Family Christams films traditionally touch on the themes of the season— goodwill, truth and kindness. But how many mix these themes with a winning lottery ticket? Lucky Christmas, a Hallmark Channel movie, brings tradition and the lottery together in this heartwarming tale.

Elizabeth Berkley, known for her role in the Saturday morning kid's series Saved by the Bell portrays personal chef Holly Ceroni, a hard-working single mom down on her luck. She plays the lottery regularly with dreams of opening her own cafe. One night, on top of all of her other stress, her car is stolen with her winning lottery ticket inside.

She will soon meet Mike Ronowski, portrayed by Jason Gray-Stanford, who has put his dreams of being an architect on hold to come home and help out in the family construction business when his father falls ill. Unbeknownst to her, Mike's somewhat morally misguided and sloppy friend Joe is responsible for stealing her car. Mike tries to convince Joe to do the right thing but gets caught up in a harebrained scheme to get the ticket back to her without her knowing about their involvement with her car.

The story is set in the state of Michigan with hockey and a scout derby tournament as backdrops for Holly's son Max to develop a relationship with Mike. She definitely has good reason to have some trust issues with men but she's holding Max back with her attitude. Her growing trust of Mike and his desire to tell the truth propels the story forward and keeps it going to the end.

As you'd expect from the Hallmark Channel, this is a sweet family Christmas film that you know will have a happy ending. It could be classified as a chick flick but I think young kids and families will like it too. This is a character driven film. It's not heavy on drama or action, but there are good lessons presented, especially on telling the truth, working hard and coming through for your family.

I liked the fact that there were Christmas themes sprinkled throughout but some of the common ones, i.e. Santa and his elves, weren't center stage. Both lead actors have good chemistry and all of the actors did a great job from keeping the story in feel-good territory rather than letting it fall into the trap of typical syrupy sweet holiday fare except for a few moments at the end, but I can forgive the writers for that. This is a story about doing the right thing.

FTC and affiliate disclaimer: I rented this movie and haven't been reimbursed for this review. You can also find the film at the Amazon.com link given. As an affiliate, I do receive a small percentage from items purchased through this link: Lucky Christmas (Hallmark)