December 24, 2023 • 45 mins
This week's movie, our last one before Christmas, was ah-mazing. A Biltmore Christmas was nothing short of spectacular. We've got time travel, we've got old Hollywood glam, we've got an instant classic. Come listen as we try to figure out the plot too the movie within the movie and as we fawn over the magical chemistry between Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristoffer Polaha. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi. I'm Jenny. Hi,I'm Carrie. We're best friends and new
moms. We're also the ogs ofHallmark Christmas movies. That's right. We've
been watching these movies since long beforethey became a Christmas juggernaut, and now
we're here to talk all things Hallmarkwith you because we know you're watching too.
Sit back, relax, and getyour Hallmark on. We are the
(00:22):
Hallmark junkies. Ho Ho Ho MaryChristmas. Everyone. This is Carrie and
(00:46):
this is Jenny. Producer Harry isnot with us today. I'm not sure
where he is in the house.Let's assume he's sleeping. He is probably
sleeping somewhere. You may have wonderedwhy we did not release our podcast a
couple days go. Let's blame iton Carrie because Carrie got her kids cold,
and Carrie is still kind of sickon Christmas. Old. Yeah,
(01:07):
there's nothing like being sick of Christmas. I always say, It's like it's
like you're saying, there's nothing likea dead parent at Christmas. That's right,
Just you know, dead parent andHallmark being sick in real life.
That's just how it goes. Yeah, So I'm going to apologize in advance
for any coughing or gnrfling. He'sa little character. Yeah, yeah,
(01:29):
I think so, Jenny, whatmovie are we talking about today? We
are talking about the instant classic ABiltmore Christmas. Yeah. I mean,
I don't know if I'm jumping aheadhere, but I'm just going to say
it. I loved this movie.Love love, love love. It's oh
yeah, it's so good. Iam a big fan of the forties and
(01:55):
fifties and the movies and the picturesand like the glamor of I took classes
on these kinds of movies in college. I was that kind of English major
and I was obsessed. It wasreally it was so good. Yeah.
And I mean I don't also jumpingahead, but Bethany Joy Lenz, who
(02:15):
is our who is our heroine starlead female? Oh my gosh, she's
so good. She is a reallygood actress. She is I mean,
I was like CCB who wow,and Laha we have Palaha Yeah, Christopher
Palaha who is a Hallmark. Imean he's like a big wig. Yeah.
(02:40):
And I write for you. Youmight know. Did you know he's
a romance author? Yes? Idid. In the back of my head,
A bell is going off doesn't hewrite with someone? He wrote with
someone, like a series with someone. Yeah. Yes, Christopher Blah has
done a ton of Hallmark movie He'sbig in the Hallmark world, and I
(03:02):
feel like this movie was made forhim. Yeah. Probably, And I
also I just feel like if theyever like, okay again, I'm jumping
ahead to you. So he didlast Christmas season when they did Haul Out
the Holly. Is that the moviewith Lacey? It's Lacy? He was
(03:23):
in that. He did a cameo. He played her best friend from high
school's husband, and he shows upin maybe like two scenes, and in
one of them he does a JimmyStewart impression. And I remember watching that
and thinking, wow, like thatis so good Jimmy Stewart. I love
Jimmy Stewart. I do too,and like, you know, so I
(03:46):
want to put out there in theuniverse if they ever do some kind of
Jimmy Stewart biopic they probably already have, but if they do another one,
he needs to be in it.Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. I
was just watching It's a Wonderful Lifeyesterday and Jimmy Stewart is so guinea just
enough, y I do you knowI think my husband has a huge crush
(04:08):
on Donna Reed. I could seewhy. I mean, she's a dish
like he. I swear he toldme once he had a huge crush on
her. But now he's denying it. But I'm pretty sure he did.
Let's go with it. He does. Yeah, yeah, Okay, should
we just get into it. Let'sdo it, starting off with picture It?
(04:28):
Are you right? Named after ourfavorite golden girl, the Fia Woho
this Lilly? Okay? Ready?Picture It? Santa Monica by way of
Ohio, twenty twenty three. Strugglingscreenwriter, writer sorry, Lucy Hargrove has
finally got a big project to workon, and that is a rewrite of
the Balaman Films nineteen forty seven Christmasclassic his merry wife. But she's struggling
(04:54):
with one thing, and that isthe happy ending Carrie in the original movie.
And let's I get this right.Charlie, who is an angel trying
to get his wings, decides tosacrifice getting his wings for all of eternity
so that he could ensure that hisfinal assignment, which happened to be his
wife, Rebecca, could remain withher new love that she found after he
(05:15):
died and that was James. Okay, and I get that right, I
think So I've been wondering, ahweek, how you were going to do
this for it, and many kudosto you. First of all, I
just want to say that the previewthey do for his married wife, like
the promo ad, I thought wasso spot on like that, it honestly
looks like it's a movie they didgreat. Yeah, it looked like one
(05:36):
of the old like forties Hollywood thatyou could go to Netflix and watch it
like, uh huh, it's actualmovie. Yeah, like this was big
budget. Yeah. Also, Ijust want to put in it really has
nothing to do with it. ButI hate movie remakes. Hate Oh yeah.
Yeah, I'm like, if theydid it, it's a wonderful life
(05:56):
now, but they put a wholebunch of different people in it. I
want Yeah, I don't even likethe version where they put it in color.
I want black and white original.Yeah. Yeah, But anyway,
I'm super into this movie. Ithink you got it right. But we'll
talk a little bit more about thismovie within the movie later. Yeah.
Okay, So back to Lucy.Lucy's a cynic about love, so she
(06:19):
wants to make the ending more quoteunquote real and that would be Charlie doesn't
give up his wings at the endof the movie, and he basically is
like, I I'm in love withRebecca. So the movie ends with Rebecca
walking off into the distance and we'reuncertain about what her future is. That's
what I got, Okay, that'swhat I got too. I had to
(06:39):
rewatch it a couple of times.And so he gets his wings right,
and think because we learned that Lucy'scynical because her mother left right when she
was young, and she learned,don't ever trust anyone right. Everybody just
does what's best for themselves. Yeah, everyone's out for themselves. So he
(07:00):
gets his wings and he's just like, you do you life, and she
doesn't go with that guy, andshe just she yeah, yeah, So
she walks off. He doesn't helpher find her new love. She's in
love with his memory. She nevergives up on it. Yeah yeah,
all right. So Lucy Hargrove meetswith Michael Balaban, who's head of Balaban
Films, and he does not approveof her said real life ending, So
(07:25):
naturally, what's he gonna do.He sends her to the actual builtmore estate
in Asheville, North Carolina, sothat she can experience a builtmore Christmas herself,
and this will obviously make her changeher mind and believe in the happy
ending. So off she goes.Of course, it's right before Christmas,
is going to have to give upChristmas in Ohio and caroling off to Biltmore.
(07:46):
She takes the Biltmore Tour immediately uponarriving and comes to this magnificent library
with an hour glass that was actuallyused as a prop in the original film,
and by accident, she knocks overthis hour glass and oh no.
She suddenly transported to the nineteen fortyseven movie set of His Merry Wife,
(08:11):
which was filmed at the Biltmore estate, and she starts talking with Jackie Houston,
who starred as Charlie the Angel inthe original movie. Can we talk
about that library? Yes? Anddo you know what I want to talk
about? No? The Christmas tree. Oh, I don't know, because
I don't know what they had onthat Christmas tree. But I loved it.
(08:35):
It was like a mix between likeicicle lights that you hang outside and
tinsel oh inside that it was alittle overspenciled for me. I was oh
no, I was like, look, at that sparkle. I loved it.
Yeah. And also I'm wondering ifthat was a Balsam Hill tree.
Oh we'll get to that. We'llget to that later. I have a
(08:56):
little fun fact for you. Ohoh good, because I have another Balsom
Hill to Okay, good, Okay, So I'm sorry. She's in nineteen
forty seven talking to Jack Houston,but it's spelled Huston, but it's Houstin,
it's Houston. It's it's like inNew York City where Houston is housedon.
But anyway, that's neither here northere. So side note about Jack
Houston. We had learned a littlebit early that he died one year after
(09:18):
the movie was filmed Christmas Eve,nineteen forty eight. That's important, all
right. So Lucy's freaking out,but it's okay. She gets back to
twenty twenty three, and in twentytwenty three is Builtmore superfan Margaret, who
takes her to the Builtmore tree lightingand Lucy's like, you know, I
haven't had enough yet, so shedares to go back. She flips over
the magical hour glass and we're backin nineteen forty seven again, and we're
(09:41):
there long enough so that she catchesJack Houston's eye again, and she finds
out that there actually was an alternateending to the original movie, and so
this lasts about an hour. Shegoes back to twenty twenty three and now
she's on a mission because this isgreat because she wants to change. Yeah.
So she's like, Okay, Igotta do this again. I gotta
(10:03):
get back to the nineteen forty sevenmovie set and I gotta find out what
the alternate ending was. And sowhat does she do? She does exactly
that. She figures it out withMargaret super fan of Biltmore. She goes
and flips the hourglass and she's backin nineteen forty seven again, and she
pretends to she's this time she hasclothes, Yeah, nineteen because she's Sandy
King girl in the movie. Likewhat is a candy King girl? By
(10:24):
the way, I even googled itand I got some really weird results.
Oh oh yeah, Oh, anyway, she's back there. She catches Jack
Houston's eye again and he's like,hey, lady, who are you really
like? Oh? Because she saysher name is Sandra Bullet, right,
Yeah, I loved that. Andshe's like, I'm Balaband's girl, and
(10:45):
you know what she does. Shegets the script and guess well, it
was an ending where Charlie does notgive up his wings. Mission accomplished.
She knows that she has this perfectalternate ending and that was actually the original
ending to the movie. Back totwenty twenty three. She's gonna go,
but uh oh, she happens.She breaks the hour glass. So now
(11:11):
she's seemingly stuck in nineteen forty seven, at least for a little while while
they fix the prop. So what'sCarrie a girl to do that's stuck in
nineteen forty seven? Builtmore estate?At Christmas? You hang out with Jack
Houston. Exactly exactly, She hangsout with Jack Houston because we can see
there's a big connection. They getsome hot chocolate, they get some mursted
(11:33):
chestnuts, They talk about their deadslash absentee parents. They talk about points
that is, but he cut onpoints that he is, which some people
do. I know. I'm apoint set of person though, yeah,
me too. Yeah. So laterthat same night, Lucy heads over to
the hotel bar and chats it upwith William West, who is the film's
director, and she brings up thealternate ending, and she brings up the
(11:56):
fact that she knows that Claude Lancaster, the Hollywood star playing James in the
movie, is trying to get ridof Ava Hayward, who is the Hollywood
sort of star playing Rebecca in themovie. You see, Ava was considered
oxick at the time, So Iwanted to add a couple of things to
that, please do So wait,what was his name? The actor?
(12:18):
Guy? Which one Claude Lancaster.Yes, Claude Lancaster. So he we
had learned also on the tour ofthe Biltmore that he was considered the nice
guy in Hollywood. Yeah, thathe always played the nice guy roles,
but that he was considered a niceguy. Offset but we learn when she
goes into the past he's really kindof a jerk. Yeah. And Ava
was actually nice, Yeah, shewas very nice, but like you said,
(12:41):
she the last couple pictures she wasin did not do well. That's
right, she's poison. So also, her hair was a mess that whole
movie. I don't know what someone'shair in nineteen forty seven would be that
much of a mess. I justdon't I agree, But I'd liked her.
I liked her character I did too, Yeah, just not her hair,
all right. Sol is trying tooust Ava little side plot, and
(13:03):
he had given Lucy Hargrove the noteabout it, so she gave that to
William West. William and Lucy leavethe bar. Ava is right there and
she finds the note. She overheardthe conversation. She realizes that they're trying
to get her off this movie.Okay, we make it to the next
day, which is Christmas Eve,right, and of course they're filming their
(13:24):
movie on Christmas Eve, even thoughthey had said earlier they were off that
day. But what they're filming andthere's a little break and we come to
my absolute favorite scene in the movie, and that's when Jack and Lucy find
themselves at the piano and sing jinglebells together. Yes, they're getting very
close to kissing, but the meandirector lady in the movie I think her
(13:48):
name was Peggy storms in. Sheinterrupts the kiss and she's like, guess
what, Ava Hayward has quit thefilm. Lucy and Jack are like what,
Oh no. Lucy's like, Igotta fix this because if I don't,
I've altered nineteen forty seven forever.Through my time travel so Jack and
Lucy chased down Ava. They findher quite quickly at a train station,
(14:09):
and they also convince her in liketwo minutes to come back to the film
that it was like a weird kindof disaster that got fixed in like thirty
five seconds. However, it's ChristmasEve and we have the big builtmore Christmas
Eve party and Jack asked Lucy tobe his date. Yes, love is
(14:30):
brewing between these two. The partygoes amazing. They kiss, He gives
her he looks amazing. Really,I didn't like that dress? You didn't
didn't you like the lake? Iliked the thing, yeah, the fur
thing. It looked good when thefur thing was on, but I didn't
like it without it. Oh Ithink I blocked it out and it doesn't
have the fur. Oh yeah,the fur was amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
So he gives her his watch,which was really sweet, so that
(14:52):
she wasn't late all the time anymore, because she kept grabbing his hand too
to look at go do you knowwhat he did? What? I'm going
to steal a line from a songhe popped the Jack pop question in advance.
Do you know what it is?What? What are you doing?
He asks her out on New Year'sEve, and so a switch goes off
(15:15):
and Lucy's like, what the heckam I doing? I am from twenty
twenty three falling in love with abig, huge movie star in nineteen forty
seven, and she's like, allright, I gotta go. She runs
off and she's like what the hourglasshas also been fixed right now? This
is perfect. I'm going to goto the prop master's truck. I'm going
to give the hourglass. I'm goingto go back to my real life in
(15:37):
twenty twenty three. This isn't real. I'm a cynic like stop off,
she goes to find it. Asshe's running to find it, Harold Ballaban
a Balaban film shows up and he'slike I heard about the girl claiming she's
from Balaban Films. That's not real, and we get this chase, and
so security's chasing Lucy. Lucy's tryingto make it to the hourglass and Jack
catches up with her and she levelswith him and she's like, listen,
(15:58):
I'm from like eighty years in thefuture. I don't know what I'm doing
here, and Jack kind of doeswhat Charlie the Angel did and he's like,
you know what I'm going to giveup what I want. I'm going
to give up everything, and yougo, I'll stop these people. You
go off back to twenty twenty three, and so she's like, she tries
to stop and warn him that he'sgoing to die in a year, but
(16:18):
she doesn't have time. She tellshim it's going to be December twenty fourth,
nineteen forty eight, but doesn't gettime to say you're going to die,
so she runs off. She makesit to the Hourglass past Claude Lancaster
because Aba Hayward hits him with asnowball, and she goes back to twenty
twenty three. It's so sad.Her face when she gets back heartbreaking.
(16:41):
So we get to one year later, kind of an epilogue, but not
like a true one because you didn'thave like your closure yet. But anyway,
we are filming the remake that Lucyshe wrote, and we get a
cameo from Westbound Brown Sorry and RachelBoston. I liked that because they're like,
this is going to be better thanCheck In to Christmas exactly, which
is the movie that they did together. Yeah, yeah, And turns out
(17:07):
Lucy kept the happy ending in thefilm. The hour Glass. The actual
twenty twenty three hour Glass is actuallymaking its way back to Biltmore. It
had been on a stint at theSmithsonian, and Lucy's like, you know
what, it's Christmas Eve. Shethinks about going back in time again,
but she decides against it, andit's like, oh, no, Jack's
gone forever, and I'm so sad. But all the sudden, in this
(17:32):
heartwarming scene, Jack shows up.He figured out the hourglass trick, and
he tried to do it like athousand times, he said, and then
he was like, wait, Decembertwenty fourth, nineteen forty eight, that's
the day it's going to work.That's the day I can go into the
future and live with Lucy forever.And so he faked his death and that's
why all the things say he diedDecember twenty fourth, nineteen forty eight.
(17:55):
It was actually that he was givingup everything to travel to the future to
be with you forever. And thenyes, the hour Glass gets put in
storage sideways, so hopefully never againwill anyone travel doing from Yeah nineteen seven,
Builtimore, Yeah, happily ever afterbeautiful. Wow, I'm so impressed
(18:18):
with you. I mean, I'mnot kidding. I was watching that thinking
how is she gonna recap? Thatwas an excellent thing. Okay, I
also was crying watching this, andthen my husband started vacuuming and doesn't want
to kill him he does do thisa fan Yeah, yes, which I
mean I like because then I don'thave to do it. But I think
(18:41):
I gave him like the meanest lookever. Yeah, you can't vacuum during
this. Yeah, I was like, no, this is a really important
part. Yeah, yeah it Yeah, you go first one if I sec
be, I mean, come on, yeah, it's easy. Five,
yeah, six, it's loved it. Just a movie. Yeah, this
(19:07):
is now moved into my like topthree, Like I just really same for
me. It's different. Yeah,I like the absurd movies usually like and
it was just beautiful. Yeah,I loved it. Oh my god.
Should we take a break so wecan go cry? Let's do it.
Let's cry together during the break.Okay, we'll be right back. Okay,
(19:40):
we're back. We're still crying alittle bit, but that's okay.
Like that was a cry. Yeah. Really, should we get into freek
for all? I have so muchto say? Yeah, okay, I
mean, do you want to startthe first one? I think both of
us were thinking. I think so, I mean, were you thinking about
how like about the movie within themovie his merry wife? Uh huh?
(20:04):
Is up with the ending of thismovie? Because so exactly we think the
plot is that Charlie dies and hebecame an angel and he has to do
certain tasks as angels do, workingtoward getting your wings. Yeah, and
he's on his last task before hegets his wings, like he has to
(20:27):
do this one. What it isis that he has to make sure his
wife from when he was alive findslove and happiness. Uh huh with this
dude? Yeah, Well, they'reall saying there's a happy ending, which
is the original ending, which ishe gives up his wings and he makes
(20:52):
sure that his wife gets together withthe stiff, which I don't find happy.
I find it gut wrenching. Ifind it right, it's one hundred
and eighty degrees from happy. Andat first two I was like, but
he gets them together, which wasthe task, but he still doesn't get
his wings. I know. Isthat because he ran out of time?
(21:14):
Do you know what? I thinkit was because he actually showed himself to
his wife and said, like,you need to this is I'm an angel
now or whatever. He kind ofbroke character or whatever because I don't think
she could see him or whatever,and so, and he said, you
need to you need to move pastme. We need like I'm gone.
I want you to be happy.It'll make me happy if you live your
life. I think that was okay, still not happy, I know,
(21:37):
yeah, because I know at onepoint they were like times up and he's
like, you know, I'm goingto go run after her. I don't
know, maybe that was it.Maybe that was a I'm not sure what
the heck was going on there.It wasn't happy at all. No,
that's it's yeah, because so nowhis wife is with someone else, he
doesn't get his wings, which thatkind is sung. Yeah. Is he
(21:59):
impurgatory? You got to keep doingthis help doc in purgatory forever? Yeah.
I felt like it was his lastchance and he was just not going
to get his wings now. Andthat made me sad too. This was
about bad luck. But here's whatI was thinking too. Okay. I
was actually shocked by the ending inthis movie. And I think it was
because of the non happy happy endingin the original or in the movie within
(22:22):
the movie, because I also thoughtwhen when Jack Houston got left in nineteen
forty seven Forever to die a yearlater, I was like, that's not
happy. But they're pretending this otherending is happy, so they probably think
this is happy too. Like Ididn't expect him to come back because I
thought they had wrapped it up andpretended it was happy. That was kind
(22:42):
of sad. I realized probably halfwaythrough that he didn't really die and he
was going to come back. Ohsee, I was shocked. That's why
I loved it so much too.I was actually surprised by the ending,
yeah, which I also have someissues with, but okay, so that's
what they called the happy ending.So the ending that she wanted and that
(23:03):
was actually the original ending, wasthat Charlie. Yeah, Charlie gets his
wings and does not convince his wife, or doesn't because the whole within his
married wife, Charlie is not tryingto get them together the whole time,
he's trying to break them up.Right, it's the very end when he
(23:26):
decides. Yeah, So in thatending, which also is not happy,
he gets his wings, but he'sstill dead and she does not end up
with anyone, and she's just wonderingalone. It was like an ambiguous ending,
which I actually think I would haveif I, let's say I was
watching this movie. I think Iwould have hated the ambiguous ending if that
(23:48):
she wrote, because that, tome, it's like the ending of Sopranos,
where it's like it all just goesblack, Like, no, I
need to know if Tony Soprano died. I need to know what happens with
Rebecca and James exactly. Yeah,Okay, yeah, I think we got
it all out. Okay, Ithink we did. That's that's everything I
thought about it. I mean,but then I do wonder like so he
(24:11):
So Jack Houston comes back in twentytwenty three, the world thinks he died.
M hmm on Christmas even nineteen fortyeight, Is anyone gonna notice Jack
Houston walking around? No, Anta, Monica. They'll just be like,
it's eighty years later. They're goingto be like, you look like Jack
Houston. I doubt people are goingto be like, did you time travel
(24:33):
from nineteen forty eight? Don't makeme laugh because I'm gonna cough. They.
I don't think they would think hetime travel, but just like something
was up. I don't know,and also I don't know if you noticed
this. When he comes back,he said, wait, I haven't written.
Oh he said, we set upmy fake death. Yeah we Yeah,
(24:57):
So who's we? Is it?Jonathan Frank he plays Winston the guy
who I think it is. Ithink it's Winston. Yeah, Winston is
because I don't think we talked abouthim. He is the guy that is
a sort of in charge for thecore. Yeah, yeah, of the
Yeah, I thought it related tothe movie because he's also the one at
the end to turn the hourglass sideways. Yeah, so I thought, yeah,
(25:18):
I thought it was Winston who didit with him? Yeah, okay,
that one makes sense. Let mesee. Yeah, I have a
couple of it. Did you noticeduring the tree lighting ceremony it was like
the most unceremonial tree ceremony that they'veever done on Hallmark. There was no
music, There were no speeches orlike anything. Like they walk outside,
(25:41):
they're looking into tree, the lightscome on and they're like, okay,
let's leave. It was a prettytree though, like a noise pretty huge
tree. Yeah yeah, yeah,you're right. It was kind of a
non big deal tree lighting. Iwonder that if that's what it's like a
built more Christmas. Now we shouldgo obviously not this year. No,
no, no, not this yearbecause I'm sick, but you know whatever,
(26:03):
literally, yeah, So what doyou have? Okay? Oh I
do. I have a little questionfor you. Yeah, I've been thinking
about. Okay, so he hastraveled from nineteen forty seven to twenty twenty
three. What do you think isgoing to be the most shocking thing to
him living in twenty twenty three?Oh wow, I think it's going to
(26:30):
be phones, like people always juststaring walking around staring at these devices.
Yeah. And you know I thinkhe's can like the whole Internet. Yeah,
yeah, be crazy. But Icould see him as a social media
influencer, like he has that cheekysense of humor. Jack Houston social media
influencer. I could see me like, what the heck is social media?
(26:51):
This is ridiculous. Yeah, itis ridiculous, but I love it so
much. You know what a boldmove is? Do you tell ordering someone
eggnog? Oh? Yeah, you'reright, maybe not though it's very polarizing
though, you know, like peoplethat really like eggnog or they don't.
(27:11):
It's like fruitcake. I do likeit, so do I there's been this
year a lot of movies with eggnogdrinks, a lot like but I think
I think she's with the director.Yeah, it's William at the bar and
she says something about eggnog and thenhe's like, okay, two eggnogs.
She didn't say she wanted an eggnog. She was saying she would, Thank
(27:34):
goodness. You imagine though, ifyou had like the opposite end of the
spectrum and they were like, wow, yeah, that's why he's a director.
Story with William West and his wife. I thought that was sweet.
I did too, And I thinkthat guy who played William West is the
director of the movie. Oh really, I think so we should have to
go back and look. Yeah,did you know that their names? The
(27:57):
thing about their names Jack and Leesee that it's the names from Sandra Bullocks.
So while you were sieving, yes, I think it is. Yeah,
while you were and while you weresleeping, start eating Sandra Bullock and
Bill Pullman their names were Jack andLucy very much. That was really cute.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sothe hour Glass, you know,
(28:22):
which is like our most important prophere is going to be lent to the
Smithsonian. Yes, and they're goingto put it in some film collection,
which the Smithsonian does actually do.The Smithsonian is coming to pick up the
hour Glass on Christmas Eve. Justwrap your minds around that. Like on
(28:44):
Christmas Eves they are making someone fromthe Smithsonian go to Ashville, North Carolina,
which is a good eight hours fromDC, to pick up this hour
glass. I was like, you, like, they're coming the day after
tomorrow. I'm like, it's ChristmasEve. There was a lot on Christmas
Eve because when we went forward twentyI guess four because it was the Uplock.
They were filming again the movie onChristmas Eve. And it's like,
(29:07):
you can film a Christmas shore,we're not during Christmas, Yeah, which
Hallmark does for forty movies a year. Yeah. Wouldn't you have to pay
like time and a half for that, hopefully, I mean at least yeah.
Yeah, So that was going on. Do you want me to do
another one? Actually kind of goesit kind of goes with this. Actually
(29:30):
it's just the idea. And youmentioned it in your recap of sending people
places over Christmas with no notice oreven asking if that's okay, Like it
happens at a job a lot,and like on the you know, twenty
second of December, they're like,oh, we need you to go out
to California, Like, no,sorry, I got plans. Yeah.
Even I think if I was acynic, i'd be like, no,
(29:51):
I have time off. Yeah,and I took this time off a long
time ago. Yeah, I'm nottraveling to Ashville. And in her case,
she did have family. You knowsometime they're like, Wolly, don't
have any family or anything, andno, yeah, she had planned to
be caroling in Ohio, which Ithought narreling with her for a center.
Yeah, yeah, okay, let'stalk about again the scene where they sang
(30:12):
jangle bells together in that room.Yeah, this is a glitter toss scene
for me, Carrie. It's oneof my favorite, i think all time
favorite Hallmark scenes. And usually thesinging scenes in the movies are my absolute
least favorite scenes because I get somuch secondhand embarrassment. The worst I can
(30:33):
remember is Christmas at Pemberley Manor,where she's like on the stage singing in
front of five people, but pretendinglike she's trying for like American idol or
something. But this was just twopeople having fun singing at a piano like
it actually felt real and they're bothamazing singers. It sounded so good together
but so fun and not like youwere trying to sound like you were in
(30:53):
a concert or something and all thefireplaces behind them was a fire danger.
But it was just such a beautiful, amazing like and their their chemistry there.
You could just feel it they werehaving actual fun. I loved that.
That scene just did it for me. I know, I was excited.
I know she can sing. She'sin a band, I believe,
(31:15):
uh huh. But I was like, so I was kind of hoping the
whole Like up until that point,I'm like, oh, I hope she
sings something. I didn't realize Blahcould sing. Yeah. But I mean,
even like then, Leanne Rhyme's sayinglike actual singers, Kelly Pickler,
it's always very Chris cringeworthy. Yeah, even when they have beautiful voices,
(31:37):
and this was not at all.Yeah, I want to talk about Balsam
Hill. Let's do it. Youknow I love to talk about Balsam Hill.
Oh yeah, And just so everyoneknows, I did hand off the
Balsam Hill catalog that my mom gaveto me. Oh, Jenny is holding
out of it here, right,Kerry gave it to me. Yeah,
so I have Yeah, she hascheat. I have to use some catalog.
(32:02):
Okay. Well, in the scenein the beginning of the movie when
Lucy's with her sister and they're decoratingthe tree, I'm pretty sure that was
a Balsam Hill box. It was, but they didn't show it enough to
actually do a good product place.Man, maybe they just have a ton
of Balsom Hill. I was rewindingand I was like me too, huh,
(32:22):
But I'm pretty sure there's Balsom Hilland there were some ornaments in it.
There's probably like six ornaments in thatbox. I'm gonna guess it costs
two hundred and fifty dollars. Ohyeah, definitely, definitely, maybe nine
hundred dollars. I don't know.But I got to call out the Balsam
Hill because I just I hate thembecause I love them and I want Balsam
(32:44):
Hills so badly and I'll never beable to afford it. No, no,
no, I'm wondering if there wasBalsom Hill in the Biltmore for sure,
although I feel like maybe they doreal trees. But yeah, they
had Balsom Hill. Yeah, theyhave to okay, so I have a
bossom Hill fact for you too.Oh yes, okay. So, like
(33:05):
Carrie said, she handed off theBalsom Hill catalog to me a few days
ago, and Carrie, I don'tknow if you realized, but they have
a built More collection in the catalog. Yeah. So I priced it out
for us. Now let's do thisassuming we want to go all out,
(33:25):
which we do right, sure,okay, So we want the Biltmore spruce
and the Builtmore legacy ornaments, wewant the ivory built More gilded ribbon,
and then I think we need theruby mini magnolia picks along with the gilded
gold acanthus picks. And then tofinalize the whole, look, we're going
(33:46):
to get the white built More gildedtree skirt. Okay, So we're getting
all that great together. Does thetree come with lights on it? Yes?
Yes, yes, and they lookvery real. Okay. So I
priced that out and these all doappear to be on sale. So this
is the sale price. If wewant all of that together, we're going
(34:07):
to spend twenty nine hundred and seventyone dollars. Oh man, what a
bargain. I know, I know, But then I'm like Okay, if
we get that, you got toget the ornament boxes and stuff, so
that's going to add another grand.But yeah, I feel like I'll show
you the picture. I feel likewe should go, you know, in
on lotto tickets or something, andif we win, we can get the
(34:27):
Biltmore tree. I think Powerball ispretty high tonight, get some tickets.
I actually expected that to be morelike fourteen thousand dollars. That. Oh,
it's the sale So like the saleprice the Biltmore spruce. It's only
ten feet high, which you canget a lot bigger, but it's marked
down from twenty two fifty to seventeenfifty. I mean that's a huge But
(34:50):
it might be one of those catalogswhere they make We'll have to ask Cheater
where they make everything look marked down, because literally every price in the catalog
is marked down. Yeah. Well, doesn't even know why she got the
catalog. We know Cheater cheats.She probably does chea a neighbor. We
can't believe anything she says, that'strue. And she would also decorate her
(35:15):
whole house in Balsam Hills. Shecould, Well, who wouldn't. Yeah,
true, Yeah, it's just thecost. Yeah, I'm really glad
that you shared that information with us. I think we needed it. Let
me see if I have anything else. Oh, I do have one more
thing else. I did want totell you. Tell me. So this
made me think of you when theywere back in nineteen forty seven and she
(35:36):
went to give him a high five, and he's like, what the heck
is that? Because it reminded meof Cordinia, where you were, like,
wait, nobody in Cordinia high fivesin a royal Christmas people until irritates
me. So I was like,okay, is that real? In nineteen
forty seven, was the high fivenot a thing? And it was not.
The high five didn't start until likelate seventies. Did you google that?
(35:58):
Yeah? I mean good, Ididn't, you know, I just
looked on Wikipedia or something. Butyeah, the high five was not actually
a thing until like a lot later. I thought it was a forever thing,
you know, Like I don't know, back in the Civil War they
were giving high fives, but no, just shot a Union soldier. Yeah,
(36:23):
wow, that's funny. I waswondering for a second if they were
going to try to say, likeJack Houston invented the high five, like
they were going to show this likeafter death like documentary on him and be
like one of the contributions from JackHouston is the high five. Oh,
that would have been cute if theydid that, but it would have been
(36:43):
way too early. And did youenjoy the nineteen forty seven wardrobes that everyone
wore? Yes, I mean Ilove clothes. Well, I love clothes
from the forties. She wore thisone hat for a long time. It
was when she went back, likeshe know exactly the hat you're talking about.
(37:06):
Yeah, She's like, I'm gonnago back and find out what the
ending is and she puts his haton, and I swear I kept thinking
that hat was a baseball hat becauseit had this flap on the back,
which, yeah, I know.It just reminded me of a baseball cap.
And every time I have to doa double take and I'm like,
no, no, it's just aribbon or something, it looked remind me
of. That hat reminded me oflike she had joined the cavalry and she
(37:29):
was going to fight against the RedCoats or something like it. Really,
it just looked like one of thosehats that the soldiers back then wore,
or at least in pictures that wesee that they wore. Yeah, there
was a few really weird I thoughtout, like the candy cane striper or
no, no, the candy canegirl dress was a little odd. There
was one dress where she just hadmassive buttons, like it was a red
(37:50):
dress with big black buttons all overit. Yeah. Yeah, But in
general, like the actress her namewas Ava, right, uh huh Ava
hay. Yeah, I didn't likeher wardrobe, Like I mean, I
didn't dislike it, but I justfelt like it should have been more like
huh. At the station, shehad some like kind of headband going around
(38:12):
the back of her. It wasn'ta hat and it wasn't a headband,
And I'm like, what is thatthing? Yeah, I don't know.
Do you know what I'm talking about? I do know what you're talking Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I don't.I just I would have loved to
have lived back then. I probablywouldn't have, but I think I would
have loved me back then. Andlike I was like, I would have
(38:32):
just stayed in the forties with him. I don't know if I would have
then. I was like, whatstuff, Like what stuff would I have
needed? Like my contacts. Nah, I don't know, but I did.
Also I liked the crazy fan lady. What was her name? I
think it was Margaret, Okay,well Margaret or whoever she was. She's
(38:54):
like, I'm gonna stay here inthe library in case something goes wrong.
And it was a reminded me ofone of my favorite episodes of Lost,
which is called I Think the Constant, where they kind of have a similar
thing, like there has to bea constant when you time travel. There
has to be a constant. Oh, something has to remain the same,
yeah, or everything goes crazy pants. And so I did like that idea,
(39:20):
and I also liked her just likehaving a friend to lean on.
All right, yeah, romance oneon one, let's do it. I'm
gonna plug myself for a second.Besides having a new book out this month
called The Daddy Project, my bookthat came out at the beginning of twenty
twenty three is called Come What Maybe, and you can find it anywhere books
(39:42):
are sold. The e book ison sale for ninety nine cents right now.
Is a really really market Yeah,ninety nine cents, Come what Maybe?
Carrie Carpenter. Check it out,especially if you get like an Amazon
gift card for Christmas. But whatI want to talk about is we actually
got a question from someone named LauraM. And she said she would love
(40:04):
to hear how I fit writing intomy day and any tips for writing through
a difficult chapter. She's working ona story with dual timelines, and she's
struggling with a critical scene. Shecan't seem to get into it, and
she wants to hear any tips ortricks to keep the momentum going. And
I love this question came in atthe perfect time since Lucy, our heroin,
(40:27):
was basically going through writer's block formost of this movie and didn't do
this. I mean, this moviehad dual timelines too, right, Yes,
yeah, wow, Laura, lookat you. You are just right
on the ball. So writer's blockdoes happen. I like to call it
more life block than writer's block.There's just tons of stuff going on.
(40:47):
You can't get your brain to focuson what you need. Happens a lot.
I would say. What I dowhen it happens is get away from
your computer is usually the easiest You'vegot to clear your mind. So for
me, taking a walk, preferablywith Harry, just getting outside clearing my
(41:08):
mind. I'm with Harry, myfavorite person slash me. Well, I
thought it would be me and thenyour kids and then John and then Harry.
No, it's more like Harry,you, my kids, John,
and then Cheater, then Cheater Yeah, I mean you know, and then
(41:30):
plaw so. Yeah. So Ithink, you know, doing like taking
a bubble bath, going shopping,getting a Mandy petty, doing something for
yourself, just where you can justclear your mind. And I also think
it's really important. Well, Ithink it's important to take breaks as a
writer, and I think it's incrediblyimportant to have friends who have nothing to
(41:51):
do with writing. I have Jennyand her sister Katinka. I bounce ideas
off of them all the time becausethey are not writers, although I think
you both probably could be. Butthey have fresh ideas and they're not,
you know, burdened with like allthe rules that you hear with writing.
Like you just give me really originalthings to think about. And also you
(42:15):
should have some friends within the writingcommunity as well, because they can also
help you. The thing though,like, if there's a particular scene that
I am just super stuck, thething I really like to do is just
start working on a different scene,like, don't torture yourself. If it's
not coming to you, it's notcoming to you. And if you force
it, you can tell in thewriting. So if it's the ending,
(42:39):
well, and I should say too, I don't write in order. So
for me, you know, maybeI've already written the ending and it's the
beginning. Like how do I startthis book? I cannot get chapter one
down? Well, guess what,if it's really driving me crazy, I
might jump to like chapter four andstart writing that. So those are my
tips. I have a tip.Oh tell me, well, I got
(43:00):
it from this movie. And ifyou're stuck, you can travel to the
place that you're writing about and thenthat will give you inspiration. Perhaps you'll
travel back eighty years. Who knows, But I mean, mister Ballaban sent
the screenwriter to the Biltmore State andhe got the happy ending he wanted,
and she wrote the ending. SoI don't know. Maybe just take yourself
(43:22):
on a little trip. I lovethat. Yeah, So I note I've
never done that or written a book. I've written some papers before, like
in college and stuff, though,so you know, you write very good
cards, Thank you, thank you? All right, what's next? Jen?
Let's do our final question, Carrie, do you think this couple is
(43:46):
going to make it? Oh?Heck yeah. They staying together. Yeah,
they're staying together. There is noway. I mean, like,
I hope that they stay together becausehe has come all the way from the
forties. That would be another gutrun a lot if he comes back and
(44:06):
she's married. Yeah, she's like, sorry, I didn't know you could
time travel too. Yeah, they'reobvious. I mean, I really truly
in thought they had great chemistry inthis movie. I mean, just better
than other couples in Hallmark movies.They really they really worked for me.
(44:27):
Yeah, me too, better thanaround Kate and Greg switch on Christmas.
Wow, yeah you're yeah, you'reright. So you know what they better
not do? They better not doa follow up. Yeah, don't do
a follow up. Don't do aremake. Yeah, no follow up,
no remake, Hallmark, leave itas is exactly. Okay, everyone,
(44:49):
Well that was our review of TheBiltmore Christmas. We obviously loved it.
If you loved it, or ifyou didn't, or if you just have
things you want to talk about,hit us up on the socials. We
are on Instagram and Facebook at Homeworkjunkies. That's right, And if you
love our podcast, and only ifyou love our podcast, please give us
(45:09):
a rating, A good one.Yeah, all right, is that it?
I think? So? All right? Well, this is Jenny saying
cheers, and this is Carrie sayingwe'll see you in's next time. Merry Christmas.
Hi. I'm Jenny. Hi,I'm Carrie. We're best friends and new
moms. We're also the ogs ofHallmark Christmas movies. That's right. We've
been watching these movies since long beforethey became a Christmas juggernaut, and now
we're here to talk all things Hallmarkwith you because we know you're watching too.
Sit back, relax, and getyour Hallmark on. We are the
(00:22):
Hallmark junkies. Ho Ho Ho MaryChristmas. Everyone. This is Carrie and
(00:46):
this is Jenny. Producer Harry isnot with us today. I'm not sure
where he is in the house.Let's assume he's sleeping. He is probably
sleeping somewhere. You may have wonderedwhy we did not release our podcast a
couple days go. Let's blame iton Carrie because Carrie got her kids cold,
and Carrie is still kind of sickon Christmas. Old. Yeah,
(01:07):
there's nothing like being sick of Christmas. I always say, It's like it's
like you're saying, there's nothing likea dead parent at Christmas. That's right,
Just you know, dead parent andHallmark being sick in real life.
That's just how it goes. Yeah, So I'm going to apologize in advance
for any coughing or gnrfling. He'sa little character. Yeah, yeah,
(01:29):
I think so, Jenny, whatmovie are we talking about today? We
are talking about the instant classic ABiltmore Christmas. Yeah. I mean,
I don't know if I'm jumping aheadhere, but I'm just going to say
it. I loved this movie.Love love, love love. It's oh
yeah, it's so good. Iam a big fan of the forties and
(01:55):
fifties and the movies and the picturesand like the glamor of I took classes
on these kinds of movies in college. I was that kind of English major
and I was obsessed. It wasreally it was so good. Yeah.
And I mean I don't also jumpingahead, but Bethany Joy Lenz, who
(02:15):
is our who is our heroine starlead female? Oh my gosh, she's
so good. She is a reallygood actress. She is I mean,
I was like CCB who wow,and Laha we have Palaha Yeah, Christopher
Palaha who is a Hallmark. Imean he's like a big wig. Yeah.
(02:40):
And I write for you. Youmight know. Did you know he's
a romance author? Yes? Idid. In the back of my head,
A bell is going off doesn't hewrite with someone? He wrote with
someone, like a series with someone. Yeah. Yes, Christopher Blah has
done a ton of Hallmark movie He'sbig in the Hallmark world, and I
(03:02):
feel like this movie was made forhim. Yeah. Probably, And I
also I just feel like if theyever like, okay again, I'm jumping
ahead to you. So he didlast Christmas season when they did Haul Out
the Holly. Is that the moviewith Lacey? It's Lacy? He was
(03:23):
in that. He did a cameo. He played her best friend from high
school's husband, and he shows upin maybe like two scenes, and in
one of them he does a JimmyStewart impression. And I remember watching that
and thinking, wow, like thatis so good Jimmy Stewart. I love
Jimmy Stewart. I do too,and like, you know, so I
(03:46):
want to put out there in theuniverse if they ever do some kind of
Jimmy Stewart biopic they probably already have, but if they do another one,
he needs to be in it.Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. I
was just watching It's a Wonderful Lifeyesterday and Jimmy Stewart is so guinea just
enough, y I do you knowI think my husband has a huge crush
(04:08):
on Donna Reed. I could seewhy. I mean, she's a dish
like he. I swear he toldme once he had a huge crush on
her. But now he's denying it. But I'm pretty sure he did.
Let's go with it. He does. Yeah, yeah, Okay, should
we just get into it. Let'sdo it, starting off with picture It?
(04:28):
Are you right? Named after ourfavorite golden girl, the Fia Woho
this Lilly? Okay? Ready?Picture It? Santa Monica by way of
Ohio, twenty twenty three. Strugglingscreenwriter, writer sorry, Lucy Hargrove has
finally got a big project to workon, and that is a rewrite of
the Balaman Films nineteen forty seven Christmasclassic his merry wife. But she's struggling
(04:54):
with one thing, and that isthe happy ending Carrie in the original movie.
And let's I get this right.Charlie, who is an angel trying
to get his wings, decides tosacrifice getting his wings for all of eternity
so that he could ensure that hisfinal assignment, which happened to be his
wife, Rebecca, could remain withher new love that she found after he
(05:15):
died and that was James. Okay, and I get that right, I
think So I've been wondering, ahweek, how you were going to do
this for it, and many kudosto you. First of all, I
just want to say that the previewthey do for his married wife, like
the promo ad, I thought wasso spot on like that, it honestly
looks like it's a movie they didgreat. Yeah, it looked like one
(05:36):
of the old like forties Hollywood thatyou could go to Netflix and watch it
like, uh huh, it's actualmovie. Yeah, like this was big
budget. Yeah. Also, Ijust want to put in it really has
nothing to do with it. ButI hate movie remakes. Hate Oh yeah.
Yeah, I'm like, if theydid it, it's a wonderful life
(05:56):
now, but they put a wholebunch of different people in it. I
want Yeah, I don't even likethe version where they put it in color.
I want black and white original.Yeah. Yeah, But anyway,
I'm super into this movie. Ithink you got it right. But we'll
talk a little bit more about thismovie within the movie later. Yeah.
Okay, So back to Lucy.Lucy's a cynic about love, so she
(06:19):
wants to make the ending more quoteunquote real and that would be Charlie doesn't
give up his wings at the endof the movie, and he basically is
like, I I'm in love withRebecca. So the movie ends with Rebecca
walking off into the distance and we'reuncertain about what her future is. That's
what I got, Okay, that'swhat I got too. I had to
(06:39):
rewatch it a couple of times.And so he gets his wings right,
and think because we learned that Lucy'scynical because her mother left right when she
was young, and she learned,don't ever trust anyone right. Everybody just
does what's best for themselves. Yeah, everyone's out for themselves. So he
(07:00):
gets his wings and he's just like, you do you life, and she
doesn't go with that guy, andshe just she yeah, yeah, So
she walks off. He doesn't helpher find her new love. She's in
love with his memory. She nevergives up on it. Yeah yeah,
all right. So Lucy Hargrove meetswith Michael Balaban, who's head of Balaban
Films, and he does not approveof her said real life ending, So
(07:25):
naturally, what's he gonna do.He sends her to the actual builtmore estate
in Asheville, North Carolina, sothat she can experience a builtmore Christmas herself,
and this will obviously make her changeher mind and believe in the happy
ending. So off she goes.Of course, it's right before Christmas,
is going to have to give upChristmas in Ohio and caroling off to Biltmore.
(07:46):
She takes the Biltmore Tour immediately uponarriving and comes to this magnificent library
with an hour glass that was actuallyused as a prop in the original film,
and by accident, she knocks overthis hour glass and oh no.
She suddenly transported to the nineteen fortyseven movie set of His Merry Wife,
(08:11):
which was filmed at the Biltmore estate, and she starts talking with Jackie Houston,
who starred as Charlie the Angel inthe original movie. Can we talk
about that library? Yes? Anddo you know what I want to talk
about? No? The Christmas tree. Oh, I don't know, because
I don't know what they had onthat Christmas tree. But I loved it.
(08:35):
It was like a mix between likeicicle lights that you hang outside and
tinsel oh inside that it was alittle overspenciled for me. I was oh
no, I was like, look, at that sparkle. I loved it.
Yeah. And also I'm wondering ifthat was a Balsam Hill tree.
Oh we'll get to that. We'llget to that later. I have a
(08:56):
little fun fact for you. Ohoh good, because I have another Balsom
Hill to Okay, good, Okay, So I'm sorry. She's in nineteen
forty seven talking to Jack Houston,but it's spelled Huston, but it's Houstin,
it's Houston. It's it's like inNew York City where Houston is housedon.
But anyway, that's neither here northere. So side note about Jack
Houston. We had learned a littlebit early that he died one year after
(09:18):
the movie was filmed Christmas Eve,nineteen forty eight. That's important, all
right. So Lucy's freaking out,but it's okay. She gets back to
twenty twenty three, and in twentytwenty three is Builtmore superfan Margaret, who
takes her to the Builtmore tree lightingand Lucy's like, you know, I
haven't had enough yet, so shedares to go back. She flips over
the magical hour glass and we're backin nineteen forty seven again, and we're
(09:41):
there long enough so that she catchesJack Houston's eye again, and she finds
out that there actually was an alternateending to the original movie, and so
this lasts about an hour. Shegoes back to twenty twenty three and now
she's on a mission because this isgreat because she wants to change. Yeah.
So she's like, Okay, Igotta do this again. I gotta
(10:03):
get back to the nineteen forty sevenmovie set and I gotta find out what
the alternate ending was. And sowhat does she do? She does exactly
that. She figures it out withMargaret super fan of Biltmore. She goes
and flips the hourglass and she's backin nineteen forty seven again, and she
pretends to she's this time she hasclothes, Yeah, nineteen because she's Sandy
King girl in the movie. Likewhat is a candy King girl? By
(10:24):
the way, I even googled itand I got some really weird results.
Oh oh yeah, Oh, anyway, she's back there. She catches Jack
Houston's eye again and he's like,hey, lady, who are you really
like? Oh? Because she saysher name is Sandra Bullet, right,
Yeah, I loved that. Andshe's like, I'm Balaband's girl, and
(10:45):
you know what she does. Shegets the script and guess well, it
was an ending where Charlie does notgive up his wings. Mission accomplished.
She knows that she has this perfectalternate ending and that was actually the original
ending to the movie. Back totwenty twenty three. She's gonna go,
but uh oh, she happens.She breaks the hour glass. So now
(11:11):
she's seemingly stuck in nineteen forty seven, at least for a little while while
they fix the prop. So what'sCarrie a girl to do that's stuck in
nineteen forty seven? Builtmore estate?At Christmas? You hang out with Jack
Houston. Exactly exactly, She hangsout with Jack Houston because we can see
there's a big connection. They getsome hot chocolate, they get some mursted
(11:33):
chestnuts, They talk about their deadslash absentee parents. They talk about points
that is, but he cut onpoints that he is, which some people
do. I know. I'm apoint set of person though, yeah,
me too. Yeah. So laterthat same night, Lucy heads over to
the hotel bar and chats it upwith William West, who is the film's
director, and she brings up thealternate ending, and she brings up the
(11:56):
fact that she knows that Claude Lancaster, the Hollywood star playing James in the
movie, is trying to get ridof Ava Hayward, who is the Hollywood
sort of star playing Rebecca in themovie. You see, Ava was considered
oxick at the time, So Iwanted to add a couple of things to
that, please do So wait,what was his name? The actor?
(12:18):
Guy? Which one Claude Lancaster.Yes, Claude Lancaster. So he we
had learned also on the tour ofthe Biltmore that he was considered the nice
guy in Hollywood. Yeah, thathe always played the nice guy roles,
but that he was considered a niceguy. Offset but we learn when she
goes into the past he's really kindof a jerk. Yeah. And Ava
was actually nice, Yeah, shewas very nice, but like you said,
(12:41):
she the last couple pictures she wasin did not do well. That's
right, she's poison. So also, her hair was a mess that whole
movie. I don't know what someone'shair in nineteen forty seven would be that
much of a mess. I justdon't I agree, But I'd liked her.
I liked her character I did too, Yeah, just not her hair,
all right. Sol is trying tooust Ava little side plot, and
(13:03):
he had given Lucy Hargrove the noteabout it, so she gave that to
William West. William and Lucy leavethe bar. Ava is right there and
she finds the note. She overheardthe conversation. She realizes that they're trying
to get her off this movie.Okay, we make it to the next
day, which is Christmas Eve,right, and of course they're filming their
(13:24):
movie on Christmas Eve, even thoughthey had said earlier they were off that
day. But what they're filming andthere's a little break and we come to
my absolute favorite scene in the movie, and that's when Jack and Lucy find
themselves at the piano and sing jinglebells together. Yes, they're getting very
close to kissing, but the meandirector lady in the movie I think her
(13:48):
name was Peggy storms in. Sheinterrupts the kiss and she's like, guess
what, Ava Hayward has quit thefilm. Lucy and Jack are like what,
Oh no. Lucy's like, Igotta fix this because if I don't,
I've altered nineteen forty seven forever.Through my time travel so Jack and
Lucy chased down Ava. They findher quite quickly at a train station,
(14:09):
and they also convince her in liketwo minutes to come back to the film
that it was like a weird kindof disaster that got fixed in like thirty
five seconds. However, it's ChristmasEve and we have the big builtmore Christmas
Eve party and Jack asked Lucy tobe his date. Yes, love is
(14:30):
brewing between these two. The partygoes amazing. They kiss, He gives
her he looks amazing. Really,I didn't like that dress? You didn't
didn't you like the lake? Iliked the thing, yeah, the fur
thing. It looked good when thefur thing was on, but I didn't
like it without it. Oh Ithink I blocked it out and it doesn't
have the fur. Oh yeah,the fur was amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
So he gives her his watch,which was really sweet, so that
(14:52):
she wasn't late all the time anymore, because she kept grabbing his hand too
to look at go do you knowwhat he did? What? I'm going
to steal a line from a songhe popped the Jack pop question in advance.
Do you know what it is?What? What are you doing?
He asks her out on New Year'sEve, and so a switch goes off
(15:15):
and Lucy's like, what the heckam I doing? I am from twenty
twenty three falling in love with abig, huge movie star in nineteen forty
seven, and she's like, allright, I gotta go. She runs
off and she's like what the hourglasshas also been fixed right now? This
is perfect. I'm going to goto the prop master's truck. I'm going
to give the hourglass. I'm goingto go back to my real life in
(15:37):
twenty twenty three. This isn't real. I'm a cynic like stop off,
she goes to find it. Asshe's running to find it, Harold Ballaban
a Balaban film shows up and he'slike I heard about the girl claiming she's
from Balaban Films. That's not real, and we get this chase, and
so security's chasing Lucy. Lucy's tryingto make it to the hourglass and Jack
catches up with her and she levelswith him and she's like, listen,
(15:58):
I'm from like eighty years in thefuture. I don't know what I'm doing
here, and Jack kind of doeswhat Charlie the Angel did and he's like,
you know what I'm going to giveup what I want. I'm going
to give up everything, and yougo, I'll stop these people. You
go off back to twenty twenty three, and so she's like, she tries
to stop and warn him that he'sgoing to die in a year, but
(16:18):
she doesn't have time. She tellshim it's going to be December twenty fourth,
nineteen forty eight, but doesn't gettime to say you're going to die,
so she runs off. She makesit to the Hourglass past Claude Lancaster
because Aba Hayward hits him with asnowball, and she goes back to twenty
twenty three. It's so sad.Her face when she gets back heartbreaking.
(16:41):
So we get to one year later, kind of an epilogue, but not
like a true one because you didn'thave like your closure yet. But anyway,
we are filming the remake that Lucyshe wrote, and we get a
cameo from Westbound Brown Sorry and RachelBoston. I liked that because they're like,
this is going to be better thanCheck In to Christmas exactly, which
is the movie that they did together. Yeah, yeah, And turns out
(17:07):
Lucy kept the happy ending in thefilm. The hour Glass. The actual
twenty twenty three hour Glass is actuallymaking its way back to Biltmore. It
had been on a stint at theSmithsonian, and Lucy's like, you know
what, it's Christmas Eve. Shethinks about going back in time again,
but she decides against it, andit's like, oh, no, Jack's
gone forever, and I'm so sad. But all the sudden, in this
(17:32):
heartwarming scene, Jack shows up.He figured out the hourglass trick, and
he tried to do it like athousand times, he said, and then
he was like, wait, Decembertwenty fourth, nineteen forty eight, that's
the day it's going to work.That's the day I can go into the
future and live with Lucy forever.And so he faked his death and that's
why all the things say he diedDecember twenty fourth, nineteen forty eight.
(17:55):
It was actually that he was givingup everything to travel to the future to
be with you forever. And thenyes, the hour Glass gets put in
storage sideways, so hopefully never againwill anyone travel doing from Yeah nineteen seven,
Builtimore, Yeah, happily ever afterbeautiful. Wow, I'm so impressed
(18:18):
with you. I mean, I'mnot kidding. I was watching that thinking
how is she gonna recap? Thatwas an excellent thing. Okay, I
also was crying watching this, andthen my husband started vacuuming and doesn't want
to kill him he does do thisa fan Yeah, yes, which I
mean I like because then I don'thave to do it. But I think
(18:41):
I gave him like the meanest lookever. Yeah, you can't vacuum during
this. Yeah, I was like, no, this is a really important
part. Yeah, yeah it Yeah, you go first one if I sec
be, I mean, come on, yeah, it's easy. Five,
yeah, six, it's loved it. Just a movie. Yeah, this
(19:07):
is now moved into my like topthree, Like I just really same for
me. It's different. Yeah,I like the absurd movies usually like and
it was just beautiful. Yeah,I loved it. Oh my god.
Should we take a break so wecan go cry? Let's do it.
Let's cry together during the break.Okay, we'll be right back. Okay,
(19:40):
we're back. We're still crying alittle bit, but that's okay.
Like that was a cry. Yeah. Really, should we get into freek
for all? I have so muchto say? Yeah, okay, I
mean, do you want to startthe first one? I think both of
us were thinking. I think so, I mean, were you thinking about
how like about the movie within themovie his merry wife? Uh huh?
(20:04):
Is up with the ending of thismovie? Because so exactly we think the
plot is that Charlie dies and hebecame an angel and he has to do
certain tasks as angels do, workingtoward getting your wings. Yeah, and
he's on his last task before hegets his wings, like he has to
(20:27):
do this one. What it isis that he has to make sure his
wife from when he was alive findslove and happiness. Uh huh with this
dude? Yeah, Well, they'reall saying there's a happy ending, which
is the original ending, which ishe gives up his wings and he makes
(20:52):
sure that his wife gets together withthe stiff, which I don't find happy.
I find it gut wrenching. Ifind it right, it's one hundred
and eighty degrees from happy. Andat first two I was like, but
he gets them together, which wasthe task, but he still doesn't get
his wings. I know. Isthat because he ran out of time?
(21:14):
Do you know what? I thinkit was because he actually showed himself to
his wife and said, like,you need to this is I'm an angel
now or whatever. He kind ofbroke character or whatever because I don't think
she could see him or whatever,and so, and he said, you
need to you need to move pastme. We need like I'm gone.
I want you to be happy.It'll make me happy if you live your
life. I think that was okay, still not happy, I know,
(21:37):
yeah, because I know at onepoint they were like times up and he's
like, you know, I'm goingto go run after her. I don't
know, maybe that was it.Maybe that was a I'm not sure what
the heck was going on there.It wasn't happy at all. No,
that's it's yeah, because so nowhis wife is with someone else, he
doesn't get his wings, which thatkind is sung. Yeah. Is he
(21:59):
impurgatory? You got to keep doingthis help doc in purgatory forever? Yeah.
I felt like it was his lastchance and he was just not going
to get his wings now. Andthat made me sad too. This was
about bad luck. But here's whatI was thinking too. Okay. I
was actually shocked by the ending inthis movie. And I think it was
because of the non happy happy endingin the original or in the movie within
(22:22):
the movie, because I also thoughtwhen when Jack Houston got left in nineteen
forty seven Forever to die a yearlater, I was like, that's not
happy. But they're pretending this otherending is happy, so they probably think
this is happy too. Like Ididn't expect him to come back because I
thought they had wrapped it up andpretended it was happy. That was kind
(22:42):
of sad. I realized probably halfwaythrough that he didn't really die and he
was going to come back. Ohsee, I was shocked. That's why
I loved it so much too.I was actually surprised by the ending,
yeah, which I also have someissues with, but okay, so that's
what they called the happy ending.So the ending that she wanted and that
(23:03):
was actually the original ending, wasthat Charlie. Yeah, Charlie gets his
wings and does not convince his wife, or doesn't because the whole within his
married wife, Charlie is not tryingto get them together the whole time,
he's trying to break them up.Right, it's the very end when he
(23:26):
decides. Yeah, So in thatending, which also is not happy,
he gets his wings, but he'sstill dead and she does not end up
with anyone, and she's just wonderingalone. It was like an ambiguous ending,
which I actually think I would haveif I, let's say I was
watching this movie. I think Iwould have hated the ambiguous ending if that
(23:48):
she wrote, because that, tome, it's like the ending of Sopranos,
where it's like it all just goesblack, Like, no, I
need to know if Tony Soprano died. I need to know what happens with
Rebecca and James exactly. Yeah,Okay, yeah, I think we got
it all out. Okay, Ithink we did. That's that's everything I
thought about it. I mean,but then I do wonder like so he
(24:11):
So Jack Houston comes back in twentytwenty three, the world thinks he died.
M hmm on Christmas even nineteen fortyeight, Is anyone gonna notice Jack
Houston walking around? No, Anta, Monica. They'll just be like,
it's eighty years later. They're goingto be like, you look like Jack
Houston. I doubt people are goingto be like, did you time travel
(24:33):
from nineteen forty eight? Don't makeme laugh because I'm gonna cough. They.
I don't think they would think hetime travel, but just like something
was up. I don't know,and also I don't know if you noticed
this. When he comes back,he said, wait, I haven't written.
Oh he said, we set upmy fake death. Yeah we Yeah,
(24:57):
So who's we? Is it?Jonathan Frank he plays Winston the guy
who I think it is. Ithink it's Winston. Yeah, Winston is
because I don't think we talked abouthim. He is the guy that is
a sort of in charge for thecore. Yeah, yeah, of the
Yeah, I thought it related tothe movie because he's also the one at
the end to turn the hourglass sideways. Yeah, so I thought, yeah,
(25:18):
I thought it was Winston who didit with him? Yeah, okay,
that one makes sense. Let mesee. Yeah, I have a
couple of it. Did you noticeduring the tree lighting ceremony it was like
the most unceremonial tree ceremony that they'veever done on Hallmark. There was no
music, There were no speeches orlike anything. Like they walk outside,
(25:41):
they're looking into tree, the lightscome on and they're like, okay,
let's leave. It was a prettytree though, like a noise pretty huge
tree. Yeah yeah, yeah,you're right. It was kind of a
non big deal tree lighting. Iwonder that if that's what it's like a
built more Christmas. Now we shouldgo obviously not this year. No,
no, no, not this yearbecause I'm sick, but you know whatever,
(26:03):
literally, yeah, So what doyou have? Okay? Oh I
do. I have a little questionfor you. Yeah, I've been thinking
about. Okay, so he hastraveled from nineteen forty seven to twenty twenty
three. What do you think isgoing to be the most shocking thing to
him living in twenty twenty three?Oh wow, I think it's going to
(26:30):
be phones, like people always juststaring walking around staring at these devices.
Yeah. And you know I thinkhe's can like the whole Internet. Yeah,
yeah, be crazy. But Icould see him as a social media
influencer, like he has that cheekysense of humor. Jack Houston social media
influencer. I could see me like, what the heck is social media?
(26:51):
This is ridiculous. Yeah, itis ridiculous, but I love it so
much. You know what a boldmove is? Do you tell ordering someone
eggnog? Oh? Yeah, you'reright, maybe not though it's very polarizing
though, you know, like peoplethat really like eggnog or they don't.
(27:11):
It's like fruitcake. I do likeit, so do I there's been this
year a lot of movies with eggnogdrinks, a lot like but I think
I think she's with the director.Yeah, it's William at the bar and
she says something about eggnog and thenhe's like, okay, two eggnogs.
She didn't say she wanted an eggnog. She was saying she would, Thank
(27:34):
goodness. You imagine though, ifyou had like the opposite end of the
spectrum and they were like, wow, yeah, that's why he's a director.
Story with William West and his wife. I thought that was sweet.
I did too, And I thinkthat guy who played William West is the
director of the movie. Oh really, I think so we should have to
go back and look. Yeah,did you know that their names? The
(27:57):
thing about their names Jack and Leesee that it's the names from Sandra Bullocks.
So while you were sieving, yes, I think it is. Yeah,
while you were and while you weresleeping, start eating Sandra Bullock and
Bill Pullman their names were Jack andLucy very much. That was really cute.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sothe hour Glass, you know,
(28:22):
which is like our most important prophere is going to be lent to the
Smithsonian. Yes, and they're goingto put it in some film collection,
which the Smithsonian does actually do.The Smithsonian is coming to pick up the
hour Glass on Christmas Eve. Justwrap your minds around that. Like on
(28:44):
Christmas Eves they are making someone fromthe Smithsonian go to Ashville, North Carolina,
which is a good eight hours fromDC, to pick up this hour
glass. I was like, you, like, they're coming the day after
tomorrow. I'm like, it's ChristmasEve. There was a lot on Christmas
Eve because when we went forward twentyI guess four because it was the Uplock.
They were filming again the movie onChristmas Eve. And it's like,
(29:07):
you can film a Christmas shore,we're not during Christmas, Yeah, which
Hallmark does for forty movies a year. Yeah. Wouldn't you have to pay
like time and a half for that, hopefully, I mean at least yeah.
Yeah, So that was going on. Do you want me to do
another one? Actually kind of goesit kind of goes with this. Actually
(29:30):
it's just the idea. And youmentioned it in your recap of sending people
places over Christmas with no notice oreven asking if that's okay, Like it
happens at a job a lot,and like on the you know, twenty
second of December, they're like,oh, we need you to go out
to California, Like, no,sorry, I got plans. Yeah.
Even I think if I was acynic, i'd be like, no,
(29:51):
I have time off. Yeah,and I took this time off a long
time ago. Yeah, I'm nottraveling to Ashville. And in her case,
she did have family. You knowsometime they're like, Wolly, don't
have any family or anything, andno, yeah, she had planned to
be caroling in Ohio, which Ithought narreling with her for a center.
Yeah, yeah, okay, let'stalk about again the scene where they sang
(30:12):
jangle bells together in that room.Yeah, this is a glitter toss scene
for me, Carrie. It's oneof my favorite, i think all time
favorite Hallmark scenes. And usually thesinging scenes in the movies are my absolute
least favorite scenes because I get somuch secondhand embarrassment. The worst I can
(30:33):
remember is Christmas at Pemberley Manor,where she's like on the stage singing in
front of five people, but pretendinglike she's trying for like American idol or
something. But this was just twopeople having fun singing at a piano like
it actually felt real and they're bothamazing singers. It sounded so good together
but so fun and not like youwere trying to sound like you were in
(30:53):
a concert or something and all thefireplaces behind them was a fire danger.
But it was just such a beautiful, amazing like and their their chemistry there.
You could just feel it they werehaving actual fun. I loved that.
That scene just did it for me. I know, I was excited.
I know she can sing. She'sin a band, I believe,
(31:15):
uh huh. But I was like, so I was kind of hoping the
whole Like up until that point,I'm like, oh, I hope she
sings something. I didn't realize Blahcould sing. Yeah. But I mean,
even like then, Leanne Rhyme's sayinglike actual singers, Kelly Pickler,
it's always very Chris cringeworthy. Yeah, even when they have beautiful voices,
(31:37):
and this was not at all.Yeah, I want to talk about Balsam
Hill. Let's do it. Youknow I love to talk about Balsam Hill.
Oh yeah, And just so everyoneknows, I did hand off the
Balsam Hill catalog that my mom gaveto me. Oh, Jenny is holding
out of it here, right,Kerry gave it to me. Yeah,
so I have Yeah, she hascheat. I have to use some catalog.
(32:02):
Okay. Well, in the scenein the beginning of the movie when
Lucy's with her sister and they're decoratingthe tree, I'm pretty sure that was
a Balsam Hill box. It was, but they didn't show it enough to
actually do a good product place.Man, maybe they just have a ton
of Balsom Hill. I was rewindingand I was like me too, huh,
(32:22):
But I'm pretty sure there's Balsom Hilland there were some ornaments in it.
There's probably like six ornaments in thatbox. I'm gonna guess it costs
two hundred and fifty dollars. Ohyeah, definitely, definitely, maybe nine
hundred dollars. I don't know.But I got to call out the Balsam
Hill because I just I hate thembecause I love them and I want Balsam
(32:44):
Hills so badly and I'll never beable to afford it. No, no,
no, I'm wondering if there wasBalsom Hill in the Biltmore for sure,
although I feel like maybe they doreal trees. But yeah, they
had Balsom Hill. Yeah, theyhave to okay, so I have a
bossom Hill fact for you too.Oh yes, okay. So, like
(33:05):
Carrie said, she handed off theBalsom Hill catalog to me a few days
ago, and Carrie, I don'tknow if you realized, but they have
a built More collection in the catalog. Yeah. So I priced it out
for us. Now let's do thisassuming we want to go all out,
(33:25):
which we do right, sure,okay, So we want the Biltmore spruce
and the Builtmore legacy ornaments, wewant the ivory built More gilded ribbon,
and then I think we need theruby mini magnolia picks along with the gilded
gold acanthus picks. And then tofinalize the whole, look, we're going
(33:46):
to get the white built More gildedtree skirt. Okay, So we're getting
all that great together. Does thetree come with lights on it? Yes?
Yes, yes, and they lookvery real. Okay. So I
priced that out and these all doappear to be on sale. So this
is the sale price. If wewant all of that together, we're going
(34:07):
to spend twenty nine hundred and seventyone dollars. Oh man, what a
bargain. I know, I know, But then I'm like Okay, if
we get that, you got toget the ornament boxes and stuff, so
that's going to add another grand.But yeah, I feel like I'll show
you the picture. I feel likewe should go, you know, in
on lotto tickets or something, andif we win, we can get the
(34:27):
Biltmore tree. I think Powerball ispretty high tonight, get some tickets.
I actually expected that to be morelike fourteen thousand dollars. That. Oh,
it's the sale So like the saleprice the Biltmore spruce. It's only
ten feet high, which you canget a lot bigger, but it's marked
down from twenty two fifty to seventeenfifty. I mean that's a huge But
(34:50):
it might be one of those catalogswhere they make We'll have to ask Cheater
where they make everything look marked down, because literally every price in the catalog
is marked down. Yeah. Well, doesn't even know why she got the
catalog. We know Cheater cheats.She probably does chea a neighbor. We
can't believe anything she says, that'strue. And she would also decorate her
(35:15):
whole house in Balsam Hills. Shecould, Well, who wouldn't. Yeah,
true, Yeah, it's just thecost. Yeah, I'm really glad
that you shared that information with us. I think we needed it. Let
me see if I have anything else. Oh, I do have one more
thing else. I did want totell you. Tell me. So this
made me think of you when theywere back in nineteen forty seven and she
(35:36):
went to give him a high five, and he's like, what the heck
is that? Because it reminded meof Cordinia, where you were, like,
wait, nobody in Cordinia high fivesin a royal Christmas people until irritates
me. So I was like,okay, is that real? In nineteen
forty seven, was the high fivenot a thing? And it was not.
The high five didn't start until likelate seventies. Did you google that?
(35:58):
Yeah? I mean good, Ididn't, you know, I just
looked on Wikipedia or something. Butyeah, the high five was not actually
a thing until like a lot later. I thought it was a forever thing,
you know, Like I don't know, back in the Civil War they
were giving high fives, but no, just shot a Union soldier. Yeah,
(36:23):
wow, that's funny. I waswondering for a second if they were
going to try to say, likeJack Houston invented the high five, like
they were going to show this likeafter death like documentary on him and be
like one of the contributions from JackHouston is the high five. Oh,
that would have been cute if theydid that, but it would have been
(36:43):
way too early. And did youenjoy the nineteen forty seven wardrobes that everyone
wore? Yes, I mean Ilove clothes. Well, I love clothes
from the forties. She wore thisone hat for a long time. It
was when she went back, likeshe know exactly the hat you're talking about.
(37:06):
Yeah, She's like, I'm gonnago back and find out what the
ending is and she puts his haton, and I swear I kept thinking
that hat was a baseball hat becauseit had this flap on the back,
which, yeah, I know.It just reminded me of a baseball cap.
And every time I have to doa double take and I'm like,
no, no, it's just aribbon or something, it looked remind me
of. That hat reminded me oflike she had joined the cavalry and she
(37:29):
was going to fight against the RedCoats or something like it. Really,
it just looked like one of thosehats that the soldiers back then wore,
or at least in pictures that wesee that they wore. Yeah, there
was a few really weird I thoughtout, like the candy cane striper or
no, no, the candy canegirl dress was a little odd. There
was one dress where she just hadmassive buttons, like it was a red
(37:50):
dress with big black buttons all overit. Yeah. Yeah, But in
general, like the actress her namewas Ava, right, uh huh Ava
hay. Yeah, I didn't likeher wardrobe, Like I mean, I
didn't dislike it, but I justfelt like it should have been more like
huh. At the station, shehad some like kind of headband going around
(38:12):
the back of her. It wasn'ta hat and it wasn't a headband,
And I'm like, what is thatthing? Yeah, I don't know.
Do you know what I'm talking about? I do know what you're talking Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I don't.I just I would have loved to
have lived back then. I probablywouldn't have, but I think I would
have loved me back then. Andlike I was like, I would have
(38:32):
just stayed in the forties with him. I don't know if I would have
then. I was like, whatstuff, Like what stuff would I have
needed? Like my contacts. Nah, I don't know, but I did.
Also I liked the crazy fan lady. What was her name? I
think it was Margaret, Okay,well Margaret or whoever she was. She's
(38:54):
like, I'm gonna stay here inthe library in case something goes wrong.
And it was a reminded me ofone of my favorite episodes of Lost,
which is called I Think the Constant, where they kind of have a similar
thing, like there has to bea constant when you time travel. There
has to be a constant. Oh, something has to remain the same,
yeah, or everything goes crazy pants. And so I did like that idea,
(39:20):
and I also liked her just likehaving a friend to lean on.
All right, yeah, romance oneon one, let's do it. I'm
gonna plug myself for a second.Besides having a new book out this month
called The Daddy Project, my bookthat came out at the beginning of twenty
twenty three is called Come What Maybe, and you can find it anywhere books
(39:42):
are sold. The e book ison sale for ninety nine cents right now.
Is a really really market Yeah,ninety nine cents, Come what Maybe?
Carrie Carpenter. Check it out,especially if you get like an Amazon
gift card for Christmas. But whatI want to talk about is we actually
got a question from someone named LauraM. And she said she would love
(40:04):
to hear how I fit writing intomy day and any tips for writing through
a difficult chapter. She's working ona story with dual timelines, and she's
struggling with a critical scene. Shecan't seem to get into it, and
she wants to hear any tips ortricks to keep the momentum going. And
I love this question came in atthe perfect time since Lucy, our heroin,
(40:27):
was basically going through writer's block formost of this movie and didn't do
this. I mean, this moviehad dual timelines too, right, Yes,
yeah, wow, Laura, lookat you. You are just right
on the ball. So writer's blockdoes happen. I like to call it
more life block than writer's block.There's just tons of stuff going on.
(40:47):
You can't get your brain to focuson what you need. Happens a lot.
I would say. What I dowhen it happens is get away from
your computer is usually the easiest You'vegot to clear your mind. So for
me, taking a walk, preferablywith Harry, just getting outside clearing my
(41:08):
mind. I'm with Harry, myfavorite person slash me. Well, I
thought it would be me and thenyour kids and then John and then Harry.
No, it's more like Harry,you, my kids, John,
and then Cheater, then Cheater Yeah, I mean you know, and then
(41:30):
plaw so. Yeah. So Ithink, you know, doing like taking
a bubble bath, going shopping,getting a Mandy petty, doing something for
yourself, just where you can justclear your mind. And I also think
it's really important. Well, Ithink it's important to take breaks as a
writer, and I think it's incrediblyimportant to have friends who have nothing to
(41:51):
do with writing. I have Jennyand her sister Katinka. I bounce ideas
off of them all the time becausethey are not writers, although I think
you both probably could be. Butthey have fresh ideas and they're not,
you know, burdened with like allthe rules that you hear with writing.
Like you just give me really originalthings to think about. And also you
(42:15):
should have some friends within the writingcommunity as well, because they can also
help you. The thing though,like, if there's a particular scene that
I am just super stuck, thething I really like to do is just
start working on a different scene,like, don't torture yourself. If it's
not coming to you, it's notcoming to you. And if you force
it, you can tell in thewriting. So if it's the ending,
(42:39):
well, and I should say too, I don't write in order. So
for me, you know, maybeI've already written the ending and it's the
beginning. Like how do I startthis book? I cannot get chapter one
down? Well, guess what,if it's really driving me crazy, I
might jump to like chapter four andstart writing that. So those are my
tips. I have a tip.Oh tell me, well, I got
(43:00):
it from this movie. And ifyou're stuck, you can travel to the
place that you're writing about and thenthat will give you inspiration. Perhaps you'll
travel back eighty years. Who knows, But I mean, mister Ballaban sent
the screenwriter to the Biltmore State andhe got the happy ending he wanted,
and she wrote the ending. SoI don't know. Maybe just take yourself
(43:22):
on a little trip. I lovethat. Yeah, So I note I've
never done that or written a book. I've written some papers before, like
in college and stuff, though,so you know, you write very good
cards, Thank you, thank you? All right, what's next? Jen?
Let's do our final question, Carrie, do you think this couple is
(43:46):
going to make it? Oh?Heck yeah. They staying together. Yeah,
they're staying together. There is noway. I mean, like,
I hope that they stay together becausehe has come all the way from the
forties. That would be another gutrun a lot if he comes back and
(44:06):
she's married. Yeah, she's like, sorry, I didn't know you could
time travel too. Yeah, they'reobvious. I mean, I really truly
in thought they had great chemistry inthis movie. I mean, just better
than other couples in Hallmark movies.They really they really worked for me.
(44:27):
Yeah, me too, better thanaround Kate and Greg switch on Christmas.
Wow, yeah you're yeah, you'reright. So you know what they better
not do? They better not doa follow up. Yeah, don't do
a follow up. Don't do aremake. Yeah, no follow up,
no remake, Hallmark, leave itas is exactly. Okay, everyone,
(44:49):
Well that was our review of TheBiltmore Christmas. We obviously loved it.
If you loved it, or ifyou didn't, or if you just have
things you want to talk about,hit us up on the socials. We
are on Instagram and Facebook at Homeworkjunkies. That's right, And if you
love our podcast, and only ifyou love our podcast, please give us
(45:09):
a rating, A good one.Yeah, all right, is that it?
I think? So? All right? Well, this is Jenny saying
cheers, and this is Carrie sayingwe'll see you in's next time. Merry Christmas.
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