I’ll be damned if you’ve somehow avoided watching a Hallmark Christmas movie your whole life into adulthood. They’re everywhere, especially from Thanksgiving on. My mom and I are kind of obsessed with them. It started when we’d stay at hotels, and we’d watch whichever one happened to be on the in-room TV. Then we started going out of our way to find the goofiest ones and watch them, because we have a fun little game we play with each movie. We watch the first 10-15 minutes, pause it, and then each give our guesses for how we think the rest of the movie is going to go. It doesn’t take long to guess, and we’re usually mostly right.

Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But that’s also the fun of it. Predictability mixed with absurdity. We’re equal parts lulled into a vegetative state and completely agitated by the nonsense that’s happening onscreen. It’s a great holiday tradition.