Love at the Christmas Table is a 2012 Romantic Comedy starring Danica McKellar and Dustin Milligan as Kat and Sam, two people who met at the age of four at a Christmas party, and have grown up with each other, and in and out of love. Produced by The Asylum, it was released straight to TV and video. Other notables in the cast are Lea Thompson as E.B., host to the annual Christmas parties, and Scott Patterson as Kat's father, Tom.
This film exhibits the following tropes:
- The '80s: The movie opens in 1983 when Sam and Kat are 3/4 years old.
- The '90s: Scenes include Kat and Sam at ages 10, 13, 18 and 19.
- The Ace: Rebekah speaks 11 different languages, is a translator at the United Nations, is beautiful, and still immediately puts the entire family at ease when they meet her.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: When Kat tries to tell Rebekah that she's had people interested her in the past, it somehow segues into her describing it as having guys lined up one after another, coming in to land before she stops and admits that she's digging herself deeper.
- Embarrassing First Name: Sam's full name is Samwise, something he tries to downplay.
- Face Doodling: When Sam and Kat fall asleep on the couch one year, they wake up to find that their family has done this to them. Faint imprints of the writing as present in the following scene as evidently it didn't wash off sufficiently.
- Fake High: Sam and Kat get "drunk" on stolen rum cake as teenagers... which has no actual alcohol in it.
- Missing Mom: The movie starts with Kat's first Christmas after her mom's death when she's 4 years old, resulting in Kat spending every Christmas with E.B. and Sam.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: E.B.'s real name is revealed at the end to be Elissa Beth.
- Puppy Love: Kat and Sam meet at the age of 4, although falling in love takes longer.
- Spontaneous Choreography: At one point, to cheer up a recently jilted Kat, Sam starts dancing with her in what becomes an elaborately choreographed number. Amusingly, as other couples join in, they're more obviously dancing normally.
- Turn of the Millennium: The scenes when Kat and Sam are in their 20s as indicated when a Christmas dinner guest makes a throwaway remark about the 2000 election controversy
- Unusual Euphemism: A recurring joke involves reference to Ashley Kalb having "showed Sam her tractor" in high school.
- With This Ring: A minor case. Sam drops the box under the table when he arrives. While searching for it, he overhears one of the kids using it to propose to one of the girls, and has to ask for it back.
