“Joyful Mrs. Miracle” Star Rachel Boston Hopes to Play the Angelic Christmas Character for a Long Time (Exclusive)

"We hope to have many, many more stories to share," Boston tells PEOPLE

Rachel Boston is keeping her fingers crossed that she can continue working holiday magic as Mrs. Miracle for years to come!

The Hallmark star, 42, steps into the classic role of Mrs. Miracle, an angelic character created by bestselling author Debbie Macomber, in the channel's Joyful Mrs. Miracle, airing Thanksgiving night as part of Countdown to Christmas.

The angel with a penchant for spreading holiday cheer was previously played by the late Doris Roberts in 2009's Mrs. Miracle and 2010's Call Me Mrs. Miracle, and Caroline Rhea in 2021's Debbie Macomber's A Mrs. Miracle Christmas.

Boston tells PEOPLE the weight of assuming the role of such a beloved character wasn't lost on her when she got the call that she had landed the part.

"When I got the call and I found out that I was going to be playing her I truly just had tears running down my face, I was so excited," she says, adding, "There's being cast in a movie and then there's being cast as Mrs. Miracle ... they’re big shoes to fill and I knew that."

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In Joyful Mrs. Miracle, the titular character, who introduces herself as Annie Merkel, arrives just in time to help reunite three adult siblings who return home following the death of their grandmother. As the siblings are faced with a Christmas deadline to decide which one of them should take a board seat at their family's company, Mrs. Miracle gently nudges them in the right direction.

The movie's focus on a family reuniting during the holiday season makes it a perfect story to kickoff the holiday season, according to Boston.

"For the hope and reconciliation in this story to come on Thanksgiving night, I was so excited when I heard about our airdate," she explains.

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Boston also shared that she's hopeful she'll get the opportunity to tell more Mrs. Miracle stories in the future. In fact, one of her costars noticed that the roll fit her as perfectly as the character's signature red jacket on the first day of filming.

"Our first day filming one of the actors came up to me and he was like, 'You played Mrs. Miracle before, right?' And it gave me so much confidence, I was like, 'I have not, but thank you. I’ve played her for approximately an hour, but I hope to do this for a long time.' "

She also noted that there's no shortage of material to explore given that the centuries old character has lived plenty of lives to mine for future films.

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"We hope to have many, many more stories to share," the actress says, adding that "there's so many different time periods we'd like to explore."

Boston continues, "She's just lived so many different lives, and because she's not attached to the world in the same way, because she does work from up above, she comes into these situations that really need a lot of love and a lot of hope. I think what people really relate to is that our life doesn't always go as we planned, and then she [Mrs. Miracle] comes in and she's able to guide them maybe faster than we would be able to with our own abilities."

More than anything, she believes "what this character really does is just helps people see with fresh eyes and that there's a possibility for a brighter future."

That's the kind of storytelling Boston wants to be a part of for a long time to come. "I just think there's so much hope in a story like this and I want to see her help more people," she says.

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Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Christmas premieres Thursday, Nov. 28, at 8 p.m. ET on the Hallmark Channel.