The thing I love the most about a Hallmark Channel movie is how delightfully predictable it’s going to be. As I get older, there’s a comfort in knowing how a movie is going to play out. I’m a sucker for a happily ever after. And the Hallmark Channel has those in spades.

This year’s holiday offering for the sapphics is The Christmas Baby starring Ali Liebert (Bomb Girls, Friends & Family Christmas) and Katherine Barrell (Wynonna Earp). At this point, Ali Liebert is a professional Hallmark movie lesbian. When I saw she was involved, I knew a high standard was being set, and I was very excited about it.

In The Christmas Baby, Liebert plays Erin and Barrell plays Kelly, a couple living in a small new York town. They’re married, which is a nice switch up for the Hallmark holiday format. Erin works for a packing company, while Kelly is a production designer. With holiday shipping needs, a new museum exhibit and a children’s Christmas play all happening at once, the couple is having a particularly busy holiday season.

And then, someone leaves a baby on their doorstep. The baby comes with a note saying the mom picked Erin and Kelly specifically to raise her baby. Neither had ever considered parenthood, so the arrival of a baby really throws them for a loop.

Although I was initially a little disappointed that this was a Christmas movie where no one would fall in love, it turned out to feel like a good change of pace. With a premise as unbelievable as this one, the film needed an establish coupled to keep it grounded.

Honestly, the plot was probably my favorite thing about the movie. It’s just so quintessentially Hallmark! I’ve been watching Hallmark movies for at least 20 years; when the movie isn’t strictly a romance, there’s going to be a feel-good, inspirational element. Given the absolute dumpster fire that has been 2025, I was looking for a saccharine, inspirational story.

People who didn’t want and aren’t prepared for a baby, getting a baby is an old trope. This is one of the first (if not the first) time the trope has ever employed lesbians to be the reluctant would-be parents. Usually, there’s one person who doesn’t want a baby to interrupt their life (in this case it’s Kelly) and the other who is far less reluctant to take on such responsibility (Erin).

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Kelly understands how a baby throws a huge wrench into the plans they have for their life. But Erin is more amenable to those changes. Even though she never saw herself wanting kids, when Nicholas arrives, she begins to realize that maybe being a mom wouldn’t be so bad. You know, sometimes you have a life plan, but the universe has bigger plans.

At first, they only agree to a temporary foster placement, even though Nicholas’ mom has specifically asked them to take care of him. As Kelly likes to keep reminding her wife, they are simply too busy to take care of a baby. And they certainly are busy. But they have what so many parents wish they had: accessible and willing childcare.

Both of their moms (who just happen to be best friends) live nearby and are happy and willing to help. I would kill for my mom to live close enough to take care of my son, and he can practically take care of himself! They also have their curmudgeonly next door neighbor, who goes from being the annoying neighbor trope to the loveable old man you hope has butterscotch candies in his pocket.

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Yes, access to childcare isn’t going to solve all of their problems. But let me tell you, that’s a HUGE one.

Kelly’s concerns are actually quite grounded and realistic for a Hallmark movie. As a lesbian, how can she raise a child in a world that is still so hostile to someone like her? What if she’s opening them both up to unnecessary ridicule and heartbreak? Plus, she fears that even though Nicholas’ mom said she wants Kelly and Erin to raise her baby — she could change her mind.

That fear is probably the biggest reason I could never foster or adopt a child. I would constantly be fearful that the child’s real mom was going to want to get her baby back. That is a heartbreak I know I couldn’t survive. And I think it’s really brave of Kelly to articulate those fears.

On the other hand, Erin adapts to motherhood with much more ease. When she and Kelly began dating, she said she didn’t want children. But I wonder if that was merely a defense mechanism because having a baby as a lesbian is so hard. But as soon as she allows herself to embrace motherhood, she takes to it naturally.

Liebert and Barrell are so natural with each other, too. They truly feel like a couple that’s been together for nearly a decade; even though it’s scripted, they have a shorthand with each other. And more importantly, they have chemistry.

I’m convinced Ali Liebert could have chemistry with a paper bag, because she is so present and open with her acting, which never feels over the top. She really adds a layer of groundedness to a premise that really needs it.

The Christmas Baby does a great job at highlighting a foster-to-adopt situation. One thing I was surprised about, given the network, is that it doesn’t take any sort of moral stance on the circumstances surrounding Nicholas coming into Erin and Kelly’s lives. I guess you could say that the act of the unknown mother leaving them her baby instead of taking him to a firehouse or hospital is a stance, but I don’t know — it just feels like a good plot device.

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Everyone, from the couple to the social worker to their families, treat the birth mom with nothing but compassion. Of course, there are some snap judgments, but they are fleeting, and the characters acknowledge how hard that decision must have been for her. When she briefly reappears, even though the characters are scared, they’re never hostile.

This is a Hallmark Channel movie, so of course they’re not going to get into the intricacies of the foster to adopt process or the adoption system. But the fact that they highlight some of the fears people face going through the process was really awesome.

I’ll admit, I was totally tearing up by the end of the movie. It was just very sweet, and the perfect taste of the holiday spirit I’ve been missing this year.