Always Christmas

"Always Christmas" is written along the lines of films like "Miracle on 34th Street and “The Bishop's Wife."
After moving to a new town following her parents’ divorce, 11-year-old LILY KENDRICKS writes a story about a cantankerous elderly neighbor, BEN, who keeps his house perpetually decorated for Christmas. Unable to get an interview with Ben, she fabricates a story about him being a kindly old soul who wants to spread the Spirit of Christmas, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
When Lily’s mother JESS takes the story to the local paper, they make it front-page news, which causes havoc in Ben’s life. Lily, who is writing a play for the church’s Christmas Eve service, sets out to make things right with the help of her friend DAVY and the church’s pastor, REV. WILSON.

She discovers that Ben will be evicted from his house on Christmas Eve due to a foreclosure for unpaid property taxes. After meeting the church custodian ERIC and clerk KATE, Lily learns that Ben was a writer and asks him to help her with the play. Eric also discloses that there is something of importance in a room Ben keeps locked, which would help Ben out if only he knew it was there. While visiting Ben, who has begrudgingly agreed to help fix Lily’s play, he reveals that he keeps the Christmas lights on out of reverence to his wife, who died during childbirth on Christmas Eve in 1949, and his son, who Ben believes left to join the army after a terrible argument they had, and died in Vietnam on Christmas Eve, 1967.

To mourn their loss, he turns off the lights on that same night every year. Lily convinces Ben to unlock the room he hasn’t entered in 50 years, and finds a letter from the Army which reveals that Ben’s son had enlisted long before their argument had taken place, so he was not responsible for the boy’s departure and ultimate death.

Inspired by Lily’s words about God’s plan, forgiveness, and redemption, Ben attends the Christmas Eve play with Lily, where she discovers that Eric and Kate were the angels of his deceased wife and son, and that they can finally rest in peace. Rev. Wilson presents Ben with a collection from the congregation which will stop the foreclosure and allow Ben to stay in his Always Christmas home. Happy at last, Lily declares it to be the best Christmas ever.