This is a lovely and charming Christmas movie. It's well written and well acted, with a clear storyline from beginning to end. No, you don't know why and you won't know why or how Jane remembers this other life she never lived, but you don't know the how or why of the fantasy of It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol either - or of all the other movies that feature a character who has some kind of awakening on Christmas Eve.Comfort and Joy is a thoroughly enjoyable movie about finding the life you never knew you really wanted. It has a positive message, but it isn't the slightest bit sentimental or sugar-coated.I'm delighted to have found Comfort and Joy; it's a great addition to our Christmas movie collection. I look forward to watching it every year along with all of our other favourites.

Another comment said that Family Man was a better version of this film, but I disagree.Now, don't get me wrong, Family Man is a wonderful film - well acted, written, cast - BUT it is not what I consider a Christmas movie. For one thing, in that film, the children's' existence is predicated on events in the past. When the main character's "glimpse" into an alternate reality is over, there's no way it can ever, ever happen. When this movie was over, I felt depressed, sad that the kids would never get to be, and NOT in a Christmas mood.So, this movie - Comfort and Joy - fixes that problem. This is a fantastic, happy, truly Christmas movie. All the events in the "glimpse" that the main character in this film experiences happen in the future - so, when the glimpse is over, it's all still possible. When this movie was over, I felt happy and optimistic.I love this movie. I just wish they would play it more often so that I wouldn't have to keep ordering it from Netflix.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Nancy McKeon gave a superb performance as Jane. It was nice to see her work on something with so much meaning! It does have some similarities to the movie with Nicholas Cage, but there are a lot of them out there with a similar plot..future, past, connections, etc., including one with Jim Belushi. This one however showed that Jane actually ended up with a lot of what her heart really yearned for. I highly recommend this movie, I just saw it on Lifetime. Makes one pause to wonder, if most of us also haven't ended up with what we really wanted, deep down inside, the things that really matter in life.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Started watching and couldn't tear myself away. A feelgood experience that makes one realize, there are things in life more important than "things". I hope I get to watch it every year, it isn't often a classic in the making comes along.