Candace Cameron Bure premiered a brand new GAF original Christmas movie this weekend. She’d been hyping the flick A Christmas … Present for months. While a lot of those posts were fun images of Bure on the set of the Christmas flick, one interview she did went viral after Bure said she wanted to do films highlighting “traditional marriage” at the new network. She did so with her first holiday movie on the new channel and retweeted fans interested in the film's presentation of "faith" and "family" during the event.
What Candace Cameron Bure's A Christmas Present Is About
The plot of A Christmas… Present is a little different than a lot of the Christmas films of this ilk, which often feature some sort of meet cute and then a holiday activity-oriented romance. In the new film, Bure stars opposite Marc Blucas, who plays her husband and the father of her kids. They decide to travel to her hometown over the holidays to help out her brother Paul and his daughter. Bure’s Maggie tries to bring in a bunch of holiday cheer, but there are cracks in her intentions as well as in the foundations of her family unit.
It's a movie about a marriage and Bure came under fire a few days ago for talking about wanting to make movies about "traditional marriage." In many ways, the star's GAF work is a pivot from the Hallmark of now which is showing a wide swathe of types of families and family units. That’s been an intentional pivot by Hallmark, and it's intentionally not a focus of GAF. Bure's comments sparked responses from LGBTQ+ celebrities like Jojo Siwa and additional comments from current Hallmark stars like Jonathan Bennett, who is openly gay. She later defended herself in a statement, but it was a huge topic of conversation leading into A Christmas... Present's premiere.
How Bure's GAF Fans Responded On Twitter
When the film was airing on GAF, the actress was also live tweeting the event. She ultimately shared a lot of fan posts who did seem excited about the faith and values the film presented, including this one about faith and family.
@candacecbure #AChristmasPresent is an amazing film unafraid to talk about God, faith and family. Thank you. 🙏November 28, 2022
Outside of the faith component, a slew of fans also noted (and were also retweeted by Candace Cameron Bure) for commenting on how the movie touched on real-life issues similar to ones they have faced in their own marriages.
@candacecbure @GAfamilyTV I love how this movie touches down on marriage/real life issues I know this one has really hit close to home for me! #AChristmasPresentNovember 28, 2022
A slew of fans additionally responded when Bure asked, ‘Who can relate to Maggie and Eric’s marriage” with comments saying things like “we all need to take time and slow down.” Another GAF fan also candidly admitted: “There was a period we were too busy for each other and it nearly destroyed our marriage.”
Another fan called the addition of faith aspects in A Christmas… Present “groundbreaking."
@candacecbure a Christmas movie playing on Canadian tv that talks about family, faith and deals with real emotions during the holidays. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge how groundbreaking and awesome this story is. Thank you for making this movie. ❤️❤️ #achristmaspresentNovember 28, 2022
Candace Cameron Bure had confirmed previously that she’d left Hallmark in order to work with Bill Abbott again, who’d left the popular cabler to compete with a new network catering to the holiday movie crowd. Bure also landed a "C" title working at the new network and serves as its Chief Creative Officer. From the live tweeting event, some of her fans have followed her to the new network.
As a whole, GAF is attempting a lot of similar programming to what Hallmark used to offer. The network has nabbed holiday movie stars such as Jen Lilley and Danica McKellar to produce new content. GAF also nabbed former Hallmark program The Kitten Bowl, which generally airs around the time of the Super Bowl.
