Over the past month or so I have been exploring and searching unsuccessfully for a new-to-me, and fairly modern Christmas or winter holiday film, and it wasn’t until this past weekend that I found exactly what I had hoped to find and even more in the best possible of ways.

A new Norwegian, six-episode limited series titled A Storm for Christmas set almost entirely at the Oslo airport on the eve before Christmas Eve.

A plane-grounding winter storm moves through the area, shutting down all flights and leaving tens of thousands of travelers stranded at the international airport, each bound for destinations seeking a dream, a job, medical advancement, escape, you name it, they are flying to find it, but all is put on pause. With a similar ensemble approach as Love, Actually, there are even more characters introduced, and with the gift of six episodes, thus more than three hours to tell each of their stories, you, like me, may watch the entire series in one sitting because you just want to know!

A comedy series with contented endings for each story-line presented, I am not going to compare it to Love, Actually because while yes, all of the characters eventually intertwine with other characters cast that we might not expect, they are different films created admittedly for a similar overall purpose to spark a deeper awareness about what we all have in common, A Storm for Christmas is its own storyline.

With modern relationship arcs, the breaking of stereotypical tropes (Henrik’s storyline is one I can relate to in so many ways and am grateful they included it), and inclusion of fears of all sorts and how those fears present themselves in daily life with our interactions with others when we are in pain emotionally, A Storm for Christmas reminds us, through its setting in an international airport where a handful of languages are spoken during the film (subtitles are available) that we are all human, and including our pets, we want to be seen, loved and treated kindly.

Genuinely moved and deeply appreciative of this modern Christmas story that celebrates what grounds the awesomeness of the holiday season, kindness, love and openness to see more of the goodness that already there even if it is buried under much pain and hurt, I highly recommend it and do hope you enjoy. I have a feeling I will be watching it again come Christmas evening.

Watch the entire six episode limited series A Storm for Christmas here on Netflix, and watch the trailer below

‘A Storm for Christmas’ was the Petit Plaisir of The Simple Sophisticate podcast, episode #347, How to Savor Christmas at Home, Alone, Simply Luxuriously

~Explore more Petit Plaisirs in TSLL’s Archives.