Ep. 23 - Welcome Home

This week Kira and Amelia head over to the Great American Family channel to try out their Christmas fare and they were not disappointed. Find out why Danica McKellar’s first GAF movie after leaving Hallmark does justice to her new home’s motto - Welcome Home. Enjoy ‘Christmas at the Drive-in’

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This is the FCB Podcast Network MaryChristmas, everybody, Welcome back to another
episode of a very Merry podcast.I'm your host Kia Davis, and I

(00:23):
am here with my very married cohost, Amelia Hamilton. Amelia, how
are you doing this Christmas season?You're getting in the spirit? I well,
I am permanently in the spirit.And then one of my brothers came
home last night. Another one's cominghome tomorrow. So once you get once
the family starts flying in, it'slike it's really happening. Oh awesome.

(00:45):
Well, um, we last weekwe talked a little bit about some of
our issues with Hallmark, some ofour concerns. We've expanded our repertoire this
week and we've moved over to GreatAmerican to check out what's over there.
And before we get started, Amelia, I want to tell you that Ruby,

(01:06):
my daughter, Ruby, who isfifteen years old, she hates these
movies. She hates that I sitdown and watch them. She's like,
why do you watch them? They'reall the same, and I'm always like,
that's the point. And then thispast week we've been just watching Christmas
movies all week, every night,and we watched this movie that we're reviewing

(01:30):
today. Ruby and I watched thismovie and she told me, I don't
like this movie. It's not badenough. And I was like, I
think we have a convert starting.She's starting to get there. And then
I and then after that movie ended, the movie ended, I left the

(01:51):
room for a little while, wentto do some stuff, and when I
came back into the room, shewas actually watching Hallmark by herself. She
was watching Hallmark. She had movedover. All right, all right,
it was like so um, andthe movie was it was I think it's
called Christmas at the Starlight. That'sthe one with It's got Kimberly Sustad and

(02:14):
Paul Campbell and she's got to saveher parents diner and he's yeah, yeah,
he's the jerk. It's not thatmuch older because I think it was
one of the first ones where wegot a gay couple. His assistant was
gay, and that was like,oh, his assistant, Okay, we're
doing this now. And uh,but his assistant was so fun in the
movie, and um, I actuallylike that one. And and then I

(02:36):
noticed, because I was of course, I sat and watched it with her
the credits that it was Kimberly Sustadand Paul Campbell, who wrote that script
as well. So we weren't.We've not been noticing that they've been writing
for Hallmark for a while agains,So good for them, Good on them.
It's always good to get on theproduction end. But I just wanted
you to know we may have aconvert on our hands. We did it,

(02:57):
We did it, We did it. Congratulations, Hype. Well,
this week we have moved over toGreat American and we thought a great movie
to start with would be from aHallmark alam one of our favorites, Dannika
mckeller. So we're reviewing this weekChristmas at the Drive In, starring Dannika
mckeller and Neil Bledsoe. And beforewe get started, a million wound Lee

(03:21):
address the controversy. It's so funnythat there's controversy in Christmas Land. But
I was so excited to see thispairing because they were also in I believe
it was called Coming Home for Christmas. They were the pair and it was
a couple of years ago. Yeah, Coming Home for Christmas. He played
a rich guy who had a biglike estate and she was the happm Yes,

(03:46):
I love that one. They werethey were gonna have to sell the
house. And it was a wholething, of course, as it always
is, and it was so good, and I was like, we don't
see this guy in a lot ofthem. He's been in a few,
but he's not like one of theregulars. Yeah. So then he moved
over to JF and we saw thathe was going to be in this movie
with Danica mckeller, bringing them backtogether. So excited. But let's not

(04:09):
get too excited because he quit GreatAmerican after Candice camera Berrey's comments, So
we are not going to be seeinghim again after this Christmas season. Well,
sorry, Neil. Maybe he'll popback up over at a Hallmark and
we'll see him over there. Buthe was great in this movie and we
had a great time watching it.I wanted to say Amelia that, you

(04:33):
know, just to piggyback on whatwe talked about last week, I have
moved over to Great American. I'mstill watching Hallmark, but now I'm like
flipping. So if there's something onHallmark I don't like, I'll go over
to Great American. And their themefor at least for this year is Welcome
Home, right, and they havethat little song. Yeah, come Home,

(04:54):
Come Home, Come home, Comehome for Christmas. Now I have
it in my and that's what itfeels like. I was thinking the same
thing when I saw that was theirtagline. I was like, it does
feel like we're coming home. Theseare the movies that we've been missing.
And that's what I was telling Rubywhen we were watching it. I was
like, this feel this does feellike like I'm home. Like I felt

(05:15):
relieved to see this movie and itjust it had everything we wanted. So
let's get right into it. Themasterpiece said is Christmas app the Drive In
with Danika McKellar and Neil bledsoe h, get us start at Amelia all right.
So I was happy right from theopening we opened there at a store

(05:36):
called Jingle and Things. Yeah,I was happy already. I was like,
Okay, this is already gonna begood. Um. So, Danik
McKellar plays Sadie and she's there withher friend Eve, who is her woman
of color best friend. So anotherthat black best friend. But no,
but she was a woman call soI think I think I said that too.

(05:58):
I said that to Ruby when sheshowed up. I'm like, oh,
almost black best friend. There yougo. Um So let's see it.
So they're shopping and her friend Eve, which another trope Christmas name.
Her name's Eve. Yes, Sothere she's shopping to buy something for her
husband, and Sadie's like, youdon't have a husband. So there's you
know, a little joke about howmuch she wants a husband, and so

(06:21):
Eve it's like, listen, there'sthree weeks until Christmas. Um, you
broke off your engagement almost a yearago. It's time to like get back
out there. So there was someyou know, some umtally almost said Juck's
position. Yeah, exposition, explainher backstory. I love everything about all
of it. And of course thebest friend is only concerned with her friend's

(06:46):
love life and making sure that shehas a good man. Yes, it's
all she thinks about. So shetakes her to where Mendoza's tree lot used
to be, but it's closed downand this was a major like hub of
Christmas in their community. So keepan eye on Mendozes because they're gonna be
hearing about them later. Yes,but what Eve really wants to talk to

(07:06):
her about is that the people whoused to own Mendozas are having some kind
of illegal issue, and Eve andSadie are both lawyers. But Sadie when
she ditched her fiance, she ditchedthe career too, and she isn't She
was living in Chicago and now she'sback in this small town. I can't
remember what it's called. And sheis teaching property law instead of practicing property

(07:30):
law. And so she was fromowed. She loved to fight for the
little guy. And then I thoughtit was is this a I'm sorry,
is this like a new I don'tknow if I've seen this job yet in
Christland. I don't think so.I don't think I was like a last
season. Yeah, we talked aboutall the different jobs that you know are
in It makes sense because there's alot of these kind of issues are coming

(07:55):
up in the town has to savewhatever. So good for her being a
property lawyer, which is going tocome in useful because Sadie is like,
hey, I know I noticed thatMendozaz is gone, but what's up with
the drive in. I've know it'sa bunch of trucks there this morning.
Well, meanwhile, Holden, whois a busy businessman who's also just back

(08:16):
in town to do some business.Okay, it's not staying, No he's
not staying, he's not looking forlove, and he's certainly not celebrating Christmas.
No, don't be ridiculous. Whywould he. So he is going
to sell the drive in, whichwas, like his father's, was a
family business, and they're going toput in a distribution center for I think

(08:37):
it was called Excelsior or something,but I basically pictured it as like an
Amazon sort of distribution center. He'swith his friend Bobby, who is the
mayor, and they're talking about howthis deal is gonna be great for the
town. It's going to bring ina lot of jobs, it's gonna bring
in some money. And Bobby mentions, hey, there's this like town history
thing at the college library and there'sa really cute picture of you and your

(09:00):
dad. So just kind of filedthat away for a minute. Kira just
filed it away, filed away.Bobby mentioned it, Bobby mentioned it.
So now Sadie Danica mccaller is ather mom's house and there's food prep going
on. She's cooking with her brother. Her brother's some kind of a caterer
who's trying to get his food businessoff the ground, and her mom has
a sign on the wall, don'tgive up before the miracle. And as

(09:22):
soon as I saw that, Iwas like, we're going to hear this
line again. This is going tobe the talk you've seen before. We'll
find out if I'm right. Asthe episode continues, so they her brother
makes this little joke about how Holdenfrom the Drive in was the first boy
that Sadie ever kissed and he waslike her first love, yeah, to

(09:46):
which she replies, how do youknow that? And then we discover that
her creepy little brother was reading herdiary as a kid boo boo brother whose
name I don't remember. Yeah,it is very inconsequential, and he was.
So we know they have a history. We know she shouldn't give up

(10:07):
for the miracle. We know alittle bit about her backstory. Back to
Holden, he is showing the CEOof Excelsior around and she wants to know
about other properties that Holden my own. So we understand that he is like
a real estate tycoon. Basically hehas many properties. Well, his name
is Holden, which they said itin conjunction, like at one point they

(10:31):
were like Holden's Holdings, and Iwas like, Okay, I get it.
I have a little Robert Baron joke, a little Robert Baron that's thought.
So the COO is a little bitnervous because the drive in has a
historic designation, and I thought itwas kind of hilarious because the historic designation
is like, this is a landmarkfrom nineteen fifty three, and it's like,

(10:54):
that is cool. It's over fiftyyears old. I get it.
But like when I hear historic designation, I picture like at least one hundred
years old or something. But Iget it. I think these mid century
things, especially stuff like drive ins, are very cool. I mean we
are. It's not like we're inthe nineties. We are in the twenty
twenties. So it's almost seventy yearsago now. Yeah, So I mean

(11:16):
that is Yeah. It's like whenwe say something was like, oh yeah,
that thing was like just a fewyears ago, and it was like
back in twenty oh, like twothousand and five, we're like, oh,
you know, like, oh,you forget how much time, Like
how far are we into the twoWe are into the two thousands. Yeah,

(11:37):
that's true. That's true, almosta quarter of the way through.
Oh my goodness, that's gonna messme up now. So he's like,
listen, it's really nothing. It'skind of like a cool little plaque.
We have to go to the HistoricalCommission. The meeting is actually this afternoon,
but it's a formality, and hewants it to be very clear that
this is just a formality. Everything'sfine, Yes, they're greater arrangements,

(12:01):
papers get signed, this is happening. So at the so meantime, Danica
Sadie is at school talking to herstudents and she's got this whole property of
law, property law allegory about Christmastrees because she loves Christmas. Unlike holding
the busy business man, She's inthe spirit and she's going to explain everything
as it comes to Christmas. Sothen she bids her students farewhile have a

(12:24):
great break she wants and decides she'sgoing to wander through the historic town exhibit
and you'll never believe what happens.Guess who's there here. You're not gonna
believe it. I couldn't believe it. It was holding can you believe it?
We wanted to see the picture Bobbytold him about and they were both
in the same place, and it'slike, oh my gosh, this is
crazy. It's going to be socringe when they run into each other's shocking.

(12:48):
It was shocking. So we findout that they've they dated in high
school, which was about which wasthey say, almost twenty years ago.
Yeah, I was trying to dothem, so I think that's how old
they are, and it was morelike thirty years ago. But that's okay,
Yeah, that's okay. So I'mI'm starting to see that, like

(13:11):
Candice and Danika and perhaps me andyou are moving into the more like mom
age of these plot lines, rightlike now there's a lot of Okay,
this is an older romance, andI'm starting to wonder when they're going to

(13:31):
start being relegated to just being theparents, right, and it's the younger
It's coming soon, and I knowthat I'll be sad because I's going to
say something about my age. However, I do have to say that,
of course we love CUCB like wethink she's freaking gorgeous. I have to
say there were a couple of timeswhen I was looking at this film and

(13:52):
going, Dannika mckeller is freaking gorgeous. She's so beautiful, and some of
the shots of her are just stunning. But no, girl, high school
was not twenty years ago for you. I looked it up. She does
have a few years on me,but I was also out of high school
twenty years ago, So if shehas a few years on me, I'm
just saying, yeah, I'm justsaying I just celebrated my thirtieth high school

(14:16):
reunion by not going of course,well you're yeah, I didn't go to
mind by twentieth, so and we'renot. We're not trying to suggest the
care is older than me. Anybodylistening. No, we're not trying to
suggest we're old at all ages.But in dumb of course. So she
talks to him and he mentions hehas some meeting this afternoon. We know

(14:37):
what it is, but she andhe's leaving tomorrow. Then her mom calls
and she has got the tea onwhat's happening at the drive in from Marie.
Marie told her, Marie is thetown gossip, Marinos, all the
stuff, everything, Marino's, Everything'sgoing. Marie called and Marie told me,
yep, Marie's not afraid to tellyou. So say it's like,

(15:00):
well, I'm going to this historiccouncil meeting. This is this is nonsense.
So we've got um this woman onthe town council I think her name
is Adele Yea and she is likewheeling and dealing before the committee meeting starts.
Let me tell you, local politicsis where it's happening, you guys.
I was like, everybody focused onthe federal government, but this is

(15:20):
how things happen. I know.I was like, I have in my
notes like, um, like whatthere's bribery in Christmas Land? Like they
were straight This was straight up politicalwheeling and dealing bribery. I was like,
whoa. Yeah. So she wastelling Bobby who is the town mayor
slash Holden's BF that if her restaurantcan have outdoor seating in time for spring,

(15:46):
which would mean the mayor has tocall a special session because they don't
meet until spring, bla blah blahblah, then on this drive in and
if on selling the drive in forthe UM distribution center, and if she
does not get her outdoor seating,then she's gonna have to think about it.
Yeah. I was like, okay, doll, go ahead and get
you. I mean, And youknow it was they. I thought they

(16:08):
actually handle it very nicely because thatis it is it's bribery, right,
that is, that's fraud. Butin Christmasland, you know, there isn't
there aren't really bad people, andso they really like hit that fine line.
So Bobby the Mare at one pointwas like, well that would be

(16:30):
you know, that sounds like anexchange, that would be kind of like
bribery. And Adele's like, no, no, it's just a consideration.
You know, I need this outdoorpatio, and it'd be easier for me
to make all of these you know, considerations if I didn't have to worry
about that. But you know,my only goal is what's right for the
town, and you know that.So but I was like, okay,
go ahead, Adele, get getyou some because everybody else's is getting a

(16:55):
piece of this pie, right,why can't Adele get it? Well,
let's see if Adele does. Asthe movie goes one, so Holding gets
up and speaks first, talks aboutthe distribution center, money jobs, whatever,
and then Sadie is like, that'sridiculous. This town needs to drive
in. It is, you know, a institution in this town. So

(17:18):
much happens there. We need todrive in. So Adele is like,
listen, the council cannot decide onthis right now. Possibly we need to
think about this. We're gonna gohave dinner and reconvene, which I thought
was hilarious because usually it's like afifteen minute recess, maybe a lunch break,
but I've never heard of a dinnerbreak and then like, let's reconvene
at eight pm, like they're goingto say, let's do it in the
morning. Like this is so Washington, d C. Too, because they

(17:41):
literally did it, like they wereonly there for five minutes at that point
where they're like, oh, adjourned, let's go get lunch. I was
like, yeah, that is soCapitol Hill. Like if you got a
Capitol Hill people, you know inthe movies, it seems like people are
just at their offices all night,like working, slating over government documents.
And I'm sure that happens from timeto time when you're on a deadline.

(18:04):
But the truth is is like ifyou go to Capitol Hill during a regular
session, those people leave work atthree pm, man, and they're in
the bars and they just get that'swhy this country so jacked up. They
get most of their business done overdrinks at the bars surrounding the Capitol buildings,
so our government them folks are alwaysleaving earthly somewhere else. So while

(18:30):
they're on the town councils on theirdinner break Holden and say to you're hanging
out, and Holden is like,this is about business, this is a
business decision. Ps, this isall about business. But then she starts
saying, maybe you just kind ofrun off and leave things behind, which

(18:51):
I think I felt like the breakup. Honestly, yeah, I didn't feel
like that was about the drive in. I had a feeling that the conversation
was about something else. But yeah, she had a lot to say about
just dropping everything and ghosting. Yes, But then he made a comment too,
like well, maybe you're just runningtrying to save this because it's the
next shiny new thing, and you'dlike to run after the next shiny new

(19:11):
thing. And she's like, whatright? That's that was my reaction.
I was like, how dare youspeak to Danika like that? How dare
you? She would never She's agood person. You saw how she was
talking to her students outside of aboutChristmas, and she made a funny anecdote
related to law about Christmas, andall the students laughed, that's a good

(19:32):
person. Right, you're a busybusinessman, so it's obviously your fault that
you broke up twenty years ago,which was actually thirty. Read the rules,
dude, the rules all right.Town council has reconvened the Historic Council.
That is. So what they saidis, listen, there's three weeks
until Christmas. You have until thento make a case for why the drive

(19:53):
in is better for the town thanthe distribution center. And Holden has to
prove that he really tried to makea go of it. So we're checking
another box here with a Christmas deadline, which I really appreciated. This week,
we I had a meeting and wewere talking about just days of the
week wise, we would have ameeting normally with this client the day after

(20:15):
Christmas, and he was like yeah, like joking, He's like, I'm
gonna make it a day early.We're gonna have to meet on Christmas even
then again on Christmas Day. AndI was like, are you in a
Hallmark movie? Like I said thatto him. I was like, this
is a Hallmark movie situation because thedeadline is always Christmas. Our friend Stasia
posted on Facebook today she was shewas complaining because someone scheduled a meeting for

(20:37):
the last day before we're closed forChristmas, and I was like, oh,
g Stasia, this is this isa Christmas Land trope. This means
that you are about to meet ahot single dad who owns a Christmas tree
farm and all he wants to celebratethe spirit of Christmas all year round with
you. So congratulations Station. Ican't wait. I can't wait to meet

(20:59):
this guy. That's gonna be great. These days, it seems like everybody's
talking, but no one is actuallylistening to the things they're saying. Critical
thinking isn't dead, but it's definitelylow on oxygen. Join me Kia Davis
on Jeff Listen to yourself every weekas we reason through issues big and small,

(21:19):
critique our own ideas, and learnto draw our talking points all the
way out to their logical conclusions.Subscribe to Just Listen to Yourself with Kia
Davis an FCB Radio podcasts on Apple, on Spotify, iHeart, or wherever
you get your podcasts. So Holdman, Sadie. Neither of them are excited
about this. She does not wantto deal with this. He thought he

(21:41):
had a done deal ridiculous. Sonow they're both having conversations with their besties
were on the next day now abouttheir breakup. So what happens is what
here's what happened twenty but actually thirtyyears ago. Baby is telling Eve,
her friend that the day he wasa year older, they were friends.

(22:03):
They started dating his senior year,her junior year of high school. They
were madly in love, had agreat year, had a great summer,
Labor Day weekend day before he's supposedto go back to school, they were
supposed to meet at the drive andto have a little goodbye, and he
never even showed up. But meanwhile, Holden is telling Bobby the mayor that
twenty but really thirty years ago,he showed up at the drive in only

(22:26):
to find Sadie kissing Donald Copecki,who Dona Copecki sounds like a douchebag.
That's a douchebag name and golden Steeler. But Sadie would never get stolen,
That's what I was saying. That'swhy I was like, oh, no,
I already know this is a misunderstanding, because there is no way that

(22:47):
Dannika mckeller cheated on her boyfriend andcertainly not Neil Bledsoe. So I was
like, yeah, Dona Copecki,like, where's your faith, dude?
Did you like come Donald Kopecky,I can already tell has saggy jeans,
yeah, like jeans don't fit right. And he is also probably now an

(23:10):
accountant. See you think better fromthe two accountants out there, not an
accountant, which is also a Hallmarkmovie. No, I was like,
I did want to I want toback up for a second here because I
forgot um in my notes. Ihad um. Well, one thing I

(23:32):
love about these movies Amelia always isthe opening establishment shots, right, like
here's the town, here's a city, you know, here's snow falling,
here's people's shopping. And the terriblegraphics. I don't know why the graphics
are always so terrible. I know, but they are graphics in Canava for
free. Yeah I know. Butnow it's like because I remember the first

(23:55):
time I ever sat down to watcha Hallmark movie, a Christmas movie,
and I was like, I mustbe watching a movie from twenty years ago
because these graphics. But no,it was like so terrible. And then
the other thing is that when theythey met at the historical display at the

(24:15):
library, um, and they werecatching up, you know. He says
to her like, oh, Ihear you're in you're in Chicago now and
or you were in Chicago. Andshe was like, well, how did
you know that? And he said, well, you know, you know,
let's look you up on Facebook fromtime to time. And she said,
well, I hear you're doing XY Z, And he's like,
how do you know. She's like, well, I might, you know,

(24:36):
look you up too. And thenI used to talk to your dad
when he was alive about what youwere doing to keep up. And I
don't know, I was. Iwas wondering if you stock your friends,
your ex friends or ex love interestson social media. Ever, Well,
I hang out with their dads alot. First, That's what I mostly
do, but I, well,I don't like I guess they're couple of

(25:00):
people I've dated that like, westayed friends, like it wasn't you know,
serious one in a few days torealize it wasn't the right fit.
Stayed friends instead. But like xxes, No, I don't need to like
that's fine. I don't need toknow what you're doing. You don't need
to know what I doing. I'mdoing. I feel like it's weird to
keep looking them up, Like I'lllook up like a random dude that I

(25:21):
had a crushed on in college orsomething like what's that guy doing? But
like actual xes, No, Idon't need any yeah, just to be
like, yeah, just to seeI'm I've been married for a thousand years,
so I hardly like have xes.You know, I mean, guy
got married really young. So Idon't have any. I don't have many,
and and you know some are withus anymore. So. But there

(25:42):
are friends like or old friend orex friends that sometimes will come to mind.
They'll be like, you know what, let me let me just search
their name on Facebook and like seewhat they're doing. And I there was
one friend, like a sort ofa problematic college friend that I had,
and oh yes, we well weshe liked Mark, she liked my husband

(26:07):
right and so uh and and helike he liked me. I didn't realize
he liked me. I thought theywere dating, you know, I thought
he was interested in her, umtrue and true Hallmark fashion and true and
um. But so then she turnedinto a real weirdo. But every now
and then she would like find meand and uh, you know, oh,

(26:29):
I want to be your friend.So, um, I looked her
up once and what's she up to? And she was basically doing just as
like her life was just as chaoticas oh as was I like forty and
so I just sent her like alittle message like, um, I was
just thinking about you, you knowone er and what you were up to.

(26:51):
I hope everything's going great, umyou know. And um So then
she friended me, and I swearwithin twenty four hours she had asked me
for money for rent money, andI was like, okay, bye,
that's like the last time I eversaid didn't said anything because it's some crazy
people lesson learned lesson. Oh mygoodness, all right, so sorry I

(27:17):
had to. I had to askyou that question. So where are we
now? Oh? And did youalso notice that Holden told Bobby I think
he told Bobby or someone that hetravels a lot, and so he doesn't.
Yeah, well we're not quite thereyet, but yeah we're not okay,
good right he totally That was totallyyeah, I did get that.
Um so now we're doing so nowwe're where they have to work together.

(27:40):
Now we're at it's it's the dayof opening night where they're going to open
the drive and in the middle ofwinter, so they're gonna have some volunteers.
Oh, actually, here's where thatcomes up. She's like, but
where do you live? And he'slike, I don't live anywhere because he
owns properties all over the place,so he just stays in whatever building he
owns that's closest, so he hasno like actual home. This is like

(28:02):
that. What's the one movie withthe Christmas parade movie? Um, where
the guy takes his Santa face hisbeard off at the end. Do you
remember the name of that love withthe Thanksgiving Day parade? Love at the
Thanksgiving Day? Right? It wasn'tChristmass Thanksgiving Day Parade, which I remember
as the shirtless movie because their shirts. Yes, yeah, the first time

(28:26):
I saw a shirtless guy in Hallmark, which we saw another one with three
wiseman and a baby, which wasequally shocking. Um. But uh,
but I remember it as that.But I remember him telling like his girlfriend
like, oh, I'm a busybusinessman. I don't have a home.
I just remember, and I'm like, well, where's your stuff? Like
do you have anything? I guessthere are no taxes in Christmas Land.

(28:47):
Because I don't know where he's payingthem. You know what, there are
no taxes Pasland that I believe that'sfair. All right, um, all
right, So we doesn't live anywhere, and they're kind of they're like getting
the little food the little concession standright to go. They have a nice
little moment where they bump into eachother and see each other, and he's
talking about how he remembers the firsttime he ever saw her and she was

(29:11):
wearing a cape because she wanted tohelp people when she grew up, and
it was all very cute, youknow. They had their little moments and
they're starting to flow out a littlebit to each other, but they're still
on opposite sides, Kia, Andthat really becomes apparent when it's time to
open the gates and only three carsshow up, and two of them are
her friends of family's family almost blackbest friend, and the others her mom.

(29:37):
Yeah, and he's looking at herlike, told you so, this
isn't going to work. And thenit turns out that she is putting her
own money into some of the improvementsto Christmas it up to entice people to
come in the middle of winter,and he thinks she's crazy. He's like,
I'm not putting my money into this, and she says he's being a
little bit of a scrooge. Whatdo you think would you put your money

(29:59):
into a if I were Sadie.Yes, because that's the right thing to
do. Sadie doesn't have any dependence. She lives with her parents like she's
and she was a lawyer and soshe had the savings. And I get
it. She's passionate. And I'vedone that. I've done that myself,
as you well know, Amelia.I recently ran for school board here in

(30:22):
my area, and despite the campaigndonations, there still are things that won't
be covered by law. I mean, if you're shady, you can probably
figure out a way to get themcovered. But I'm not shady. I
have a Christmas Land spirit, soI don't have the spirit of Adele,
which is like into bribery and stuff. So there are some things like if
you want to do it right,you do come out of pocket for it,

(30:45):
you know, But if you knowit's the right thing to do,
you'll do it. And she knewthis was the right thing to do.
And I don't think she was puttinganyone at risk or herself at risk.
She's employed, as she points out, she's on a professor salary, which
is both and I bet think yourselfnot a teacher salary, a professor's salary.
So yeah, I actually approved ofher doing it. But also when

(31:07):
she said that, I was like, well, where was the money going
to come from? Like what we'reYeah, somebody had to pay for it,
right, I guess there just weren'tgoing to be improvements or something.
I don't know. I'm just goingto open the doors and turn on the
protector. Save a little debate aboutwho kissed you first? They each said
the other one was the instigator offirst kiss. I don't know. I

(31:29):
wasn't there. No, we know, we know the answer to this.
The girl does not. I'm sorry, everybody, hold up in Christmas Land.
The woman does not initiate the kiss. It doesn't happen. So no,
he's lying. He's just trying tosave base. Obviously, he made
the first move, obviously, andAmico would never was a little wonderful,

(31:51):
Yes, the first move. Right. So the next day she gets put
together this whole professional proposal of howthey're going to get to drive in up
and running and successful and she's like, hold it. You used to love
Christmas, Like what is your dealhere? And he's like, I don't
know. My dad was really goodat connecting with people. I'm not as
good. And she's like, listen, I've got work to do. You

(32:12):
take these flyers in hand him outbecause he's got to make a good faith
effort to try to make it work, that's right. So he's like fine,
So he's on the street handing outflyers. Come to the drive and
you'll love it. Come to thedrive and you'll love it. And Bobby
sees him, and Bobby is like, um, please don't be too good
at this, Like you have todo the absolute minimum to look like you're
trying, but we don't actually wantthis to succeed, okay, and hold
him looks a little conflicted. Yeah, yeah, because you know, he's

(32:37):
seeing how much passion Saydie is puttinginto it, and he you know,
and he's starting to think maybe maybeI am a little too stuck up,
maybe I am a little you know, And so I get it, but
also like if i'm Bobby, I'malso going, hey, we made this
agreement, Like why are you passingout flyers? Like that seems like a

(32:58):
lot of war. I mean,like he was you know, he wasn't
doing somersaults in the streets. Who'sliterally just handing out the paper make his
deal? Um okay, But thebig question is are the flyer's gonna work?
The answer is sort of because theybring in better food, blankets and

(33:19):
heaters to make it like more ofan experience. And they get six cars,
which he's like, oh my gosh, that's only six cars, and
she's like, but it's twice asmany as last night. So you know,
I mean, okay, I they'reopening the drive in in winter.
I listen, I'm gonna say this. I love Sadie because I you know,

(33:40):
Sadie is Yannica, But um,I don't think she really thought it
through. She was gonna because youcan't just it's a drive in in winter,
so you have to, like you'vegot to make sure people are going
to be warm. Like if Isaw that buyer walking around town, I'd
be like, I'm not going tothe driving in winter. It's called I
gotta put my window down to getthe sound in. You know, I

(34:02):
gotta go walk in the snow toget snacks and stuff like what and none
there's gonna be snow falling in frontof the screen, and how's that going
to affect the projector like all ofthat. She didn't think of any of
that. The first night. Shewas like, well, we'll just have
some hot coco and people will peoplewill come. But the second night,
I thought, Okay, that's whatyou should have been doing from the start.

(34:24):
Yeah, it should have been nowyes, and I'm I'm I'm going
to ask you at the end ofall this, Amelia, maybe what some
of your marketing ideas would have beenfor the drive in. But I just
think Sadie really oversold her creativity whenit comes to marketing. Their big plan

(34:46):
was flyers. It was flyers.It was flyers. Um, so she
here's her next marketing plan. Itjust needs more Christmas and more Christmas for
the Townsha's is on now. Allit needs is more Christmas. And I
mean that was like she said thatfive times. Every time a plant failed.
She's like, well, we justneed more Christmas. And he tells

(35:08):
her, you're a dreamer, justlike my dad all and his dad and
his dad by the way, everybody, yeah dad died. Who haven't made
that clear? He inherited it andnow he's selling it yea. So we're
still trying to kind of figure outwhat's going on. We learn a little
bit more about Sadie's past in Chicago, and we get the impression that she
lost a big case and that madeher kind of give up. But we

(35:30):
don't really know what the deal isyet. All Right, her brother,
here's part of the deal with bringingmore Christmas to the thing. If he
is going to use a food truckand like serve a Christmas menu at night,
so they're gonna have like, youknow, fun Christmas food. There
was a lot of talk about hotbeverages. They need coffee, they need
hot apple cider, and I agree. At first he was not going to

(35:52):
do any and then he said hewould do coffee. She said, we
have to do at least hot coffeeand cocoa, and they finally got the
cider and I agree. I'm ahot apple cider girl. I love it.
I'm not a hot apple cider girl, actually I am. I I
don't prefer apple juice period, butI do for for some reason, right

(36:15):
around Halloween, I always get theurge for a cup of cold cider.
Like I'll buy the jug at theat the store and I just like,
like, put a little cinnamon andthat, and I'm like I'll drink the
jug and then I'll be like,Okay, I don't want anymore. But
yeah, but his aversion to servinghot cocoa was perplexing, like it is

(36:35):
Christmas and it's an outdoor activity,Like how can you not serve hot cocoa?
I know, really you need thecocoa more than you need the coffee.
And he was on board with coffeefirst, right. I think that's
because he's a busy businessman, toobusiness, too busy for love. And
those guys only drink coffee. Theydon't take the time sugar. No,

(36:57):
I bet he's never I bet hedoesn't have a mark a single marshmallow in
any of his dozen homes. No, probably not, probably not. Um,
So they have to bake because herbrother like has the stuff. Well,
I guess it's baked, but theyhave to put together little snowman cake
pops because he doesn't have time.And I was so happy for a baking
montage. It made me just Iwas only I only was disappointed that no

(37:22):
one had flower on their nose.But no one had flower, and no
one like fell in the kitchen.Yes, it's frequently a time when someone
falls, but yeah, um,all right, we find out that she
did lose a big legal aid caseand felt like she was a failure,
so that's why she gave up lawand decided to be a teacher instead.
Meanwhile, he is definitely feeling becausesome kind of way, yeah, some

(37:46):
kind of way and some kind ofway about each other for sure, But
he is now at the point wherehe tells her he doesn't know if he
needs to save his dad's dream,which is the drive in, or save
his dad's town because they need themoney and the jobs from the distribution center.
You know, it's tough. It'sa tough situation. And that was

(38:08):
the thing that everybody was saying,even the borderline corrupt politicians, you know.
In the end, yeah, itwas. And this is the thing
I love about the positivity of ChristmasLand is that even the bad things aren't
that bad. You know. Theidea if this was like a Lifetime movie,

(38:29):
that distribution center coming in would bethe big, bad, ugly thing,
but it was portrait is like,yeah, it's going to take away
something that's also going to give thetown something that it needs. So I
liked that there was that genuine conflict. It wasn't necessarily big money versus you
know, the spirit of Christmas,but it was like, how do we

(38:49):
help everybody? We want the bestfor the town. It's true, it's
true, but he's kind of starting. He's definitely getting in the Christmas spirit.
And this tonight tonight at the drivein, he is like he's into
it, He's got the Christmas spirit. There is a good turnout, but
it's just okay, and it's wefind out that there are two weeks till

(39:10):
Christmas, so or one weekend ofthis two weeks to go, and the
movie was made me so happy.It was just called Hot Chocolate Christmas,
Hot Coco Christmas, Hot Coco Christmas, Yep, yep. Well then I
was like, are you serious thatHolden was going to play a movie called
Hot Coco Christmas? And he wasn'tgonna go for the Hot Coco at the

(39:34):
good Session stand, I'm really caughtup with this, like I was.
Maybe that's just how much he's changedin one week, I guess. So
I just was really put off byhis negative attitude towards Hot Coco. M
did Paul Revere really say the Britishare coming? And how was George Washington
chosen to leave the first American Army. Join us for the Growing Patriot podcast,

(40:00):
a place for curious kids to askthe big questions about our nation's history
and get kid friendly answers from thecountry's top experts. Help your child learn
about and cherish America's exceptional history.Subscribe to Growing Patriots on Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts today.So they said, so the movie is
hot Cocoa Christmas, that it's startingto pick up, but it needs a

(40:23):
little more. It does. Sothey're also starting to connect, and he's
finally He talks about how they wentto the drive and all the time when
they were dating, it was kindof their special spot as dad owned it.
And he talked about how she justlike never ever wanted the movie to
end, and she always kind ofgot sad when it was wrapping up.

(40:45):
And then he's like, and thenso shouldn't He's sorry. So then he's
like, well, you never wantedthe movie to end, but why did
you let us end? And she'slike, excuse me, sir, I
did not let us end. Youstood me up. I went to the
drive in and you didn't even come. You didn't even show up. And

(41:06):
he is like, I showed upand I saw you kissing Donald Copecki.
That bastard. Obviously, Sadie wouldnever do such a thing, so she
is horrified by this accusation. He'slike, you were wearing your jacket with
the flowers like you always did,and she was like, holding you stupid,
stupid, dumb, dumb. Thatwas Kathy who borrowed my jacket,

(41:30):
and by the way, she nevergave it back. But she's the kind
of girl that would kiss Donald Copecki. I can't believe you thought it was
me. M I wonder what happenedto Kathy and Don Copecki. I think
they're divorced. I think they hada very nasty divorce. She got the
kids and he got the houses.Yep. So so that's that was a

(41:52):
big misunderstanding. And then she's like, why didn't you try to like talk
to me about it. You justlike thought you saw me kissing someone and
never brought it up. And he'slike, well, a couple of weeks
later, I called you, andshe was like, well, by a
couple of weeks later, you hadgone off to college. You had stood
me up and gone off to college. I thought you were calling me to
like get some closure, to finishoff our breakup, and I just didn't

(42:12):
even want to talk about it.Yeah. Yeah, I mean obviously,
I just really that's moral failing onHolden's part. He should have given her
the benefit of the doubt. Iwill say though, that first of all,
screw Cathy for stealing her coat.But second of all, dannaka mckeller's
coat game was on point in thismovie. Yes, yes, so good,

(42:37):
so good. So they wrap upthat conversation by saying that that night
broke both of their hearts, butit's ancient history, and obviously they're both
completely over and now they've got they'vegot good coats. They don't need to
talk about like they're they're over it. Obviously. He's a businessman, she's

(42:57):
a middle aged failed lawyer living withher parents. Everything is fine, right,
um. Yes, Also, thisis a good time to mention that
what they really need is more Christmas, right, that's what they were missing.
We just need more Christmas because Iknow, I know in the past,

(43:19):
when I've passed by movie theaters orthe occasional drive in theater that I
see. You know, I mightwant to stop in, but I'm like,
there's not enough Christmas. If there'sjust more Christmas, I would totally
go to see this movie, rightYeah. So there, so he has
decided that he's actually going to contribute. He is going to buy some of
the decorations himself. Um, they'reshopping the next day. They're still kind

(43:45):
of talking about the breakup, butthey're like, let's not talk about it.
But let's not talk about it.But and so clearly what this was
was a misunderstanding that could have beensolved with one easy conversation thirty years ago.
There was another that we could checkright off. Another one of my
favorite things came up here because they'reshopping and in Christmas Land, when you

(44:05):
buy something at a store, theydon't give it to you in a plastic
bag with the name of the storeon the side. It's in a gift
bag always. It's just in anactual gift bag. So he's just walking
around with handfuls of gift bags.And I loved it. Well, because
that's blatant. You know that,that's blatant self promotion. You know they
Christmas Land, you don't do thatit's not about the sales, Amelia,

(44:29):
it's about the spirit. The spirit, which is also probably why the town
needs to distribution center. No taxrevenue. Right, So they're doing a
toy drive, which used to happenat Mendoza's, but they're gonna do it
at the with the drive in.He's going to pay to have custom ornaments
made with the name of the drivein on it. When you give a

(44:51):
toy, you get an ornament.At first, it was going to be
you have to bring it to thedrive in and hang it on the drive
entree, but then he was like, no, what if they bring it
home hang it on their tree.Then every time they look at their true
they're like, you know what weshould do? Go to the drive in.
Brilliant. I mean it's a plan. I guess. Yeah. I
went to London and I bought someChristmas ornaments in London, and now when

(45:15):
I every time I look at them, I go, you know what,
I should go London. I nevergo. I never got right, just
like you'd be like we should goto drive in, but then not go
right. Thing same. I justthink about Gie. So they get tons
of donations they're handing on all theseornaments and um Eve, Sadie's friend says

(45:36):
that she will help with the toydrive and help with volunteering at the drive
in, but only if Sadie takesthe Mendoza Tree Farm case. And Sadie's
like, listen, I'm not goingto take the case, but I'll talk
to her, and then she immediatelytakes the case right and even get to
one of the weeds on that becausethat's a whole that's like a b storyline
and we don't even need to gointo Yeah. All right, So that

(45:57):
night at the drive in, hehe has got lights and she said,
and she's like, well, soyou got He's like, Merry Christmas,
I got you Christmas lights and she'slike, what am I going to get
you? And he's like socks andshe goes, but that's what you give
to somebody you don't care about.And so she's just in a roundabout little
way, she admitted that she cares. You have a little moment. I

(46:17):
know that was cute. But alsomy daughter was watching the movie at that
time, and I always give mykids socks or Christmas, and she was
like, is that true? Idon't care about you? This is how
you find out. She was like, you just you don't care about me,
even giving me socks all these years. I'm like, no, I

(46:37):
do care about you, care aboutyour feet, I care about you being
warm. I'm Withholden. I likesocks. Socks are a great gift.
In fact, I always get socksfor my extended family because you know,
we have a lot of family andwe don't it gets expensive to buy gifts
for everyone, so we have anagreement that we kind of just buy the
kids gifts, maybe give each othera little something. But I always buy

(47:00):
socks for my three nieces and theirmom my sister in law. And the
one year I didn't do it becauseI was like, you know what,
this is so lame, Like theyprobably laugh at me every year for giving
them just a pack of socks.The one year I didn't do it,
my sisian law was Kia, whereare the socks. She's like, I
depend on these socks every Christmas.Oh, they go socks, So socks

(47:22):
it is. Well. It turnsout Holding cares about Sadie too, because
he has a plus one of theMayor's Christmas party and he wants her to
go with him. But Kira,I need you to slow them. Whatever
you're thinking in your mind. Justbusiness, okay, oh, it's just

(47:42):
business. Of course. I startedto get excited because it seemed like they
were resolving some of their issues.But obviously they have to go to this
ball together because you know their networking, right, He's like, we have
to network, we have to talk. And then he says to her,
Oh, so now we're at theball and first we meet a lady with
a very strange haircut. I tooka picture. I'm not enid. I

(48:06):
was like, what is this.I can't explain it. No, I
can explain it. It was like, and I'm almost I swear to Amelia,
I am almost one percent sure thatthis woman put a bowl on her
head to cut her back. AndI bet you any money that this was
just an extra that they pulled aside, or like she got this extra job

(48:28):
and she didn't have time to goget her hair done. But it was
like, my banks are too long, just put the bowl over it and
cut it. I only know thisbecause my little brother Cody, who is
white unlike me, but he hadso he just has white boy hair.
That's the only reason I mentioned it. My mom literally cut his hair with

(48:51):
a bowl literally, so every pictureof him as a little kid is like
this atrocious bul cut uh with thislittle blonde boy, these blue eyes and
and so I I recognize, Irecognize the scissor pattern. I was like,
woman put a ball on her head, don't tell me? Got ball

(49:15):
bangs? Um. So Holden sayssomething very telling. He says, Bobby
still wants the distribution center, whichI why is that he does not?
But I don't know. I guesswe'll find out. So um, oh,
sorry, I got ahead of myself. So back at the drive in

(49:36):
that night, when he asks herthe distribution lady the distribution cent, her
lady sees Holden and Sadie kind ofcelebrating having a good night, and she
calls Holden like what is up here? And he's like, I'm having no
second thoughts. We are moving forward. So I don't know. I don't
know what the truth is and knowwhat's going on. Um Danny, her
brother has been hired to cater thisparty. So they're over they're helping in

(50:00):
prep and he's like, you aren't. This isn't just business. You guys
are gonna be twirling on the dancefloor. She's like there will be no
twirling. And it was at thatmoment that I knew there would be twirling.
Plus she had on a dress thatwas made for twirling. Twirling.
So when Holden gets to the party, he's talking to Bobby and Bobby is

(50:22):
like, are you not even intothis anymore? Like do you not want
to do this deal? And he'slike, I am probably ninety eight percent
on board, but this is justbusiness and I will not get starry eyed.
And then he turns around and helooks at Sadie. She can come
in with her. She's coming withher Christmas dress. I guess there's so

(50:44):
is that we we don't ever,we don't always talk about that trope moment.
That is a trope moment. Oh, definitely, you're right there.
Yes, there's some reveal where thewhere the girl goes from, you know,
a gorgeous daytime look to gorgeous nighttimelook. I mean, none of
these ladies are plain by any stretchof the imagination. My daughter was,

(51:07):
though, really disappointed that the dresswas so plain. She was like,
because they made this big deal andthe music swells and he turns around in
his eyes are just like I'm justseeing the most beautiful things. She's like,
that's their dresses and I'm like,no, honey, you have to
The dress is sleeveless, so Imean that's a lot of skin to be
showing in Christmas Land. So yeah, it is actually a notable dress.

(51:30):
Yeah, you know, and youdon't want to get too like, you
can't get too crazy. This isthe Mayor's parties. It's a classy event.
Yeah. Yeah, you know,you can't be walking in like Cardi
B or something. You didn't gotto be. Let's keep it together,
you guys. Yeah, yeah,yeah. So for business reasons, Holden
wants to start by dancing, andhe says to her, let's take a

(51:50):
twirl. And they looked so cutedoing David. But I love this because
she's like, well, why wouldn'twe have to start with dancing. He
goes because that's where everybody is.And they walk out there and I counted
they were five couples. I'm like, man, this is this is a
very exclusive event. I did thesame thing, like there's somebody on the

(52:12):
dance floor where they're talking about andthen of course they do the thing where
they get out there. It's likea really lively jaunty song, you know,
or you can do a little boogiedown too, and then as soon
as they step on the dance floor, it's a slow song and it's like,
oh, I mean me and myhusband went at the same time.
We were like, oh, Ihate that when that happened. I remember
that being the case in school allthe time. I got a dance,

(52:36):
like, let's go dance and theslow song comes on and then yeah in
the end, and it's like,that's really like what do we do?
And then it's also you got todo that walk of shame where you walk
alone off the dance floor like orI don't know if you had that.
I that was my experience. Man, Oh, nobody liked me. I

(52:57):
was the only black kid in highschool. Nobody liked me. Not then
I got it on in college.That's where I got it together, all
right. So, um, they'retalking about what they want for Christmas while
they dance, while they have aslow dance, and he's joking that he
still wants socks, and she's likethat can't be your Christmas wish and he's
like, no, no, no, you ask me what I wanted as
a Christmas present, And that isnot the same thing. So the difference

(53:21):
is something you want versus what heneeds. So what he means are some
socks. What he wants is adream that loves me back. And she
is like, you just like broughtthis all to a whole new level.
So now I need to think aboutit because I have no answer for you
about what my wish is. Ifeel like I have a clue. I
think I think, I think weall know. I think she needs to

(53:43):
be honest with herself. Though,um oh, Kendra, that's a distribution
lady's name. I finally wrote itdown. She sees dancing and she's like,
what is going on around here?So now Adele is at the party
two and Bobby the mayor is nowtrying to see if she's still bribeable at
this late nights, Like I alwaysturned down your bribe before, but if

(54:07):
you will sell out, you canhave your seating. So we don't so
we gotta see what happens with that. But yeah, Isadell gonna sell out?
I mean, she's really hot andheavy for that patio she has.
She wants the patio license. Butmeanwhile, last night, while they were
twirling, the drive in ran outof room, no more cars could fit

(54:32):
in, and they ran out offood. It was a huge, huge
success. So I would like topoint out at this point Amelia that Sadie
was right. All they needed wasmore Christmas. Yeah, it's true.
It's true. So Holden meets withKendra and he's like, listen, I've
had a change of heart. AndI kind of liked that they tried to

(54:53):
humanize the busy businesswoman. And shewas like, listen, I'm not a
heartless corporate type, but I alsohave a job to do. I'm running
a billion dollar company and I toldeveryone this deal was done, it has
been signed. She's like, thereis a clause in the contract if you
break, but if you that willlet you out. But you're you would
pay so much you would like basicallygo bankrupt. So they don't know what

(55:15):
they're gonna do. And ken Drawwas, you know, again, in
the spirit of these movies, shewasn't the evil corporate boss. She was
like, I'm a person too.I get it. I totally understand.
But we do have these contracts,you know, we do have a deal.
Yeah. So I liked Ken Draw. I did. I did too.

(55:35):
Yeah. Um, so Holden doesn'tknow what he's gonna do. They
kind of leave it there. Backto the drive in it's caroling night,
and um, she Danica Sadie.She's kind of in the mood. She
needs this merriment. But he wasalways He says, all things don't always
turn out the way you want.She's like, well, that's kind of

(55:57):
a weird thing to say. Feellike he's not really talking about the movie
exactly again, but you know,she's taken the Mendoza Tree farmcase and it's
making her feel like she has alittle more purpose. And then here's another
I think kind of a trope inHallmark is he says I have to tell
you something, and she says Iwant to go first. It happens a
lot and then they're like, whydidn't you tell me? Have you ever

(56:20):
done that in your life? Isee that on TV all the time.
I have never ever Like if myhusband comes to me and says I have
to tell you something, I'm likewhat because he never tells me anything.
So starting off, I would atleast be like, oh my gosh,
I have somebody to tell you togo for tell me yours so I can
tell you mine exactly. At thevery least, but I want first to
me. It's like if somebody's like, if somebody texts you like I want

(56:44):
to talk to you later, I'mlike, oh they hate me. Yeah,
great conversation. Now something that hashappened, yes, I know,
yeah, something awful. Yeah.And so they're like, I was thinking
i'd get hot coco on the wayhome, and you're like right. So
she wants to go first, andshe says that her Christmas wish is for

(57:05):
the drive in to work out,so he cannot tell her the truth,
and the truth is uncomfortable. Thetruth is the town council Adele took the
bribe. Basically, the town councilhas met and they passed it. It's
a done deal. There's no goingback. The drive in is getting bulldozed,
distribution center is going in. Sohe tries to tell her again and

(57:29):
she interrupts him again. And it'sa busy night the drive in. She
wants, you know, she's thedinner's happening, people are at the food
truck and just like, she hasno time to listen to this important thing
that he clearly is trying to tellher all night, right, So she
takes a tray of food over.Oh, she's going to take care of

(57:50):
food to the mayor and he's like, no, no, no, I'll
do it because he does not wanther talking to the mayor and finding out.
And the mayor is like, youknow you did the right thing.
Um doing this, he says,you know, I'm a businessman, but
this is magical. And so theylook at all this more Christmas around like
this is magical exactly. So he'slike, yeah, I've never really been

(58:15):
into Christmas. And the mirror waslike, you were always into Christmas before
you had your heartbroken, and I'dhate to see that happen again. Basically,
like you gotta stop hanging out withSadie because she's a witch and she
was tricking you into liking Christmas andshe's gonna break the heart. She's gonna
ruin the distribution center. But Ilove how invested everyone. It's not like

(58:37):
in Christmas Land, everyone's invested inyour current relationship, but everyone in this
town is invested in their past relationship, which is like what was Bobby up
to in high school? Like didhe have anything going on? He was
really concerned about their dating Carol,who started making out with Donald Copecki I
didn't even know he was getting twotimed. So meanwhile, there's another best

(59:01):
friend conversation going on even Sadie andEve is like, you're in love,
of course, and she's like,oh, dumpy, ridiculous, No I'm
not. So she goes to bringhim these little sark shark sucks that she
got him. They're kind of cutelittle shark sucks. And Adele shows up
and I wrote down, oh crap, it's Adele because I knew she was

(59:22):
gonna spill the beans. She's likeany better keeping secrets and she isn't having
integrity. So she's like, I'mglad there are no hard feelings, and
she was like part of me whatshe's like, because we're taking away,
you're driving, I'm surprised Holden didn'ttell you, and she's like Holden knows.

(59:42):
And then the best part is thatAdele just sort of sneaks off I'm
out. She's like, oh,okay, well bye, like I'm messing
around for this fallout. So Sadiegoes off to find Holden to confront him,
and Holden is on the phone hislawyer trying to figure out how to
get out of this contract, andthey just can't the contract is that good

(01:00:05):
and iron cut? What happens now? And he's like, this is the
last night. It's a great nightat the drive in, but it's the
last night. We knew this wasalways just a fantasy. And again are
we talking about the drive in?It seems like there's some subtexts there could
be run. It does so onceagain, in a repeat of what happened
twenty but actually thirty years ago.He is calling and texting and she will

(01:00:28):
not answer because she's like it's over. And the mom says, Sadie's mom
says, I think you're giving upbefore the miracle. Wow callback callback.
These days, it seems like everybody'stalking, but no one is actually listening
to the things they're saying. Criticalthinking isn't dead, but it's definitely low

(01:00:52):
on oxygen. Join me Kiera Davison Jeff Listen to Yourself every week as
we reason through issues big and critiqueour own ideas, and learn to draw
our talking points all the way outto their logical conclusions. Subscribe to Just
Listen to Yourself with Kia Davis,an FCB radio podcast on Apple, on
Spotify, iHeart, or wherever youget your podcasts. They're going to announce

(01:01:15):
the distribution center tomorrow at a bigtown press conference, and Kendra keeps trying
to remind him that he cannot backout. It is done. The town
council has approved it. That washis only chance. He will lose everything.
And she's like, it's too latefor a miracle. But as we
know, you can't give up forthe miracle. But Kendrick doesn't know.

(01:01:35):
We well, we've been told multipletimes so far this movie. Yes,
yeah, but she'll find out.So Holden texts Sadie and in a clue
as to how old Holden is,he texts her and he's like, meet
me tonight. The Driven at eightHolden twenty years ago. I didn't even

(01:01:59):
notice. It's like when it's likewhen I use punctuation and text to my
kids and they're like, Mom,why are you using punctuationally, you're such
a boomer, how you write sentences? What are you talking now? I
know my dad's gonna get mad whenhe listens to this, because he thinks
it is rude not to put loveDad at the end of a text.
And I love it. I lovethat he puts love Dad on the text.

(01:02:22):
And we have discussed this, andhe's like, no, it's rude
not to sign it. That's whatmy mother law does. My dad was
also not in high school twenty yearsago. That's what that's what my mother
lawed us too. Because she doestalk to text and so, and I've
been in the room with her whileshe's doing talk to text. But she
loves to be like, I sawyour post on Facebook and it was really

(01:02:43):
nice. Love you mom. Iknow who it is. I know that.
I don't think Miss Faith was inhigh school twenty years ago either.
I'm just saying, oh, no, So the context, miss Faith has
been married for sixty five years andthat's not that's a real number. That's
actually not. Yeah. So theySo she meets Smith a drive in and

(01:03:07):
I thought he was gonna have somebig like something to tell her, and
he's like, I just thought weshould have one last look at our old
place. And I was like,oh, okay, which in Hallmark I
should have known. They were likeseven minutes left in the movie and that's
like forever in Hallmark. In ChristmasLand, Yes, yeah, right,
that's a long there's still a lotmore to happen. Happen. So he's
like I'm gonna break the contract.I'm gonna risk everything, I'm gonna lose

(01:03:30):
everything, but we're going to savethe drive in. It's all for you,
Bibbe. And they almost kiss andthen headlights in their face. It
was awesome because at this point,so I'm watching with my family now.
Now, now, these are familymovies, even though my daughter it complains
about them. And that's how itstarts people, that's how you get Yet
you get that first hit and thatdrug hits your bins and then you're just

(01:03:52):
you. You just gotta have another. You can't you you can't. You
know what. You know, it'sbad, you know sugary. You know
it's gonna make you fat, likeyou, but you don't care. You
want more. You can't wait forthe next hit. So that's where my
family's at right now. My husband, they leaned in and when the headlights
turned on and it interrupted the kiss, my husband let out an audible gasp,

(01:04:15):
but he was like, oh,thank god. Exactly. They can't
kiss to the end. We allknow that. Yeah. So it's Eve
with the Mendoza tree farm lady andlike half the town and holding It's like,
listen, we are going to fightfor this, we are going to
make the drive in work. Hegives a big like rara. Basically he's
the president from Independence Day given aspeech. Yes, and it looks like

(01:04:40):
that out. The miracle is happening. They waited for. They did not
give up before the miracle. Here'sthe miracle. Do it to a loophole,
the Mendoza tree farm thing. Theycan get out of that nonsense,
which means they can just sort oftrade land. The distribution center can go
where Mendoza's tree farm was, andthey're going to keep most of the trees.
It's gonna be a beautiful distribution centerthat the town won't even notice.

(01:05:04):
But everyone, you get money injobs, and the driving can stay open.
Tell you're not even gonna know it'shere. It's gonna be surrounded by
parkland and we're gonna call it theMendoza Park, Mendoza Parks. It's gonna
be hiking trails, it's gonna beall this great stuff with like the tiniest
little corporate and don't even worry aboutdon't worry about those big trucks going up

(01:05:27):
and now the highway. The nextday they're at the press conference where they're
announcing that the Mendoza Family Park isopening. Um the drive in will be
open year round, and Holding isat this event wearing a jean jacket with
the collar popped in the back,which was a choice. I liked it.

(01:05:48):
A handsome man, a handsome Soafter the press conference, they go
to the drive in and they're watchinga Christmas movie snuggled up in the bed
of an old antique truck and they'reholding hands and guess what, kids,
thank And I thought this was supercute, Like from beginning to end.

(01:06:09):
This movie made me happy because atthe end they're kissing. They pull apart.
You see the screen from the moviein between their little faces and it
says the end, the end.I thought it was cute movie. I
was like, oh my god,I that movie made me so happy.
It was everything I wanted. Itwas everything we've been waiting for for like
two seasons, because even last yourhamemark was a little off. Yeah.

(01:06:31):
Oh it was perfect. And that'sand that we great American. Thank you,
CCB, Thank you. I knowyou're taking some yeah, Danika,
I know. Danika actually came outin in support of CCB earlier this week,
just saying and base I mean andand nothing. You know, this
is one of those social media thingswhere you you know, you clip somebody's

(01:06:53):
words and you make a bigger dealout of it than it was. CCB
wasn't saying anything crazy, but um, that's just the nature of the times
we've lived in now. And Igotta, you know, give her credit
for always being so classy about theattacks that she gets me. People say
horrible, horrible things about her.She's never said a mean thing about anybody
that I know of, Like,I'm sure she said mean things about people,

(01:07:15):
because we're all just people, butnot in public. You know,
She's always so gracious and and youknow, very relatable, and it's just
like it's it's so sad. ButI have to say to the CCB and
the Great American Family that, um, your theme of Welcome Home is spot

(01:07:38):
on. It felt like that.And I kept saying like, oh,
it feels like every time I sawtheir commercial with the tag, I was
like yes, yeah, yeah,I was like, I feel like I
can go, Like I I canput on my slippers, pour a cup
of hot cocoa, holding and Uand even put some marshmallows in it,
turn on that fire in those Christmaslife and really just felt it felt like

(01:08:02):
being with old friends I hadn't seenin a while, and it felt so
good. They know what the audienceis looking for. You know, we're
not looking for Shakespeare. We're justlooking for for some Christmas at the drive
in, Christmas at the drive in. All right, Well, before we
go, I want to well,first of all, what I want to

(01:08:25):
do, and I want to makeit more of a point to do this
towards the end. Always riding upis let's just go down our trope list.
See what we hit in here.We hit it along the way,
but let's just put a fine pointon it. So one, so one
trope, a Christmas deadline, acontest, slash challenge. Absolutely have that
the drive in precocious kid. Idon't think we had a precocious kid.

(01:08:48):
I don't think I saw one kidreally in this movie. Must call the
college students maybe yeah. And theyhad no lines. They were just day
players, okay, a snowball fightor decorating of some kind, or they
decorated the whole I mean more Christmas, more Christmas was more. But I
don't I don't think we really sawthem doing it. Except this is Another

(01:09:10):
trope I guess was the baking.We saw them decorating those little snowman pops,
but it still wasn't. The thingthat I missed I missed was there
was no montage. That's what Iwant. I want a decorating montage or
a baking montage, you know,where they're just having the best time ever,
So we didn't get that easily,easily a misunderstanding that would be easily

(01:09:30):
explained away if you just talked toeach other. Heck, yeah, their
whole breakup there twenty but really thirtyyears ago. Yes, kiss at the
end and not before. Yes,yes, a tree lighting ceremony. No,
no, we didn't do any treelighting. All right, black best
friend? We had almost Black bestfriend. Blatant product placement, I don't

(01:09:54):
think so. No, you knowwhat, yo, CCB and Great American
Family. Um, y'all need toget some more products. I know you
can, and I know you needsponsors, So go ahead and get cheesy
with that product placement. We don'tmind. Yeah, get folgers. Get
foulgers back on board, y'all getfoulgers. We do not mind if you

(01:10:15):
just put something right in our faces. In fact, we would like yeah,
Yeah. There was a lot ofopportunities for it too, because they
were you know, there's so muchfood and decorating. Like I sometimes I
think like, oh, um,you know these Christmas ornaments could be yeah,
something you know from a certain company. I don't know, you guys
figured out. You guys are theexperts. We're just the expert watchers.

(01:10:39):
But but I do I think Iwould be find with some blatant product placement
um and then finally a fall offof something high a ladder or tripping.
I think there was one. No, no, there wasn't. I was
watching for it. There wasn't.Okay, So but they hit most of
the troupe. Yeah, yeah,plenty of tropes. All right, Amelia,

(01:11:02):
I want to ask you the movieat the drive in. The movie
that was playing at the drive inwas A Hot Cocoa Christmas. What do
you think that was about. Here'swhat it's about. Two rival like cafe
owners are have entered into the townHot Coco contest and they need to figure

(01:11:27):
out a way. Though they fallin love, you know, as they're
even though they're competitors, they gettogether. I don't know all the twists
and turns, but that's the vibesthat I get. It's to your rival
like Bari stuff type people for thetown hot coco contest. Okay, I
went with um like, I thinkthis is a road trip movie. I
think there's a single mom and herprecocious daughter who own a hot chocolate stand,

(01:11:51):
but because of the supply chain issuesin the country, they run out
of chocolate for this homemade chocolate andoh oh no, it's not a stand,
it's a food truck, like ahot cocoa food truck, and they
they they don't know how to getmore chocolate. But the big city.

(01:12:11):
Um, like the guy she usedto go to high school with who went
off to the big city to becomea big shot lawyer or something. It's
back in town visiting his family andit turns out that one of his clients
has a connection for chocolate in twostates away, but they've got to drive
there. They can't fly there.Again, they got to drive there.
So through a series of circumstances,he begrudgingly agrees to travel in the food

(01:12:35):
truck with the mom and precocious kidto go pick up this chocolate that they
found two states away, and hijinksensue along the way ending in Love and
a Kiss. Yes, I likeit. I would watch both of our
movies. Yeah, I okay,I like that. And do you have

(01:12:57):
any ideas for what you're big marketing? They would be for the drive in?
I know you can't say more Christmas. That was my idea. Um,
I think so I would probably Iwould show some older Christmas movies like
um, Miracle on thirty fourth Streetand that kind of stuff, or and
maybe even some more mid century oneslike White Christmas and get people like in

(01:13:20):
the drive in mood. I meannot that we don't also want to see
Cocoa Christmas, but I think ifwe like really need lean into the nostalgia.
Also, um Holden did not wantto get the little car speakers going.
He's wanted people to tune in throughFM radio. I think the car
speakers maybe not maybe you don't wantto do it in winter, but I
think you do need them for theexperience. In general. Absolutely, you

(01:13:40):
need them for the experience, Ithink in winter. Yes, I liked
the idea that of like passing outblankets and stuff like that, and I
think that that is another thing thatI would I will focus more on,
like making people comfortable so what aresome warm things that you can you know
you're gonna have this this warmth toit and call me crazy. But I
also might start a social media campaign. Well that is obviously crazy because instead

(01:14:06):
of the flyers Christmas Land and there'snone of that garbage. I know,
they apparently know how to text,but I was like, is anyone going
to do like a Twitter or Instagramthing for this? Okay? No,
well, and they're not going togo really outside the like one square block
of downtown and handoff flyers. That'sright. Yeah, I might also expand

(01:14:28):
my flyer. But it worked.Who are we to say it worked?
All? Right? Well? Iloved this movie. It was it was,
as we said, a return home, very well done. I'm excited
to see what comes up next.I don't think we've planned anything we have
except this. No, so thisis going to be an eye on our

(01:14:48):
social media to find out what's comingup next. Yeah, why don't you
give that out? So that isFacebook and Instagram. A Very Merry podcast
on Twitter at a very Merry pod, and if you want to give us
your opinions, you can email usat a very Merry Podcast at gmail.
Very Merry Podcast find out what we'redoing next. Yeah, email us a

(01:15:10):
very married podcast at gmail. Haveyou made the switch from a Hallmark to
great American? Let us know orare you thinking about it? Or have
you noticed the change us that wehave noticed. Hit us up a very
merry podcast at gmail dot com.Right podcast, not pod podcast? Yeah,
a very merry podcast. All right, Well that is it. We

(01:15:32):
really and truly wish you all amerry Christmas and happy holidays. And you
know, Amelia and I were talkingbefore the podcast started, just about some
trials and tribulations that are going onin our own family lives around this season.
But there's also the comfort of thisseason of knowing that there's a greater
purpose beyond us, and this isthe season where we remember like the ultimate

(01:15:57):
gift that was given to us.And that is really what this spirit of
these Christmas Land movies, Christmas Universemovies are is the idea that there's always
hope. So no matter what you'renot going through before the miracle, we
can end it right there, Amelia, until we meet again, I wish
you days filled with more Christmas,and I wish you evenings with warm blankets

(01:16:23):
and hot coco and a Christmas moviethat gives you the perfect feeling. Merry
Christmas, Amelia, Christmas Kia,and Merry Christmas to all of you.
This has been a presentation of theFCB podcast Network where real talk lifts.

(01:16:45):
Visit us online at FCB podcasts dotcom.