The snow is fake but the smiles are real: Welcome to Christmas Con

It’s snowing at the New Jersey Expo Center – indoors. As a snow machine spews fake flakes, attendees of Christmas Con pose for photos in the ersatz blizzard. The 12,000 participants are accustomed to make-believe snow. It’s a staple of the movie genre that this convention is celebrating: Christmas holiday romances pioneered by the Hallmark Channel and emulated by Lifetime, GAC Family, and Netflix. It doesn’t matter that their plots are predictable. That’s part of the fun. 

“At T-minus 30 minutes, there’s the almost kiss,” enthuses Eric Hedlund, a Virginia-based naval rocket scientist who is here with his wife and her four sisters. “Then, minus 15 minutes, there’s the conflict twist that gets resolved in T minus five minutes. ... The final kiss at T-zero.”

The most important part of the formula? “There’s always a happy ending,” the sisters say in unison. 

Unlike conventions for comic books, sci-fi, and anime, Christmas Con caters to a less conspicuous type of geek: suburban moms. Accompanied by daughters, siblings, and friends (Mr. Hedlund was a rare husband) they’ve come to express fandom for movies such as the Hallmark offerings “A Royal Christmas” and “Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater.” The primary appeal of the genre is wholesome romance. But more than that, these tales center around families and communities that overcome differences and celebrate beloved traditions. They aren’t just a respite from day-to-day stress but also offer an aspirational ideal of seeing most people as fundamentally good-hearted. If that encapsulates the Christmas spirit, attendees have come here to commune with others who share that sensibility.

“Hallmark always said that they were the network of love, and I actually think they’re the network of hope,” says Nikki DeLoach, star of numerous movies on the channel. “In a world where there’s often news that induces fear and anxiety, and there’s so much uncertainty ... you want to be able to escape inside of something that offers you hope that, at the end of the day, everything’s going to be OK.”

Like other pop culture conventions, there are numerous panel discussions with stars and opportunities for selfies. There’s cosplay (elf costumes) and even a few men in capes (Victorian garb worn by carol singers). Unlike your average Comic Con, however, there’s also an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. 

Christine Isaacs is wearing a dress-length sweater that looks like a baubled Christmas tree. The December holidays are her favorite season, she says, and the television at her Long Island home is constantly tuned to the Hallmark channel. Last year, her family decided not to take the Christmas tree down. “2020,” says Christine’s sister, Maggie, by way of explanation. The sisters, accompanied by their mother and an aunt, like to joke about the tropes in holiday movies.

“Somebody comes from their big-city job to go help their family’s bakery or inn,” says Maggie.

“They’re about to lose it. The community comes together and saves it,” says Christine.

Mother Wanda adds, “There’s the high school sweetheart, but they separated because they didn’t want to hold the other one back.” 

Maggie adopts a dramatic tone: “I want to let you go live your dreams.”

“But my dream is you,” deadpans Christine before breaking into a giggle.

Hallmark is the progenitor of this genre. In 2002, it produced four original holiday movies. This year it aired 29. The chaste dramas are suitable for family viewing. Moreover, the movies steer clear of plotlines that get too heavy or distressing. The genre’s empowered female protagonists invite the target audience to lean in.

“I know women who watch these movies because they are so female-centric,” says Alonso Duralde, co-author of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas Movies” in a phone interview. “They’re about women getting the balance that they want, getting to have the career they want, and the romance they want, and the family closeness.” 

The Hallmark channel was a sponsor of the inaugural Christmas Con in 2019. The network doesn’t have an official presence at this, the second convention, even though many of its stars are here. But Hallmark isn’t the only game in town. GAC Family, a country music outlet that has been rebranded as a family entertainment channel, has lured away several Hallmark regulars. Danica McKellar, one of the biggest stars at Christmas Con, is here to promote GAC Family’s upcoming “The Winter Palace.” (It’s about a novelist who is house-sitting a snowbound chalet in Colorado when a handsome European prince unexpectedly comes to stay. Hey, it could happen.) Longtime Hallmark stalwarts Melissa Joan Hart and Cindy Busby have filmed holiday movies for Lifetime this year.

The competition for viewers may be having an effect. Several Christmas Con attendees mention that the writing on Hallmark has become sharper and genuinely funny. They’ve observed, too, that holiday movies have begun avoiding overused scenarios and are even offering up meta jokes about the genre’s tropes.

“There’s more of a willingness to let things get a little more complicated or maybe summon up some feelings that are a little darker or at least less, you know, wholesome or cozy than in previous films,” says Mr. Duralde, who is a film review editor at The Wrap. “But still getting us to the place we want to go, still leading up to that inevitable ‘everything works out’ and everybody gets what they want.” 

Hallmark is making efforts to freshen its stories. In October, Crown Media Family Networks, its parent company, hired a new executive vice president of programming: Lisa Hamilton Daly, a former Netflix executive who developed shows such as “Virgin River” and “Sweet Magnolias.” 

“Looking ahead, we plan to feature storylines about love beyond just romantic relationships and explore more complex themes, delving into the many forms of love, family, and kinship,” says Ms. Daly in an email, pointing out the greater diversity in this year’s slate of offerings. She adds, “We are eager to diversify our content to be truly authentic and illustrative through such storytelling.”

In 2019, the channel came under fire for pulling a commercial that showed brides kissing. Soon after, Crown Media hired a new CEO, Wonya Lucas, a champion of diversifying Hallmark to include more people of color and representation of LGBTQ characters. Last year, the channel aired “The Christmas House” starring openly gay actor Jonathan Bennett in a storyline about a same-sex couple looking to adopt children. 

Mr. Bennett, the official host of Christmas Con, recalls a woman coming up to him to tell him about the impact that “The Christmas House” had when her child transitioned to become a man.

“To see LGBTQ+ love represented in a Hallmark movie meant the world to their family and helped them get through that Christmas,” says Mr. Bennett, whose latest movie, “The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls,” premiered last weekend. “She was bawling.”

Christmas Con attendees Chanel McCord and NaKeara Bond are among viewers who’ve noticed the channel’s moves toward greater representation of Black characters in recent fare such as “The Santa Stakeout” and “A Holiday in Harlem.” Ms. McCord appreciated that the protagonist of the latter movie wasn’t the sort of six-figure-salary career women who tend to be staples of the genre.

“It brings it more home to the everyday person,” she says. “You can really see yourself as a part of the story, like the fantasy of it.” 

Penny Blaisdell from New York and Kristen Borgerson from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, say they make a point of watching movies with Black characters because they’d like to see more of them. But as much as the duo welcome the inclusivity and diversity, they hope that the channel won’t tinker with the core “comfort food” essence of the movies – including the fanciful plots. 

“My, there’s a lot of minor royalty that comes to New York in disguise,” cracks Ms. Borgerson, her hair coated with snow falling from the nearby machine. 

The two text each other while watching the same movies, which gives them something to talk about other than politics and the pandemic. At the convention, they enjoy striking up conversations with other participants. The good cheer is an escape from the outside.

“We don’t think it’s like real life, but that’s what we’re looking for,” adds Ms Borgerson. “We live real life; Hallmark movies are fun.”