General Hospital’s Rebecca Budig Hopes for a Whole ‘Latte’ Forgiveness for Her Next Appearance On Screen: ‘Please Do Not Tweet Me’

Rebecca Budig may play a barista on TV, but please don’t ask her to make a gingerbread latte this holiday season. The General Hospital alum is starring in Fit for Christmas as a small-town coffee shop owner in Mistletoe, Montana, but the conditions for making her character’s “world-famous” gingerbread lattes were less than ideal — and it made for some hilarious only-on-TV moments. 

There just wasn’t enough time to do a full-out latte presentation onscreen, and it’s kind of noisy making any type of fancy java drink. “So I’m like, ‘You guys, you guys, you guys don’t shoot me doing this stuff because there are real baristas out there,'” laughs Budig to Soaps.com. “And that is not how you do a latte. Because of the sound, I had to fake it— which is really hard — because you have to bang stuff and it’s loud.” She hopes that the audience is “forgiving” because “it’s Christmas” and she knows she “missed” a step or two making those coffee creations. But there’s one thing she’s begging viewers not to do once they see her barista skills: “Please do not tweet me,” she jokes. 

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Of course, filming a Christmas movie is serious business these days and the charming Fit for Christmas required a shooting timeline that was in less-than-ideal conditions — the cast worked in the middle of the summer to create that holiday magic. The movie has a cute scene in which locals do a kickline to help raise money to save the town’s recreation center from the very rich real estate magnate (and wouldn’t you know it, the coffee shop is in the rec center) — but Budig wishes she had thought out her wardrobe choices better. “Well, it was really, really, really hot and I remember thinking, ‘Oh this jacket is cute.’ We had Christmas on soaps but you’re inside,” she recalls. “I didn’t think that I was going to be outside doing a kickline in the sun and the heat. It was in the warmest coat you could ever pick. I think it was one of those sheepskin or lambskin coats. It was so hot. It was ridiculous.” Despite all of the sweat, she promises, “I still got the Christmas spirit.”

Budig is all about the holiday season and she’s prepping to spend some quality time with husband Michael Benson and daughter Charlotte Jo, 8, by tying in some of the traditions she shared with her family growing up. “You know, the holidays are all about family for me. My mom made Christmas magical,” she says. “My dad didn’t like all the stuff. He just wanted to spend time together. He liked more meaningful gifts like candy and lights and things like that. So that’s always stuck with me.” That means it’s all about “making memories” with her husband and daughter — and they have the coziest way to spend the holiday. “We have hot chocolate by the tree, and we have turkey chili on Christmas day,” she shares, “And of course, we stay in our pajamas all day.” Just don’t ask her to make you a gingerbread latte, OK?

Fit for Christmas airs on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 8:30 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT and will be available after the premiere on Paramount +.