The Christmas Baby is a Hallmark Christmas movie, but not what you expect. It’s about a married lesbian couple who find an abandoned baby. The baby has a letter tucked in with him that names them specifically as who he was left for.

The Christmas Baby hits the queer holiday movie right in the heart with this film. It stars two actors who have been working hard to bring queer content to the Hallmark channel. They are succeeding, but slowly.

Ali Liebert plays Erin. Liebert starred in Friends and Family Christmas a couple of years ago. Ali Liebert has been in several holiday themed movies with Hallmark, and had enough clout to get the first LGBTQ Hallmark movie made.

Katherine Barrell plays Kelly. Barrell starred in a ground breaking lesbian role on 20 episodes of Good Witch, and also starred in Shifting Gears for Hallmark.

Together they play a married couple who have to figure out what to do with an abandoned baby. This is not a typical Hallmark movie. There’s no meet cute, no falling in love. These are two women who have been married for years, have an deep love for each other, and an established life together. They aren’t afraid to disagree and argue – especially about what to do with an unexpected baby – but their relationship is firm and built on love.

They go back and forth about the baby. The social worker, Betty (Barbara Niven), gets them to agree to keep the baby a couple of days until they can find a foster family.

The child, Nicholas (Lukas Grassmick), is already a few months old and instantly lovable. Erin and Kelly both fall for him, but many fears and obstacles stand in their way. Neither of them are ready to openly admit what all their fears are at first.

Their mothers and other family are coming for Christmas. They love the baby, too. Even the grumpy next door neighbor Mr. Seltzer (Robert Wisden) loves Nicholas.

One thing this is Hallmark holiday movie does have in common with all the other Hallmark holiday movies is a happy ending. A tear-filled happy ending. No need to worry about little Nicholas. He’ll be fine.

Eva Tavares directed the film. Between the director and the two stars, it was obvious how much care was taken in showing the love between the two women. There were touches, hugs, kisses, smiles – all of it presented in positive and beautiful ways.

This is now running on the Hallmark channel and the Hallmark movie channel.