Alexa PenaVega on Her Christmas Movie With Husband Carlos: 'We Want People to Feel' (Exclusive)

In Great American Family’s Get Him Back for Christmas, Alexa PenaVega stars as up-and-coming singer songwriter Bella, who teams up with her high-school songwriting partner, Jack (played by Alexa’s real-life husband, Carlos PenaVega), to pen a song that will win back her rockstar ex. In doing so, however, she falls for her hometown friend, whose role at The Salvation Army (which is central to the religious, feel-good movie) demonstrates the importance of being of service.

The PenaVegas, who in real life have been married for 10 years and share three children (ages 3, 5, and 8), first got the idea to center a movie around The Salvation Army after working with the charitable organization to help families affected by the 2023 wildfires in Hawaii.

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“On one of the days, we were out there ringing the bell when Carlos said, ‘Babe, not enough people know what The Salvation Army does, and it’s so good we’ve got to write a script about it,’” PenaVega exclusively told Parade. They shopped the idea, and eventually, a script by Horace Priester came together.

Related: IRL Couple Star in Great American Family’s Newest Christmas Movie

The project was the perfect fit for the husband-and-wife duo, who put their faith front-and-center in their work.

“We’ve always wanted to be filmmakers,” PenaVega said. “I think it feels impossible sometimes. As we got older, as we started having kids and diving deeper into our faith, we kind of found that a lot of the projects that we wanted to take which were more family-friendly were either very cheesy and we were not passionate about those projects, or they were a little bit too risqué [where] I would be a little sad if my kids ever watched their mom in that movie. So, we were looking for a balance.”

In addition to touting the work of The Salvation Army, the movie also stars two people on the autism spectrum: reality star Abbey Romeo, from the Netflix show Love on the Spectrum, and actor Kevin Valdez. “It was really important for us to have a character that was on the spectrum in this movie,” PenaVega told Parade. “[Kevin] is a gem of a human being and unbelievably talented. A lot of the moments that you just fall in love with him on screen were candid moments.”

“When people spend time with people on the spectrum, they can easily see that they are capable, beautiful and wonderful people,” PenaVega continued. “Just because we’re all born a little bit differently doesn’t mean we don’t have something fantastic to offer. That’s why I just want more roles like this. I want to magnify these types of roles.”

Overall, she hopes the movie uplifts and inspires its audience. “More than anything,” she said, “we wanted people to feel.”

Get Him Back for Christmas premieres Saturday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. ET on Great American Family.

Related: Christmas Comes Early! Great American Christmas Announces New Premiere Dates