If you're into the Hallmark of it all, you have probably noticed that the Countdown to Christmas brand has really upped its game. The movies are slicker, locations are cooler, the scripts are smarter and the actors are clearly having more fun than ever. Sure, the classic tropes are there, but so is a cheeky level of self-awareness and a lot more comedy. It's a shift that has Hallmark fave Andrew Walker smiling like a big-city exec who just helped the small-town gal he's falling for save her parents' hot cocoa factory.

"Five years ago, we weren't doing these types of movies," says the Curious Caterer Mysteries star, who has this weekend's Jingle Bell Run ready to go ahead of next week's Three Wiser Men and a Boy. "So it's a true testament to the higher-ups at Hallmark and these incredibly brilliant female minds [at the top] that have all come together to allow us to just broaden our comedic horizons."