From what began as an Internet story circulating back in 1999, “The Christmas Shoes” went on to spawn the #1 hit by NewSong in 2000 and was later turned into a novel by Donna VanLiere in 2001. Both the hit song and best-selling book inspired the movie, “The Christmas Shoes” (2005) staring Rob Lowe. That touching story about a little boy whose mother was dying at Christmas, and his quest to find the perfect pair of shoes for her to wear in heaven continues in “The Christmas Blessing.”

Now an adult, Nathan Andrews, is a medical resident who goes back home to his small town for the holidays after losing a teenage boy on an operating table he promised he would save. His visit home is a bittersweet one, overshadowed with memories of the mother he lost 18-years earlier on Christmas Eve, and his father’s attempts to move on in his own life by putting Nathan’s childhood home up for sale and making plans to move away from their New England hamlet.

Hoping to escape reality for a while, Nathan joins his dad’s mechanic business and volunteer’s as a basketball coach to some youths. It is here he meets Charlie and Meghan. Meghan, a teacher, is trying to start up a day care business for single, working class mothers called “Kids House” and Charlie we find out later in the story is ill. Unbeknownst to all the principal players in the movie, all their lives are connected and we the viewer are set up for a reunion of sorts with a grown-up Nathan and someone from his past.

Nathan finds himself questioning God, fate and the fragility of life when his world begins to crumble as both Meghan and Charlie are in crisis. As events unfold, both good and bad, Nathan is left wondering if he did the right thing by coming home. Reprising his role of Robert Layton from “The Christmas Shoes”, Rob Lowe drops in to remind Nathan that while the things that can change your life will cross your path in one instant and then in a fleeting moment they’re gone, if you open your eyes, and watch carefully, you will believe in the Miracle of Christmas and experience a blessing. Starring alongside Lowe is a fabulous cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”), Rebecca Gayheart (“Beverly Hills 90210”) and Angus T. Jones (“Two and Half Men”)

In the end, everything comes together as it should in the “feel good” movies that come out this time of year. The Christmas Blessing doesn’t fall short of that recipe with the happy ending filled with love, happiness, acceptance and forgiveness …and shoes (they do make an appearance).

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