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Alright so “The Christmas Promise” is our second Hallmark Movies and Mysteries movie this season. This channel seems intent on tugging at our heart strings this season so we’ll see. Also, this title is so generic and honestly, doesn’t make sense as the title of this movie. And, have we really never had a movie with this title before? I feel like this is the title to a hundred other Hallmark movies. So, just…DO BETTER? Anyway, I have tried my best to to emotionally prepare for this one. And I am not sure I did enough. So, should we dive right in?

Our lead, Nicole, talks to a little girl about the stuffed bear that she is DYING for. She assures a young customer that Santa is real and that she has a regular dialogue with him. I really hope that doesn’t mess that child up later. Nicole and her fiance, Henry own this toy shop together. Isn’t that putting the cart in front of the horse a little bit? She already owns a toy shop but I think she wants to sell her knitting as a side hustle. My kids were shrieking so I missed that part.

Then we meet Henry. They are fiances in the very worst way. Like, “hello future wife!” “Hello future husband!” Ugh. Yuck. Henry is like the best sport in the entire world regarding ugly Christmas sweater wearing. He’s like wait these are actually cute sweaters. And we are like, well no, not really. I mean obviously I would wear it.

They pull up to their new house in their beautiful vintage red truck. They bought a big fixer upper and Henry seems to be doing most of the repairs himself. On their front porch, he pulls some mistletoe out of his jacket pocket and hangs it above the steps. Cute.

That night they have their big ugly sweater party. The competition for worst/best sweater is STEEP. Again, I ask-Hallmark, I need a LIST OF WARDROBE LINKS. I think Susan’s 3D onsesie probably takes the cake. Yes she won. I was actually going to be mad if she didn’t. Later, Susan announces they are out of ice. She and her husband do a weird bit about breaking off icicles off their house to scrape together enough. And then Henry is like, oh I’ll go! And Susan and Tom just LET HIM. A guest in their home. Why didn’t Tom go? They are the hosts after all. So the party is long over and Henry isn’t back. No one is bothered by this except Nicole apparently. Like wouldn’t she have called him a hundred times? Then she gets a phone call. Oh no.

The movie flashes to one year later. Tom, the guy who SHOULD HAVE GOT HIS OWN GD ICE, arrives and offers to help them sell the house. He wants her to finish the renovation before they sell it though. He also has a buyer lined up for the toy store. Tom, I’m not sure you’ve done enough considering this is ALL YOUR FAULT.

Nicole’s toy store is decorated so whimsically beautiful for Christmas. Her…brother? Teddy, is wearing like an old timey woodworkers apron. She feels overwhelmed about the house renovations. Teddy offers to reach out to a construction minded friend to see if he can help. Susan pops in and invites her to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.” She declines because she has to organize her stock room. Susan tells her that Gary, the single orthodontist, is coming even! It’s not enough to sway her. She also invites her to this year’s ugly sweater party. I feel that is a bold movie, CONSIDERING. She promises that Tom is in charge of all future ice purchases. Guys, Susan doesn’t play. Christmas is SERIOUS business.

Nicole arrives to her dad’s house…wait she calls him Pops and mentions her parents. Don’t tell me Patrick Duffy is her grandpa? He eats a lot of junk and she tries to get him to eat healthier. He reminisces about all the sports ball games they went to last year and tells Nicole that he really misses Henry. Okay we really are saying that Patrick Duffy is her grandpa? She asks how he got over her grandma dying. And he says, well Nicole, a 50 year marriage is a lot different than just being engaged to someone. Then he tells her he wrote letters to her grandma after she died. Nicole asks to take some to read. Pops is like, well Nicole, that’s an invasion of my privacy so no. She takes them anyway.

Nicole calls one of her pals, Alan, from last year’s Christmas party. Apparently her BEST friend. She heads over to his house. They chat a little about Henry’s death. In the meantime, I’ve gone through the trouble of looking up both Patrick and Torrey’s ages and guess what? Him playing her grandpa IS A STRETCH. A REAL STRETCH. He is 72 and she is 37. So you tell me.

Nicole and Alan crack open one of her grandpa’s letters. Alan is like, I don’t really want to read the private letter your very young grandpa wrote to your dead grandma. They both agree it’s a beautiful letter. Alan says what we’re all thinking at this point-we need cookies!

Nicole ignores a text from her sister about sending over a casserole and sends Henry’s old number a text message. SOMEONE PICKS UP the phone.

A customer tells Nicole she hopes she’s not selling the store but Nicole is like no I definitely am. She also seems to suggest that Nicole should sell some of her knit wares at this woman’s boutique. We aren’t doing this as a storyline are we? That Nicole could make enough money to support herself by selling handmade knit items?

Later, Nicole stares at her house and observes her future next door neighbor directing some poor man in decorating her lawn and putting up lights. Oh her scraggly little dog has lights attached to his little sweater and runs off.

Another guy shows up and introduces himself as the construction friend that Teddy knows. Joe.

Later Joe walks right in to the toy store and gives her an estimate for the lumber needed. She basically tells him she couldn’t care less about any of the choices since she’s just fixing it up to sell. As she looks for her check book, Joe helps himself to a pirate hate and sword. Boys will be boys, am I right? Nicole’s sister Gail actually looks like her sister. Gail tries to start a really personal conversation in front of poor Joe. Joe just stands there like an idiot.

That night, Nicole decides to show up to the party. Gail notices her as they walk up to the door and grabs her hand and promises to take care of her during the party. Oh that nice sister moment didn’t make me tear up whatsoever. Alan, Nicole’s friend wins second place in the ugly sweater competition. Susan wins FIRST PLACE again. Guys, Susan’s outfits ARE THE BEST. It’s like no one else is even trying. Joe is at the party too. He has a fabulous sweater as well. Alan has demanded a recount on the votes of the best outfit. I love that. Then the power goes out!

Nicole and Joe find themselves outside and get to know each other better. Joe asks to walk home together. As they get to Nicole’s house, he suggests decorating “that tree.” I missed what “that tree” was. Nicole can’t sleep so she sends Henry phone twin another text. These are pretty intense texts for a stranger to receive. Then she whips out her knitting needles and her phone buzzes! She freaks out.

Best friend Alan is shaming children into buying books at his work. Nicole comes rushing in to show Alan the text response. The recipient says they’ve also gone through a loss and understands what she’s going through. Alan thinks it’s a sign from Henry.

Nicole and Joe arrive at a bakery and Joe doesn’t know what to order. Are they there together or did they just run into each other? He makes several attempts to order something but Nicole says all his choices are wrong. She says he must eat a peppermint bark cupcake…for breakfast. But it sounds like it was definitely the right choice and he agrees. He thought there had been life before the cupcake but now he’s not sure.

Nicole heads back to her “grandpa’s” house. I think she asks if he went to therapy in a round about way. No, she’s referring to the texting with the stranger business.

Later, Joe returns Nicole’s glove to the toy store. She’s organizing some toys that she plans to donate to the children’s hospital. Also can we take a moment of silence for Nicole’s sweater? Why didn’t she wear THAT one to the ugly sweater party? Joe puts on another hat and gets head lice for a second time. He is cracking Nicole up though which is sweet. Joe announces that he is single handedly putting in her new floors that day. GOOD LUCK JOE. Did she just look at a card from a child’s fortune telling kit? With like children’s tarot cards? I have…thoughts on that.

Later, Nicole texts more with Henry’s phone number recipient. That person’s brother died. Then Joe arrives to Nicole’s apartment with some kind of boxed food item and she invites him in. OH NO. HE DROPS A BOX OF PEPPERMINT BARK CUPCAKES. Devastating. Instead, she offers him a bunch of old casseroles her sister brought. I missed the bit where she wanted to rearrange her living room furniture. Then Joe shares a very strange personal anecdote. Without joking, he says he cries at the old “let’s all go to the lobby” song. I thought it was a bit but he says he’s serious. So that’s weird. Maybe we will get some backstory on that. Update: WE DON’T.

Next, more emotional texting with strangers. Are we going to have to hear that annoying buzz the whole time? Nicole shows up to the house and notices that he is about to throw away the old mistletoe that’s been hanging on the front of the house since last year. She grabs it from him and tries to just get out of there. She decides to walk home and he offers to walk her again. That neighborhood is decorated to the MAX for Christmas. As they walk, they rate the lawn decorations. Oh and Nicole has a favorite reindeer. As all sane adults do…

They find their way to a diner and Nicole says she’s NEVER HAD BREAKFAST FOR DINNER. OMG What. What a devastating life Nicole has led up until now. Then Joe says he has had dinner for breakfast, which to be fair, is more strange. Joe mentions doing these silly things with his brother. So…maybe he’s Henry’s phone number recipient? I mean duh. Then Joe asks if he can make her dinner sometime. She dodges the question. Then the waitress asks if Nicole can knit her a sweater like the one she made for her daughter’s stuffed pelican. Nicole is like, sure! That will be $300. And the waitress is like, everyone from my book club would like to be hundreds of dollars for hand knitted sweaters from you six months from now when you complete them. Can you just drop everything and do that? Joe talks to her about following her dream but making a living KNITTING CLOTHING FEELS LIKE A STRETCH.

Later, Nicole heads to some kind of outdoor Christmas event and feels lonely.

Nicole heads to her grandpa’s house and discovers that he’s gone to a dance studio. She peeks into the dance studio and sees him happily dancing with his neighbor I think.

Later, Nicole’s friend group does a white elephant gift exchange. There are some good items in the mix. Is Nicole wearing another ugly sweater? The spread for this party. YOU GUYS. Joe is part of the gang now? All of a sudden? Nicole gets a beautiful wood sign that Joe HANDMADE the night before. Does Hallmark not realize how long it takes to make things by hand? Later Joe notices that her sweater is homemade. She’s like, it’s nothing special, just took me 6 months to make. I worked well into the night, day after day until my knuckles swelled and I lost feeling in my finger tips. No big deal.

Nicole heads out of the party and Joe offers her a ride home. He has a newer red truck…but not that new. Then Joe serenades Nicole with “Old King Wenceslas.”

Later, Nicole texts with her Henry phone number pal. Then, she heads out to the woods and decorates a tree that is literally all alone in the middle of a field. I missed the significance of this. I feel like this is supposed to be a big part of the movie given that it’s in the cover art but I TOTALLY MISSED IT.

Afterwards, Gail, Susan and Nicole have a girls day. They girls say they think Joe’s been good for her. Nicole pushes back. Oh no. They start splashing face mask liquid at each other. They’re going to make a big mess. I hate it. I hate messes. Oh her living room. No. What are they even splashing on each other? And all over the food? No!! Is it going to seem so fun when you’re all scrubbing the carpet? Hungry with nothing to eat? When that neon color stays on those beautiful white robes? I didn’t think so.

Later, the girls head to a Christmas market. Joe just shows up. How does he just show up everywhere she is? I am not digging Nicole’s t-shirt sweater situation. Joe says he’ll be done by Christmas. Then Joe says he may be taking another job in another town. Susan thinks Nicole’s shelves are in desperate need of repair so he should do that first.

Then Nicole notices her “GRANDPA” on a DATE with a woman that could easily play her own mother. Nicole wanders to the Christmas tree section of the market to pick out a tree. She picks a little Charlie Brown tree and decorates it at home, alone. That night she texts her Henry phone pal. This person wants to meet!

At the bakery, Nicole runs into Helen, the neighbor. She is bringing “grandpa” lunch. Helen tells Nicole she will be able to take care of him. So that’s really sweet. But also, they’re in their early seventies so CAN WE ALL CHILL? Later, she asks how you move on from the love of your life. He gives some very wise advice. Then he dives into her Christmas present. She tells him to wait until Christmas and he says “at my age?” YOU’RE ONLY 72 PATRICK DUFFY! DON’T GIVE UP! Anyway, it’s a sweater. He gives her her grandma’s pin and she’s very moved.

Later, Gail brings over more mac and cheese. Nicole tells Gail she’s meeting her texting friend. As she’s heading out, she runs into Joe, who was dropping by to see those shelves. Then he KISSES HER. And then they have a hilarious back and forth that I just cannot do justice recapping here. Then SHE KISSES HIM. He maybe follows her to the restaurant? Sees her there….and then she gets a text that her pal can’t meet her. So is it him? Why was he going to her house if he literally had to go meet his texting pal right then too? Also, have they never communicated by phone at this point? Wouldn’t they have inadvertently figured this out when they exchanged numbers for the home renovations work?

Joe and Teddy have a heart to heart later. Teddy suggests that he tell Nicole who he is. So is anyone surprised at this point? He said he realized they had been texting each other for the first time last night. And again, why was he going to her house if he was on his way to meet her? Anyway, he thinks she will think he knew all along. He asks Teddy to give her a letter. Nicole is busy filling Alan in when Teddy walks in. He hands Nicole Joe’s letter which basically says, I’m too busy to do your shelves, so bye.

So, Nicole goes to her house to catch him. Joe is all business and is hurrying to leave. Nicole finally asks to see the house. She goes upstairs first or at least part way. Bold choice. I’d want to see the kitchen, even if I planned to sell. She looks around for like one minute and Joe is like, okay bye. Then Nicole GOES BIG. She tells Joe she’d like to have him in her life! And he’s like okay cool. I’m still leaving though. Uh oh. He left his phone there. She calls Teddy to try and work out a hand off for the phone. She decides to text Henry pal. So wait, you’re telling me that she and Joe have NEVER exchanged numbers? How? Anyway, she realizes now who he is since his phone immediately buzzes. Wait he gets a text on a different phone and she says she knows it was him. WHAT IS HAPPENING.

Later, Nicole sells the toy shop to her brother. Also, living for Nicole’s sweater. Oh no. Nicole is going to start an online store for her knitting. That just can’t be practical. Like at all. The cost of yarn? The time it must take her to make one item? And she says a shop owner told her her designs sold out in ten days. Like what? So then Teddy and Nicole talk about Joe. She’s like so that was so weird, right? And Teddy is like yeah it is super weird. It actually doesn’t make any sense. But like you should go after him right? And tell him that it was a weird move, but you still want to date him.

Okay so somehow, they meet at that random tree in the middle of the field. But she says she doesn’t know if she can trust him and then wanders off. When is this movie going to end? Nicole arrives at Susan’s house. Susan is hosting ANOTHER CHRISTMAS EVENT. Does Susan do anything else? Like how does she have so many parties? Anyway, she directs Nicole outside for a frigid scavenger hunt. Susan is SO FUN. Also what is Susan’s backyard? It’s like she’s running a mini cut-your-own Christmas tree farm. She debriefs with Alan as they slowly freeze to death due to inadequate winter clothing. Once again, I must state that Hallmark does not seem to understand what a scavenger hunt is. The wrapped present she was supposed to find (“hidden” IN PLAIN SIGHT) is a beautifully carved little mini version of her house.

She storms over to Joe’s house. He’s not there. She wanders the frigid streets with no hat or gloves. She wanders to her house. The exterior lights turn on as she approaches! Joe is there getting all the lighting finished. After ALL THAT, Nicole tells Joe she decided not to sell the house. She gives her little speech. As they’re about to kiss, Joe digs out some mistletoe. And then they DO KISS. TWICE!

So, I actually liked this one a lot. I expected it to be nonstop sad because of Nicole’s fiancé but it really wasn’t. Also, the AUDACITY to cast Patrick Duffy as her grandpa when he could have easily played her dad. There was no reason to make him her grandpa. But the friend group was great, except for Susan and Tom significantly contributing to Henry’s death. The siblings were great. All and all, a fun movie to watch! Tell me what you thought!

Hi Hallmark pals! My recap for this one is actually done via podcast with my good friend over at Dear Hallmark! Check out our discussion of the movie here! Or anywhere you listen to your podcasts. And tell me what YOU thought of this movie in the comments!

Okay guys, we’re in to weekend two! Four more movies. Four more recaps. I was excited to see two new leads and the previews intrigued me. I will reiterate that it may get harder and harder for me to like, make fun of these movies as we go through this season. But I AM GONNA TRY. Let’s dive in.

Our leading lady, Harmony, takes phone call after phone call and then talks to her mom about some variation of her current job. Her mom talks on speaker phone in the grocery store with her outside voice. Harmony does everyone in that store a favor and tells her mom she has to go.

She walks in to the new office with some cute pastry boxes and coffee. Their company has merged with another and she is going to get a big promotion. Her boss calls her in and basically tells her she’s being made redundant as part of this big merger. Well, that is certainly a turn of events. Harmony FIGHTS BACK HARD. She’s like, this merger would NEVER have happened without me. He’s like, yeah sorry. Bye. Also why doesn’t she go ahead and leave immediately?

Harmony calls her mom and tells her she’s coming home for Christmas after all.

Harmony walks up to her front door in high heels. Who comes home in high heels? Her mom was all ready to get her at the airport in two hours. She even had prune cobbler for her in her purse ready to go! Harmony speaks for all of us when she says she’s all set as far as prune cobbler goes. Harmony’s MOM you guys. She’s like okay now that you’re here let me show you off to everyone at church. I mean, that’s on brand for every mom I know.

At the church, Harmony runs into DEACON JAMES, who is as single has her mother so are we going to see anything happen or what? Apparently “Mother Matthew’s” pies are LEGENDARY. She’s made at least 150 and it seems like there’s still demand for more. Does Mother Matthew take even a minute’s rest though? She is scheming for her daughter and for these pies NONSTOP. Deacon James (I can’t tell if his name is Deacon or if he is a deacon at the church. Anyway, he tells the ladies that their choir director injured himself skiing and now they need a replacement. Harmony tries to back away from participating in the choir because she hasn’t sung in years. So they’re like, well what if you direct instead? And there seems to be no backing out of that.

The poor crippled choir director breaks the news to the choir. Harmony walks in in high heels with TOO MANY PIES. Guys, it’s just too many pies. She’s carrying upwards of ten pies in her hands. Naturally, she runs into someone. Like literally. And they crash and there’s precious pie all over the hallway floor. We are all devastated. Harmony seems to know this person, Kyle and they both walk into the sanctuary together. Kyle thinks HE’S directing the choir, not Harmony. But MAMMA MATTHEWS has SOME OPINIONS about this. The real grown ups head into the choir director’s office to CHAT. While Mama Matthews yells at the crippled choir director, Harmony “chats” with Kyle out in the hall…except now they seem to be competing about directing. I thought Harmony didn’t really want to do it? I can’t tell if we are supposed to realize they know each other in the pie scene. But here, we discover they haven’t spoken in five years. That would explain the huffiness. Kyle starts singing in the hallway and the older folks look on from the office. Then Harmony takes a turn. Oh good. Now they’re trying to out sing each other. WE ALL WIN in this competition. So the older people plan to make them both direct.

They make the announcement to the choir and one guy is just POUNDING A COSTCO SIZE BAG of popcorn.

Back at the record studio where Harmony was fired, a BIG TIME singer who wears her sunglasses inside has a sit down with studio executives. Melo D (I mean, okay.) is wondering where the “flavor” is of the studio. Or record label. She makes fun of their clothes and basically suggests they all need a little splash of hot sauce. Mac , Harmony’s boss, hits back and says they’re all going to continue to dress the same way they always do. HE DOESN’T GET IT. Melo D says they’re all just a bunch of tech nerds and she wants Harmony back. She’s the only one that can get Melo D’s latest record to be successful. Harmony’s pal videos the whole thing.

Back in Harmony’s home town, there is an outdoor hot chocolate party or something. Harmony sees Kyle with another girl I think? And decides she needs something from her car so she walks backward right in the direction of Kyle and runs into him. Harmony short circuits over Kyle and Felicia.

Harmony’s mom’s house is decorated beautifully. The next morning, Mother Matthews wakes Harmony up with a tray of food. WHAT SERVICE! My parents used to come into my room in basically the middle of the night, tell me the list of chores they’d like for me to do when it was finally morning and then vanish like a thief. So anyway, this would have been a welcome change. Harmony’s mom suggest she forgive Kyle (FOR WHAT) and she says she doesn’t have to, she just has to work with him.

Then, her boss calls and says she can have her job back if she can finish Melo D’s album. Oh, how the turn tables.

Now it’s audition time for the solo parts. It’s slim pickings at their church. Felicia gives Kyle a BIG HUG after making it to the final round. Harmony and Kyle argue over who to cast in the lead roles (of course).

Later, Harmony calls her pal who may or may not be on the toilet? In her bathroom? She has a face mask on so she’s ready for some self care. Harmony tells her that she’s directing the church choir in her home town. Harmony admits it’s going to be fun, even with stinky old Kyle.

Later, there is another party happening? Harmony’s sister, Jennifer comes over and brings her famous cookies…from a can. Mama Matthews promises to protect her grandchildren from such a travesty. Jennifer whips out a bottle of wine from her Mary Poppin’s bag and informs the girls that her husband is taking the kids while they have a girl night. So then the girls proceed to get hammered and have some seriously overdo girl talk. Mama Matthews admits that Deacon James can “fill out a Christmas sweater.” I died. Then Harmony’s sister whips out a home video of Harmony singing to her parents. They remember their dad. In the video, Harmony is singing really…poorly. Like so poorly I think she’s trying to sing like a little kid. But then Kyle shows up and sings normally so I don’t know what that’s about. That kind of puts a damper on the whole vibe of the evening. And, Mama Matthews has really tied one on at this point. Harmony’s sister asks her what’s UP with Kyle. Harmony says she waited for him at the airport seven years ago. But was he supposed to be coming or going?

The next day, Mama Matthews and Deacon James help out at a clothing drive at the rescue. They help an adorable mom and child get some outfits for a job interview.

Later, Kyle and Harmony have the choir practice outside of the mission. They sound…much bigger than their current numbers. They may have decided to move the whole performance outside? I didn’t catch why they were outside. Okay yes they are going to have the performance outside. Have I mentioned that the performance is going to be outside?

Later, Melo D talks to Harmony on the phone. Melody tells Harmony that she’s not hard to please, she just needs ALOT and none of it is contradictory so it should be a breeze! Then Kyle shows up at the Matthews residence and Mama Matthews is obviously not chill AT ALL. They start making what else, but PIE. Mama Matthews starts playing music. Did I mention, NO CHILL? Then Kyle reenacts “Ghost” showing Harmony how to roll out a pie crust. SUBTLE, KYLE. They abandon the whole pie endeavor and I assume don’t even clean up and Kyle takes her to a club of some kind. Kyle gets called up on stage to perform with the band. He tries to introduce and call Harmony up to the stage. But she is NOT pleased bout that. He starts playing her favorite song and she gets up to leave instead. She is mad. He encourages her to stay and assures her she doesn’t have to sing. But why doesn’t she want to sing, I wonder? He invites her to dance. Then he sings to her as they dance. Oh and she sings back. This is cute even though I’d personally be dying inside.

Deacon James and Mama Mathews are concerned while they chat at the rescue mission. An employee approaches them and lets them know that there is the possibility that the mission will be bought and turned into a RETAIL SPACE. Because the building is just leased. To save it, they need to raise…$5000. They’ve never raised that much before, and at the same time, that is a ridiculously low amount of money needed to save the rescue mission. Couldn’t a few people just spread that out on a couple credit cards?

Later, there is some choir practice and another hot chocolate party. Jennifer, plays an excellent wingman. If you can call it that. She basically squeezes in between Felicia and Kyle on a small chair. Kyle finds Harmony humming along to her snow globe. She tells him she’s not a singer anymore. WHY HARMONY?

Deacon and Mama Matthews tell them the bad news about the mission. Harmony gets a good idea. She just calls up Melo D. She plays her a recording of the choir and Melody is IN to perform at this Christmas concert. But what will she sing? Kyle is going to write AN ORIGINAL SONG for Melo D. Obviously Harmony has to help.

They get to work at some future time. As they work on the song, Kyle wonders if Harmony really wants her old job back. She’s such a good singer so like is she living her dream? Then Harmony suggests they go look for a tree. What DAY IS IT? Isn’t Christmas like, days away? I don’t know. Despite having a “bachelor pad” with towels on the windows, he has a bunch of beautiful ornaments that all go together. And now has some garland around his door, because even bachelor pads are decorated to the max in Hallmark movies. Then they just hum along to the piano together. Kyle holds some mistletoe over their head, but she doesn’t take the bait. They leave again to get more inspiration. HOW MUCH MORE INSPIRATION DO THEY NEED? And when are they going to do some dang work?

At Inspiration Point, they reminisce about the past. Kyle tells her she was his dream. She asks why he didn’t come to the airport? But he doesn’t tell her. WHAT AIRPORT? WHEN? Then Harmony gets some inspo and knows what to write.

Later, the choir practices with Melo D over the phone. They really play up the crackly phone quality. Then we have a montage of choir practice. And by now, they’ve totally revamped the outdoor space for the concert. Then Harmony gets a call. Melo D cannot make it to the concert. There is a snowpocalypse, so she’s trapped.

Later, Felicia tries to practice a part that is too high for her. This is Melo D’s solo. Kyle suggests Harmony try and sing it. She has a VERY high voice. Guys it’s obviously night and day. Felicia is like why would I even try it? Harmony is like what? Me? No. Kyle is like Harmony you have to sing. Harmony is like I’m not a singer! Says who? Basically everyone, apparently. She got ALOT of rejection in NYC. Kyle gives her some tough love. I mean, like just because she doesn’t have a record deal doesn’t mean she can’t sing at her church Christmas concert. Tons of people just do that. Anyway, she finally comes to her senses.

Deacon and Mama Matthews chat about ticket sales and more. Mama Matthews works up the courage to ask Deacon out on a date! Okay this is too cute for words.

Uh oh. Some woman walks into the room and says she saw Felicia doing the “mistletoe tango” with “Mr. Noah.” And Harmony thinks it’s Kyle. But it’s his brother! So then Mama Matthews said that Kyle and Harmony needed to talk. They tell her what happened. Way back when, Kyle went to Harmony’s house to go to the airport with her to both follow their dream in NYC. Basically her dad was like, Kyle you can’t go because you will hold Harmony back. And that special snow globe was actually from Kyle. But then her dad died and this just all stayed unresolved since then. So then for some reason, Harmony has a mental breakdown about her own personal problems and doesn’t want to do the solo. Kyle tells her he LOVES her but she doesn’t believe him. I believe there is some light heresy mixed in as well. At the very least, some taking the Bible out of context. Then he gives her some TOUGH LOVE again.

Okay so now it’s time for the big concert. Harmony and her mom are wearing the prettiest dresses. Melo D is actually on her way too! Kyle still wants Harmony to sing. He tells her that she’s afraid to shine. I LOVE Harmony’s dress. I wish I had an excuse to wear something like that. And now the concert starts! As the choir sings, I realize that one guy has traded his bag of popcorn for a tambourine. Meanwhile, Melo D races to get to the concert in time. Harmony tries to announce that Melo D won’t be there and wants to skip that song. Kyle starts playing anyway and the choir jumps in. So now Harmony has to just sing it! Everyone obviously LOVES it. I LOVE IT. And Harmony gets into it. Right as the song gets over, Mel D arrives. They decide to have her do Carol of the Bells and she’s a good sport about it. And Harmony is just all about singing now and just hops in and harmonizes. And then the song just ends abruptly. I actually didn’t think anyone knew the words to Carol of the Bells.

Surprise, surprise, the concert raised the funds needed! Then Harmony’s boss calls and asks to get the choir to New Year’s Eve to record the single. He offers her whatever job she wants and she’s like, girl bye. I’ve got new dreams. Melo D thinks Harmony should be a solo artist and promises to support her. Melo D is starting her own label! GET IT GIRLS. Or wait, Harmony is starting her own label with money from Melo D and Melo D is going to join it too. Also, Kyle has decided to move to New York too. And then Kyle says he’s not missing his chance. They KISS and every dang extra in the building starts singing “Hallelujah.”

So, I loved this movie. They are all just so dang good this year you guys! What did you think?

The only thing I know about this movie is that Luke McFarlane HAS A BEARD. And frankly, that’s all I need to know. So why don’t we just get after it. This is our first Movies and Mysteries movie and those usually have a few extra heartwarming feels. So we’ll see about that.

Beth, our lead is wearing the cutest blue plaid skirt and is stuck listening to her neighbor painstakingly practice his new instrument. No one leaves that experience unscathed. After it’s over, Beth plays a music box to reset and remembers her mom. Her dad comes in and tells her it doesn’t feel like Christmas yet. It sounds like this is their first Christmas without her.

Meanwhile, at an auto shop or rather, a garage, BEARDED LUKE, I mean Shawn works on an old car with a precocious youth. It is her daughter Katie. He asks her how music recital practice is going. She is pretty stressed so her dad offers to find her some extra help.

At a school, Beth’s dad Tim is asked to give a speech at the upcoming recital in honor of his wife, Johanna. Beth tries to coax him into doing it. He’s very reluctant. But it’s the inaugural year of her scholarship/instrument fund so he finally agrees.

Beth arrives at a music shop and her friend Sheila (by the way, how man women in their thirties do you know named Sheila?) asks her to file some music sheets while she goes to the back and gets something. Shawn arrives and asks to pick up some sheet music for Katie. Katie suggests a different song to help Katie practice. Then they bicker about whether country or classical music is better. How about NEITHER? Sheila returns and Shawn takes off. Sheila NOT SO SUBTLY whispers to Beth that Shawn is a famous country music star. And he even takes photos with a few fans on his way out the door. He takes a violin lesson flyer on his way out. Oh I wonder who the teacher is?

That night, Katie sees a text from Beth on her dad’s phone that says she’s not taking new clients. Katie takes matters into her own hands and convinces Beth to meet the following day by offering to pay her DOUBLE.

Downstairs, Shawn’s brother, no, his agent-arrives. He laments that Shawn doesn’t have a recording studio. And THEN Katie’s grandma Ruthie arrives. She is there to braid Katie’s hair.

Meanwhile, Beth hangs out with her dad and one of Shawn’s Christmas songs comes on the radio. Beth tells her dad she met him earlier that day. Her dad tells Beth that Shawn lost his wife a few years ago and that he always seemed like a nice guy. I think Johanna, Beth’s mom, knew him too but I missed that part.

Back at Shawn’s house, Katie asks her grandma to slick her hair back because she’s thinks it will be more professional. Her grandma encourages her to be herself! They have a really special grandma/granddaughter moment and I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m glad Ruthie is Katie’s grandma. Shawn arrives with hot chocolate and wants to talk to his mother in law privately. They talk about the recital. They talk about her growing up. Shawn feels stressed about balancing it all. Ruthie just very encouraging to him. She knows just what to say always.

Downstairs, Shawn wonders what his agent wants. He tells Shawn he has to get back to Nashville and record his new album. If he doesn’t he’ll be in breach of contract. So he’s got ALOT to think about. Shawn thinks the music left him but maybe a certain person will help it return?

OKAY HIS HOUSE. I would never leave either. Beth arrives and has the same reaction. The doorbell rings and Katie is like oh my violin teacher is here! Shawn is like WHAT. You can’t just hire whoever you want and give out our address! Obviously Shawn and Beth are both surprised to see each other at the door. Shawn is like wait are you even qualified and she’s like yeah kind of. I’m just a professional musician. He’s like well if you’re so good why are you advertising music lessons on a sad little flyer in a local music store? He is finally convinced when she tells her who her mom was.

Katie just says whatever she thinks and blurts out that Shawn doesn’t like music teachers. Shawn just wants the music to flow through you without practicing scales are whatever. Boy these two just could not be more different, am I right? Beth tells Shawn she really wasn’t going to take on any more students because she’s leaving after the holidays and basically admits the only reason she came is because Katie offered to pay her double. Beth doesn’t back down from that rate either. Dang, Beth. I guess a girl’s gotta eat! But side note, if she really wasn’t accepting new students, WHY WAS THAT DANG FLYER STILL UP?

Shawn has several requirements before offering to pay her TRIPLE but forgets his fourth point. Anyway, I think we are all on the same page about the music lessons and the exorbitant rate Beth will be paid. No blabbing about who she’s teaching or Shawn all over town or on social media. So that’s that.

The next morning, Sheila wants ALL THE INFO. Beth is not even gossiping with her BFF. Surely that doesn’t count? Isn’t there a little exclusion clause in all of these contracts that your best friend or sister doesn’t count for internal gossiping purposes only?

Anyway, Sheila is wearing a fantastic red coat and sweater but the jury is out on her bangs. Then Beth runs into an old teacher, Linda or something? Beth shares that she’s kind of struggled to settle in on a job. This woman invites Beth to join her that Saturday to play in a quartet with her. That sounds fun! So Beth gets to practicing. Do we know if Beth knows how to play the violin for real? We know Luke randomly can play the cello in real life right? Does he also play guitar? It’s all the same, right?

Beth’s dad asks her to take a quick practice break to show her that he put up on the Christmas tree. They have a nice moment and start to decorate it.

Back at the ranch, Shawn fumbles through playing the guitar. The agent (who’s name I NEVER catch) is like YES what’s that song called?! He’s like it’s nothing. The agent is apparently is just casually celebrating Hanukkah with Katie inside while Shawn is outside in his feelings. So that’s all fine.

Beth and her dad decorate their tree, looking at all the ornaments fondly. He tells Beth it will feel like Christmas after they visit one more tree.

At the ranch, Shawn’s agent teaches Katie how to make latkes. Guys that massive house. MASSIVE. And we have like an electric stove/oven set up? Wouldn’t he have like a giant gas range and built in ovens? How will he ever resell that thing?

Tim takes Beth takes her to the angel tree in town, which just seems to be in someone’s yard, out in the elements, where the requests can just blow away in the wind or whatever. They agree to take one for themselves and one more for her mom. And no one seems concerned about this tree’s location.

After dinner at the ranch, Katie rushes off to open a massive pile of Hanukkah presents and Mr. Agent wonders about their tree. Katie says her dad waits longer every year to put it up. Katie hopes they will put the tree up soon. Guys, Katie doesn’t really mind sharing whatever is in her heart and mind with any adult willing to listen. Is Shawn so absent a parent that this poor girl is just like starved for adult attention? Or, perhaps, do we have a childless adult writing an eleven year old girl’s dialogue for her? Either way, Shawn overhears.

Later, Shawn stops by a church to see Ruthie. She is conducting choir practice. She gives him a lot of great advice about just like not giving up. Honestly, Ruthie is stealing every scene she’s in. He heads out to get a tree to surprise Katie.

Shawn and Beth run into each other at the tree lot. She’s stocking up on garland, which is something I need to do. And Luke asks her to help him find a tree.

Beth and Shawn get to know each other more. Beth knows Shawn’s mother in law, Ruthie. They argue about classical and country again and he calls her a fiddler. Beth seemingly hears fiddling for the first time as he pulls up a song on his phone and she’s understandably taken aback. He plans to send her a playlist of fiddling. In return, she invites Shawn and Katie to her concert the following night to show Katie what pro violinists and classical music sound like.

Oh so we’re just jumping right to the concert Okay. People snap photos of Shawn as he tries to enter the concert. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like people try not to bother celebrates in their hometown. Locals of that town anyway. Right? Tim kindly meets them at the entrance to help them find their seats. People are barely seated before the quartet gets right after it playing Christmas music. I love it. I could for real listen to this all day long.

Everyone is blown away and Beth tells ol Linda that she hasn’t played like that in years. Linda encourages her to apply for a second chair spot in the Chamber Orchestra. She catches up with Shawn and Katie outside. Shawn is very impressed and Katie is excited for their next lesson. Shawn looks back at her as he walks away.

That night Shawn sings in his barn. Are you telling me that Luke is both bearded and can sing for real?! I can’t. I can’t even. (If it’s true and not a recording of someone else.)

The next day Katie and Beth have a lesson. Katie wants to try some advice that Beth’s mom gave her. And it helps! They take a candy cane break and Beth asks why she chose the violin. Katie said it was so exciting to see Beth playing the violin because all the other ones she’d seen don’t look like her. Then Katie talks about all the fun stuff she did with her mom at Christmas. She just chatters away about all these sweet memories with her mom. Her dad forgets to do the fun stuff. Okay you guys I did not expect to be just sobbing through this movie.

Shawn arrives with ornaments and invites Beth to stay and decorate their tree. Then Shawn asks to meet her at the music store to help pick out a gift for Katie for Christmas. Then Ruthie arrives and they know who each other is but haven’t met yet I guess. Ruthie is AWARE of what is happening.

They must immediately leave the decorating situation and head right to the music store. Wow Shawn is just wearing that turtle neck out and about. They browse the records (some hipster in the Hallmark writers’ room is just OBSESSED with vinyl records apparently) and Beth fills Shawn in on her musical history. She tells him how hard it is to get a spot on in the Chamber Orchestra. Yes, that’s right. The Charleston, West Virginia, Chamber Orchestra is as difficult to get into as the Supreme Court. And it is her lifelong dream. I think he encourages her to go for it? They both talk about how they think they other inspires people. Sheila pops in at this point and I decide I really like her, bangs and all.

Beth arrives home to find her dad visibly distraught because they may not be able to buy all the instruments they promised the school. Beth is like, chill we literally set up an instrument fund and we’re going to be doing this every year! It will be fine. We’re going to like, still raise money.

Shawn and Katie work on their car some more. Shawn asks how Katie likes Beth and she just lights up and says she likes her a lot. She said she talked to Beth about her mom and just felt connected with her because they have so much in common. And I definitely don’t start tearing up. Then Shawn sort of bristles and gives TERRIBLE advice to Katie-he tells her not to let people in to quickly. Beth arrives and says she wants to make some angel tree toppers with Katie and Shawn gets very stern and wants to have a chat.

He doesn’t like that they talked about Katie’ mom. He sees it as a violation of their privacy to talk about her mom. Then, for some reason, even though they seem to have a decent conversation about this whole incident and might have been able to work through it, Beth is like maybe I should just quit and leave. Shawn is like okay, BYE!

Now Shawn has to deal with the fallout with Katie. Wow Katie has a really strong sense of her self and feelings. In this scene, for some reason, Shawn decides to try on a southern accent. I think maybe we should just go back to normal. I am not sure Katie and Shawn’s heart to heart gets anywhere but we’ll see.

Back at home, Beth practices some Christmas songs for her audition, which I feel is a bold choice for a formal audition for an Orchestra.

Moments later, it is time for Beth to audition. She just rips in to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. After, they tell her she will need to audition again and she is competing with one other person. I think we all agree it wasn’t her best.

Back at the ranch, Katie shows Shawn an Angel tree topper she made. ALL BY HERSELF since Beth wasn’t allowed to help.

At some point in the future, the school music teacher makes an announcement at an outdoor Christmas Fair. The Fifth Graders give a mini concert. Katie is there and tells her dad she might be too nervous for the recital. Shawn says he used to get stage fright too. Then he finally gives some good advice to his child.

Katie runs up to Beth and says hi. Shawn says they would all love to have her back. He admits that he overreacted. YES YOU DID GIRLFRIEND. Then Beth’s dad shows up. Katie tells Tim she’s going to play with joy like Johanna always said. After the girls wander off, Tim asks Shawn if it ever gets easier. Just everyone stop crying for two seconds, okay?

Beth and Shawn do some musical work at their respective homes. Beth turns on her music box for inspo. Then her doorbell rings. What do you know, it’s Shawnie head. He is there to give her a better apology. He said he just finished a song and the first person he wanted to share it with was Beth. So now we get to hear Shawn sing. I’ll be honest if I’m Beth I feel so awkward. Do I look at him? Do I look another direction? Luckily here, Shawn’s eyes are closed. So if he did that the whole time it might be okay. Oh no. Now he’s looking right at her. Well better Beth than me. She seems into it. Beth loves the song. Then she jumps right into some constructive criticism. He can take it and tells her that his wife used to do that too.

Oh good. Shawn has a little southern accent again. Then he asks about her audition. He asks if he can take her somewhere. She’s like, sure it’s the middle of the workday so I’m not doing anything.

At church, Ruthie leads the choir in a really fun version of Go Tell It on the Mountain. Shawn has taken Beth there to watch them practice. He says Ruthie took him in and made him feel like family at some point. It doesn’t sound like he has great or maybe living parents? After the song, Shawn says he needs to leave to get Katie. Beth wants to stay and watch the choir more. Ruthie knows WHATS UP.

Okay dang it now it’s time for round two on the audition. The judge is pretty snarky with her previous song selection but for some reason I don’t think he’s allowed to call it by its official name because I swear he calls it the Russian Dance song? Or something like that? Luckily for all of us, she’s chosen a new song to play. We’re all hoping the pant ensemble will carry her through this audition. It is certainly moves the judges. And to be honest, seems much more complicated to play than the last song she chose. So why didn’t she do that from the get go? She’s about to walk off the stage when Linda calls her back. And she GOT THE JOB. Which surprises no one. NONE OF US ARE CRYING WHEN BETH TEARS UP.

Oh wow, a new twist. She has to be in a concert now in like a few days, which just so happens to be the same day as the school recital. Why would they want someone to hop into that concert after only a couple days of practice? No. And the PROCEEDS of the CHRISTMAS CONCERT FUND THE ENTIRE SEASON. WHAT NOW? So do they do no other concerts? Do they not charge for tickets for the rest of the year? Picture me gesturing to a punch of photos taped to a wall telling my grandma “that’s not how any of this works.” So Beth wonders how she will tell Katie.

Poor Katie. Shawn tells Katie he has to go to Nashville to record a new album. And then immediately after that, Beth tells Katie she can’t come to the recital. Katie says she is really nervous to play without her but she’s proud of Beth and this new opportunity. Then Katie drops the bomb that they are moving to Nashville. Just ALOT OF THINGS HAPPENING. It’s ALOT to take in. Beth asks Shawn about the move to Nashville. Guys, how long does it take to record an album? Surely he could go back and forth?

They both say how much they have appreciated each other and say goodbye to each other. And then they hug goodbye.

At the school, Sheila reveals she has LESS CHILL than we though and no discretion as she blabs that a “secret” angel donor who is definitely not Shawn donated a bunch of money to the recital/school.

Beth chats with Linda before the big Chamber concert. She agrees to go with Beth right after their concert ends to go catch the end of the school concert. What time are they both starting and how does the school one go longer? I would think the kid one would start and end earlier. But whatever. We already know Katie will go second to last. So WILL SHE MAKE IT?

Ruthie gives a great introduction speech for Tim to talk about Johanna and the instrument fund. Tim gives a speech that sounds even more impassioned with the orchestra playing Carol of the Bells in the background. Then, the girls get done at their concert and high tail it to the school. It’s Katie’s turn at the concert and she looks out in the audience. She has a couple false starts. So Shawn gets up to play guitar with her as Beth also starts playing her violin. Shawn walks up on stage to join Katie and tells her he’s nervous. She says, stop it, you love this (like his wife used to). Again, WILL YOU ALL JUST STOP CRYING. Oh geez now Ruthie is singing. And then the whole audience stands up and starts singing. And Katie finally can play a little on her own.

After the recital The whole crew hangs out together at Shawn’s house. Tim tells the group that they have enough money for 3 years worth of instruments. How many instruments need to be purchased annually? Just curious. Katie shows her grandma the angel tree topper and says it looks like her mom. GUYS. Just…don’t.

Guys I gotta be honest, I thought this movie was going to end at the recital but it keeps going. Shawn finds Katie at what must be the middle of the night at this point to tell her how proud he is of her. Beth wanders in for…who knows what reason. Now it’s Shawn and Beth’s turn to have a heart to heart.

Shawn invites Beth and Tim to join them for Christmas. And then he tells Beth that he’s not moving. He’s turning the barn into a music studio. Surely they can’t get that done before his current recording obligations can be met. How long are they willing to wait for this album for heaven’s sake?

Now, southern accent Shawn asks Beth on a date. But almost as soon as he tries it, we’re back to regular Shawn. And then they KISS! And that’s the end of that.

Okay so this was the first Hallmark Movies and Mysteries movie of the season. I think this is my favorite Luke Mcfarlane movie in recent memory. Despite the random scenes of attempting a southern accent, I think he is doing his best work. I don’t think I’ve seen Heather Hemmens in any Hallmark things but would love to see her more. I generally don’t like the more serious ones as much as the silly light hearted ones because, well, they’re harder to make jokes about. But I did enjoy watching this and loved the whole story. What did you think?

Okay so here we are again, back for more. No warming up. No time to get acclimated. We have just literally and figuratively dove (dived?) head first into Christmas movie season. Do you see me complaining? Maybe. But again, WE. DON’T. HAVE. TIME. So let’s go.

Our movie opens in a very cute House with nice tall ceilings and enough Christmas decor to kill a horse. A group of friends are playing Christmas themed charades.  Lauren and Nate are on a team.

Everyone is really competitive but Lauren and Nate as a team are next level. They are GOOD. And Nate has gone to the trouble of making some championship hat that note they’ve won this sacred competition for third years running. Wait, they are not dating? One of the guys asked Lauren about her date. Lauren tells them she was too busy and cancelled the date. Apparently he didn’t get her sense of humor. She is a fan of PUNS and he just let himself out.

Later, Nate and Lauren (lots of Nates this year, it feels) walk home together. Nate invites her to some big party. He is TRYING IT. Minutes in and he is at WORK to get out of the friend zone. Lauren agrees to go with him. Oh poor Nate. Lauren is just oblivious. Reminds me of my sister. All through high school and college that dumb idiot would befriend these perfectly nice guys and before she knew it, they were confessing their undying love for her and EVERY TIME she would be just AGHAST that such a thing could happen. And then they all sadly sat around a table at her wedding commiserating together about what might have been.

Nate gets serious. But just as soon as he begins, he chickens out and then pretends to feel passionately about pepperoni and pineapple on pizza. I don’t remember where we land on that. For the record, if anyone is keeping a record, my husband is pro. This is his literal go to order.

At Lauren’s office the next day, the girls are tasked with rebranding for a bakeware company. Well, well, well. The company wants to hear new pitches by Christmas Eve. Everyone needs to submit their own pitches and the best one will be submitted to the company. I wonder if they shouldn’t submit all of them unless one is truly terrible? Let the company decide? But I don’t know how marketing works.

Her friend at work, SUZE (is what I’m calling her) is like hey you and Nate are a great team and he shares your sense of humor, in that the only thing you find funny is puns. Lauren is like as if!

Then Lauren does some marketing work from her standing desk. She calls it a day at 1 pm to go Christmas shopping with Nate. I guess that Christmas Eve deadline isn’t holding her back. No, I guess it’s just her lunch hour. Sweet Nate is planning a Christmas party for some underprivileged children. I don’t know what the circumstances of these kids are but this seems great. Boy these two are just cracking jokes right and left. They have the same sense of humor! Did anyone mention that yet? Nate says he ordered pizza the way she likes it and got her favorite Pinot. He tells her it would just be them decorating the tree at the community center and so she feels weird and bails.

Later, she helps her parents decorate their tree. Well, her dad and stepmom. Her dad asks if she’s talked to her mom lately. Her mom is not present. She spends her time traveling from one place to another. Her stepmom seems Christmas obsessed and loves to do all the things that moms like to do-bake, wear Christmas aprons; you know, traditional MOM STUFF. Lauren’s dad asks if Nate will be joining them for Christmas. He grew up in foster care and now helps foster kids. We don’t have time to dwell on this because Lauren is really digging in on Nate being a friend and nothing more. EVERYONE AROUND HER IS TRYING SO HARD. Lauren will you learn?

Later, Lauren prays to a muffin tin, asking its spirit to speak to her for marketing purposes. Nate facetimes her and shows her the tree he sadly decorated all by himself. He asks how the pitch is going and she says the bakeware gods have remained silent. He said he sent her something to help her work. Gingerbread and hot chocolate, which basically arrives at the door on queue. What a guy, this Nate. My husband-is this a friendzone movie? Me, pausing the show so he can see the title. KEEP UP SIR.

Back at Lauren’s a blonde youth arrives and tells her to chill. She doesn’t recognize him. He’s like dude I’m your first boyfriend. As a YOUTH. But guys, if my boyfriend from when I was 15 showed up as his teenaged self, I would CERTAINLY be alarmed. BUT I would for sure know who he was. He basically looks the exact same. We learn she broke up with him AT WINTER FORMAL. Lauren. Honestly! Anyway, he’s here to help her in his little beanie perched delicately atop his blonde little head. I don’t know how hold Lauren is supposed to be but in my day, the teens wore their beanies fully on top of their heads. Tyler the teenage ghost tells her she’s about to be visited by 3 ex boyfriends before Christmas Eve. Hahahaa bless his little teen heart. He doesn’t remember his whole speech so he reads it from a text he wrote. Again, youths from my day and age were not typing out notes on our flip phones. Wait, am I an elderly person? Tyler disappears to make it home before his curfew and she wakes up. Jay pipes up and says, I feel like this has been done before. I say, hello have you ever heard of “A Christmas Carol?” That’s not it he says (not as politely as I typed, I might add.) But I think he’s thinking of that Jennifer Garner movie and it is the reverse.

The next day, Lauren tells Nate about her experience. Guys, I love that teal/hunter green suit jacket. They both ask each other why they haven’t dated in a while. They agree to “put themselves out there.” Wherever THERE is. Nate privately does NOT agree to this.

Back at work, Lauren decides to stalk ol Tyler from high school. Wow he has a cute little family and a cute dog. Then SUZE arrives and has a super cute outfit on too. Seriously I need a whole separate credit list of links to all the outfits at the end of each movie.

Suze leaves a toy for the toy drive with Lauren because she is too busy to go. The bakeware gods remain silent on marketing ideas.

That night at the community center, Nate wears a festive elf hat and demands the same from his employees, wait maybe it is the youths themselves. HOSTILE WORKOUT ENVIRONMENT. Then he does an embarrassing little rap for them. Lauren arrives with the stupidest toys in the entire world. Nate, visibly disappointed in her toy selection, puts Lauren to work wrapping other gifts and tries to quietly find a dumpster to stuff that giant ancient teddy bear. A woman arrives that seems very glad to meet Nate. She tells Nate she wants to get involved. YEAH SHE DOES. Lilly can’t be all bad. She has a lovely lavender jacket and sweater combo. Very into it. Lauren looks on and smirks. Nate seems happy to meet her too. Nate tells Lauren her toy is better than Lilly’s. Yeah, better in the trash!! Lauren stops wrapping her singular present to say high to some of the kids that hang at the youth center. These youths have LESS CHILL THAN A HALLMARK MOM. NO CHILL. Lauren hears a skateboard and wonders if Tyler is back. Nate is like, other people skateboard. Why don’t you lie down, crazy lady.

The next day, the muffin tin refuses to speak to Lauren so she texts Nate to meet at a lovely Christmas market for coffee. They both reach for a piece of the pastry at the same time. Nate thinks they are having a MOMENT but Lauren is actually just finally hearing from the Spirit of the Muffin Tin. HORRIBLE TIMING, MUFFIN TIN. Nate tries to take her to a romantic restaurant to celebrate her pitch. Lauren shuts him down HARD. Lauren, you idiot.

That night, Lauren’s guitar playing college ex boyfriend, Jake, wakes her up at 2 AM. She is prepared to knock him unconscious with a muffin tin. There’s a pitch for a rebranding!

Anyway, Jake tells her to follow him. They are transported to their college library. Lauren looks at herself and while I wonder how she could look OLDER in the past, Lauren thinks she looks young. She reminds herself not to get bangs again. GIRL, SAME. I am not allowed. Jake arrives with a bunch of cookies. Jake asks if her mom is just as crazy about baking and Christmas. Lauren says she’s not that kind of mom but shuts down any more mom cat. Then they transport ahead one year. Jake is playing a Christmas song for her outside and reveals he’s wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. His mom got her one too! That’s cute. Jake says his mom already feels like she’s part of the family. He invites her to come home for Christmas with him. She doesn’t want to go. Apparently this is the first time he’s said he loves her. And obviously she says she is not ready for any of that. She then has a full on meltdown and breaks up with him. Current Jake asks why she really broke up with him. Lauren is like no it was just that I was super busy and not the deeply rooted trauma of my mom abandoning me. JUST BUSY. They transport to their old dorm. Good ol Nate arrives with gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate. Guys, the backwards hat is not going to make Nate look 21. Lauren says she’s looking forward to seeing her dad. Nate wonders if she’ll see her mom and Lauren says her mom doesn’t care about the holidays and left their family right before Christmas. Nate doesn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas. Jake makes some observations to present Lauren. Like how she totally shut Jake out when he asked about her mom but she opened right up to Nate. Lauren learns nothing.

The next morning Lauren tells Nate about the Jake ex boyfriend dream. Nate has no comment as to whether he liked Jake or not. Nate says he’ll see her tonight and she’s forgotten about decorating the town square.

Lauren tells Suze about her pitch. But SOMEONE ALREADY SUBMITTED THAT IDEA. Lauren tries not to panic. She shoves a few free office pastries into her mouth while she thinks. Lauren heads to her stepmom for more baking inspo. I am on the fence about Lauren’s sweater. Yung shares that she baked with her mom growing up and that is why she loves to do it now. Lauren tells her she wishes she has memories like that with her mom. Lauren’s dad is fantastic. That’s all.

That night, Lauren and Nate decorate the town square? I am not sure how that is any of their jobs but here we are. And then they have the saddest Christmas tree lighting Hallmark has ever seen. That tree is only like 10 feet tall? Where is this? Then, LILLY shows up. She is just shooting her shot at every opportunity. She wants to get coffee after the holidays. Lauren stands back and watches. IS LAUREN AN ACTUAL IDIOT. How can she not see that he likes her. Or that she likes him. Anyway, she says she just wants him to be happy. And he’s like but DO YOU REALLY.

As Lauren gets into bed I realize there is garland covering every square inch of her bed. So yeah I’m going to need to order more apparently. And the Christmas lights stay LIT. She prays to her muffin tin that no ex boyfriends visit her. Her prayers are ignored and a busy businessman is standing in her living room. Henry is here. Lauren is not interested in learning any lessons. Also how many pairs of actual pajamas does Lauren own?

Henry takes Lauren to a Christmas party in the past at his house. The first party they hosted together. Henry says he thought she could be “the one.” And present Lauren bristles. Also she is still rocking those bangs. Wow he asks her to move in with him. That is VERY EDGY for Hallmark. She tries not just melt into a puddle of anxiety. Nate arrives at the party with a girlfriend. She tells Nate about that whole moving in business and she tells Nate she thinks its too soon. Henry asks present Lauren if she notices anything about that little exchange. Lauren is still not learning any lessons. Henry then takes her to their ice skating date a few days later. She tells him she’s not ready to move in with him and she doesn’t see a future with him. Henry thinks she’s running away and then she literally skates away and crashes. Ghost Henry says he’s not surprised that she immediately calls Nate as she panics and sprints out from the ice rink. Henry reminds Lauren that she’s not learning ANY LESSONS. I’m glad SOMEONE IS SAYING IT. Will she learn anything from that teen and that muffin tin?

The next day, Lauren rehashes the dream with Suze. They are making gingerbread houses to impress her in-laws. Good luck doing that with a gingerbread house. They are apparently Christmas crazy. Suze wonders if she has a problem with commitment. UM HELLO. Where have you been all movie, SUZE? I like both their turtlenecks but I don’t think I could pull off the one SUZE is wearing. Suze is also like hi, have you met Nate?

That night they are all at some Christmas festival. I don’t remember what this is all for but there is a sad little banner that says “Winter Wonderland.” So I guess that’s what that is. Nate talks Lauren into a carriage ride. Poor Nate. When is he just going to give this all up? Oh and Lauren calls her self a hot chocoholic and says that doesn’t work does it? But Word doesn’t even think “chocoholic” is misspelled so I think it DOES work.

They have a nice chit chat on the ride and then hit a bump and she goes flying into him. She stays RIGHT UP IN HIS PERSONAL BUBBLE for entirely too long, But this gives Nate the courage to talk to her about his feelings. BUT AGAIN that is when the spirit of the muffin tin decides to speak to her about marketing. And then she comes up with her second unoriginal pitch idea. Lauren, maybe we should think about whether you have any other marketable skills.

Lauren has yet ANOTHER great set of pajamas and went an entire night with no visits from her ex boyfriends. Lauren tells her friend her got her idea in just under the wire. Lauren’s dumb idea wins the marketing pitch (even over her first unoriginal idea). Suze again brings up Nate. Lauren is now at least aware that Nate likes her. So that’s something. Suze does a little sneaky psychology to get Lauren to admit what a great guy Nate is. I still don’t understand what Suze’s job is. Anyway, now we have a montage of Lauren taking pics of her dad and stepmom in their kitchen to prepare for the big Christmas Eve pitch. Lauren and I are on the same page regarding whether we should say no to cake or not (The answer is-you never say no to cake).

Later, Nate has a great Christmas sweater of his own down at the Community Center. He texts Lauren asking whether she is still coming that night; to whatever it is that is happening down there. No, I think she is working late on her marketing pitch. Suze gets her whole presentation on a thumb drive. After chit chatting with Suze, she realizes she is WAY late to Nate’s thing. She rushes down and gives him the Christmas cards. What are the cards for? It’s the day before Christmas Eve? Nate is pretty bummed. He really lays into her and FOR ONCE a Hallmark lead DESERVES IT. And this sweet angel of a human, in spite of all she put him through today and every day FOR YEARS, he works up the courage to tell her how he feels. And then he says he can’t spend Christmas with her family. ARE YOU READY TO LEARN YOUR LESSON NOW LAUREN?!

Back at home, Lauren sits on her couch while sad music plays. She texts Nate and asks to talk. READ THE ROOM, LAUREN. She asks the muffin tin and Tyler not to send another boyfriend to visit. She plans to stay up all night to prevent it from happening. She obviously falls asleep and wakes up to WILLIAM. These poor ghosts are just quietly raging at the task they’ve been given. They head to the forests or mountains or something. She’s got a great coat on. Oh they went on a winter zip line trip! KILL ME. She hyperventilates up on the platform just like I would. She traveled a lot with ol William. And she apparently did tell William she loved him. Uh oh. I think William is going to propose to her on this zipline ledge. To be clear, this would not have gone over well for Ol Cal. I would have been in too much of a state of personal crisis at the idea of plunging to my death to consider a proposal. Guys, do not propose on a zipline ledge. It is a truly terrible idea. And, what do you know? I was right. So anyway, William gives the whole proposal speech to her but is all hooked in and can’t get down on one knee. She says she’s not ready to get married. William actually pushes her a little. He’s like, we’ve been together 3 years so when would you be ready? And then he accidentally falls or something and plunges down the zipline. Lauren “wakes up” and all the boys are there in the living room. They want to know whether she’s learned any lessons. Oh she did! Kind of.

They point out that she broke up with them all at Christmas and that Christmas seems to be a big trigger for her commitment issues. Lauren asks our little street youth a question about changing her ways before its too late. Sweet little teen Tyler has forgotten all the wisdom he’s imparted so far. But is capable enough to transport her one more time. The boys take her to the future. They are here to show her Nate on a date at that restaurant he wanted to take her to. And he is proposing to Lilly. He calls Lilly his best friend and Lauren yells, wait, I’m his best friend. So now Lauren has a mini panic attack about that. Why does she actually care though right now? Two days ago she was like yeah take her on a date! Marry her for all I care!

The next morning, Lauren meets her dad for coffee. She’s wearing a great teal dress. She tells her dad she’s been thinking and reflecting about her failed relationships. Now she’s worried she’s becoming just like her mom. He gives her some solid dad advice.

Back at her office, she looks at a picture of her and Nate. And then it’s time for her pitch…at 4 PM on Christmas. Is there ANYONE or ANY WORK being done at 4 pm on Christmas Eve across the US? I highly doubt it. But here we are, working in basically the middle of the night on Christmas Eve for the muffin tin and the bakeware gods. Lauren has a bit of an emotional crisis in the middle of her pitch. And then obviously has to leave righthissecond to tell Nate how she feels.

I’m not sure why she had to leave work for this party that was clearly in the evening but here she is with her lipstick a little smeared and a very lovely Christmas party dress. She tells him she doesn’t care about losing a client, but I wonder if the company she works for does? I’m wondering if literally everyone else who put their holiday plans on hold might be a little bit frustrated that she fled the meeting (and yet still went home and got TOTALLY READY) to tell her friend she liked him. Will there be consequences? Will the bakeware gods forgive her? We never know.

Anyway, in terms of her personal life, She FINALLY GETS HER HEAD SCREWED ON STRAIGHT and tells Nate he’s the love of her life. And they kiss right in the middle of all the youths. The youths all cheer and die of embarrassment. Then they had out Christmas presents to all the kids. Lauren wonders what happened to the giant stuffed bear she brought? Nate is like, Lauren, none of these teens want a stuffed bear.

Then, thankfully, Nate is at Lauren’s house for Christmas. Nate has a gift for Lauren. If he proposes after one day then I don’t think anyone will learn any lessons. WAIT HE IS. How much time has passed? OMG. Okay even I am a bit panicked at the speed of things at this point. But this crazy gal says yes! And I must say, Nate-dog picked a much better ring than William. And then Lauren sees her old boyfriends creeping outside, finally able to rest in peace or whatever they are going to do now.

Guys, this movie was a lot of fun to watch. I had a lot of fun yelling at Lauren while my husband snoozed away, blissfully unaware, on the couch. But, I do feel that Nate was too quick to forgive what at that point was a LIFETIME of selfishness on Lauren’s part. I think showing up late to that very important party was just not enough. And I do hope Lauren gets some professional help to deal with the trauma of her mother’s abandonment or are we considering Tyler the teenage ghost’s intervention as sufficient? Anyway, best of luck to those crazy kids. What did you think?

You guys, it’s here! Hallmark Countdown to Christmas 2021. We have a full week before Halloween but this is just our thing now and everyone is just going along with it. Some countries have neither Halloween nor Thanksgiving so it really isn’t UNHEARD of to put decorations out this early. Just saying. Anyway, I don’t feel like I’m overstating that this movie was HIGHLY ANTICIPATED. And we’ve only just begun so let’s get after it.

Our movie begins by taking us back in time a few ::cough:: decades. Young Olivia gets in trouble for having her nice clothes on and climbing a tree. She runs through the trees and suddenly is all grown up wearing the same outfit. Today she is a “Christmas Tree Whisperer” but she corrects the person, telling them she’s an “evergreen specialist” because it’s not a Christmas tree until someone decorates it.

Meanwhile, Jack is having trouble on his tree lot. Customers’ trees are just shriveling up right and left shortly after purchase. But the customers like him so much they won’t accept a refund. He promises to provide them with a replacement by Christmas eve. He doesn’t know what is happening!

Olivia has an actual degree in forestry so maybe there is something to her evergreen expertise. Most people use that degree for the working at the Forest Service, not helping sell Christmas trees but to each their own.

Her mom calls and wants to make sure she packs a specific outfit for the “gala” (of course) and on brand for all moms everywhere. She panics because she thought the Gala was cancelled. She was engaged and broke it off! Justin was too…something. Anyway, she doesn’t want to face all those people.

Meanwhile Jack’s mom(whose name I NEVER catch) is at his house…well, her house. She recently moved into a retirement community but she is still cooking there for poor lonely 40 something Jack. She’s got a Christmas apron on. He talks about trying to keep his family’s business in the black…and find out what’s wrong with the trees. His friends show up to eat his mom’s food. They bring a big jar of…alcohol? Maple syrup? Anyway, it’s a consolation for all the bad trees. He is calling a tree expert to figure out the problem. Oh is he?

Olivia is working in her little office and her coworker is wearing one of my favorite Christmas sweaters TO DATE. Olivia tells her friend that she’s “Christmased out” now. Her parents are A LOT. Olivia promises her friend she will try and have some Christmas cheer.

Jack calls Olivia for help with his trees. Olivia works at a college in their forestry program. This is ALL ADDING UP. Olivia, dodging her family obligations, jumps at the chance to check out his tree situation. Also, Jack gives directions and they actually say goodbye to each other! So yay for real phone conversations.

In Avon, as they both enter the roundabout, Ben drops his phone in his coffee and then they get in a little fender bender. She quickly realizes he is the person she’s supposed to meet. They’re kind of bickering about how much damage there really is to her car. Also, I’m not sure why she doesn’t immediately tell him when she realizes but maybe we’re trying to stretch out every last minute of this movie. She finally tells him. Sheesh. She tries to start her car and something drops down from underneath it. It is the TAILPIPE. Oh we’ve got a classic “stuck in a small town with car truck scenario.” GIDDYUP. Except, this time, Olivia is super stoked about it. The part won’t be here until tomorrow. Surprise, Surprise.

Ben takes her to the Avon Inn and it is decorated as beautifully as you all hope. Things in this hotel are more modern than years past. A CODE for a hotel room not a key! The front desk clerk is perky and helpful, telling Olivia about all the Christmas goings on in town. Olivia calls her mom to let her know what’s happening. Olivia’s mom continues to hold her phone at arm’s length while she talks. WHY. Olivia’s mom wonders if she should run a comb through her hair and change her outfit. MOMS am I right? My mom’s rebuttal: Sometimes moms just know when their kids need to run a comb through their hair.”

Olivia looks at the tree at the party in the lobby downstairs. There is a hot chocolate bar but boring wet sandwich Olivia wants hers PLAIN. She prefers things in their “natural state.” So she doesn’t even like Christmas trees to be decorated Also, hot chocolate is CERTAINLY great on its own. But if there are toppings, you MUST take some. Isn’t that a rule of hot chocolate bars? Olivia has a thought based on what she sees from the tree in the lobby. She says she’s going to do some more thinking and they can chat more tomorrow. She tries to head back upstairs and he encourages her to stay for caroling. They start singing O Christmas Tree but she still heads up to her room.

The next morning Jack and Olivia meet at the Christmas Tree Farm. She sees a handful of disappointed families. They exchange a few tree puns back and forth but Jack wins. Olivia observes that the trees look great, until they’re cut. So she asks to see a tree cut within two days. Jack’s friends Elliot and Kelly arrive. Kelly is wearing a FANTASTIC sweater. Wow. 2 for 2 on sweaters.

Kelly suggests some hard cider after hearing Olivia’s bummer of a Christmas memory. (She had to be fully glammed up before coming downstairs to see what Santa brought.) We all say out loud, isn’t it like 8 in the morning? She opts for regular cider and amazes them with her refined palette. Is that…vanilla? She wonders? They stare at her in awe. How does she know what vanilla tastes like? AMAZING. But she is a TOTAL nerd. Then she suggests that Jack diversify his inventory/crops and he shuts her down hard. Kelly and Elliot jump into wingman mode. We’re all here for it.

Another day another dollar. Jack’s mom has NO CHILL. As per usual. She rushes over the next morning to return that pencil she borrowed. Did I mention how great the house is decorated? Jack’s mom becomes wingman AGAIN and urges Olicia to join them for the “Christmas Cocktail Competition.” Jack’s mom wonders if he’s just afraid of losing. Olivia obviously knows about chemistry. So now it’s on. This is a new angle on competition and it seems fun!

Jack sees his mom flirting with a guy and wonders what’s going on. Nothing she says. Jack and Olivia square off. The only rule for the cocktail is that they have to use some of the cider in the drink. Jack and Olivia chit chat as they mix their drink. She is straight up using a chemistry set. Olivia shares she always felt happiest in the woods. JACK TOO.

Okay now it’s time to taste test. Elliot and Kelly get absolutely HAMMERED tasting all the drinks. Olivia also put pine needs in her drink. That seems gross! Jack goes by what feels right and Olivia goes by what is right. Boy they are just two peas aren’t they? Elliot and Kelly thinks Jack’s drink is truly awful. Olivia WINS. Is anyone surprised? I am, considering that pine need business. But what do I know. Wow. Olivia does a little victory dance. It’s…fine. I’m proud of her for doing it.

Dwayne, the Christmas tree lot competitor shows up to thank Jack for giving him more business.

Back at Jack’s house THERE IS GARLAND ON THE LIGHT FIXTURES. An ornament drops off one of the sad dying tree branches. Then Jack gives Olivia an overview of all the ornaments on the tree. They add a new special one every year. Olivia’s mom hires a decorator and chooses a theme every year. This year’s theme was supposed to be a Christmas wedding she admits. So then Olivia has to kind of talk through that whole mess. Then Jack sneezes. They wonder if he’s getting sick but it gives Olivia an idea. She wants to dig up a root ball with one of the trees. She agrees to stay one more night to figure this out. He knows why she’s really staying. They head out to cut down and dig up a tree. It starts to snow. Jack loves it. And to be honestly, they both get a little weird about the snow fall. Case in point, Olivia just wanders away and lays down in a sad little pile of snow. She says being in the trees is her favorite thing in the whole world. Jack stresses about his whole business going under. A little city cop strolls by and shines a flashlight in their eyes. Jack tells them they’re doing scientific research. The fifteen-year old-cop asks, “Oh is that what they’re calling it these days?” They die of embarrassment and I laugh out loud.

They both compete for who is more of a New Englander as they try not to slip on the ice and lift the tree into the truck. For some reason they bring the tree back to her hotel room. She vows to just stare at the tree all night. Surely she could set up a camera? They have a MOMENT as Jack leaves.

The next morning, Santa is downstairs meeting kids. Oh well what do you know, Jack is Santa. Olivia overslept and rushes downstairs to meet him. The candy set up in the lobby looks wonderful. Olivia knows her next step now apparently. She needs to bring the samples back to the lab on campus. Jack offers to drive her back to the campus because she’s so tired and that’s the only reason.

Back at the lab, she is running all the tests. For some reason, there are boxes and boxes of mistletoe in front of her office. They were supposed to be wedding favors. Why would they be delivered to her office though? They decide to take them back to his craft fair and sell them. Not going to bother trying to return them or see if they were sent in error? Okay. They now have to wait ten hours for the test results. Jack says he’s going to go nuts waiting. So she suggests they do some of the town’s Christmas activities.

Oh good. First up is gingerbread house building. MY FAVORITE. But there are NO TREES with which to decorate their ginger yard. What are they going to do? No tree cookie cutters or candy. They head back to the kitchen and I don’t know what their plan is but they do make some trees out of…I don’t know, the gingerbread walls? But by the time they come back someone has taken all the house pieces. They decide to make his tree lot instead. Olivia tries to temper his expectations for her work and ability to fix things. She mentions diversifying again. He thinks his dad would be so disappointed if he diversified. This gingerbread house activity was kind of a bust, in my view. So they move on to the next activity.

Did they have to construct a reindeer out of wood? I’m not sure, but the old barn is all ready for the craft fair I think. And then they wrap empty boxes. Then Jack gets an email from the mayor about the town’s Christmas Eve tree. Olivia wonders why they wait until Christmas Eve to light the tree. Jack tells a wonderful story about the town coming together during a power outage and storm and decorating a big tree in the town square. Very Whoville of them.

The mayor says he needs a tree by Tuesday. He says they can’t risk waiting until the last minute. He’s going to use Dwayne Colson’s tree instead. NO! He’s the worst! Jack asks that he wait and see if he can get the tree figured out by then. The mayor agrees.

Olivia gets a call from her mom. She wonders if Olivia is avoiding going home. Her mom has made a nail appointment for her. Olivia is like well I am SUPER BUSY with this tree mystery so BYE. Then Olivia gets the lab results. Still no answers! They now need a full genetic sequencing. That takes WEEKS to get done. She still doesn’t know how to save this year’s trees. He asks her to tell him what she’s really thinking. She says she’s worried because she doesn’t know how to save them.

Melissa, the Inn Manager, suggests Jack make an actual MOVE. He thinks its not the right time. We all disagree.

Upstairs, Olivia has a breakthrough.

Olivia shows up in the morning with an idea for Jack to try! She thinks she can come up with a plan to save the trees temporarily. She said she can make it seem like this whole thing never happened. And Jack says “except for the part where I met you because I could do that again and again.” OMG. I could watch THAT SCENE again and again. Jack wonders if she shouldn’t do this all back at the lab. And she is like, oh shoot yeah I’ll leave. And then they decide to do some of the craft fair outside so she can stay and work there. At this point my dad walks in and wonders, aghast- You didn’t tell me there was a craft fair in this movie? My mom replies, there is ALWAYS a Christmas Craft Fair.

Everyone loves having the craft fair outside. Who wouldn’t when it’s 100 degrees outside? Jack’s mom things its fate that Olivia’s here. Inside the barn, Olivia works away at her little slow release tree medicine. Jack comes and grabs her to hang out at the outdoor Christmas Craft Fair. We see Jack’s mom and Harry having a MOMENT.

Jack invites Olivia to go for a walk. They HOLD HANDS. Olivia has another breakthrough about the trees. She’s going to add some sap to her little concoction. And then she makes a little nutrient pellet. Now they just need a tree to test it on. They add it to the water of the tree at the house and wait. Olivia wants to wait up and see what happens. She tells Jack he doesn’t have to stay up but he wants to see what happens too.

The next morning, Olivia fell asleep on Jack’s shoulder and feels embarrassed. Jack’s mom and Harry arrive with some breakfast. Olivia tells them they won’t know if it worked for sure until later tonight. So, why did she have to wait all night? Then Elliot and Kelly arrive. They wonder if everyone is going to sit and stare at the tree all day. Jack’s mom wonders if this will impact her gift exchange party. Olivia says she doesn’t have a gift to exchange. Jack asks the friends to watch the tree while he and Olivia go pick out gifts to contribute.

They arrive at a very expensive looking boutique and Jack tells Olivia they can only spend $20. There is no way anything in that store is $20. Yet, they do each find something and have to keep it a secret from each other. Wow the store does gift wrapping.

Later, they do their white elephant gift exchange. Everyone takes turns explaining the rules. Olivia has never played this game? Bless her heart. Wow. Jack and Olivia picked the EXACT same thing at the store. A book about Christmas trees. Olivia gets a robe and slippers. How is that only $20? Anyway, she makes a great pun and swaps for the book. For some reason they swap identical books? And now Jack’s mom has prepared a yule log. They invite her to cut into it to find the ornament to hang on the tree. She resists because she’s not family but they all agree she is! She finds the ornament right away.

Jack’s mom gives Olivia some good advice about speaking up for herself. She says she can’t expect her parents to fix a problem they don’t even know he has. I mean, yeah is that the case? I didn’t realize. Anyway, Jack tells Olivia he trusts her to fix their tree problems. Kelly hopes the tree isn’t fixed quite yet so Olivia stays longer.

It’s time to check the trees! It worked! They hug and he picks her up. As a tall girl, this is something I’ve never been comfortable with. Olivia makes it awkward and asks for a double high five. But I felt that awkwardness in MY BONES.

Jack and Olivia pass out their tree pellets to all his customers to revive their trees. Olivia takes a look at a tree getting loaded into the back of a truck. She tells the tree good luck. It is the town tree. They get it all set up in the town square. The mayor is RELIEVED.

Olivia tells Jacks she is actually enjoying Christmas. She wants to take this feeling home with her. But she has to go home because her parents would never forgive her. But Jack wants her to stay for the Christmas Eve event. Olivia wonders what would happen after Christmas. She lives an hour away for heaven’s sake. And then they KISS. He asks to meet her there in the morning.

Back in her hotel, Olivia tells her mom that she’s going to stay in Avon and head home on Christmas morning. She is finally honest with her mom. She tells her they have ALOT to talk about. Maybe like 30 years of suppressed emotions? SOUNDS FUN. Actually, it sounds more like Festivus.

The next morning Olivia and Jack meet up at the town square. They are happy until they get a text. The tree in the town square is dead and brown. Dwayne arrives just in time to gloat. He says his tree will be there in a few hours to save the day. Olivia feels terrible. I wonder if Dwayne was up to some sabotage? Olivia then brings up diversifying Jack’s crops again. Then Olivia kind of has a little melt down about her own personal problems. So she just bails. She heads straight to the hotel to pack up. She slowly packs up her little mixology award and ornament from the yule log.

Back at the town square, Jack and his mom pack up ornaments and Dwayne asks to use them to put them on the good tree. Jack’s mom wonders where Olivia is. Jack tells her she left. She’s like why? She gets the whole run down from Jack. Her mom is like, this seems like manufactured drama. His mom wonders why he doesn’t diversify. Jack sings that song “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof. His mom is like, Jack you are a silly goose. So she encourages him to go after Olivia. Olivia is on her way out of town and is stuck in that same silly roundabout. She runs into her parents! They meet at the coffee shop.

She gets a little huffy with her parents about having tree branches in her hair. She goes on a little rant about how she’d like to celebrate Christmas. Her parents seem to take it all in and they apologize for making her feel bad about herself. They agree to revamp some of their traditions. Just like immediately. No push back. Then she tells them about Jack. She thinks she blew it with him and wants to just go home. Did they really just drive that whole way for a ten minute chat in the coffee shop? As Olivia walks to her car she hears two idiots bragging about helping Dwayne make sure he gets the town tree. Olivia sees all the weed killer in the back of their truck. She smartly gets a “selfie” with those two idiots and the weed killer displayed prominently in their truck. She runs to the town square and puts a little tree tablet in the soil and explains to the mayor what happened. Dwayne digs in and says they should still use one of his trees.

Our favorite little fifteen year old cop takes Dwayne down to the station.

Now it’s time for the special moment. Oh wait, Jack’s mom says “Tree now, Talk Later!” Haha so then it’s time to decorate the tree as a town. I hope she let her parents know. Oh they stayed! They don’t care about that silly old yacht club party. And Olivia is wearing the coat her mom loves so that’s all good. Then they meet Jack! They are now super cool, breezy parents. Olivia is like, yeah I was wrong about my parents for my whole childhood I guess. Jack tells her he IS going to do some diversifying of his crops. They have their silly little “ no I was wrong” chat and then they kiss again! Then the whole town counts down to the tree lighting. It looks beautiful despite the dead branches.

My mom and I agree this movie really got us in the Christmas spirit. It was SO Christmasy. There was a lot more comedy infused into this than a typical Hallmark Christmas movie and I loved Ben and Danica together. I don’t think I’ve seen a Benjamin Ayres movie I didn’t love, honestly. Cranberry Christmas was one of my faves last year. So yes, this was a great way to kick off Hallmark Christmas season and honestly gets me excited for the rest!! Let’s GO! What did you think?

Sorry for the delay my Hallmark pals. I am travelling this week so I had trouble getting to this one “on time.” I am also trying to charge up for THIS WEEKEND. I cannot believe it’s here. Granted, Christmas is still two months away but every store in town seems to be taking its cues from Hallmark. So, despite living in the PNW and still wearing flip flops on many occasions, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But in Hallmarkland, it’s still “fall” so let’s get after this movie okay?

Our lead, Kendall is giving an interview on a talk show. The interviewer things she’s “hacked romance.” And she’s written a couple books on dating. She has a data driven approach to dating I think? Seems kind of like matchmaking. Like the kind you pay a lot of money for and they run you through their algorithm. Yes, her approach is facts over feelings. If the data supports it, anyone can be successful in a relationship without work or feelings to get in the way! She does some straight up match making in the interview with a couple of audience members. Wow. Can’t wait to see how that plays out. Then she gets asked about a “feelings based” love columnist. He’s an idiot, of course and his approach should NOT BE CONFUSED WITH ACTUAL DATING SCIENCE YOU GUYS.

Dr. Lovestruck watches the interview and obviously disagrees and wonders what the science of love even means. I wonder that myself. He wants to meet up with Kendall and set her straight. Nathan, Dr. Lovestruck’s Christian name, helps his pal Larry level up his anniversary weekend. I actually HATE his suggestion because it’s super cliché and corny but maybe this guy’s wife will like it. We’ll see.

Kendall debriefs with her friend or assistant, Ella or whatever. Ella would like to be set up with a random stranger in a television audience too too. Oh she is the editor. Forgive me Ella! Kendall needs to churn out another book. Didn’t she just finish one? But she is struggling to come up with another good idea.

Back at home, Kendall has ZERO book ideas. She reads some articles by Dr. Lovestruck for inspiration. His latest article is about “grand romantic gestures.” Kendall and I are on the same page here that they are dumb and can be meaningless. Kendall’s sister, Joy, is over and she is directing this rant to her. Her sister has a new boyfriend and asks Kendall to go easy on him when they meet. She is not sure she can. I’m not sure I can either. We’ll see about TYLER when we meet him, OKAY?

Meanwhile, Nate dog is in his boss’s office. His boss asks him to do an author profile on…KENDALL. He is not allowed to tell Kendall that he’s Dr. Lovestruck because it is supposed to be a secret. I wonder if that will be an issue later.

Kendall is at “Book Salad” for her book signing. The store owner, Grant is pretty dang cute. Ella is VERY interested. Oh, wait no she wanted Kendall to date him. Maybe Ella should give him a shot. Nathan shows up to listen too. Kendall reads from her book. We are all bored to tears. Nathan waits until the very end to get his book signed. He asks her to sign her book for “Larry.” He starts asking her about her book and she seems a little defensive. Kendall says her books are based on statistics. And he asks like where her idea came from. She doesn’t know! Ella recognizes Nathan as a reporter for the magazine. And then he says he wants to interview her for the magazine. So now the cat is a little out of the bag.

Grant the wet sandwich book store owner (he really is, bless his heart) comes by and Ella has to try and contain her drool. Kendall doesn’t like that Nathan called her “entertaining.” She thinks it’s condescending. Because IT IS.

Kendall stares at her blank white board at home again. No new book ideas! She decides to google Nathan instead and read some of the interviews he’s done.

The next day, they meet for coffee and Nathan somehow knows her order. That is so creepy. Like how would he possibly know that? Then, this cute older couple approaches them and thanks Nathan for their coffee. Kendall calls him “theatrical and thinks its all an act. I mean, now that she mentions it, it might be? But also, Kendall is a skeptical robot. And Nathan is a too in his feelings hippie, apparently. (Her words.)

The next day, Kendall has tons of new inspiration for her new book. She is going to experiment on herself this time! OH Kendall is going to “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” poor Nathan.

The next day, Nathan is getting coffee at work and gazing into space. Poor Larry updates him about his anniversary weekend. It was a disaster from top to bottom. His wife was allergic to the flowers (how would he not know that?) and their dinner got rained out. But luckily, Larry and his wife turn out to be good sports and said they ended up laughing it off and having a great time. Nathan seems overeager to get to know Kendall. Larry turns into Mrs. Potts and starts singing “There may be something there that wasn’t there before.”

Joy creeps up on Kendall at her house while she sketches out her mathematical equation/compatibility test to figure out how to make a relationship successful. She wants to see where things might come together or fall apart. It is a crazy Hallmark situation of course, but it is actually kind of interesting. I am here for it, for now.

That night, Kendall has dinner with her sister Joy and the boyfriend Tyler. They seem cute together. Kendall tries to get to know Tyler. He seems really nice. They say their relationship was “love at first sight.” But Kendall is like, girl no that’s not possible and can’t let it go. She explains that you get signs from your neuroreceptors, not your heart. BUT IT’S ALL IN YOUR BRAIN GUYS. Even your “heart feelings” are in your brain. Doesn’t anyone understand that? Your heart doesn’t actually feel feelings. Kendall essentially receives two hard eyerolls from Joy and Tyler in response.

Anyway, Kendall is wearing a fabulous pink suit for like a date/research thing with Nathan. Everyone is wearing jackets but it’s pretty green outside. So like is it fall? Is it early spring? Nathan’s jacket is suede. Is that a clue?

Both parties think they can make this about work instead of a relationship. I don’t think that’s going to work out very well!! Nathan gets a beautiful bouquet for Kendall, explaining to Larry that the only reason his parents are still married is because his dad buys his mom flowers once a month. Boy that’s pretty dark, Nathan.

Kendall heads back to Book Salad. Are we committed to that name? She is picking up some books. Poor wet sandwich Grant strolls by and talks about her personalizing books for sale. Oh Grant. Bless your heart. He wants some advice. Oh no. Is he talking about being interested in her? I can’t tell. It MIGHT BE ELLA. I hope so. I feel so uncomfortable. She tells him not to do anything and tells him to let her come to him. Oh what if he’s talking about Ella. Oh I hope this works out. I CAN’T TAKE THE SUSPENSE.

Kendall and Nathan run into each other and he hands her the flowers. He starts talking about the flowers and she straight up asks who writes the Dr. Lovestruck column. She just goes for it.  Wait, what is the vibe of his farmer’s market. DO I SEE A HINT OF FALL DÉCOR? A sad little pumpkin on a shelf? A solitary leaf garland from Michael’s? I’ll take it. Oh and a blurry fall colored mantle in the background. Then they hear bells. UH OH. Like what Ella says happens when you fall in love or something?

Then they have a lovely picnic lunch in the park. She says a bad break up got her into this biz. They talk about the different feelings in a new relationship and she turns into a robot. He thinks she’s too serious. SHE IS. And he is too distracted. I don’t know about that. She is just a straight up robot. Nathan suggests they do something fun that afternoon. They do more talking and getting to know each other. She guesses some core components of his personality pretty accurately. They go to a random outdoor drop in judo class. Just throw on some used gis and just get after it. They are literally on a clothing rack outside. Where did they change into them though? Gross. Kendall went to “judo camp” every summer. Anyway, they’re having a good time.

Kendall crosses some things off her white board in the relationship progression. Things are going according to plan I think?

The ladies at the publishing company are stoked about Kendall’s upcoming book. Then we find out that ELLA is dating someone. But it’s very new so she doesn’t want to talk about it. Where is poor Grant in the middle of this?

Nathan and Kendall’s next date is a ropes course or something? Kill me. No thank you. No book is worth doing a ropes court high above the ground. My palms are literally sweating as I watch this scene. She’s just sitting on a swinging board like 50 feet above the ground. I can’t. I can’t even watch them do this. No. Nathan is going to keep going? No Nathan! Think of your family. I’m dying.

They have a nice chat RIGHT NEXT TO A MOVING TRAIN. They say they are enjoying getting to know each other and he says he is glad she has nothing to hide. I think? It’s not like they can actually hear what the other is saying. So then Kendall immediately spills the beans on her book idea. It seemed like he was about to spill the Dr. Lovestruck secret too but he doesn’t. He wants to pick his own name in the book. I think they land on “Spike.” Are we sure about that one? And then we don’t circle back to Dr. Lovestruck. Hmm. Okay That probably won’t be a problem later.

Kendall chats with Joy while she does some painting right in the middle of her living room. Kendall shares that she’s bringing Nathan to the art show. Joy says there is something to gut feelings. Kendall says you can’t quantify that. Fair.

Nathan participates in a meeting and his boss calls poor Larry “Levi.” I must admit I found his name equally forgettable and didn’t realize it was Larry until AFTER this scene. Nathan’s boss loves his first draft of the Kendall profile. Nathan wants to give Kendall a heads up about Dr. Lovestruck before it goes to print. OOH and now we hear that Nathan might be up for a promotion. It’s a little late to bring up a promotion opportunity isn’t it? At least it isn’t “Junior Digital Print Editor” or whatever. After some chit chat with Larry, Nathan realizes he and Kendall are dating. KEEP UP GIRL. Then he basically talks himself out of telling Kendall that he’s Dr. Lovestruck.

Later, Kendall and Nate walk and eat seafood from a cardboard baskets.

That night, Kendall has dinner over at Joy’s house. Tyler is making vegan chili. Oof that bums me out. Tyler read Kendall’s book and thinks she’s got a point. Oh, Joy is the vegan and Tyler is trying his best. Okay that makes sense.

The next day? Kendall and Ella shop in an abandoned warehouse. Ella spills that she’s bringing a date to some Gala they’re all going to. I missed what this was. Is it for the magazine? No, Nathan is covering the Gala for the magazine. I have no idea what the Gala is for but it’s Hallmark so of course there’s a Gala.

Later, Nate dog is committed to that suede jacket and takes Kendall wine tasting. This extra playing the wine pourer is doing THE MOST. Just taking every opportunity. Kendall looks like she has a filter permanently applied to her face. I don’t hate it but she’s matte and everyone else is not. So it is noticeable to say the least. While Kendall and Nate chat about making relationships work, the couple Kendall set up in that television interview show up to tell her they’ve really hit it off! They’re like a total couple now. It’s only been a few weeks. Now it’s time for Kendall to make her choice on which wine she is going to buy? I think? Anyway Nate dog knew which one she’d pick. After the wine tasting, Nate takes her outside for a full fledged romantic dinner. Oh cute. He takes her hand.

Larry finds Nathan frozen in place at work the next day. He obviously really likes Kendall. Nate’s boss really likes the Dr. Lovestruck column. He doesn’t read them because he’s an expert on romance after being married three times. I didn’t notice he was a creep earlier.

That night is Joy’s art show. Things are going really well. Tyler is very supportive. Then Nate arrives. Oh it’s time to meet Joy. He grabs her hand! Later that night? Nate works on a new article for Dr. Lovestruck about meeting the family of the person you’re dating. Meanwhile, Kendall is on to step 4 in her relationship formula. These two crazy kids might just make it!

The next morning, Nate wants to chat with his boss. He mentions to Nate that he will be considered for the “Features Editor” opening. Oh! He like has the job already. And he didn’t even need to plan the company Christmas party to do it. Very exciting. And now someone else will take over as Dr. Lovestruck. I still can’t imagine that Kendall won’t be irrationally angry when she learns the truth. We’ve got about 15 minutes of movie left so anything is possible. Nathan texts Kendall and asks her to meet. At the restaurant, she orders an iced tea and they’re sitting outside. That’s a summer drink and they’re in Seattle. Okay and then somehow instead of telling her the truth about Dr. Lovestruck all kinds of things distract them. First, she learns about his promotion! Then she sees Ella and Grant together!

So I’m glad Grant ignored her advice or did he? Oh good they’re joining Nate and Kendall. So no discussion about the Dr. Lovestruck business. But we still have time. Not much. He chickens out of telling her after lunch. She invites him out to dinner.

Kendall gets the whole book proposal done and shares it with Ella. The title is “how it worked for me…” which means that she and Nathan are going to be in a real dating relationship. Ella is very happy for Kendall and suggests Nathan review Kendall’s book proposal. So she heads over there to show him. Is Nate finally going to fess up?

She sits down at Nathan’s kitchen table and sees a mark up of the Dr. Lovestruck column and a draft article up on his computer. Do nobody’s computer screens go to sleep in Hallmark movies? She is unsurprisingly very huffy. She’s like, hey I told you what I was doing why didn’t you extend me the same courtesy? He’s like girl chill out. But she’s got to be mad otherwise the movie would end too early.

So Kendall storms on home and tries half heartedly to erase her work on the white board. But she’s left the writing on too long so it doesn’t erase very well. So that’s kind of futile. Kind of like when you try to slam a door but your shirt gets caught on the handle. Kind of ruins the whole dramatic moment.

The next day, Kendall is still huffy. Joy arrives to save the day. Oh Joy doesn’t know what happened. Kendall says she has to throw the whole book out now but Joy is like no you love him. And just write the book so you can pay your bills. Why does only Kendall have like a filter effect on her face?

So tonight is a book Gala but what is the purpose? In fact it’s night 1 of a book gala. I DON’T GET IT. Kendall is wearing a super cute pink dress. Upon arrival, she immediately starts looking around for Nathan. She walks up the stairs and misses Nathan arriving. Nathan then enlists Larry’s help for a grand romantic gesture which as we all know, is on brand for him. The Gala kicks off with a Q&A with Kendall. They ask for a preview from her newest book. Kendall punts on some of the tougher questions by encouraging people to read the book. Like obviously. She is just barely getting started. Who reviewed this questions beforehand? Nathan immediately asks a question. Is anyone surprised that it’s a speech and not a question? WHOA he loves her? Well, luckily for all of us, everything is forgiven. He also likes the new book proposal. They kiss and then dance the night away.

Well, that was pretty cute. It was very silly but do I even need to say that at this point? They’re all silly. I liked these two. There was a little hint of fall and it was a unique story line. So yeah! Worth a watch! It was a nice way to close out the “Fall Harvest” series. What did you think?

It’s 50ish degrees outside. I have a blanket on. I have a sweet and spicy tea. I am ready for a FALL movie.

Our lead, Sarah is working in a food truck, which she owns. Spoiler alert: It has a truly horrible name-Munch. Everyone is in the cutest fall sweaters. The leaves are all of these beautiful colors. Oh wait. NO. This is South Beach Love and Hallmark isn’t even trying to make it seem like fall. Sarah has committed to catering her niece’s quinceañera. They had to change the day but I’m not sure why.

Our other lead, Tony, is also getting booked for a quinceañera for his niece. He looks sadly out the window (where it is raining because of course) while on the phone. Something happened with “Anna.”

That night, Sarah learns she’s cooking for 150 people. And Lola’s grandma gives her some recipes to try. FUN! I bet Sarah loves the idea of practicing new recipes for her largest catering endeavor. They reminisce about Lola’s mom’s (Delores) quince. And then Lola says that her friend Theresa is mad because her party is the night before hers. I missed why the date is changed. And Tony is coming back for it. There is some HISTORY there.

Sarah heads into Lola’s room and has a heart to heart about…who knows what. I don’t remember. And offers to buy Lola her dream dress for her party.

Tony arrives to his…sister’s (Maria) house? Maria is Theresa’s mother btw. And she doesn’t seem phased about Lola and Theresa’s quince on the same weekend. She seems really happy and friendly.

Tony and his family have a lovely dinner. Then they ask why he hasn’t been home in two years. Are they eating in a bathroom? The echo is insane. Maria says she submitted Theresa’s quince to a magazine so Tony has to cater it.

The next day, Sarah wears the most absurd child’s bike helmet while she rides her oversized child’s bike around. Meanwhile, Tony chats with his parents. And if Tony’s mom keeps hugging him, he’s going to leave before he even has a meet cute with Sarah. Tony takes his dad’s old car to stroll around the “old neighborhood.” Sarah leisurely strolls the farmers market, sniffing everything. Her notebook is IDENTICAL to her dress. WHAT. Then of course she knocks down all the fruit when she notices Tony. So then he rushes over to help her and it’s a super awkward run in. Tony asks her to catch up. She agrees to a walk. Sarah walks her oversized children’s bike as they talk about their old relationship. Apparently they wanted to open a restaurant together but Tony became a big shot. Then they realize they both are catering their nieces’ quinces. Guys. Like so in their early twenties, they were dating and then trying to go into business together? And they had money to do this? And why would they do this as just dating?

Back at the food truck, we get more of the back story. They were both up for a spot at a prestigious culinary school but neither got in. So, instead they BOUGHT a food truck. And THEN Tony found out he got in and bailed on the food truck. Oh this is insanity. Like did she buy him out? Or like what were the details of this? Her friend Kevin encourages her to submit herself for the magazine about quince food.

Tony cooks with his niece and mom back at the house. Matt and Tony finally catch up. Tony wants to eat at Sarah’s place for lunch. He tells his family he apologized so they are all good. Yeah right.

Tony heads to the food truck and I realize it’s called “Munch.” Terrible. Matt tells Tony that Sarah wants to open a new location in South Beach. Tony asks to breakfast the next day. Dang, Tony doesn’t play. Then later, (how much later I don’t know. Time doesn’t seem to be linear in this movie) he discovers that his niece is going to be at the same place as Sarah and her niece the next day (or again, later that same day?). So Tony becomes super helpful and offers to drive or pick whoever up. I don’t know.

The next morning, the girls are all at the dress shop picking up Lola’s dream dress. Apparently all the girls are doing emerald dresses this year. Then Tony shows up and AGAIN, HE. DOESN’T. PLAY. He invites her to dinner. Then Theresa shows up and is mad that Lola picked the same color dress. There is a terse moment with everyone. And then poor Lola decides to get a different color dress.

Oh and now both parties will be in South Florida Quince Style or whatever the magazine is called.

Back at Tony’s house, they do some menu sampling. Then Sarah texts him and asks to talk. He again asks her to dinner. She’s like, is he asking me out? Like what have you been thinking he’s doing the the last 3 times you guys have run into each other? Like every time he talks to her he’s asking her out.

Okay so they meet at the restaurant even though his text said he’d pick her up. Also they are dressed so fancy. Everyone is always so fancy on dates in these movies. A guy comes by and gives them a drink on the house. Tony asks him to sit and hang out for a minute. He tells them he’s selling the restaurant. So this must be Ernesto.

Okay WHAT TIME OF DAY IS IT. They start walking and talking and it’s still light outside. Didn’t they have dinner? And that’s when Sarah finally tells Tony she will be in the magazine too. He’s like cool! Don’t care. Then he tells her that he and his girlfriend broke up. That was what the sad rainy window scene was about earlier.

Alright now what day or time is it? I think it’s the next morning. The lighting is WILD. OMG. Okay so the photo shoot is TOMORROW for this magazine. And now it’s a competition to see who will be on the cover. Yep. That all adds up.

That same day? The chefs are getting organized for the party. Sarah walks up to Tony with her child’s bike. Sarah gives him some unsolicited advice about delegating. They are at her house and she invites him in. They talk about how ridiculous this magazine is. AGREED. She asks him to try her food and for some reason she feeds him. We all feel so uncomfortable. Tony is not impressed and suggests adding something. He wants to add something spicy and then says they should add something sweet too. She suggests MINT. Is she just a terrible chef? Mint? With spicy peppers? And then he suggests they make some Cuban Irish fusion food like they planned to when they were going to have their own restaurant. So we get a little cooking montage.

By that time, it’s finally night for the first time in the movie. They just dive right into the Cuban pot pie. They call it shepard’s pie but it’s a regular pie crust. Oh wait, no it’s not night. The indoor lighting is just cray. And they both think the mint works. I DISAGREE. He then invites her to go dancing with his family that night.

WOW Sarah’s little (and I mean LITTLE) dancing dress. Sarah runs into Maria. Maria wonders how Delores is doing. She doesn’t know why Delores is upset with her. How about because her daughter is a jerk to Delores’s daughter? Anyway, it seems like Maria is going to call her. Then this family gets to dancing. Sarah and Tony sit down and order a drink. He asks why she’s still single. Then they hold hands!

They chat about the good old days in the car on the way home. They talked about their split too. It’s boring. Their whole deal doesn’t make any sense to me but then again, that’s fake Hallmark exes for you.

Sarah invites him in to see the disaster that is Lola’s choreographed dance situation. Tony steps in and offers to help. WHOA. After the dancing he walks her to her door or she walks him to his door or something and THEY KISS. OMG

The next day is the photo shoot. It seems like Maria and Delores are trying to make amends? The chefs do some interviews. They’re in their little chef outfits.

Now it’s photoshoot time. The girls are wearing totally different dresses (not the ones they picked for their party) and they are having fun doing this all together. I’m not sure why the chefs had to be in the photoshoots and why they had to make their own food for this photo shoot. After the photo shoot, the two girls have a good chat. The chefs have a good chat too. Tony tries to get Sarah to go out with him again but she has to work. Like seriously, at every turn. Did he just see her again and was immediately like, okay I want to get back together after not giving this girl a second thought for ten years? Because like I said, HE DOES NOT PLAY. At the food truck, Kevin encourages Sarah to put in an offer for Ernestos.

Kevin calls her AGAIN in the morning and suggests it again. He is up and at it and Sarah was dead asleep. Somehow this regional magazine has a booming web presence and they are advertising the competition between the two cover options. And trying to get the reader to vote on who they like best. And they each said rude stuff about each other apparently? DRAMA. But the magazine misquoted both of them.

Sarah tells Delores she made an offer on Ernestos. It seems she hasn’t really thought through the financing side of the bid. She was like, I just hope the bank will offer me a low rate because I did not double check before submitting my offer. Then Tony comes by to talk about the stupid website. Sarah gives a weird random speech about women in the food industry and Tony is like wait what do I have to do with your ability to finance a restaurant? And then all of a sudden they’re talking about trying to get back together and Sarah is like, no I’m too hurt from last time so no. So that was ALOT.

Lola calls Theresa and they talk about Sarah and Tony and their moms being friends again. They decide to end the family feud. Well GOOD FOR THESE GIRLS.

Tony has a heart to heart with his mom about Sarah. I stopped paying attention during his mom’s speech. It doesn’t matter. Tony does some taste testing at Ernestos. He tells him he wants to make an offer on Ernestos. Ernesto tells Tony that Sarah made an offer. Okay he shouldn’t have told him that and what difference does it make? Shouldn’t he be taking all the offers?

So Ernesto tells him that someone obviously outbid her. So he outbid that person. And then he pitches that they could do it together. She’s like, I haven’t seen you in 10 years and now you want to run a business together? That’s fair. Also he should have talked to her about it.

It’s quince day and the venue calls Matt and says there was a fire in the kitchen so they have to cancel. Oh WAS THERE? Wait, no Lola didn’t try and trick her family. Then Theresa suggests they have a joint quince! That’s what I’m thinking. After a lot of discussion, they all finally agree to it.

It’s quince rehearsal time. Delores says thank you to Maria and she dismissively says “it’s for Lola.” Maria is no nonsense at the rehearsal. The girls ask to practice their speeches and talk about how great their moms were and how much they loved being such close friends. And now they’ve prepared a slide show of them as little girls. It is very moving to the moms. The moms have a heart to heart. Oh and then Delores says she wanted to buy Maria’s house but Maria took a better offer. So she was hurt about that. Maria was like oh it was just business. I wanted more money. But then Maria offers to find them a great house. I mean, like we can all dream right? I don’t know. That’s weird. Then Sarah delivers the blow that the magazine was only into the dueling chef angle of the quince. Because that makes sense.

The night of the big quince, the chefs are working together. Good old Kevin makes the chefs quit for the night so they can enjoy the party. The girls looked so pretty in their dresses! Holy cow how expensive was this party. Then the girls do their dance and it isn’t completely humiliating. And of course now the chefs have to make a speech….as is tradition at a quince.

Sarah and Tony talk after the party? Or during? Who knows. Who cares. She says she might have been too hasty about that restaurant business. He’s like luckily I only asked you this morning and have been too busy to ask anyone else. They agree on a split. 70/30but who’s paying what? Anyway then they kiss. 6 months later, Cubish opens. I love when people start a new business venture and a dating relationship at the same time! I bet that will work out so well!!

So guys. I hated this movie. It was edited so weirdly and it was just alot of Hallmark nonsense. I think it had potential, as they all do. But it was just not it for ol Cal. But again, I JUST WANT TO SEE PEOPLE STROLL THROUGH A PUMPKIN PATCH WITH A PSL. JUST ONE SCENE. Put a vest on one of these ladies. Some boots. A plaid scarf. A fall wreath on the door. AM I ASKING FOR TOO MUCH?!!! Anyway, what did you think?