Christmas at Cartwright's

With the holiday season at hand, single mom Nicky Talbot (Alicia Witt) is unemployed and struggling to afford a nice Christmas with her 8-year-old daughter Becky (T.J. McGibbon). Hearing that Cartwright's Department Store is hiring temporary holiday help, Nicky rushes in to apply, but is rejected by Senior VP Fiona Aldrich (Gabrielle Miller), who considers Nicky a threat to the relationship she hopes to have with Bill (Gabriel Hogan), a charming and handsome store manager. In a whimsical turn of events, Harry Osbourne (Wallace Shawn), claiming to be a consultant from corporate headquarters, encourages Nicky to dress up and begin working as Cartwright's store Santa Claus.

The Santa job provides some much needed income but it proves hard to keep the secret that Santa is a woman. Later, Nicky and Becky run into Bill while Christmas Tree shopping, who helps them getting their tree. While Nicky is sitting down for lunch at work in her Santa costume, Bill sits at the table in front of her and starts a conversation. He tells Nicky that he is single but found a great single mom that he is interested in. With Nicky making more money, she is able to pay her rent on time and buy Becky a spelling game to help her with her spelling. Becky tells her teacher this and her teacher tells Becky that she is going to give her free tutoring, but Becky wants to keep it a secret from her mom so she can surprise her.

Nicky and Bill run into each other again on the elevator at work this time with Nicky not in her Santa costume, where Bill asks Nicky out on a date. Nicky shares this with her friend and wants to confess that she is Santa. Nicky and her friend come up with a plan that her friend will call her during the date and if Nicky is feeling like she needs rescuing that she will act like it's the babysitter calling and she needs to go. On Nicky's and Bill's date everything is going fine until Bill asks about what position she got with the company, Nicky replies that it's just a temporary holiday job. Nicky tries to shift the conversation back onto Bill but then Bill wants to get to know Nicky even more. She gets a call from her friend as planned and feeling the pressure from the conversation she says it's the babysitter and needs to go. Nicky arriving at home says that it was a disaster and she called at the right time. She felt bad that she couldn't tell Bill the truth about being Santa.

At work Nicky makes a kid feel happy after his best friend moved away. Becky gets a better grade on her spelling test and takes in the book The Night Before Christmas to school, as she wants to read it to her mom without messing up as a present to her. At work Bill is sitting at the table in front of Nicky who is in her Santa costume once again. Bill is talking with some co-workers about maybe writing off Nicky because of her kind of blowing him off on their date. Bill then asks Santa what does he think and Santa (Nicky) asks if he wants to see her again, to which Bill says that he does and that he is going to give Nicky a second chance. Later at school, Becky's teacher says that she will take Becky with her to see the Christmas decorations. At work, Nicky is surprised that it is busier than usual. She again helps a kid feel happy. But then her Daughter Becky shows up and recognizes her as Santa. Becky runs off while Fiona watches. Harry catches up with Becky, who Becky recognizes as the angel from the coin. Harry tells Becky they need to have a chat about her mother. Harry brings Becky back to where her teacher is and Becky says she needs to say bye to Santa and gives Santa a hug. When Nicky arrives home, she and Becky talk about her being Santa with Becky being very understanding. Nicky asks Becky if Harry knows that she is Becky's mom and Becky crossing her fingers says no. Becky then tells her mom that angels are real, like the one on the coin. Nicky then calls Bill and apologizes for running off and asks him if they could try it again after Christmas on the 27th, and he agrees happily.

Later at work, Harry gets a call from his boss and must leave for a brief time on another assignment. Fiona watches as Harry gives Nicky the news. Nicky is later caught in the Santa costume room by a co-worker while Fiona is trying to find the background check that was on her desk 5 different times. Nicky is then brought to Fiona's office accused of shop lifting a Santa suit. Bill then shows up in the office as well with a separate issue and sees Nicky saying that he didn't expect to see her until their next date. Fiona is mad that they went on a date and everyone finds out that Nicky is Santa. Nicky wants a chance to explain and Bill wants to hear what she has to say. Fiona says that Nicky has made Bill the biggest fool of all. Nicky says that Bill had no idea about this at all. And Bill confesses that he didn't know. Fiona says their store doesn't need the bad publicity and tells Nicky that she can just leave right now. Nicky is heart broken when leaving the store looking at the Santa chair that she use to sit in.

At home with her friend and daughter Nicky is frustrated over losing her job and how happy Fiona was to fire her. Nicky feels she has made a mess of everything and feels that she lied and tricked everyone. Then there is a knock on the door. It's Nicky's landlord saying that she's on the news. They turn on the TV to see breaking news. The reporter is saying how just yesterday there were lines around the building to see the new Santa because this Santa touched their hearts and lives and many wanted to thank him but they are all gone now because Santa has been fired 4 days before Christmas because he was a she. The reporter continues saying that Santa was Nicky Talbot, a single mother of an 8-year-old daughter, unemployed and unable to pay for rent. Bill is in a coffee shop asking the barista to turn the news down and the barista says no, that Nicky is one of their regular customers. The reporter still going on about the story says not worried about herself but worried about her daughter Nicky took the job pretending to be a man. Wondering how they had so much information, her friend confesses that it was her who gave them the story. Peg shows up at Nicky's house with a pizza and Nicky apologizes for not telling her the truth and Peg accepts.

Nicky goes to Cartwright's and sees Bill and apologizes for not being honest and explains how interested she was in him and that's why she wanted to go out. Bill was disappointed that Nicky didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth and walks away. Fiona is in trouble for firing Nicky and ends up getting fired by Mr. Cartwright. Nicky is then called into Mr. Cartwright's office and asked how she got the job and Nicky tells him that it was because of Harry. Mr. Cartwright says he has no idea who Harry is and Nicky examines the coin a bit closer noticing that Harry looks exactly like the face on the coin. She then says that she needs to go talk to her daughter. Becky tells her mom that Harry is an angel and was sent to help them. Another news story tells how Nicky got her job back. Nicky is then shown back at work and Bill is approached by Peg while at work to discuss Nicky. Bill acts like he doesn't want to ever hear about her. When Nicky is about to leave work on Christmas Eve night, Sara tells Nicky that Mr. Cartwright wants to see her. Mr. Cartwright with all the staff present offers Nicky Fiona's old job. Nicky happily accepts the offer and drinks Christmas nog with everyone. Bill congratulates Nicky on her new job.

Nicky and her friend are then sitting on the door step under a warm blanket, drinking egg nog and talking. Nicky says she can't stop thinking about Bill. Later that night, Nicky and Becky are in the house by the Christmas tree when the door bell rings - it's Bill. He came over to tell Nicky that he misses talking to her and they kiss. Becky then asks her mother to pick a page out of the book 'Twas the Night Before Christmas where Becky starts to read to Nicky and Bill without missing any words. Becky tells her mom that she has been getting help from her teacher. Harry standing outside watching the heart warming scene tells his boss that his work here is done.[2]

• Alicia Witt as Nicky Talbot
• Gabriel Hogan as Bill
• Wallace Shawn as Harry Osbourne
• T.J. McGibbon as Becky Talbot
• Linda Kash as Peg
• Gabrielle Miller as Fiona Aldrich
• Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. Rositani
• Ron Lea as Mr. Mattews
• Miku Graham as Liz
• Marsha Regis as Mrs. Laurence
• Kerry Lai Fatt as Sarah
• Andre Richards as Santa's Helper #2
• Nneka Elliot as Tina Richards
• Catherine-rain Wilcox as Sophie
• Zenna Hilliard as Grace

• Christmas at Cartwright's at IMDb
• Christmas at Cartwright's at AllMovie
• Christmas at Cartwright's at the TCM Movie Database
• Official website