My Secret Santa lands on Netflix as one of this year’s holiday releases, pairing Alexandra Breckenridge with Ryan Eggold in a light Christmas comedy built around disguise, family pressure, and a full Santa Claus transformation.
Spoiler warning:
This My Secret Santa recap covers the whole plot and reveals the final twist. If you haven’t watched the film, bookmark this page and return after you do.
Before the Recap, Watch the Trailer
My Secret Santa Recap: The Setup
Taylor Page (Alexandra Breckenridge) is a single mother trying to stay ahead of late rent notices while raising her daughter, Zoe. Days before Christmas, Taylor loses her job at a cookie factory and learns that Zoe has been accepted to the Sun Peak Snowboard Academy. It’s a major opportunity, but the cost is far beyond Taylor’s means.
Desperate, Taylor tries selling some old vinyl records. At the shop, she meets Matthew (Ryan Eggold), who immediately recognizes one of the albums, a Screaming Kittens record. The band meant a lot to him growing up. He’s stunned when he realizes Taylor was the group’s lead singer. He asks her out, but she turns him down.
Taylor’s brother and brother-in-law mention that employees of the Sun Peaks Resort receive a 50 percent discount at the Snowboard Academy. Taylor doesn’t work at the resort, but she needs a plan. Meanwhile, at Sun Peaks, Natasha, ambitious and hoping for a promotion, scrambles to find a new Santa after the longtime performer retires.
Matthew arrives at the resort at the same time. He’s the owner’s son, newly returned home after years of drifting. His father gives him the general manager position, forcing him to take responsibility for once. Natasha is assigned to show him around.
The Transformation
While visiting the resort, Taylor overhears Natasha offering the Santa job for $2,000 a week. The number is impossible to ignore. Taylor asks her brother and brother-in-law to build her a complete Santa transformation: a full suit, padding, wig, silicone prosthetic, and a voice she tries to adjust as she practices.
She becomes “Hugh Mann,” a version of Santa she hopes the resort will hire.
At the interview, Matthew thinks he recognizes Hugh, a small detail the film plays for humor, and decides to hire him. Taylor nearly walks away, worried Matthew will figure her out, but the job is the only way to afford Zoe’s tuition.
Her first challenge is sharing a men’s changing room. Matthew talks freely to Hugh about feeling trapped between the weight of the family business and bad habits he can’t shake. A second close call happens when Hugh drops a pink unicorn chopstick, the same kind Taylor uses, making it dangerously easy for Matthew to connect the dots.
At the tree-lighting ceremony, a technical failure causes the lights to explode. Taylor goes home still in costume and is intercepted by her building superintendent, Doralee. She quickly pretends to be her own father, and Doralee, unaware it’s Taylor under the suit, seems unexpectedly taken with the man.
Complications at Work and Home
Zoe starts at the Snowboard Academy but quickly becomes the target of Natasha’s daughter Ava, who sees her as an outsider. Zoe has no idea her mother once fronted a punk band, and Taylor doesn’t volunteer the information.
As Santa, Taylor struggles. She argues with kids about practical gifts, and during one shift, the padding falls out of her suit after an overly enthusiastic hug. The town’s paper calls Santa a flop. Matthew reassures Hugh that reviews aren’t always accurate, and he admits he can’t stop thinking about Taylor. Hugh tries to downplay the moment, only for his fake beard to catch fire from a flaming candy cane.
Taylor begins to settle into the role when she talks with Zoe, still in costume. Zoe says she wishes her mother would relax, date again, and reclaim some of the spark she had in her band days.
Her Santa sessions improve. She listens to the kids and helps them talk through fears and hopes. Soon, there’s a waiting list.
Meanwhile, Natasha grows suspicious. She looks into Hugh’s file, finds nothing, and eventually discovers the name tied to his social security number: Taylor Jacobson.
The Christmas Party and the Reveal
Taylor asks Matthew out for a simple hot chocolate. They share personal histories; his mother died when he was fourteen, and he spent years rebelling. She dropped out of college after getting pregnant and has been making ends meet ever since.
Natasha can’t find any record of Hugh Mann, but the Christmas party gives her an opening. Matthew invites Taylor, not realizing she also needs to appear as Santa. With help from her brother and brother-in-law, Taylor switches back and forth between her real self and Hugh, racing through bathrooms and hallways to maintain the illusion.
The party spirals the moment Natasha accuses Hugh of fraud in front of everyone. Before Taylor can respond, someone rushes in saying Zoe has been hurt on the slopes. Taylor runs out as Santa, and Matthew follows.
Calming Zoe down forces the truth out. Taylor removes her Santa mask, revealing herself to the room. Matthew seems willing to understand, but Taylor leaves quickly to get Zoe to the hospital.
The video of the unmasking goes viral. Matthew keeps his distance, unsure how to process the situation.
My Secret Santa Ending Explained
Natasha’s daughter Ava tells her mother that Taylor, as Santa, actually listened to her, something she hasn’t felt in a long time. Natasha realizes how distant she has been since her divorce. She softens, and the film lets the two reconnect.
Matthew’s father scolds both Matthew and Natasha for skipping basic checks before hiring Santa, but Matthew takes responsibility.
At the event, Matthew gives a short speech explaining they won’t have Santa this year, but that Santa is an idea built on generosity and kindness. Taylor and Zoe arrive as he speaks. Taylor steps onstage, apologizes for the deception, and admits she fell for Matthew.
He tells Taylor that he fell for her, too, and, jokingly, that he misses Hugh as well. They agree to spend Christmas together. Taylor sings, her former music past finally resurfacing in a healthier way.
The next morning, everyone gathers at Taylor’s home. Natasha has accepted a GM role in London so Ava can be closer to her father. Taylor is offered a new job as the director of family events at Sun Peaks. Doralee arrives, eyeing Matthew’s father with interest. Taylor and Matthew share a final kiss as the film closes.
Review: Does My Secret Santa Work?
Breckenridge leans so far into her Virgin River toolkit that the film struggles to give Taylor Jacobson an identity of her own. The gestures, the pauses, the half-smiles, they echo Mel Monroe so closely that it becomes hard to see where one character ends and the other begins. It doesn’t feel like a choice so much as muscle memory, and the film never pushes her to break out of it. The timing may explain it; the movie was filmed shortly before Virgin River Season 7, or it may be the natural risk of playing one role for many years.
Her dynamic with Eggold doesn’t help. Their chemistry is faint, almost platonic, and the romance never gathers enough spark to convince. Scenes meant to sell attraction land with the warmth of a polite conversation. When the emotional beats arrive, Mel feels more present than Taylor, which makes the relationship feel even thinner.
The Santa material is a mixed bag. She lands the physical bits, but the voice work slides in and out, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. The musical moment, “Run Rudolph Run,” is dubbed, and the mismatch is hard to ignore. If Taylor is supposed to be a former band frontwoman, the film never commits to that idea; it uses it when convenient and drops it just as quickly.
Comedic moments are uneven, and many feel forced. You can see Breckenridge working hard to sell the gags, but the effort shows, and the timing doesn’t sit comfortably with her. Broad comedy isn’t her natural zone, and the scenes that rely on bigger reactions or physical exaggeration tend to read as overacted rather than playful. The film also borrows several beats from Mrs. Doubtfire: the transformation, voice practice, costume mishaps, fire gags, and frantic bathroom switches, which add familiarity but also highlight how strained some of these moments feel.
Despite the flaws, fans of Breckenridge and Virgin River will likely welcome anything that carries her name. Still, My Secret Santa doesn’t give Breckenridge the space to build a distinct performance. Among this year’s holiday films, it’s one of the lighter and less polished entries: watchable, but missing the depth, charm, or originality that could have made it stand out.
The Poster
Key Details: My Secret Santa Netflix
- Release date: December 3, 2025 on Netflix.
- Cast: Alexandra Breckenridge, Ryan Eggold, Tia Mowry; supporting cast includes Madison MacIsaac and Diana Maria Riva.
- Director: Mike Rohl.
- Writers: Ron Oliver, Carley Smale.