Mistletoe and Mimosas, the new Hallmark Channel Christmas movie starring Tamera Mowry-Housley, Kristoffer Polaha and Jennifer Robertson, premieres tonight, Sunday, November 15, at 8 p.m. ET to close out week five of Countdown to Christmas 2026, and it streams tomorrow on Hallmark+. It is a classic inheritance movie with a rival bar, real chemistry and one very memorable pantry scene. Picture yourself living in a town called Garland and heading out to a local bar for the holidays. Are you going to The Tipsy Reindeer or Algorithm? Mistletoe and Mimosas wraps up week five, after My Christmas Cowboy on Friday and The Nights Before Christmas on Saturday.
What Happens in Mistletoe and Mimosas?
Mowry-Housley plays Claire Bennett, a successful business consultant in Manhattan who unexpectedly inherits her beloved Uncle Lou’s Christmas-themed bar, The Tipsy Reindeer, in upstate New York. When she gets there, she finds the bar buried in debt, partly because Uncle Lou was so generous to people in town and partly because Algorithm, a trendy new club right next door, has been stealing all the business. Claire plans to turn things around before Christmas, sell to someone who will protect her uncle’s legacy and head back to the city. Then she meets Zach, played by Polaha, Algorithm’s part owner and manager, who tells her they want to buy The Tipsy Reindeer so they can expand. Claire bristles, and the two agree to face off in a series of 12 Days of Christmas-inspired events to see who can bring in the most business. If Claire wins, Zach uses his contacts to find her the right buyer. If Zach wins, Claire agrees to consider his offer. Over those 12 days, the attraction is impossible to ignore, rivalry turns into romance, and the two have to figure out whether their changing priorities could lead them down the same road together.
Let’s get this out of the way. They had some chemistry. The pantry scene? Yes, please! Tamera gets to shine in this movie. She gets to be funny, serious and feisty, and she even gets to sing. Then there is her daughter. Tamera’s real-life daughter, Ariah, plays young Claire in her acting debut. Tamera has said in an interview that Ariah had to audition for the role, and she wanted it that way so her daughter would learn that acting is fun, but it is also work. Kristoffer Polaha is his always gregarious self. He is consistently charming, and this was no exception. Polaha has said he first met Mowry-Housley on Hallmark’s Jingle Stop Tour in 2024 and had her on his short list of actresses he wanted to work with, and it shows. And Hallmark execs, please put Jennifer Robertson in more movies. Actually, I would love to see her and Melissa Peterman in a movie together, but I digress.
Mistletoe and Mimosas is a classic inheritance movie. She inherits the bar from her uncle and wants to sell it. She meets the guy, and he is the rival. We all know it, and we love it. Russell Hainline and Glenda Richardson wrote it, and Russell is having a great weekend, since he also wrote last night’s The Nights Before Christmas. The best line of the movie is “Mistletoe is permission to start something before the season slips away.” Linda-Lisa Hayter directed, and thank you for the pantry scene!
How to Watch Mistletoe and Mimosas
Mistletoe and Mimosas premieres Sunday, November 15, at 8 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. CT on Hallmark Channel, and it streams Monday, November 16, on Hallmark+. Hallmark Channel also has encores on Monday, November 16, at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday, November 21, at 10 p.m. ET and Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, at 6 p.m. ET. Find every review in our Countdown to Christmas 2026 hub.
