Finding a good Christmas tree in the Redwood forests of Northern California shouldn’t really be a difficult task, but as Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) prove in the opening minutes of Virgin River Season 5’s two Christmas episodes, out Nov . 30, there’s still an element of luck involved. The right tree has to speak to everyone, you know?
But Jack’s correct — he doesn’t want their first Christmas together to be normal; the Sheridan family Christmas tree has to be extraordinary, so trudging through the snow it is. No Christmas tree lots allowed.
The first nine minutes, which you can watch above, fill us in on what our Virgin River faves have been doing since we last saw them around Labor Day. Mel is trying to figure out the mystery of her birth father, a Virgin River native with whom her mother had an affair. Brie (Zibby Allen) and Mike (Marco Grazzini) are baby-proofing her house for her sister’s kids, who are scheduled to fly in from Boston, when her father arrives angry that their mother came with her new boyfriend. Mel’s sister Joey (Jenny Cooper) arrives with her kids and the love letters Mel’s dad wrote to their mother.
Meanwhile, Doc (Tim Matheson), Hope (Annette O’Toole), Denny (Kai Bradbury), and Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) are preparing for the cutthroat tree-decorating contest and sipping on some rum-infused eggnog. Well, except for Lizzie because she’s officially pregnant! And her next big challenge is telling her own mother that she’s expecting.
But regardless of how Lizzie’s mother reacts, O’Toole tells Tudum that she knows the baby will be loved by everyone in town. “If you live in Virgin River, everybody’s got your back,” she said from the set of the episodes. “That’s what’s so wonderful about it. She will always have childcare — about 18 people I know of could take over — and a doctor on call in her home.”
Check out the full opening above, and tune in to the Virgin River holiday episodes on Nov. 30. Season 6 of Virgin River begins filming soon.
