July 29, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark, we’re diving into the heartwarming and chaotic Holidazed Episode 8. The Manetti-Hanahan house becomes the unexpected hub of Christmas cheer when a power outage leaves their home as the only one on the block with electricity. With neighbors they adore - and a few they’d rather avoid - gathered under one roof, it’s a Christmas Day celebration full of laughs, heartfelt moments, and a dash of drama. Tune in as we break down the touching resolutions from this finale episode!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone
(00:28):
Hallmark Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm when Day, I'm a former Hallmark hater.
Today we are discussing the finale of the Holidays series,
airing exclusively on Hallmark Plus, episode eight. If you listened
to our recap of episode seven, you know we changed
up the style of our recaps a little bit, so
(00:49):
we are not doing a scene by scene recap, but
we're just gonna dive in and talk about everyone's resolution
because this episode was pure chaos. Lots of people, lots
of scenes. I mean shout out to director Stacy Harding
for she did the first episode as well, I think
one and two and this episode, so you know, it's
(01:12):
a lot of moving pieces, hugely ambitious project. Yeah, speaking
of let me, I'm curious what your overall thoughts on
this series was. So overall, I did enjoy it. There
was a lot going on. I think when I think
about this series, I like that it was a huge swing.
(01:35):
It was a lot of stories, a lot to bring
back together. And when I think of it as a whole,
episode one to episode eight and the way it's tied
all together. I think it's really interesting storytelling. There were
some weak moments for me, there were some moments that
didn't land for me. There were some frustrating pieces to me,
(01:58):
But overall, I liked this series. I know you have
some different thoughts. No, I did not wildly different. I
agree with you. I like how it all comes back together.
I do agree that there were some weaker storylines, and
I do think that they could have cut some some
of the families, maybe just one of them. I'm not
(02:18):
gonna say who. But I like the big swing as well.
Like I don't know, it's like highs and lows for
me on this What I really enjoyed is that Hallmark
took on a project that wasn't like a picture perfect project.
It wasn't a picture perfect Christmas Like. They were like
(02:39):
real issues, real issues, showing families that are dealing with
real stuff. Not everybody is like, you know, celebrating a
joyful season or whatever. There's like a lot of shi
t happening alongside it being the holiday season. Yeah, everyone
was going through it on Christmas Eve. Yeah, So I
mean I kind of enjoyed all that. I don't know,
(03:03):
I don't know. And then I was thinking, like, would
they tackle this again with a different neighborhood, because when
I was on IMDb, it shows like season one, and
I was like, Oh, would they do this again like
a season two, different neighborhood, different stories? Yeah? Maybe are
there that many stories that can be told? I don't know.
(03:23):
I wonder as a casual of your because I watched
this taking notes on every episode, and even I found
myself like, when Ian Harding comes back in episode eight,
I'm like, oh, Josh almost forgot about you, you know?
So I wonder as the casual viewer, was it hard
to keep track of everybody? It's not complicated storyline telling
you you can figure it out. But okay, so how
(03:45):
do you want to do this? Do you want to
talk through each family? Uh? Yeah, let's do that. Okay.
What's interesting is Josh's parents aren't here? Are they? Nope?
We don't see them at all in this episode. So
you want to talk about Josh and Stacey and Sheriff Nora. Sure?
And THEO. The episode does open up early on with
him showing up at Sheriff Nora's house with the coffee
(04:05):
or real early on Christmas morning, you know, like THEO
is not even awake, so it must have been very
early because children bounce out of bed with the sun
to see what Santa has brought them. And she is
still assembling his bike, which is a choice on Christmas
morning to be still working totally. It's like a late
night holiday at but there was no power, so maybe
she needed to wait until there was some light. Tell me,
(04:25):
how does Josh slip out of bed with girlfriend? Stacy
is what her name? Yeah? I almost wondered if she
was gone, and we were going to find that out,
but not enough time has passed for her to be gone. No,
and we see a whole thing with them later in
the in the episode comes back into the episode. So
(04:48):
he's just mysteriously gone for several hours on Christmas morning,
helping another woman assemble a bike for her son. I
mean Stacey, Well, let's get to it. Some feelings about that, right,
because he clearly hasn't broken up with Stacy, like she's
still here. Nora says, I thought you're going to Australia,
(05:09):
and he's like our fight was canceled because of the storm,
and she's like oh, he does say I'm glad to
get to spend this more time with you. But he's
still with Stacy, and he's like, seems to be like
trying to get Sheriff Nora to admit, like there's something here,
and she's like, you know, I's like pantsand dude, you're
still with Stacy. Yeah, gotta I gotta protect my kid. Yeah,
you're not saying I'm staying here with you. You're not saying like,
(05:31):
you're not saying it. She's all the same things are happening.
It's just like high school. And she's like, you can't
be here. It's too confusing for THEO. And did you
see that moment? Though? They keep their scarves on in
the house because there's no heat, and when Josh leaves,
his scarf is tucked into his jacket the entire time.
And when he leaves and he glances back in through
(05:51):
the window and he sees Nora and THEO sharing their
like good morning Christmas, hut, his scarf has escaped from
his jacket all of a sudden, Oh, it's out interesting.
We do later on see Josh and Stacy show up. Yeah,
minette boiler. Yeah at the minute, can't even say their
stupid name. Yeah, thete the Manette, Hannah hands save the
(06:11):
day with their battery backup because they're the only ones
in the neighborhood with power. So this is going to
be the source of the neighborhood gathering. Yeah, they invite
everybody over, and so Josh and Nora do run into
each other there. Josh and Stacey arrive together and I
was like, get out. Stacy like not the contractor. I
like you, but please go home. Yeah. Well, and Josh
to step the f up and be like this is
(06:33):
not this is not happening here. But maybe because it's
Christmas Day, like he doesn't want to be like Siya,
but also it's Christmas Day, and he went over to
Nora's house. I know, I know. How do they break up?
They break up because THEO draws a picture for Josh
and in this picture it's depicted like the perfect life
(06:54):
or something like that. And Stacy confronts Josh and she's like,
this is not perfect life, but this looks like you're
perfect life and so peace. I'm out. Two things to
say about that. One, when THEO shows Josh the picture
and she's like, Stacy, this is you. She goes neat Oh, look, Stacey,
she got kids. She hates kids. But the other thing
(07:17):
about that is she's like when they break up, she goes, well,
we're still great business partner, so I'll message you about
that project. Like she's all business. That's all she cares
about business. So she's like, have a great life. It
was kind of I was glad that she wasn't like
all heartbroken about it, Like she just was like, look,
(07:37):
you and I don't want the same things, and I'm
gonna go pursue what I want to do and you
can stay here and have your small town life. Let's
talk the Woods family because it's a quick short story.
Lucy and Annie and Sylvie. Yeah, Lucy and Annie they
go look for Aunt Sylvie. It's kind of wild to
me that, like all this stuff was put on pause,
but I guess it was storming out and they're not
(07:58):
going to like go out in the big storm. And
they don't have to look very far because they find
Aunt Sylvie at the bakery. She slept in a blocking
all night long and she was like, I was embarrassed,
And Lucy says, I'm proud of you. And then the
jukebox turns on. Yeah, this is the magical jukebox. This
(08:21):
is the storyline. I feel that could have been cut.
I just it doesn't make it. It doesn't add to
the overall narrative to me at all. I also don't
like the Annie Max storyline. Oh you don't. No, I
hate kids, so I don't hate kids, but I it
(08:42):
just was silly to me. I just didn't care about
Sylvie and the sister. I can't even tell you what
the sister's name is. Annie. No, that's the daughter. What's
her name? Sylvie? The sister Lucy? Yeah, I just it
doesn't work for me. That's the silky is the curly
haired sister? I know? Okay? So, and then what's with
the magical jukebox? They're like, Joy's here, Mom's here. Yeah.
(09:03):
I do feel like the thing that made all of
this storytelling possible was we just had to like let
some things be untold and unsaid, which led to confusion.
Like I think the Joy storyline is one of those
where I was like, there's so much more information there
that we don't have, And I get that that's how
it works in like a big giant ensemble like this,
(09:25):
but I was like, why do they call her Joy?
And why I don't want is going on. Yeah, there
were like limitations in their storytelling there, maybe because it's
forty five minutes and they couldn't get everything in, but
like take the coal factor out in. Yeah, not everybody
needed a romance. Yeah, Cole comes to the house at
the party. Yeah, Sylvie invited Cole to the party and
(09:48):
they like decided, like Lucy asks Cole on a date. Yeah.
The end, the end, that's over. Annie and Max also
do resolve their storyline, like Annie goes to talk to
Max and she's like, I'm really sorry and he was like,
I like you too, smooch. Let's play video games. Mm hmm.
We have the Lewin family and we have a repeat
(10:11):
of an earlier scene, but this time with the ladies.
In the original Lewin episode, Robert and Evan run into
each other in the morning in the hallway with like
the yeah wow western Yeah. This time we have Gail
and Linda running into each other in the hallway. But
it is quickly revealed that Gaylee and Robert did not
sleep on in the same bed. It was yes, Gayle says,
(10:32):
Robert slept on the couch like a gentleman. Oh I
miss that part. I did think it was I was like, whoa,
she spent the night and on Christmas Eve as well. Yeah,
I okay, I totally missed that Robert slept on the
couch because I was like, whoa, this is a sharp
left turn here, Hamewark. Yes, it's obvious Linda wants to
(10:53):
be back with Robert very clear. At the party, there's
some awkwardness, like Robert and Linda are reminis sing and
Evan kind of like scooches in between them and realizes
what's going on. This is when Evan breaks up with
Linda really in the nicest way possible. Yeah, he sees
that there is a connection between Robert. It was really nice. Yeah,
(11:15):
He's like, it's very obvious YouTube belong together. When he leaves,
he's like, now I'm gonna go be gaale. I'm just kidding.
I did think it was kind of sad. I was like,
where's Evan gonna go for Christmas? Back home? I guess
back home. There's not really any resolution as I recall
(11:36):
it with like Jennifer and Mike. Are they even at
the party? I think so. I did not think they
were even there. Maybe they're they're hanging out with Josh's parents.
Maybe yeah, we don't get any resolution. We no no
final closure with like Mike's like job situation and and
(12:01):
growing apart nothing. Maybe that's intentional. Maybe it's like even
when there's resolution, it's not always perfect, Like we can't
solve every problem in forty five minutes. This next, Katie
and Gabby. Okay, so the Camarinas show up after some resistance. Yeah,
(12:26):
Connie makes Chuck go invite them posts and he's like,
hell no, we're not going over there, and they like
meet at the fence line and they offer a Christmas
truth like they're frigging at war. It was nice. I
was like, that's good. Go over swallow your pride, have
some family cheer. Yeah. So Katie goes to Gabby and
(12:48):
she asks about Kevin, and again I said this one
hundred times, the tone of the Katie storyline is different
here because Gabby's like, Kevin's gonna come around just like
I did. Like Gabby is still in like Katie for
giveness lands. Yeah, and Katie's like, I got some advice
for your audition video, and I actually think it's great advice.
And I think it was great advice too. I think
(13:09):
it comes together really well. She was like, you need
to show what the holidays are really like, Like what
they want to see is are you dynamic on camera?
They don't really care about the recipe that you're making.
So we've watched enough Food Network TV to know this,
are you interesting to watch? And so they end up
filming this like walk and talk of her talking about
which is so ridiculous because you guys, if you've ever
(13:31):
tried to like record something with your phone and there's
eight hundred people around crashing into a oh loud, forget it,
forget it, But I do love Gabby's like video pitch yeah,
and Katie helps her make it and it was great. Yes,
I actually think it's very beautiful. And then of course
Kevin swoops in. This is a really sweet moment because
(13:51):
Katie's like, we're going to have to come up with
a new nickname for you, and from the behind you
hear Kevin say, sister, yeah, that was nice too. Kevin
returns the and I thought it was really cute. He
was like, should I propose again? And she's like the
answer is still the same, she's not giving me. Maybe
it's just character grow crazy, Katie, Yes, in two days, Sure,
(14:12):
I don't know. I'm just telling you I think the
vibe is different and maybe it's direction. Oh interesting, hot
take there, quick take. I want to talk about Josh's parents.
He has a moment that where he references them. He's like,
inspired by Hey, he wants to build them a master
suite at their forever home. He's like, I don't need
(14:34):
to move them out, I just need to make their
current home livable forever, So we'll build them a downstairs
primary bedroom. That's what prompts Stacy's breakup. So his parents
get a little tiny bit of acknowledgment. Yes, Mike and
Jennifer Asarah nothing. The big storyline here is the Linn family.
(14:55):
I gotta tell you, I was really frustrated watching this. Yeah.
So we know from the end of the lin episode
that Grandma saw Marcus and Ted kissing and she had
like that shocked look on her face. But they come
into the party and she's like, you gotta get married today,
Like I'm not feeling I could di tomorrow. She's pushing
for Ella and Marcus to get married. Yes, and Wally
is an ordained minister, so he's going to do it
(15:17):
right there in front of everybody on Christmas day with
no marriage license, and I'm like in my notes, I'm
like nine, I must be actually punking them this time.
We do have another revisit of the a closet scene,
and they got no solutions. They're like, what are we
gonna do? What a yamic do? Let's not worry about
the truth, Let's figure out how we're going to get
out of this. Yeah, there's a quick aside where Grandma
(15:41):
realizes that Connie's waiting on some test results and she
calls in the favor because Grandma's aid Boss Biach, she's
got somebody on the line, and she's like, I got it.
I got deep pockets, baby. But Ted's like, look, enough
of this. I'm gonna tell Grandma. I'm gonna tell her.
And Nina was like, I know, dear, you broke my
(16:04):
heart by lying to me. This is a moment that
is unclear to me. At what point did she know?
Did she know all along and she was punking them
with all the crazy wedding prep that she made them
go through, or because then what explains her like shocked
face through the window, yes, yeah yeah, or did she
(16:24):
just know since the night before? But I kind of
feel like this is mean like, you broke my heart.
This really pisses me off because I feel like she
forced him to be out. Yeah, she really put him
in a terrible position. Yeah, she's like, I'm gonna pull
all these hijinks to get you to give me information
(16:45):
that you weren't ready to give. Yes, I hated everything
about this. It made me mad. Actually, well, Marcus apologizes
to her, but he also like it's kind of like, yeah,
he just throws some therapist talk on her. He's like,
you need to understand that, like you played a part
in this too. Oh. I forgot to mention like when
Linda and Robert get together, my notes bounce. Did you
(17:08):
hear it? Yes? Okay, first of all, my notes say
all State. Robert sends Evan off because something about him
standing drive safe? Isn't that what he says? They are
standing in the driveway and the guy's like getting in
a car driving away. I'm like, this has got to
be intentional, because in that moment I was like, oh,
this is an all State commercial. But Linda and Robert
there's a scene and I'm telling you, the music goes bounce,
(17:31):
whoa wow, and then like you see them like you
see clothes flying. But what they're actually looking for is
the gift that Robert got for her. It's like a
nice like give me some hints that stuff's happened, and
nothing's happening, but I appreciated it. His gift to her
is a trip to the Northern Knights. It's their second honeymoon.
(17:52):
When did he have time to buy that? I don't know.
Maybe there's an eighth family on the street who happens
to be trashful agent. And the time that Evan leaves,
because Robert's not going to buy his ex wife a
trip to go see the Northern Lights unless he was
buying it for Evan and Linda. Yeah, that is weird together,
(18:14):
That is weird. No, it was a nice conclusion, though.
I'm happy to see Robert and Linda back together. In
the midst of all this dash of the Lama is gone.
Don't care. He has escaped all the way to the
Cameraina's house. Now that nine nine knows, Ted and Marcus
(18:35):
are like, let's get married. What are we waiting for?
Everyone's here, even all these neighbors that we don't really
care that much about, But he cares about each other.
They all hate each other, but like because of circumstance,
nobody has power. They're all hanging out with each other. Yeah,
so instead of just eating a bunch of appetizers, they're like,
let's plan an entire wedding. Let's decorate this whole tent
and have everybody. I'd be like, I don't want to
(18:55):
do this this Christmas Day? Could we just like lounge
around and tet a cheeseball? I mean, like, where are
they getting all these this decotable lanterns and so many
matching chairs, big like bouquets. Yeah, they have like what
you would see at a wedding, like the table of
eight chairs. I was like, where did all these flowers
(19:17):
come from? I mean I just was like, uh and
again no marriage license, no marriage license, and no family
of Marcus there. No it is I know, I hear it.
We talked about in the camera and episode how they
like flash on the sign of like no tree cutting. Right. Well,
this is where that moment comes full circle because Sheriff
(19:38):
Nora shows up and she's like someone cod to a
tree down. Of course, it could only be one of
these families, all all the people in this entire city.
It's got to be one of them, and Josh is like,
it's me. Wally performs a wedding ceremony. He talks about
holiday traditions, We bring a full circle. He talks about
even the unplanned moments can be lovely. Someone had a
(19:59):
confetti cannon chuck, and we get a kiss thee and
there's flashes of all the many connections made. These people
are just gonna go back to not talking to each
other and a giant neighborhood photo. Oh, we did not talk.
Connie got her results and it was nothing. Yeah. I
kind of was annoyed, like I don't want Connie to
(20:20):
be sick. But I was like, you don't tell your
entire family. I might not live to see next year
when you have no information. That's a real rollercoaster. What
you could be like. They're like, Mom's Elsie, No, no,
it's no bigtail. Everybody tears. I just think it's perfectly
reasonable to be like, I'm waiting on some test retults
and I'm stressed about it. Yeah, but I might not
be here next year. I know it's high drama, not necessary. Hey, friends,
(20:46):
thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark,
a Bramble Jam podcast This wraps up our Holidazed marathon.
We're hoping you are having a very happy new year.
We will be back tomorrow with our top five holiday
movies from the Hallmark Juggernaut that was twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Come back for that. We'll see you next time. Goodbye bye.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will. Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product. Bye.
This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone
(00:28):
Hallmark Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm when Day, I'm a former Hallmark hater.
Today we are discussing the finale of the Holidays series,
airing exclusively on Hallmark Plus, episode eight. If you listened
to our recap of episode seven, you know we changed
up the style of our recaps a little bit, so
(00:49):
we are not doing a scene by scene recap, but
we're just gonna dive in and talk about everyone's resolution
because this episode was pure chaos. Lots of people, lots
of scenes. I mean shout out to director Stacy Harding
for she did the first episode as well, I think
one and two and this episode, so you know, it's
(01:12):
a lot of moving pieces, hugely ambitious project. Yeah, speaking
of let me, I'm curious what your overall thoughts on
this series was. So overall, I did enjoy it. There
was a lot going on. I think when I think
about this series, I like that it was a huge swing.
(01:35):
It was a lot of stories, a lot to bring
back together. And when I think of it as a whole,
episode one to episode eight and the way it's tied
all together. I think it's really interesting storytelling. There were
some weak moments for me, there were some moments that
didn't land for me. There were some frustrating pieces to me,
(01:58):
But overall, I liked this series. I know you have
some different thoughts. No, I did not wildly different. I
agree with you. I like how it all comes back together.
I do agree that there were some weaker storylines, and
I do think that they could have cut some some
of the families, maybe just one of them. I'm not
(02:18):
gonna say who. But I like the big swing as well.
Like I don't know, it's like highs and lows for
me on this What I really enjoyed is that Hallmark
took on a project that wasn't like a picture perfect project.
It wasn't a picture perfect Christmas Like. They were like
(02:39):
real issues, real issues, showing families that are dealing with
real stuff. Not everybody is like, you know, celebrating a
joyful season or whatever. There's like a lot of shi
t happening alongside it being the holiday season. Yeah, everyone
was going through it on Christmas Eve. Yeah, So I
mean I kind of enjoyed all that. I don't know,
(03:03):
I don't know. And then I was thinking, like, would
they tackle this again with a different neighborhood, because when
I was on IMDb, it shows like season one, and
I was like, Oh, would they do this again like
a season two, different neighborhood, different stories? Yeah? Maybe are
there that many stories that can be told? I don't know.
(03:23):
I wonder as a casual of your because I watched
this taking notes on every episode, and even I found
myself like, when Ian Harding comes back in episode eight,
I'm like, oh, Josh almost forgot about you, you know?
So I wonder as the casual viewer, was it hard
to keep track of everybody? It's not complicated storyline telling
you you can figure it out. But okay, so how
(03:45):
do you want to do this? Do you want to
talk through each family? Uh? Yeah, let's do that. Okay.
What's interesting is Josh's parents aren't here? Are they? Nope?
We don't see them at all in this episode. So
you want to talk about Josh and Stacey and Sheriff Nora. Sure?
And THEO. The episode does open up early on with
him showing up at Sheriff Nora's house with the coffee
(04:05):
or real early on Christmas morning, you know, like THEO
is not even awake, so it must have been very
early because children bounce out of bed with the sun
to see what Santa has brought them. And she is
still assembling his bike, which is a choice on Christmas
morning to be still working totally. It's like a late
night holiday at but there was no power, so maybe
she needed to wait until there was some light. Tell me,
(04:25):
how does Josh slip out of bed with girlfriend? Stacy
is what her name? Yeah? I almost wondered if she
was gone, and we were going to find that out,
but not enough time has passed for her to be gone. No,
and we see a whole thing with them later in
the in the episode comes back into the episode. So
(04:48):
he's just mysteriously gone for several hours on Christmas morning,
helping another woman assemble a bike for her son. I
mean Stacey, Well, let's get to it. Some feelings about that, right,
because he clearly hasn't broken up with Stacy, like she's
still here. Nora says, I thought you're going to Australia,
(05:09):
and he's like our fight was canceled because of the storm,
and she's like oh, he does say I'm glad to
get to spend this more time with you. But he's
still with Stacy, and he's like, seems to be like
trying to get Sheriff Nora to admit, like there's something here,
and she's like, you know, I's like pantsand dude, you're
still with Stacy. Yeah, gotta I gotta protect my kid. Yeah,
you're not saying I'm staying here with you. You're not saying like,
(05:31):
you're not saying it. She's all the same things are happening.
It's just like high school. And she's like, you can't
be here. It's too confusing for THEO. And did you
see that moment? Though? They keep their scarves on in
the house because there's no heat, and when Josh leaves,
his scarf is tucked into his jacket the entire time.
And when he leaves and he glances back in through
(05:51):
the window and he sees Nora and THEO sharing their
like good morning Christmas, hut, his scarf has escaped from
his jacket all of a sudden, Oh, it's out interesting.
We do later on see Josh and Stacy show up. Yeah,
minette boiler. Yeah at the minute, can't even say their
stupid name. Yeah, thete the Manette, Hannah hands save the
(06:11):
day with their battery backup because they're the only ones
in the neighborhood with power. So this is going to
be the source of the neighborhood gathering. Yeah, they invite
everybody over, and so Josh and Nora do run into
each other there. Josh and Stacey arrive together and I
was like, get out. Stacy like not the contractor. I
like you, but please go home. Yeah. Well, and Josh
to step the f up and be like this is
(06:33):
not this is not happening here. But maybe because it's
Christmas Day, like he doesn't want to be like Siya,
but also it's Christmas Day, and he went over to
Nora's house. I know, I know. How do they break up?
They break up because THEO draws a picture for Josh
and in this picture it's depicted like the perfect life
(06:54):
or something like that. And Stacy confronts Josh and she's like,
this is not perfect life, but this looks like you're
perfect life and so peace. I'm out. Two things to
say about that. One, when THEO shows Josh the picture
and she's like, Stacy, this is you. She goes neat Oh, look, Stacey,
she got kids. She hates kids. But the other thing
(07:17):
about that is she's like when they break up, she goes, well,
we're still great business partner, so I'll message you about
that project. Like she's all business. That's all she cares
about business. So she's like, have a great life. It
was kind of I was glad that she wasn't like
all heartbroken about it, Like she just was like, look,
(07:37):
you and I don't want the same things, and I'm
gonna go pursue what I want to do and you
can stay here and have your small town life. Let's
talk the Woods family because it's a quick short story.
Lucy and Annie and Sylvie. Yeah, Lucy and Annie they
go look for Aunt Sylvie. It's kind of wild to
me that, like all this stuff was put on pause,
but I guess it was storming out and they're not
(07:58):
going to like go out in the big storm. And
they don't have to look very far because they find
Aunt Sylvie at the bakery. She slept in a blocking
all night long and she was like, I was embarrassed,
And Lucy says, I'm proud of you. And then the
jukebox turns on. Yeah, this is the magical jukebox. This
(08:21):
is the storyline. I feel that could have been cut.
I just it doesn't make it. It doesn't add to
the overall narrative to me at all. I also don't
like the Annie Max storyline. Oh you don't. No, I
hate kids, so I don't hate kids, but I it
(08:42):
just was silly to me. I just didn't care about
Sylvie and the sister. I can't even tell you what
the sister's name is. Annie. No, that's the daughter. What's
her name? Sylvie? The sister Lucy? Yeah, I just it
doesn't work for me. That's the silky is the curly
haired sister? I know? Okay? So, and then what's with
the magical jukebox? They're like, Joy's here, Mom's here. Yeah.
(09:03):
I do feel like the thing that made all of
this storytelling possible was we just had to like let
some things be untold and unsaid, which led to confusion.
Like I think the Joy storyline is one of those
where I was like, there's so much more information there
that we don't have, And I get that that's how
it works in like a big giant ensemble like this,
(09:25):
but I was like, why do they call her Joy?
And why I don't want is going on. Yeah, there
were like limitations in their storytelling there, maybe because it's
forty five minutes and they couldn't get everything in, but
like take the coal factor out in. Yeah, not everybody
needed a romance. Yeah, Cole comes to the house at
the party. Yeah, Sylvie invited Cole to the party and
(09:48):
they like decided, like Lucy asks Cole on a date. Yeah.
The end, the end, that's over. Annie and Max also
do resolve their storyline, like Annie goes to talk to
Max and she's like, I'm really sorry and he was like,
I like you too, smooch. Let's play video games. Mm hmm.
We have the Lewin family and we have a repeat
(10:11):
of an earlier scene, but this time with the ladies.
In the original Lewin episode, Robert and Evan run into
each other in the morning in the hallway with like
the yeah wow western Yeah. This time we have Gail
and Linda running into each other in the hallway. But
it is quickly revealed that Gaylee and Robert did not
sleep on in the same bed. It was yes, Gayle says,
(10:32):
Robert slept on the couch like a gentleman. Oh I
miss that part. I did think it was I was like, whoa,
she spent the night and on Christmas Eve as well. Yeah,
I okay, I totally missed that Robert slept on the
couch because I was like, whoa, this is a sharp
left turn here, Hamewark. Yes, it's obvious Linda wants to
(10:53):
be back with Robert very clear. At the party, there's
some awkwardness, like Robert and Linda are reminis sing and
Evan kind of like scooches in between them and realizes
what's going on. This is when Evan breaks up with
Linda really in the nicest way possible. Yeah, he sees
that there is a connection between Robert. It was really nice. Yeah,
(11:15):
He's like, it's very obvious YouTube belong together. When he leaves,
he's like, now I'm gonna go be gaale. I'm just kidding.
I did think it was kind of sad. I was like,
where's Evan gonna go for Christmas? Back home? I guess
back home. There's not really any resolution as I recall
(11:36):
it with like Jennifer and Mike. Are they even at
the party? I think so. I did not think they
were even there. Maybe they're they're hanging out with Josh's parents.
Maybe yeah, we don't get any resolution. We no no
final closure with like Mike's like job situation and and
(12:01):
growing apart nothing. Maybe that's intentional. Maybe it's like even
when there's resolution, it's not always perfect, Like we can't
solve every problem in forty five minutes. This next, Katie
and Gabby. Okay, so the Camarinas show up after some resistance. Yeah,
(12:26):
Connie makes Chuck go invite them posts and he's like,
hell no, we're not going over there, and they like
meet at the fence line and they offer a Christmas
truth like they're frigging at war. It was nice. I
was like, that's good. Go over swallow your pride, have
some family cheer. Yeah. So Katie goes to Gabby and
(12:48):
she asks about Kevin, and again I said this one
hundred times, the tone of the Katie storyline is different
here because Gabby's like, Kevin's gonna come around just like
I did. Like Gabby is still in like Katie for
giveness lands. Yeah, and Katie's like, I got some advice
for your audition video, and I actually think it's great advice.
And I think it was great advice too. I think
(13:09):
it comes together really well. She was like, you need
to show what the holidays are really like, Like what
they want to see is are you dynamic on camera?
They don't really care about the recipe that you're making.
So we've watched enough Food Network TV to know this,
are you interesting to watch? And so they end up
filming this like walk and talk of her talking about
which is so ridiculous because you guys, if you've ever
(13:31):
tried to like record something with your phone and there's
eight hundred people around crashing into a oh loud, forget it,
forget it, But I do love Gabby's like video pitch yeah,
and Katie helps her make it and it was great. Yes,
I actually think it's very beautiful. And then of course
Kevin swoops in. This is a really sweet moment because
(13:51):
Katie's like, we're going to have to come up with
a new nickname for you, and from the behind you
hear Kevin say, sister, yeah, that was nice too. Kevin
returns the and I thought it was really cute. He
was like, should I propose again? And she's like the
answer is still the same, she's not giving me. Maybe
it's just character grow crazy, Katie, Yes, in two days, Sure,
(14:12):
I don't know. I'm just telling you I think the
vibe is different and maybe it's direction. Oh interesting, hot
take there, quick take. I want to talk about Josh's parents.
He has a moment that where he references them. He's like,
inspired by Hey, he wants to build them a master
suite at their forever home. He's like, I don't need
(14:34):
to move them out, I just need to make their
current home livable forever, So we'll build them a downstairs
primary bedroom. That's what prompts Stacy's breakup. So his parents
get a little tiny bit of acknowledgment. Yes, Mike and
Jennifer Asarah nothing. The big storyline here is the Linn family.
(14:55):
I gotta tell you, I was really frustrated watching this. Yeah.
So we know from the end of the lin episode
that Grandma saw Marcus and Ted kissing and she had
like that shocked look on her face. But they come
into the party and she's like, you gotta get married today,
Like I'm not feeling I could di tomorrow. She's pushing
for Ella and Marcus to get married. Yes, and Wally
is an ordained minister, so he's going to do it
(15:17):
right there in front of everybody on Christmas day with
no marriage license, and I'm like in my notes, I'm
like nine, I must be actually punking them this time.
We do have another revisit of the a closet scene,
and they got no solutions. They're like, what are we
gonna do? What a yamic do? Let's not worry about
the truth, Let's figure out how we're going to get
out of this. Yeah, there's a quick aside where Grandma
(15:41):
realizes that Connie's waiting on some test results and she
calls in the favor because Grandma's aid Boss Biach, she's
got somebody on the line, and she's like, I got it.
I got deep pockets, baby. But Ted's like, look, enough
of this. I'm gonna tell Grandma. I'm gonna tell her.
And Nina was like, I know, dear, you broke my
(16:04):
heart by lying to me. This is a moment that
is unclear to me. At what point did she know?
Did she know all along and she was punking them
with all the crazy wedding prep that she made them
go through, or because then what explains her like shocked
face through the window, yes, yeah yeah, or did she
(16:24):
just know since the night before? But I kind of
feel like this is mean like, you broke my heart.
This really pisses me off because I feel like she
forced him to be out. Yeah, she really put him
in a terrible position. Yeah, she's like, I'm gonna pull
all these hijinks to get you to give me information
(16:45):
that you weren't ready to give. Yes, I hated everything
about this. It made me mad. Actually, well, Marcus apologizes
to her, but he also like it's kind of like, yeah,
he just throws some therapist talk on her. He's like,
you need to understand that, like you played a part
in this too. Oh. I forgot to mention like when
Linda and Robert get together, my notes bounce. Did you
(17:08):
hear it? Yes? Okay, first of all, my notes say
all State. Robert sends Evan off because something about him
standing drive safe? Isn't that what he says? They are
standing in the driveway and the guy's like getting in
a car driving away. I'm like, this has got to
be intentional, because in that moment I was like, oh,
this is an all State commercial. But Linda and Robert
there's a scene and I'm telling you, the music goes bounce,
(17:31):
whoa wow, and then like you see them like you
see clothes flying. But what they're actually looking for is
the gift that Robert got for her. It's like a
nice like give me some hints that stuff's happened, and
nothing's happening, but I appreciated it. His gift to her
is a trip to the Northern Knights. It's their second honeymoon.
(17:52):
When did he have time to buy that? I don't know.
Maybe there's an eighth family on the street who happens
to be trashful agent. And the time that Evan leaves,
because Robert's not going to buy his ex wife a
trip to go see the Northern Lights unless he was
buying it for Evan and Linda. Yeah, that is weird together,
(18:14):
That is weird. No, it was a nice conclusion, though.
I'm happy to see Robert and Linda back together. In
the midst of all this dash of the Lama is gone.
Don't care. He has escaped all the way to the
Cameraina's house. Now that nine nine knows, Ted and Marcus
(18:35):
are like, let's get married. What are we waiting for?
Everyone's here, even all these neighbors that we don't really
care that much about, But he cares about each other.
They all hate each other, but like because of circumstance,
nobody has power. They're all hanging out with each other. Yeah,
so instead of just eating a bunch of appetizers, they're like,
let's plan an entire wedding. Let's decorate this whole tent
and have everybody. I'd be like, I don't want to
(18:55):
do this this Christmas Day? Could we just like lounge
around and tet a cheeseball? I mean, like, where are
they getting all these this decotable lanterns and so many
matching chairs, big like bouquets. Yeah, they have like what
you would see at a wedding, like the table of
eight chairs. I was like, where did all these flowers
(19:17):
come from? I mean I just was like, uh and
again no marriage license, no marriage license, and no family
of Marcus there. No it is I know, I hear it.
We talked about in the camera and episode how they
like flash on the sign of like no tree cutting. Right. Well,
this is where that moment comes full circle because Sheriff
(19:38):
Nora shows up and she's like someone cod to a
tree down. Of course, it could only be one of
these families, all all the people in this entire city.
It's got to be one of them, and Josh is like,
it's me. Wally performs a wedding ceremony. He talks about
holiday traditions, We bring a full circle. He talks about
even the unplanned moments can be lovely. Someone had a
(19:59):
confetti cannon chuck, and we get a kiss thee and
there's flashes of all the many connections made. These people
are just gonna go back to not talking to each
other and a giant neighborhood photo. Oh, we did not talk.
Connie got her results and it was nothing. Yeah. I
kind of was annoyed, like I don't want Connie to
(20:20):
be sick. But I was like, you don't tell your
entire family. I might not live to see next year
when you have no information. That's a real rollercoaster. What
you could be like. They're like, Mom's Elsie, No, no,
it's no bigtail. Everybody tears. I just think it's perfectly
reasonable to be like, I'm waiting on some test retults
and I'm stressed about it. Yeah, but I might not
be here next year. I know it's high drama, not necessary. Hey, friends,
(20:46):
thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark,
a Bramble Jam podcast This wraps up our Holidazed marathon.
We're hoping you are having a very happy new year.
We will be back tomorrow with our top five holiday
movies from the Hallmark Juggernaut that was twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Come back for that. We'll see you next time. Goodbye bye.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will. Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product. Bye.
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