Hanukkah Is Finally Coming To The Hallmark Channel’s Holiday Lineup

The Hallmark Channel is getting a little more inclusive for the 2019 holiday season.

The network, which is best known for Christian-friendly holiday fare with titles such as A Shoe Addict’s Christmas, A Gingerbread Romance, and the Mariah Carey vehicle A Christmas Melody, has announced plans to release two original Hanukkah features (presumably for you to watch when you aren’t rewatching Call Me By Your Name and eating latkes).

According to Forbes, the films are still in their formative stages. The script for one — currently titled Holiday Date — is in the process of being written, and according to a company spokesperson, it will have “Hanukkah elements...which is a lot of fun as Hanukkah and Christmas overlap in 2019.”

Details on the other film were not yet available, though it seems safe to assume it will also have similar Hanukkah elements and, perhaps, the quintessential Hallmark holiday movie device of two people, once divided by a nebulous conflict, eventually falling in love.

Although a Hanukkah film may seem totally novel for the Hallmark channel, it actually won’t be a first for the network. A 2012 film entitled Hitched For The Holidays also featured “Hanukkah elements” (or, at least Jewish ones). In it, two single New Yorkers with meddling families — one Italian, one Jewish — pose as a couple to get through the holidays. (You can probably guess what happens next.)

In any case, the addition of more Hanukkah films to Hallmark’s holiday lineup is a smart move. After all, it can only add a host of new and exciting ways for two people (one of whom will almost certainly be played by Lacey Chabert) to fall in love.

Will it be over a game of dreidel? A tender kiss by the menorah? Or, perhaps, a gentile learning how to make grandma’s famous latkes? The possibilities are endless — and we will definitely be tuning in to check them out.