The 12 days of Hallmark Christmas

"You couldn't pay me to watch 24 Hallmark Channel holiday movies," is a sentiment many of us share.

But what if you loved Hallmark movies?

And someone did want to pay you for it?

Edina resident Jasmine Stringer and fellow Hallmark fan Sharon Gifford have found themselves in this improbable scenario.

After casually discussing their love of the sugarcoated movies at a recent book club gathering, they decided to throw their hats in the ring for a wacky contest they'd seen advertised online: Win $1,000 to watch 24 Hallmark Channel holiday movies in the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Out of nearly 219,000 entrants, Stringer and Gifford's video — in which they don Christmas pajamas, hold cups of cocoa and expound on their love of Hallmark movies — was selected by the judges.

The Hallmark Christmas Movie Dream Job contest was not administered by the Hallmark Channel itself, but by CenturyLinkQuote.com, an authorized reseller of Century­Link products.

But it isn't all cups of cocoa and lounging on the couch.

The Dream Job comes with a list of responsibilities, including documenting their experience on social media and watching all 24 movies by Christmas Day. They also have to choose the best movies in eight categories: best overall movie, best romantic comedy, best Christmas comedy, best family drama, best ending, best female lead, best movie featuring a pet or animal and best love story plot.

Not an easy task.

"I'm not quite sure how to distinguish between some of those," Gifford admitted. "Aren't they all love stories? Don't they all kind of have the same plot?"

The two are also tasked with completing a Hallmark holiday movie scene bingo.

Stringer and Gifford hand-picked 23 of the Hallmark movies for their watch list. Other fans selected the 24th movie by casting a vote for their favorite from the Hallmark repertoire.

The pair said they will make their way through all two dozen movies by watching some separately, and coming together for a few scheduled binges, when they plan to cruise through six movies in a row. They haven't decided what they'll do with the cash prize yet.

Gifford says she's most excited about "Christmas at Dollywood," while Stringer is gearing up for "Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2" and "Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays."

"It's happy, sappy," Stringer said of the famously saccharine movies. "I don't want to say 'mindless' but it's an easy, joyful holiday tradition."

"You know what's going to happen," said Gifford. "You know everyone's going to be happy."