The snow is fake but the smiles are real: Welcome to Christmas Con

It’s snowing at the New Jersey Expo Center – indoors. As a snow machine spews fake flakes, attendees of Christmas Con pose for photos in the ersatz blizzard. The 12,000 participants are accustomed to make-believe snow. It’s a staple of the movie genre that this convention is celebrating: Christmas holiday romances pioneered by the Hallmark Channel and emulated by Lifetime, GAC Family, and Netflix. It doesn’t matter that their plots are predictable. That’s part of the fun. 

“At T-minus 30 minutes, there’s the almost kiss,” enthuses Eric Hedlund, a Virginia-based naval rocket scientist who is here with his wife and her four sisters. “Then, minus 15 minutes, there’s the conflict twist that gets resolved in T minus five minutes. ... The final kiss at T-zero.”

The most important part of the formula? “There’s always a happy ending,”