In Hallmark Channel’s new film “Help for the Holidays,” actress Summer Glau (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) stars as Christine, one of Santa’s elves who is assigned the task of helping a little boy in Los Angeles as his family is in dire need of a wake up call. Eva La Rue (“All My Children”) and Dan Gauthier (“One Life to Live”) portray Sara and Scott VanCamp, the boy’s mother and father, whose Christmas gift shop, Holly Daze, is booming. As a result, Will (Mason Cook, “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World”) and his sister Ally (Izabela Vidovic, “Christmas Angel”) are often left unsupervised, with the exception of when Sara’s brother Dave (John Brotherton, “One Life to Live”) is available.
Enter Santa’s little helper, who interviews to be the kids’ new full-time nanny, while secretly hoping to bring happiness and joy back into the holiday.
Synopsis
Scott and Sara VanCamp own a successful Christmas gift shop, Holly Daze, but they are having a hard time keeping the Christmas spirit alive in their own home with their children, Ally, 12, and Will, 8. Ally and Will are disappointed every year on Christmas, thinking their parents just don’t have time for them anymore. Sara and Scott have lost the spirit of Christmas, and frequently ask Sara’s brother Dave to watch the kids while they work long hours. Will, who loves the holidays, asks the Santa at the downtown Christmas Village to revive his parents’ spirit.At the North Pole, Christine is an elf who wonders if there is more to life than making toys. Sensing her unhappiness, Santa calls Christine into his office, where he gives her a special assignment. She will go to the VanCamp family’s home to bring the family together for Christmas. She must never reveal herself as an elf, and she must not get emotionally attached to anyone she meets. Christine has heard of other elves who have broken these rules and never come back to the North Pole.
Before she goes, Santa gives Christine a magical book that answers any question she asks about the real world, and a purse that produces anything she needs out of thin air. Lastly, Santa transforms her elf ears into human ears, and Christine is ready to make her journey to Los Angeles, where she finds herself in a small, sparse apartment of her own. She meets Sara and Scott at Holly Daze, where she interviews to be a nanny and begins to realize getting this couple to love the holidays is going to be a tough job.
“Help for the Holidays” premieres Sunday, December 9 at 8/7c on the Hallmark Channel.