What would you do if you could go back in time? “Christmas Comes Twice” answers that very question. Hallmark and its competitor Lifetime have seen strides in their holiday programming this year, with Hallmark showcasing their first LGBTQ movie along with a Christmas special their long-running series "When Calls the Heart" while Lifetime making moves with films like Lifetime's "Christmas Ever After." The Hallmark Christmas movie leans toward the more magical elements of Christmastime with a plot that finds Tamera Mowry-Housley's character finding herself five years into the past.
Cheryl feels like she's missed out on great opportunities with her job, which leads her to wonder if she chose the right path for her life. She heads back to her hometown where she attends the Christmas carnival with her sister, and after making a wish, she finds herself on a carousel that takes her five years into the past for a chance to change her fate. In addition to Mowry-Housley, the movie stars Michael Xavier and Sheryl Lee Ralph. The movie is also executive produced by Mowry-Housley.
“Christmas Comes Twice” won't be the last time fans will see Tamera Mowry-Housley on the Hallmark Channel as the actor has secured a deal with Crown Media Family Networks that finds her starring in and executive producing original content.
The Crown Media Family Networks EVP announced how proud they were to welcome Mowry-Housley into the Hallmark family, which came with an announcement that the actor will also be joining Hallmark's talk show “Home & Family.” Deadline reports that Mowry-Housley shared her excitement to be taking part in the network as more than just an actor and executive producer but as a family member.
She gushed about how something about a Hallmark movie warms the heart.
Recap for 'Christmas Comes Twice'
Tamera Mowry-Housley shared with Oprah Magazine that she learned when she was doing “Sister, Sister” about how it created an amazing platform that could show people that representation matters. She wanted to take that experience and put it towards her Hallmark movie to show women like her that they can see themselves in a Christmas movie.
The actor shared with Oprah Magazine that “Christmas Comes Twice” is about love, faith, hope, and dishes that they have many black women. The movie finds Cheryl working as Deputy Director, having previously worked as an astronomer. It's immediately revealed that she is overwhelmed with work with several grant proposals to go through. The Hallmark Christmas movie delves straight into how Cheryl wishes she didn't have to reject so many proposals, and she describes her job as playing Santa once and Scrooge 99 times. Her regrets are quickly explored when she learns that a team in Norway proved a comet exists behind Pluto, a comet she was looking for when working as an astronomer. Cheryl is a brilliant and independent woman, which is further evidence of what Mowry-Housley said to Oprah Magazine about how different it is when someone sees someone that looks like them achieving what they want to achieve.
Several references to time are included throughout the Christmas movie, including Cheryl's assistant giving her a gift because she is always short on time, and several references made to how time moves on even when someone doesn't want it to. Cheryl is insistent on fixing past mistakes. So much so that she does all she can to prevent her sister from opening a restaurant so she won't have to deal with the failure of it not succeeding. Tamera Mowry-Housley shared with Oprah Magazine that Cheryl's character is a woman who is just existing in life, and now she has a second chance to live a fulfilled life. The actor describes the movie as a tale of fighting fate, which is seen in how Cheryl realizes that she may have missed some things when she was so busy trying to control everything.
Changes that Cheryl is faced with when she returns to her hometown includes her one-time date Terence now being the mayor, new owners living in her old house thanks to her parents deciding to downsize, and her teacher Ms. Nelson has passed away.
Mowry-Housley talks about needing more women in STEM
The romance of “Christmas Comes Twice” is between Cheryl and her high school rival George. The two have spent years always trying to one-up each other and have found themselves in a constant competition to prove who was better. Their dynamic is full of bickering and friendly jabs, with Cheryl describing them as being either friendly competitors or competitive friends. Tamera Mowry-Housley shares with Oprah Magazine that the kissing scene was crazy and that they had intimacy consultants on set who had her giggling the whole time.
The actor describes how the two ladies would spray her and Michael Xavier before they kissed, then had them gargle after they kissed, and sprayed something in their mouth that kept everyone minty fresh.
Tamera Mowry-Housley shared with Oprah Magazine that it was amazing playing Cheryl's role, which was a role that she wanted to play, and loved that Hallmark trusted her enough to create the character. The actor went onto explain how powerful and empowering it was to be in control of the story. “Christmas Comes Twice” is an important movie for showcasing women in STEM and various independent women. In an interview with TV Insider, Mowry-Housley shared that it was Loni Love (“The Real”) who was the one that shared with her the importance of seeing more women in the fields of engineering, science, math, and technology.
"Christmas Comes Twice" truly showcases women in science and innovation through Cheryl and her teacher Ms. Nelson who is analytical, and Cheryl's constant encouragement. The actor went on about how she wanted to break the idea that people have of women in STEM by showing a woman who had fashion and could be romantic and brilliant.
Filming during a pandemic
Tamera Mowry-Housley shared with Oprah Magazine that they had a heaviness when filming during the pandemic and that she worked to make sure that her cast and crew were all happy. The actor shared that they were creating this magical movie that had a fun romantic story and wanted to make people feel touched by it. This is evident through the various themes found throughout the movie, where Cheryl is literally faced with the question of what she would do if she could go back in time.
The Hallmark movie ends with Cheryl coming to an amazing conclusion in the end that finds her realizing that the life she led was one she was always meant to lead. Mowry-Housley continued with Oprah Magazine that it was nice to have a little quiet time during her two-week quarantine that took place before filming. The actor explained that she enjoyed her time by working out, trying make-up, watching non-children's Movies, and even her skin was glowing.
Without Cheryl, various projects that got funding might not have received the money they needed, which pushes her to choose to take the job instead of staying in her hometown with George. Upon this realization, she can once again find the magical carousel, and before telling George how she feels, she's sent back to the present.
Her parents are back in their new home, Ms. Nelson has since passed away, and her sister is back working on getting her restaurant running. "Christmas Comes Twice" ends with Cheryl realizing that the most important thing wasn't changing her past but embracing it and choosing the next path in her life to be one that embraced research, love, and family. Catch “Christmas Comes Twice” on December 26 at 4/3 AM central.
