• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 3 hours ago

The holiday season, which once kicked off around Thanksgiving, really starts nowadays with Halloween.

But wait -- Halloween is 15 days away as of today (Friday, Oct. 16) and Hallmark Channel is already setting its countdown clock to Christmas starting right now. For the record, there are 69 days until Christmas.

Christmas movies take over Hallmark’s schedule 24 hours daily starting Friday morning at 6 a.m. Eastern with a made-for-TV Christmas movie that premiered in 2015, “Once Upon a Holiday.”

After that, the channel is off and running, and won’t stop until the holiday season ends just after New Year’s. 

The TV Blog estimates that Hallmark has approximately 1,650 hours to fill with Christmas movies up until the holiday on December 25. 

Hallmark has mounted its annual Christmas-movie binge, “Countdown To Christmas,” since 2009. 

In response to a TV Blog query, Google Gemini said Hallmark has made around 350 of its own original Christmas movies since then.

In addition, Hallmark has made 34 new ones for this year’s “Countdown.” With so many hours to fill, many of the movies will likely make repeat appearances in the next 10 weeks.

But fans of the Hallmark Christmas movies do not likely care. Having the TV tuned to Hallmark Channel during the Christmas season serves as its own kind of decoration, as ubiquitous as stockings hung by the chimney with care.

Three of the new movies continue Hallmark’s holiday-season tie-ins with the NFL, Walt Disney Co. and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

First up is “Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story,” premiering Saturday (Oct. 7) at 8 p.m. Eastern on Hallmark Channel.

It is the third annual movie in Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown” series -- which began in 2024 with “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” followed by 2025’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Story” (the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, respectively). 

This year’s formulaic love story -- a young woman with Chicago roots comes home for Christmas and falls for a fireman -- unfolds against a backdrop of Chicago Bears superfandom.

Lyndsy Fonseca and Robert Buckley (seen in the above photo with Bears mascot Staley Da Bear) play the happy couple. Marsha Mason plays the fireman’s mom.

As in past years, “A Bears Love Story” has cameos from team stars. This year, it’s Bears head coach Ben Johnson, quarterback Caleb Williams, and tight ends Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet.

Also making cameos: Bears alumni Mike Singletary, Charles “Peanut” Tillman and Dan Hampton; Connie Payton, wife of the great Walter Payton; and Marilu Henner.

This year’s Christmas-romance movie that was filmed at the Biltmore -- considered to be the largest private home in the United States -- is “A Grand Biltmore Christmas.” 

This year’s Hallmark-Disney movie -- “Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True” -- was filmed at Walt Disney World in Florida.