Decorating for the holidays is serious business for many—but if you’re CEO of Crown Media Networks (a.k.a. the Hallmark Channel) the bar is on a different level. “Oh, I’m a Christmas nut,” William J. Abbott, Crown Media’s CEO and president, tells Glamour.com. “We actually built [an addition] in our house so we could accommodate a 12-foot tree in the middle of our den, so, yeah, we just love the holidays.” The same goes for Michelle Vicary, the network’s executive VP of programming and publicity. “Christmas decorations go up the day after Halloween,” she jokes. “I’m a little [like the] Griswolds.”

Tinsel and trees aside, Abbott, Vicary, and the entire team at Crown Media actually live the business they’re selling. And they’re selling it well. Vicary says nearly 85 million people lay eyes on the network between Halloween and New Years. If that sounds more like a Christmas miracle than reality, you haven’t been paying attention to the Hallmark Channel—or its sister property, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries—the last few years. When the network says it is “cable’s biggest success story,” it’s true.

This year Hallmark is in the midst of airing 37 original holiday movies for its Countdown to Christmas programming (and planning the 2019 holiday slate). And watching these movies is no longer a guilty pleasure—it’s appointment television. From unofficial drinking games to a user-friendly app, it’s become cool to stay home and watch two people in sweaters fall in love in a town named like a Bath & Body Works lotion.

Abbott says Netflix is partially to thank for changing viewer habits, particularly among millennials. “They have a formula that certainly has worked for them in terms of driving people toward watching on their smart TVs,” he says. “Ultimately the more people that consume entertainment, the better off we all are.”

But Netflix is only a small part of Hallmark’s success. Vicary cites the constant, and often depressing, 24/7 news cycle as another factor. “I think people can only take so much,” she says. “We purposely look to be an escape. We try not to be issues-oriented in terms of creating polarizing conversations because there are places to get that. We are a place that is a haven from that. We’re just a different conversation.”

Abbott agrees. “I think it’s not only the political landscape, but the entertainment landscape to a degree too. There are just very few options that are not shocking, looking to shock, or looking to be over-the-top in terms of violence or salacious for salacious sake. I think people tire of that.” Abbott admits that’s not the only reason people tune into the channel, it is a big one—and something that Hallmark has included in its strategy. “It’s tapping into emotion in a positive way and making you feel a little better about relationships and how people interact,” he explains. “The Hallmark brand is all about people connecting. The secret, I think, to our success is that we focus on that relentlessly.”

This secret to success doesn’t come without detractors, though. Abbott and Vicary know there are plenty of people who think the content is cheesy, but that doesn’t have to be a negative. “I have to be honest, I don’t always think predictable is a bad word,” Vicary says. “I think of every Nora Ephron comedy I ever watched—the first time I saw Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on screen, I knew they were going to end up together. But it was the journey! So I don’t mind when you tune in that you know our characters—who are on two separate journeys—are going to end up together by the end. It’s about how they get there.”

OK, so how did Hallmark get here? How did it go from a brand-new network in the early aughts to a holiday empire? For one, consistency. Hallmark premieres most of the original movies on Saturdays and Sundays, a time when other networks air sports or re-runs. “It’s the perfect time to unwind and get away from reality,” Abbott says. “We appeal to people wanting that escape over the weekend.”

Second, it’s investment. “Our movies are so much better because our production value, our stars, our music, our scriptwriting, our development, and our production are so much better than they’ve ever been,” Abbott says. “Success snowballs. The more you do right, the more people notice; the more people notice, the more you invest; the more you invest, the more you pay attention, and the better it gets.”

And finally, as Vicary points out, it’s about creating an experience. “We’re an emotionally-driven brand. We’re about enhancing relationships and enhancing life.” She says in the last decade the network has tapped into viewers’ love of celebration. “The Hallmark brand already lives in that space, so it really is about delivering on the experience of the brand.”

And then there’s the wish-fulfillment aspect, those picturesque, snow-capped towns and leads in color-coordinated holiday attire. “We’re not embarrassed to say, ‘Let’s make it sound even more holiday oriented,” Vicary says with a laugh. “We are not shy about creating an environment that compliments and enhances that great story.”

Still, that “environment” has come under more scrutiny in the past few years for being predominantly white, straight, and without much diversity. The network needs to do more to reflect America today—and Abbott says the Hallmark Channel team is aware and working on it. “Absolutely, no question about it,” Abbott says. “We’ve worked really hard at it. It’s the type of thing we should have been doing all along, but we’re pleased at where we are.”

Where they are is a more diverse slate of programming than years past. It’s not perfect yet, but one example of progress is a recent full-page ad Crown Media took out in The Hollywood Reporter to showcase its holiday slate. Of the 14 actors in the ad, nine were women, seven were people of color, and five were women of color.

“Our goal is to do everything we can to represent the public faces on television and represent the United States as it really looks on our air,” Vicary says. “I think we have some terrific casting this year with Tatyana Ali, Dondre T. Whitfield, Patti LaBelle, Christina Milian, Jerrika Hinton, Tia Mowry, and more. We have our most diverse slate ever.”

In addition to what viewers see on air, Vicary notes that “more than 50% of the scripts that were written this year were written by women.” She also said they’re consciously trying to hire more female directors and behind-the-scenes crew. “I think in the last year we have added three more women to our roster of directors,” Vicary says. “We are very conscious of it.”

But Abbott or Vicary know that’s not enough. The executives are discussing a possible Hanukkah movie to join their holiday lineup (“One of my development execs brought me one this week that they were really excited about,” Vicary says. “I said, ‘Great, let’s meet and talk about it for 2019.”) According to Abbott, he’s even open to a Hallmark movie where the main couple doesn’t end up together. “As we delve into our content and [look for] a more authentic way, we’ll progress,” he says. “Everything is on the table.”

That progress is important to Abbott and Vicary, who want Hallmark to stay current and evolving. “It’s particularly important that we represent the reality of the twenty-first century in that everybody is different and unique,” Abbott says. “It’s a pet peeve of mine when I read a story and kids are portrayed a certain way. The reality is girls can play baseball or be into science or play with dolls.”

Abbott even acknowledges that the network’s older movies were guilty of playing into stereotypes.”You look back at some of old, old movies, and it’s kind of the stereotypical situation of the woman at home,” he says. “We work very hard to stay out of that stereotypical dialogue and situational behavior because it’s just not reality, and it’s not authentic. We really try to empower women. We really work hard to ensure that our women are strong—while they don’t need a man, they’d love to fall in love. But at the end of the day, that is not what they need to be successful or happy or fulfilled or have a good career. That is something that is very important to all of us to portray.”

That awareness is one of the reasons Abbott credits the Hallmark Channel’s growth in markets like Chicago, New York, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, and D.C. “I think there’s this feeling that we’re flyover country and that it’s all red-state people,” he says. “That’s just completely not true. Everybody likes to feel good. I don’t care what political party you’re part of or where you live, people like to feel positive.” Yes, Hallmark’s content isn’t edgy—”and never will be”—but it’s certainly smarter than it’s ever been. “And that wins.”

It’s been a stressful year, but at least you can count on Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix to come through with the holiday cheer. After all, what’s more relaxing than watching an overworked woman fall in love with a Christmas tree farmer? So decompress with all of our delightful holiday content right here.

Jessica Radloff is Glamour’s west coast editor.