The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe (2026): Cast, Story & How to Watch
If you love a cozy, second-chance Christmas romance built on a small town and a big decision, The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe belongs on your watchlist. The Great American Family original, also known simply as The Trouble with Mistletoe after the Jennifer Snow novel it is based on, wraps a returning-home storyline in the kind of hometown warmth the network has built its holiday slate around.
What The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe Is About
Jillian Murray plays a corporate acquisitions executive who is sent back to her hometown of Brookhollow with one assignment: buy the local community center. The catch is who owns it. The center belongs to the former fiancé she left behind years ago, played by Brett Varvel, and a routine business trip quickly turns into a reckoning with the life, and the love, she once walked away from.
As Brookhollow’s holiday traditions pull her back in, the deal she came to close starts to feel a lot less simple. It is a classic second-chance romance strung with twinkle lights, but the tug-of-war between career ambition and the pull of home gives it a little more to chew on than the average hometown love story.
Cast
- Jillian Murray as the acquisitions executive at the center of the story. Known from A Little Women’s Christmas and Christmas Keepsake, Murray headlines here in the first project under her new exclusive overall deal with Great American Media.
- Brett Varvel as her former fiancé and the community center’s owner. Varvel’s credits include County Rescue and Running the Bases.
Is It Based on a Book?
Yes. The film adapts The Trouble with Mistletoe by USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Snow, who also wrote the screenplay. That is why you will see the movie listed two ways: the on-air title adds “Christmas,” while the source novel and Great American Family’s own listing keep it as simply “The Trouble with Mistletoe.”
When and Where to Watch
The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe premiered Saturday, July 11, 2026 at 8/7c on Great American Family as part of the network’s Great American Christmas in July 2026 celebration. Subscribers got an early look, with the film streaming on Great American Pure Flix beginning Thursday, July 9, 2026. You can still catch it during Great American Family reruns through the season and stream it on Great American Pure Flix and GFAM+.
Why You’ll Want to Watch
This one leans all the way into the fantasy of going home and getting a do-over. If your comfort zone is a snow-dusted town square, a leading lady weighing her head against her heart, and an old flame who never quite went out, it delivers exactly that. It also kicks off what should be a busy stretch for Jillian Murray on Great American Family, so it is a natural jumping-on point if you want to follow her holiday run.
Quick Facts
- Title: The Trouble with Christmas Mistletoe (also listed as The Trouble with Mistletoe)
- Network: Great American Family, part of Great American Christmas in July 2026
- Premiere: Saturday, July 11, 2026, 8/7c
- Early streaming: Great American Pure Flix, July 9, 2026
- Stars: Jillian Murray, Brett Varvel
- Based on: The novel by Jennifer Snow
- Setting: The fictional town of Brookhollow
Want more like it? Browse our full Great American Christmas movie guide and the complete Christmas Movies A to Z list.
