launched the Ainsley McGregor Mysteries franchise, starring in three installments as a former criminologist turned small-town cozy mystery solver. She also starred in the theatrical Home Sweet Christmas franchise alongside Cameron Mathison, which expanded to a third installment filmed in Europe in 2026. She remains one of the most prolific Christmas movie actresses working today, just not at Hallmark anymore.

Warren Christie plays Nick. Warren was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and grew up in London, Ontario. He is a busy Canadian actor with over 60 credits across film and television. His best-known roles include Cameron Hicks on the Syfy series Alphas, the lead in the sci-fi thriller Apollo 18 (2011), and a recurring role on Fox’s The Resident. He also played Bruce Wayne in the CW’s Batwoman. At Hallmark he has become a dependable presence, appearing in Holiday Road (2023), The More Love Grows (2023), Our Holiday Story (2024), and A Royal Montana Christmas (2025). Most recently he joined the ensemble cast of Netflix’s upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot, playing John Edwards alongside Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls. That one is a big deal and worth getting excited about.

The movie has a Wizard of Oz theme. The charity is called the Christmas Dream Foundation, and Haley’s three key contacts throughout the story each have a trait that maps to a classic Oz character. We will not spell it out any further, but once you see it you cannot unsee it. Candace Cameron Bure has said this was her favorite Hallmark movie she ever made, which is a meaningful endorsement given how many she appeared in.

The movie was not filmed in Kansas City or New England. It was filmed in Canada, as most Hallmark movies are, despite the very specific setting.

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