Jana Kramer's latest film, The Christmas Ring, features a beautiful holiday romance between two characters who share an undeniable spark - something her husband, Allan Russell, is getting more used to seeing on screen. "He gets it more," Kramer, 41, exclusively told Us Weekly of Russell's reaction to some of her more romantic roles. "I think in the beginning, it was definitely harder for him, because he's never dated an actor." In The Christmas Ring, Kramer portrays Vanessa Mayfield, a military widow who falls in love with antique dealer Ben Miller (Benjamin Hollingsworth). Amid their blossoming relationship, Vanessa searches for a lost family heirloom - a Christmas ring. "I think with any movie you want to feel like these two characters have this emotional connection," she reflected on the festive film's central couple. "And I think where Ben and I really leaned into that is, I mean, I just adore him as a person. He and I always try to make my husband feel comfortable in this too, where, before we even started filming, I invited Ben and his wife over, and his kids, and we had a barbecue." Jana Kramer Teases Potential Role on Season 2 of 'The Hunting Wives' Kramer continued of her bond with Hollingsworth, "The kids were playing, and Ben and I formed a friendship, like a true friendship. I formed a friendship with his wife, and our kids formed friendships together. Being on set together with him, he's such a good actor. ... I feel like I've been friends with Ben since high school. That's what it felt like. We had this beautiful chemistry, and I think it was because our characters both felt that loss, but also, we worked really well together, and it was special." The One Tree Hill alum married Russell, 44, in 2024. They welcomed their first child together, son Roman, now 23 months, in November 2023. (Kramer also shares daughter Jolie, 9, and son Jace, 6, with ex-husband Mike Caussin.) Kramer and Russell have been rather open about the topic of intimacy in her projects before, telling E! News in June, "There's a conversation with every [job]" she takes. While Kramer and Hollingsworth, 41, were easily able to create holiday magic on screen, she explained that "you don't often have that with every costar." Jana Kramer Rebecca Rene Photography "I didn't have that with some other costars I had earlier this year in movies," Kramer remarked. "But this was just different, and it was special. And I think it's because Ben's an incredible actor, and his caliber of work is great. And then combining our friendship and actually, really, truly liking each other made it great." Though Kramer is no stranger to holiday films, she said shooting The Christmas Ring was a bit of a different experience than when she filmed Lifetime's 2023 film A Cowboy Christmas Romance. Kramer said she was pregnant with Roman while filming the latter holiday flick, which included the first-ever sex scene for a Lifetime Christmas movie. "I'm like, there was nothing sexy about that, like the whole experience," she quipped, revealing she was "vomiting" in between takes. Jana Kramer Reveals the Empowering 'Message' Behind Buying a G Wagon Still, Kramer loves the versatility of the roles she's had in holiday films, both past and present. "Do I think every Christmas movie should have this steamy element? No, I think what we have in The Christmas Ring, there's more of an emotional chemistry than in the movie that I did with the sex scene," she noted. "There is just more chemistry between Ben and I in this movie on that emotional, deep level that we didn't need the other piece." "It was so fun to do a family friendly, Christian faith-based one, and it's also fun to have that steamy thing too," Kramer concluded. "And that's what I love about this Christmas movie. And the other one that I did was because each one pushed the limits a bit. So this one is pushing the limits with loss and grief and family connections and conflict. And this one drew it on the sexual boundaries." The Christmas Ring will be out in theaters on Thursday, November 6.