I’ll admit it.  I get sentimental around Christmas time.

Actually, to be honest, I’m sentimental all the time but I’m even more so once December rolls around.  Suddenly, the simplest little things can bring tears to my mismatched eyes.  I find myself telling complete strangers about how much I relate to Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street and Violet Bickerstaff in It’s a Wonderful Life.  December is the time of the year when I suddenly find myself walking up to my neighbors and complimenting them on how they decorated their house.  I actually find myself spending more money on other people than on myself.

And I guess I’m not alone in that.  I mean, that really is one of the big things about the holidays.  Regardless of how cynical or snarky the world may be, it’s always safe to be sentimental in December.  That’s something that’s certainly understood by the programmers at Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel.  This month, both of those networks have broadcast some of the most sentimental films ever made.

Take The Christmas Pact, for instance.  This film, which aired on Lifetime, was one of the most unabashedly sentimental films that I’ve ever seen.  That’s not a complaint, of course.  Or at least, that’s not a complaint in December.  If the film had been released in October and called The Halloween Pact or maybe The Labor Day Pact, I might feel differently.  But this is The Christmas Pact!

In this one, Kyla Pratt played Sadie and Jarod Joseph played Ben.  They’ve grown up next to each other.  They’re best friends.  One year, they plant a tree and, every year after that, they meet at the tree on Christmas and they not only add a ormenant but they also discuss their Christmas wishes.  It’s an incredibly sweet idea and, from the start, it’s pretty obvious that they’re meant to be together.

Unfortunately, the path of true love never runs clear.  In this case, it’s partially because everyone swears that you can’t fall in love with your best friend.  (I actually used to believe that but then I did fall in love with my best friend.  Yay love!)  It’s also because Sadie has big plans and opportunities, the majority of which involve leaving town for some place better.  Can true love survive in a complicated world?

Of course it can!  It’s Christmas!

Anyway, The Christmas Pact has a nice idea behind it, even if it is sometimes easy to get annoyed with just how unnecessarily difficult Ben and (especially) Sadie make things.  In the end, though, Kyla Pratt and Jarod Joseph had enough chemistry to keep the story moving.  As I said earlier, it’s December.  Things that wouldn’t work in any other month do work in December.

That’s the magic of Christmas.