The OSINT Way to Watch Hallmark Christmas Movies

In this article, we’re going to show you the OSINT way to watch Hallmark Christmas movies.

Why?

Why not?

It’s a fun way to learn some of the fundamentals of OSINT.

Grab your favorite hot beverage (maybe some hot chocolate), find a comfy place to sit, and get whisked away to Christmas Island, Maple Grove, or Springdale while you start your OSINT adventure. You’re going to see Hallmark Christmas movies in a whole different light.

If you’re a total OSINT n00b, or you’re OSINT curious, let’s start with what the discipline is all about.

What is OSINT?

OSINT stands for Open Source Intelligence. It’s the collection of information in the public domain, analyzing it, and using what you learned in an actionable way.

What Counts as Open Source Intelligence?

With exceptions, if it’s in the public, it’s useful.

Here are some examples:

• News
• Video
• Images
• Audio
• Databases
• Websites
• Public social media profiles and posts
• Forums
• Maps
• Corporate filings
• Government records
• Books
• Academic papers

Off limits:

• Hacked/stolen data
• Private websites/social media profiles
• Bypassing authentication to access information that is non-public.

Now that you have a little understanding of what Open Source Intelligence is, let’s talk about the different ways you can investigate a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Specifically, we’ll talk about some fundamental skills that you’ll learn. Also, there may be some spoilers ahead.

Timeline Construction and Analysis

In the context of a Hallmark Christmas movie, the timeline is the series of events that play out in the runtime of the film.

Each movie runs for two hours, with commercials. Without commercials, they run about an hour and twenty minutes to an hour and a half. We’re focusing on the full two hour commercial broadcast.

If you’ve never watched a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie, they are extremely formulaic. Take this meme for example:

[Source: Pleated Jeans ]

The plot usually involves a big city woman or man. (e.g. The Snow Must Go On) who is sick of their job or is traveling to a small town for a reason. She, or he, falls in love with a local resident or reconnects with an old flame who never left town.

As the story moves along, the main character eventually realizes the true meaning of Christmas.

Then they kiss the love interest.

The end.

Roll credits.

The wild thing is the movies are even MORE formulaic when you’ve watched a few.

They do follow the traditional flow of a story plot that you probably forgot about since you were a kid in English class.

The plot unfolds in such a way that you literally can time it. (A note: While some movies may stray slightly from the formula, they may not always follow the description provided below.)

What we’re going to show you are some of the key plot moments and where they generally occur in the full two hour broadcast.

• Intro (First 10 minutes): We learn who the main players are (Main character, love interest, setting, and sometimes the conflict).

• Last ten-ish minutes of first hour/first 10-ish minutes of 2nd hour: The interrupted attempt at a first kiss between the main character and their love interest.

• Second to last 10 minutes: The conflict/betrayal that’s built throughout the movie fully manifests.

• Last 10 minutes of the movie: The ultra clean and perfect resolution to the entire movie.

With these key plot points, and at what time they occur, makes everything run like clockwork. If you’re scrolling through your guide on your TV and you see a Hallmark Christmas movie playing, look at the time on your TV, or phone, or watch. You’ll know what part of the story the characters are in even before you decide to view it.

In a regular OSINT investigation, whether it’s cybersecurity or legal related, piecing things together that are time based helps you see the story that’s playing out. It can also revel patterns such as someone, or something, posting to social media at predictable intervals. The pattern helps tell the story and deviations from it also offer important information.

This is the perfect segue to talk about patterns and observation.

Using Hallmark Christmas Stories to Learn Observation Skills and Pattern Recognition

There’s a lot going on visually in a Hallmark Christmas movie and what was really striking was what’s in the background.

There are tons of Christmas lights in just about every scene. There are moments where it looks like the art team went overboard with them and it got out of control. This is something we can’t unsee now because OSINT is our thing. We’re used to analyzing what’s in the background of images and videos because sometimes this is where you hit pay dirt with finding something actionable.

Anyway, let’s get back to the Christmas lights.

We understand the aesthetic Hallmark is going for, especially for establishing those special shots of the two main actors in romantic scenes. The Christmas lights produce a soft, cozy, and warm lighting effect in the background, while the camera adds depth with the main characters in the foreground.

Also the amount of Christmas trees, garland, Christmas ornaments, and other Christmas props are in copious amounts.

We believe observation leads to curiosity when conducting an open source investigation.

Knowing that Hallmark has all of these Christmas props, you begin to wonder what does the prop warehouse look like? How many Christmas lights, trees, ornaments, mugs, and garland do they have? Maybe you’d like to programmatically try to count how many of these objects appear onscreen.

Curiosity can lead you in many directions in OSINT.

In addition to the numerous Christmas props, Hallmark is likely writing and filming its 2026 movies now. This means there must be an inventory system to track where the props are stored and to which set or location they are sent.

Another possibility on this front is Hallmark might contract companies to take care of their props. If that’s the case, what does that supply chain look like?

This is what we love about OSINT. It’s finding that initial thread and pulling on it to see where it leads you and what you learn along the way.

Through pattern recognition, you can find things beyond the plot of a story. You may notice stuff in one movie that also appear in another.

This might come in the form of an overhead view of a small town or some distinct skyscrapers in establishing shots. You can come to the conclusion that Hallmark shoots movies in the same locations based off of what the layout of the small town or city looks like.

If you really want to challenge yourself with investigating Hallmark Christmas movies, you can use those physical patterns of buildings to help figure out the exact location in real life. Street signs can help narrow things down as well as store front names. By doing this, you’re taking part in GEOINT which stands for Geospatial Intelligence.

Lastly, on the pattern recognition front are the countless movie tropes.

Check out this ScreenRant article for 25 of the most common tropes in Hallmark Christmas movies as well as this SlashFilm article.

Before we wind things down, there is one movie that we’re aware of where the two main characters engage in OSINT.

Actual Use of OSINT in a Hallmark Christmas Movie

The movie is Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story. It was released on November 22^nd 2025.

In the movie, two friends are trying to discover the identity of an anonymous gift giver for Morgan’s uncle. Morgan is the woman lead, and Gabe is her longtime friend. (POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT: One friend has been in love with the other for a long time.)

The two of them resort to using search engines and public records in an attempt to figure out who’s behind the Christmas gifts. They also rely on HUMINT a little bit by asking people for information and potential leads.

What is HUMINT?

HUMINT is Human Intelligence. It’s “…intelligence-gathering by means of human sources and interpersonal communication.” [Source: Wikipedia ]

HUMINT is completely different from OSINT as the information gathered comes from a human and verification may not come easily.

Wrapping Things up and Putting a Bow on It

A Hallmark Christmas Movie is certainly a fun way to learn some of the fundamental skills about OSINT.

Honing your observation skills, being able to recognize patterns, and being able to establish timelines are valuable when investigating.

Outside of the make believe places like Christmas Island and Springdale, how can you benefit from Bsquared Intel’s expertise?

How We Help You Through the Use of OSINT

• Conducting External Cyber Risk and Threat Assessments for your organization to identify any security gaps you may not be aware of. If you’re in an industry where you’re required to protect data, our assessments help you with your compliance needs.

• If you’re a law firm, our litigation support services helps you build a strong legal strategy for cases that you’re litigating.

• If you’ve found your way to this article and you’re looking to better protect yourself, or your family, our Digital Footprint Review and Data Breach Reporting services help uncover any privacy, security, or reputation issues.

Fill out the contact form below to schedule a free call to learn how Bsquared Intel can help you.