Christmas Next Door (2017)

Author Eric Redford (Jesse Metcalfe) feels the Christmas season has been jinked for him ever since the woman he loved declined his marriage proposal by telling him she'd fallen in love with someone else. Having moved into a new neighborhood, he is currently doing his best to dodge his local family Christmas while fending off his pushy next-door neighbor Conrad's attempt to involve him in the neighborhood's holiday decorating. A best-selling author, he is well known for his series of books on the bachelor lifestyle and, as a new book deadline looms, he is in a rut, his heart not in writing a similar book. His mother ends up feigning the flu in order for him to grow out of his "juvenile" phase by spending time with his young niece and nephew, Chelsea and Liam. His mother had been watching them until their parents, Eric's sister and brother-in-law, waited out the snowstorm in Norway closing airports all over northern Europe. With the help of another neighbor, violin teacher April (Fiona Gubelmann), he starts to enjoy that family role. He does have a new girlfriend, Bridget, but when he spots April with a blind date, he realizes his growing affection for her. When Bridget makes it plain, it was bachelor Eric she was interested in, not Uncle Eric, they end their relationship but not before it complicates things between Eric and April. Will his publisher like the new direction of Eric's book or will they cancel his contract? Will Eric give Christmas a chance and convince April of his true feelings before it's too late?—D. Tebault