I begrudge no one who earnestly who enjoys this film. There's an audience for it, and I'm not it. But what I see is a family-friendly, holiday-themed, made for TV feature that is roundly unremarkable. That goes for its narrative, scene writing, characters, dialogue, themes (love, finding strength, overcoming difficulties), acting, direction, music, wardrobe, set decoration, and so on and so on. Save for that it stars Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury - having watched this movie, I can all but guarantee there's almost nothing I will remember about 'The gift of love: A Christmas story' come this time tomorrow.
Assess each element of the film by itself, and there's nothing wrong with it. This is competently made in all regards. Even so, in every meaningful way it so readily blends in with other Christmas TV movies of the 70s and 80s as to be mostly indistinguishable. I wouldn't say that it's not enjoyable. But unless one appends some particular personal purport to this picture, then it's one that you can "watch" while scarcely affixing your gaze upon it. It's all to easy to disengage from a title so blase. And there's the rub.
Not truly bad, but not especially good, 'The gift of love: A Christmas story' slides into a liminal space of no major import. If there's any overarching reason why this endears itself to one viewer or another, that's great. Otherwise, save for those who are utmost fans of the cast or dead-set on watching every holiday film they can, I just think checking this out is rather unnecessary.