My Secret Santa Ending Explained: The Twist You Missed and Why Taylor’s Final Choice Changes Everything

Spoiler alert: full spoilers for Netflix's 'My Secret Santa'.

Netflix went full cozy with 'My Secret Santa', a holiday rom-com that asks: what if Alexandra Breckenridge put on a beard to pay the bills and accidentally fell for Ryan Eggold in the process? It follows single mom Taylor Page and her teen daughter Zoey, a ski kid with big dreams, and it leans hard into disguise shenanigans, a name pun that is exactly as subtle as you think, and a tidy Christmas Eve finale.

The setup: why Taylor is playing Santa

• Days before Christmas, Taylor (Alexandra Breckenridge) gets laid off from a cookie factory.
• On the way home, her landlady reminds her the rent is due. At basically the same time, Taylor finds out Zoey has been accepted to the Sun Peak Snowboard Academy, and the tuition is way out of reach.
• While venting to her brother and his boyfriend, they clock a lifesaver: employees at Sun Peaks Resort get a 50% discount. If Taylor works there, Zoey’s tuition could be doable.
• She heads to Sun Peaks looking for any job. The only opening? Santa. It pays $2,000 a week.
• With help from her brother and his partner, Taylor goes all-in on a full transformation: wig, prosthetics, the whole voice. She creates a Santa persona named 'Hugh Mann' because... well, sure.
• Complication: she realizes the resort’s general manager and heir is Matthew (Ryan Eggold), the guy she just met and liked. She thinks about bailing, then decides she has to do it so Zoey can chase her dream.

The messy reveal

Taylor is clocking shifts as 'Hugh Mann' when the resort hosts its Christmas party. It’s thrown by the owner, who also happens to be Matthew’s dad. While she is still in full Santa gear, Taylor gets the call every parent dreads: Zoey has been hurt in a snowboarding accident.

Instinct takes over. Taylor sprints to her daughter’s side and forgets she’s still wearing the red suit. There’s no graceful way to explain any of this, so the truth spills out. Matthew is crushed and pulls back, and on top of the personal sting, he is also dealing with the fact that he was the one who officially hired 'Hugh Mann'.

Owning it and the Christmas Eve finale

Taylor realizes she blew it and decides to take her lumps in public. At the big Christmas Eve event, while Matthew is onstage speaking, she steps up, apologizes, and lays it all out. The crowd gets a show: Taylor and Matthew decide to move forward, they kiss to a chorus of gasps, and then they literally make music together onstage.

Cut to the next morning at Taylor’s place. The gang is all there, and there’s a new job title in the mix: Taylor is now the director of family events at Sun Peaks. One more kiss with Matthew, roll credits.

So what happened to her music dream?

There’s a reason Taylor is so at home onstage. After losing the cookie factory job, she tries to sell some old vinyl and bumps into Matthew, who recognizes her from back in the day as the lead singer of a band called Screaming Kittens.

Later, over hot chocolate, Taylor fills in the backstory: she left college when she got pregnant with Zoey, set music aside, and has been grinding ever since to keep them afloat. The twist is that the Christmas Eve event gives her a way back in — with Matthew in her corner, she dusts off the mic and plays again.

Bottom line: it’s a sweet, low-stress holiday watch. The 'Hugh Mann' alias is delightfully on-the-nose, the $2,000-a-week Santa gig made me question my own career choices for a second, and the ending ties everything up with a bow — jobs sorted, romance sealed, and enough festive glow to carry you through the credits.