Based on a novel by Donna VanLiere, The Christmas Note focuses on two women who are neighbors each going through difficult times around the holidays. Gretchen (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) moves back to her hometown with her son to be closer to family as her husband was injured overseas and they don't when he will be able to return home. Leah (Melissa McCreary) has no family ties to speak of, but suddenly learns of her mother's passing and is regretful they never reconnected and unaware they were living in the same town. The women form a bond and help each other in ways they had previously unimagined.

not different by many Christmas films. same generous spirit. same troubles with happy end. same expecting solution. same warm flavor of holyday covering fight, expectations, dreams and giving the right answer to complicated problems. this is motif for who the movies of Christmas, the films from Hallmark frame, are...special. for the small nuances. for the performances who are like hot chocolate or apple pie, not convincing, far to be remarkable, but nice. preserving the spirit of a holiday so less religious but good for remind fundamental values and the importance of family. so, must see "The Christmas Note" !

Melissa says "You can cry in front of me." And sometimes that's the only thing you need to hear from your friend while she just let's you cry.I loved the movie because it was about true friends and good family. For me this was a real tear-jerker because these are things that I really value. First we see Gretchen and then Melissa are going through things that you just shouldn't go through alone. Some people would not have the heart to help someone she doesn't even know when they have problems like this of their own, but Gretchen reaches out to support her brand new neighbor and becomes that kind of friend. Her son is remarkable also because he was the one that broke the ice.This movie has a mystery and the new friends become detectives to seek out the identity of Melissa's sibling. There were good clues and false clues. If you guessed the identity, it wasn't from any clues the characters had because there was no way they could have known until the end. And the movie didn't even reveal all they knew until after the truth was known.But in general terms you usually know what you will get in a Hallmark movie and this one was no different.The acting was good. We often talk about chemistry in the romance movies. Well this wasn't really a romance, but it was the two women, Leah Gibson and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who had chemistry. Dylan Kingwell, as Ethan, was also prominent.

When I watched this a few years ago, I thought it was hokey. I honestly didn't remember some of it.Spoiler::!!!! I honestly thought for a minute the two girls were going to be in a relationship. It honestly would have been a better story. But then I remembered it was Hallmark. You don't lie to your audience. They did lie with the dad. Honestly, the one sister looked 10 years younger than the other. So that didn't fit for me. Why did she keep the one and not the other? Where were the bio dads? The only redeemable part was the kid. This just needs to go in the Hallmark vaults. It's just poorly done and not a good story.