A Godwink Christmas

A Godwink Christmas is an anthology built on one tidy idea, lifted from SQuire Rushnell's books: a 'godwink' is a coincidence too perfect to be random, a little nudge from above. Each film dramatizes a different real holiday love story, where two strangers keep colliding until they stop calling it luck. Kathie Lee Gifford turns up in two entries as a warm relative, but the romantic leads change every time, including Kimberley Sustad, Cindy Busby, Brooke D'Orsay and Katherine Barrell, so there's no continuing couple to follow.

There are four films, released between 2018 and 2021. The tone is gentle, faith-flavored Christmas romance, usually closing with a note about the real-life couple who inspired it, which is the franchise's signature move and, honestly, the best part. There's no shared cast of lovers and no running plot, just the recurring conviction that the right people find each other at exactly the right moment. The catch, if it bothers you, is how often the script reaches for the word 'godwink' to explain away every small coincidence. If a true-story glow is what you're after at Christmas, you can start anywhere.