Ep. 30 - How Does Marcel Still Have a Job?

The ladies bust out the hot cocoa and fake snow and jump into the GAC Christmas movie “A Jingle Bell Princess.” Will this uptight, type A stranded princess find love with the vulnerable, handsome, single dad and widower she is forced to stay with during the storm of the century? No spoilers! You’ll have to listen to find out.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now this is the FCB Podcast Network. Well, hello, everybody, welcome
back to another episode of a veryMerry podcast. I'm your very merry host

(00:22):
Cia Davis, and I'm here withmy very famouye co host Amelia Hamilton.
Amelia, I have a little bitof a sense of deja vu right now,
and that is because everybody, thisis the second time we're recording this
podcast. We recorded it and wewere great. By the way, we

(00:42):
were super funny. It was probablyone of the best shows we've ever done.
I forgot to hit record. Oops, it was our dress rehearsal.
I thank you Amelia for being sogracious. Like I got to the end,
Like I literally got all the wayto the end. You guys.
I was like, yeah, Ididn't hit record. We did this whole

(01:03):
episode just talking to ourselves. Stopthe recording. Oh, I was like,
happened. We're professionals, is whatI think everyone needs to understand.
I was broken. Amelia was like, we were like, we need a
couple of days to recover before wecould do this again. Yeah, let's

(01:25):
do it again. Luckily the moviewas good. Though Luckily it wasn't like
a crappy movie that we have toyou know, revisit again. We really
enjoyed this movie. This week wedid a jingle Belt Princess. It's one
of our favorite tropes, Royalty.We love like hidden royalty or royalty that
learns how to be a normal humanbeing, anything around that. So we

(01:48):
we loved this movie this week,Amelia, let the people know more about
this movie. Give us into it. Um, all right, so Jingle
Belt Princess. It's also starring acouple of our favorites. We love tremp
for Donovan and Merritt Peterson. Yeahthey are. They're great. Um,
They're too beautiful, blood, blueeyed, white people, exactly the kind

(02:08):
of person you expect in Christmasland.Did I see Marritt Peterson? By the
way, I met Patterson, So, Marrett, I know that you're listening
and thinking about it. So I'msorry. Yeah she is. So she's
about to get her a lawyer.She's like this person. Now, they're
very too, very attractive people.I actually I love Trevor Donovan. He
Trevor Donovan has also done their theirHallmark transplants, and Donovan has also done

(02:34):
some of my other favorite trope likein Christmasland, Amelia, which is the
movie star. That like if amovie star comes to a small town to
a film their you know movie,and then they realize that small town life
is yeah, superior to Hollywood.He's done a few of those, and
that's where you find the best costumedesigners. I believe he learned this this

(02:55):
Christmas. We did also let usnot forget. Wasn't it him that was
in the movie about which is nowone of my favorite episodes of our podcasts
about the Navy? He was likethe show and we got that letter from
Kelsey. I think it was him. Oh man, hold on. I

(03:19):
can't remember the name of the movienow, but it's my favorite episode because
Kelsey's husband wrote that letter about theaccuracy of navy travel. Yes, and
they had that that huge um theyhad like a huge his history historical room,
you know, with the history ofthe ship. Yes, he was
Billy in USS Christmas. Yes,Oh my goodness. And there was a

(03:46):
character in that named Amelia, whichbrings us right back to Princess Amelia,
the main character Princess Wow. Wow, I remember that at all, and
I should have. I've let myteam down. Look at God, Look
at God. This is a signthat we're mentioned jingle ye Godwick. All

(04:08):
right, Amelia, well we're established. We love that we're out of it
going forward to go. I lovehow they started this movie because they started
with pure exposition. Just explain toyou what's going on. Where we see
a private jet and the pilot issaying, Princess Amelia, we are we
are have an unscheduled stuff in Maineon the way to Vallin, so we

(04:28):
know she's a princess. They're gonnahave to make an unscheduled stuff. But
they're in Maine, and we knowthat her country is named Volin, which
is kind of an unusual, youknow, country name for for Christmas Land
it is it's usually some kind ofovi our Onnia or um. I don't
know why we feel the need todo that with language. We do this,
like I watch a lot of scifi and um whenever they're trying,

(04:50):
you know, whenever there's a newplanet, it's always you know, Aryan
Darien Alarian Abarian. Like it's it'slike we can't come up with new names
or new sounding names. But Valinand I really feel strongly about this.
I'm going to start keeping a list. I think at the end of the

(05:10):
season, we're going to um doa top five or top ten of mythical
kingdoms. We're going to see whichhow they stack up. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I like it. Yeahwho Valin, I would like points
for originality, Yeah, Vlin,that is a you just know, as
a strong Eastern European company, they'regoing to beat all of the Ovias.
I just think they are. Ido too, And I feel like their

(05:34):
main their main export is not somethinglike what do we last time we had
wool? We think Gerovia's exporting wool. Yeah yeah, yeah, like I
don't even know. I don't know. Let's talk about the movie and at
the end we'll we'll say what wethink. Val So, I appreciated that
exposition. The other thing I appreciateit, and this is something care and

(05:56):
I have mentioned before in the podcast, is that during the scene they were
playing Joy to the World, andI love when they play an actual Christmas
song, which is something great Americandoes a great job in. We love
it. We can't get enough ofa great American. Yeah. So,
Ameilia is talking to her assistant Marcel. He's checking on things. He's a
busy, busy royal assistant, andshe's like Okay, well you guys,

(06:16):
you know, deal with this issuewith the plane. Um, I'm just
gonna go lay down for a minute, because you know she has like her
royal quarters on the plane. Butas she's on you ever on a plane,
Amelia, have ever what down ona plane been horizontal? No?
I don't think I've ever know whatit's like and what it's like to recline

(06:40):
like three degrees. But you andI don't agree on this at all.
I think it's wrong to recline withme. Karat is not well. We
don't need to be that negativity intoChristmas Land. Here in Christmas Land,
everybody who has to fly coach hasplenty of room. They don't pleasing people
like sardines. But if your chair, all I'm saying is if your chair

(07:03):
leans back, it's meant to leanback. Go ahead and take that couple
of inches, and the person behindyou can also lean back anyways, okay,
if you say so. So asyou going back to her little bedroom,
she's walking by the open door becauseMarcel has just left to deal with
very important royal business and she hearsbells in the in the distance in the

(07:27):
woods. So we leave her therefor a moment because they're on a tarmac
right and now, ye private tarmac, but they're next to some magical woods,
so they're next magical woods. Soall right, so we leave her
for the moment and we go andmeet the male protagonist, Sam and he's
talking to his tween daughter Sophie.Um. There there's a big storm coming,

(07:49):
so they need to go cut downtheir Christmas tree like tonight, like
right now before the storm comes.Um. Also, FYI, she wants
a horse for Christmas and he isnot so sure about that. Just became
it seems very impractical. But whoam I I mean? This is we
just said. We just reminded peoplethat Trevor Donovan starred in USS Christmas and

(08:11):
that was a whole show about theentire US Navy fleet changing positions to get
back a drawing for right drawings forparents. So you know, I guess,
I guess maybe a pony isn't itisn't that crazy. But also let's
mention Amelia that just like everybody elsearound here around these parts, they're not

(08:35):
getting their tree until the week beforeChristmas. It's only days still Christmas.
It's only days still Christmas. Andthey're yeah, they're just going to chop
down their tree right now, andthey were talking, you know, I
mean, I hope there's a goodone left at this point. Well then
I feel like, okay, you'rechopping down the tree for now, you've
killed You've murdered a tree for lessthan a week of enjoyment. Like I

(08:58):
gotta have my tree at least rightafter Thanksgiving. Yea, I have to
enjoy it. Yeah. My traditionis I get mine the day after Thanksgiving.
I get mine that Friday, allright, So mean, okay,
So they're having their conversation, they'regoing to go get a tree, and
Amelia has just wandered off into thewoods all by herself without mentioning it to
anyone to see where she hears thesejingle bells coming from a mine. She

(09:22):
runs into a dog who it turnsout his name Storm. But she also
runs into the Christmas tree farmer,whose name is Fred, but he's obviously
Santa. Obviously Santa. And andthat was the thing I noticed about this
movie that I've been noticing lately inthese One of our favorite tropes is how

(09:45):
they'll use like a Christmas name forsomeone in the movie, and no one
in this movie had a Christmas name, unless you count Storm. His name
should have been Nick Santa, thankyou exactly. I was trying to find
a connection between Fred. The onlyconnection I could think of is that there
is a Vince Vaughan movie about SantaClaus's brother, Fred claus On I could

(10:05):
think of. Um. Okay,So she's in the woods by herself at
night, meets a man and he'slike, hey, do you want to
see my Christmas tree Farm? Andshe's like, you bet, I do,
and goes goes right with them.But that's okay because in Christmas Land
you can, you can go offwith a stranger and not get murdered.
But listeners, please don't do thatin um, the real world. Only

(10:26):
in christ She'll be fine. She'sa wealthy, blonde, white lady.
Nothing is going to happen to her, absolutely not. She is fine.
She is fine, of course.Um all right, So back at the
Christmas Tree Farm, where, ofcourse Sam and his daughter Sophie are.
Not only is there a black bestfriend in this movie, there is an
entire family of black best friends.Um Libby Sophie's best friend. Yeah,

(10:52):
yeah, applause for that. UmLibby is Sophie's best friend, and then
her parents. I wrote their namesdown somewhere, Brock and Melanie, and
we find out that these are theirformer neighbors and also writing instructors. So
this is where Sophie gets her loveof horses. Now, there wasn't a
black mayor in this movie, butthe black best friend I think replaces the

(11:13):
black mayor because she is also hostingthe town Christmas party, so she is
filling that position of the headship.Now I'm trying to think of this and
maybe moving forward, let's like tryingto just keep this tab open in our
mind. I'm trying to think ofwhen there's a black last friend and a

(11:37):
black mayor. Oh okay, okay, something to think about, keep that
mine. Moving forward, we geta little bit more exposition here. We
find out that Sophie and Sam didnot get a tree next year, and
that their last year. You saidnext year, last year, last year,
and they're living at Sam's mom's house. He's remodeling their house and we're

(12:01):
not totally sure what's going on yet. We sense a dark backstory. The
fact that there's no mom and we'veseen Christmas movies before suggests that the mom
passed away, and even though Melanieis cheering the Christmas Eve party, Sam
is like, I just don't knowif we can go. I don't know.
We don't really know why he doesn'twant to go. I assume because
he's lost his wife. It doesn'tfeel like Partian, so he's not so

(12:24):
sure. So, Amelia, what'syour opinion on the difference between making the
missing mom dead as opposed to beingdivorced. Do you think that has any
moral impact on the story. Idon't think divorce exists in Christmasland. Well

(12:45):
we've seen it in Hallmark. WellI just said it doesn't, Kiara.
I mean I also don't think that, you know, death has much of
a place in Christmas Land. ButI just don't like the idea of using
not to be together in Christmasland.I agree, And then this is the
problem I have, Like, thisis another reason why we were kind of

(13:07):
shifting away from Hallmark, like aSillia. It sounds silly to say out
loud, but that's this whole podcastis silly. So but but you know,
in Hallmark they were really doing morestorylines where it was like, yeah,
we got a divorce, but itwas amicable, which naturally, if
there is divorce in Christmas universe,then it must be amicable. There's no
such thing as better divorce, orthere shouldn't be. But I noticed that

(13:31):
Great American is not even going withthat. I mean, I'm noticing these
things, right, it's not evengoing with that, with that storyline or
that that trope. It's going forthe widowed person. And I think it's
all a part of this layer.Just it's another layer right where it's like,
we don't want our protagonists to havea messy past, or do we

(13:54):
want that person to have been aperson that you would always choose, that
someone would always choose. Yeah,absolutely, all right, sidebar right,
all right. So now Amelia hasgone with this stranger to the Christmas Tree
Farm because of course he took herexactly where he said, ice and crowded.
Everyone's happy, everybody's fine. Hewas not a serial killer, clock

(14:16):
that she likes and bumps right intoSam. So this is their met cute.
But they don't even really know yet, you know, they just kind
of both say sorry, go onwith their days. Um. So Amelia
goes back to her plane, exceptshe goes back to an empty tarmac because
the plane has left without her.I told Marcel she was taking a nap,

(14:37):
and he saw no reason to makesure that she was on the plane
before they left, and I justbun it in. I would like to
think that Royal, you know,assistants are a little bit more vigilant and
make sure that the Royal they're supposedto be taken care of is on the
plane, or like at very least, like don't you have to fly with
some kind of flight crew, Likethe flight crew would check. I'm the

(15:00):
person to make sure that they're buckledin or whatever, obeying exactly whatever,
All right, make sure you're notlike smoking a cigarette in there. So
Amelia goes to the little it's alittle teeny tiny airport in this small town,
and they're like, because the storm, you can't even radio them.

(15:24):
They're gone and we can't get intouch with them at all. But there's
a sweet older lady working there,and she's like, why don't you just
come home with me for the nightand we'll figure it out. And again,
that's not dangerous in Christmasland. Youjust go home with somebody. Well,
now the president has been set.She went with the other guy.
It was perfectly fine. With him. Why wouldn't it be perfectly fine to
go home with this stranger as well? Yeah, and she made and Amelia

(15:48):
makes this comment like my people willbe very worried, and I like that.
I like to say that, likethe people of Amelia Island are my
people. But she has oh yeah, she literally has people. Yeah,
she literally has her own people.So she goes back home with this nice
lady and surprise, surprise, thisis Sam's mother who Sam and Sophia are
living with. Oh cute, socute. So he thinks that she just

(16:14):
is a person who mister flight.He doesn't realize that she was on a
private plane or that anything special isgoing on here. And she's talking about
how she was just in New Yorkto give a speech and she's a little
bit shy about public speaking, butthat's okay. She gets through it.
However, what she does not handlevery well is that he offers her dinner
and it is leftover pizza. He'snever had leftover pizza, she said,

(16:37):
pizza, but not leftover. Andit's cold, and she's certainly never a
cold pizza because she's a smart person. I've never ad a cold pizza either.
That sounds disgusting. Okay, Ican't get over this with them.
I can't get over this that you'venever had cold pizza? Could? Pizza
is a staple in my house.If we order pizza, my daughter will

(16:59):
make sure she's saves some of itjust so she can put it in the
fridge and and she'll eat it forbreakfast the next day. Cold do you
also put each slice on its ownplate and put sarand wrap over it like
samdest No, And that really disturbedme. I think that was maybe the
darkest act I saw this whole that'swhole movie, Like, I'm thinking of

(17:22):
all of the room that individually wrappingthe piece, the pieces on each plate
took up in the fridge. No, like a normal person, you just
shove the box in to the fridge, just shove it in there, close
the fridge and then or at thevery least, you just get a huge
piece of tinfoil and then every pieceof pizza goes in there individually wrapped on

(17:44):
individual plates. Was a bit muchfor me, But I totally approve of
cold pizza. I think it isa great meal. Okay, pizza,
cold pizza and keep reclining on theair play to tell us on social media
who's right and who's wrong. Weshould do it. We should do a

(18:04):
pole, we should do a pole. Um. All right. So in
the morning, there are still nocoms. Um. They And so she
opens the door in the morning,Grandma knocks on the door. She opens
the door in a white nightgown andnothing else, and Grandma's like, everybody's
in there pajamas, come on downto breakfast. And she's like, I'm

(18:25):
at least going to put a robeon, which I don't know if that
was supposed to make her seem fancy, but I'm not going to breakfast was
a bunch of strangers wearing a seatthrough nightgown. I was shocked. She
came out of the room and thatthing like it didn't have sleep, it
was sleepless. M h no.I was shocked. I was like,
whoa, hang on it, she'snot going down it's white, you know,
it's white, so everything underneath there'sa man in the house. I

(18:48):
just was like, oh no,yeah, so so downstairs. Um,
we find out a little bit moreabout Sam and Sophie's deal. Um.
The holidays remind him of Kara,who is his late wife. She was
in a car accident. A caraccident two years ago at Christmas, so
that's why he's not super into Christmas, all right. So he goes to

(19:11):
work on the house and um Sophieis like, hey, I'm gonna make
a snowman. Do you want tomake one with me? And she's like,
well, it's against protocol, butokay, well, and I guess
royalty can't play outside in the snowand balling, I guess. So it
seems like you can't do a lotin valland but we will get to that.

(19:33):
We will. So they go upto the attic in Sophie's house or
the grandma's house, I guess,and it is perfectly styled. There are
like trunks, you know, artisticallyplaced. There are like beams of light
coming through. It's nothing like myattic, which is just boxes that are
like falling apart and everything's about totip over. And it looks like I

(19:56):
pulled out one thing and then didn'treally put the box back where it because
that's what it's. No, itwas magical. I had like a like
a mirror, like one of thosethree part mirrors, and like a rat.
No, it was a beautiful attict. It was an addict that you
would like that you would stow awayyour illegitimate grandchildren in for ten or twenty

(20:18):
years, one of those Oh okaysomething, but those are little flowers in
the little flowers in the attic referenceor anybody. These days, it seems
like everybody's talking, but no oneis actually listening to the things they're saying.

(20:38):
Critical thinking isn't dead, but it'sdefinitely low on oxygen. Join me
Kia Davis on Just Listen to Yourselfevery week as we reason through issues big
and small, critique our own ideas, and learn to draw our talking points
all the way out to their logicalconclusions. Subscribe to Just Listen to Yourself
with Kia Davis, an FCB Radiopo podcast on Apple, on Spotify,

(21:02):
iHeart, or wherever you get yourpodcasts. So they come across the grandma's
dancing gowns from when she was aballroom dancer, and this was something we
talked about on take one of thispodcast. This like never comes back.
We figured there would be something laterabout either the dresses or about grandma dancing,
but there's not. It's too badbecause there were some there were it

(21:22):
looked like there were some beautiful dressesthere, or I thought, or I
thought, actually I was surprised tosee the daughter put the drugs on.
I thought that they were like fromwhen Grandma was an adult and the princess
was going to put the dresses on. The daughter looked really pretty in them.
I guess it was just a wayto get them to do something girly
together. Yeah, and they continueto do girly things. She does Sophie's

(21:45):
hair, she teaches her how tocurtsey. And at this point I was
like, are they not going todo the Snowman, because it seems like
they've just been chilling in the atticfor a long time. But they do.
They go to the Snowman and weget to check a trope off the
list because when Sam gets home there'ssnowball fight. Yeah, and it was
a lovely one too, it was. And then Sam goes to put his

(22:06):
scarf on the Snowman and Sam andEmilia's hands touch and it's a beautiful moment.
It's it's the beginning of some verysteamy chemistry between these two in this
movie. There might be a greatAmerican might have crossed a line here.
We're going to get to it.Yeah, we have thoughts on that.

(22:27):
Yeah. So Sam makes a commentabout how he's figured out now that she
has a private jet, and hewas like, you know, there must
be so much freedom in that,and she's like, I just want ordinary.
And I guess she thinks that thisidyllic small town with this great single
dad is ordinary. And it is. Yeah, yeah, Christmas Land,

(22:52):
it is. It is. Meanwhile, he has had something of an awakening
today and he's realized that it's timeto finish the remodel. He's been kind
of dragging his feet because it remindshim of his late wife. But it's
time for them to do that andget back home. Also time to put
up the Christmas tree. So Sambrings it in, but it's crooked,
and so if he's like, wait, my dad has a trick for how

(23:15):
to fix the tree, and I'mpicturing like some kind of a cool trick.
I don't know, a tree trick. Instead, she just sticks a
shim under one of the legs.So that's so that the stand is crooked
and now the tree is straight.I was like, well, I guess
that's that's one trick. I thoughtwe were going to get a whole scene
where they do what I do whenmy tree is crooked, which is like

(23:36):
fight with my husband about who hasto unwind the braces at the bottom of
the tree. Tip this way,tip it that way. Work for ten
minutes, step back and realize it'seven more crooked than it was the first
time. That's what I's how itactually goes excepting Christmasland, Right, Amelia,

(23:56):
you said something about Sam that mademe think about what goes on in
the Christmas universe with relationships and heSo Sam is renovating his house and he's
thinking about getting back to it,and I just realized, you know,
the majority of typically when it's afemale protagonist who goes to the male love

(24:22):
interest area, like you know,like she's going to his small town or
she's going to his Christmas freet farm, we're always getting a guy who works
with his hands. Rose getting aguy who like has a a job that
requires manual labor. I think it'sinteresting. And when it's the opposite,

(24:44):
we're usually getting a man who islike a high powered he's like wealthy or
royalty. I think it says somethinginteresting and how like in the provider role,
Yeah, I agree, and thewomen frequently have like creative jobs and
love to bake, which you know, yeah we get together and we love

(25:07):
it. Oh we love it.Yeah, I just I just it just
literally just occurred to me when youwere talking about it. Hell, so
how many of these guys have likethat? Mat is something that's an attractive
to the audience, right, theidea like this is a man who could
provide you can fix things, hecan make things go work. Good job,
Sam. All Right, the airporthas gotten word to Amelia's family,

(25:30):
so they know that she's safe.But in general, the coms are still
like the phones aren't working, there'sno internet, nothing like that. They
were The airport was able to getsome word across somehow, I don't know,
maybe semaphore flags carrier carriers. Theyknow she's safe. So now we're
starting to realize that Amelia, aswe know, is a princess and just

(25:52):
doesn't know a lot of regular tasks. So she has a little cooking lesson,
which is kind of cute. Butwhen they're in the kitchen and even
every individual cupboard door has a bowon it, this house is more decorated
than mine, is it Christmas?Which is saying a lot it was lousy
with Christmas, which I love itso always like the first sign to me

(26:14):
of a great cheesy Christmas movie.Christmas just if it looks like Christmas just
vomited everywhere, That's how you knowyou're gonna get a great cheesy Christmas movie.
Yeah. So then Amelia says theywant to they want to get the
ornaments, so they're ready to decorate, but they're over at the other house.

(26:36):
The house is being renovated. SoAmelia is like, oh, I'll
walk over there and get them.She goes over there and that house is
also fully decorated, and I stillthink that Sam did that this year.
Kira has another dark explanation. No, I'm telling you it's still decorated from
the Christmas. I don't know ifthis is a spoiler. Now did we

(26:57):
say this, but his wife diedat Christmas? Yeah, we say she
died at Christmas. We haven't saidit, Okay, yes, Well,
his wife died at Christmas, soto me, I felt like the house
was decorated for that Christmas and thenwhen she passed away, he just never
has done anything else to the house. He just left everything He's using like

(27:18):
fake roping and stuff in Christmas Land, and it was also like green and
pretty well, I have fake,well, the fake Girland. Then I
pull out ever Sam would never Sowhile Ali over there, Melanie, I
think that is the meanest thing you'veever said to me. I don't belong

(27:40):
a Christmas Land. I think thatis a churls thing you have ever said
to me. Amelia Hamilton, Well, you better get some real Garland and
show me, show me what yougot. Oh my gosh, who's gonna
be your black best friend? Ohno, email us a very merry podcast
if you want to be my newblack us. Just keep going, just

(28:00):
go on, all right. SoMelanie comes in and she's like, you
know, hi, I'm the neighborMelanie, and Amelie goes, I'm PRINCESSA,
I'm Amelia. And Melanie has absolutelyno questions about this. Not what
I guess. Yeah, she justtripped over her words. Yeah, whatever
it happens. Amelie goes down intothe basement to get the ornaments, and

(28:23):
my ornaments are in boxes, wrappedup an old torn up tissue paper because
I've been using the same tissue paperfor eight million years. But they have
their baskets unwrapped, sitting in baskets. Yeah, like picnic baskets. I
was like, who put who putthat? Open topped baskets? Like they're
not even protected at all. Okay, here's my only exploitation for which I

(28:45):
find that, Like, ours arein the garage, right, so I
have them sealed up because there's carsin the garage and you know, dogs
in the garage and heat and allthat. So mine are wrapped individually like
yours in yellowing she paper that I'veused her thirty years or more. My
explanation for why there's are just neatlyplaced in a random picnic basket is because

(29:11):
the dad put them away. Thedad's the one. Dads don't know how
to wrap up crystals tournaments. Sowhile she's down there, Sam comes in
back in the house. I don'tknow where he was before, and he
thinks there's an intruder in the basementbecause there's someone in the basement and he
doesn't know who. So Amelia thenproceeds to hide from him. And I'm

(29:33):
not really sure why, to behonest with you, this part confused me
so much because black best friend hadjust walked in the front door earlier,
and she wasn't like weirded out byit. You know, She's like,
Oh, it's totally natural that someonewould be coming in this door, so
I would She assumed that it wasokay then, but when she was in
the basement then she was like scared. And she's in someone else's house,

(29:57):
right, so it would seem like, well, it wouldn't be odd that
someone who is not me is cominginto this whatever, right, She felt
like she had to hide. Yeah, and he's and then here's another part
of this that confused me. Hemakes us come into her that they can't
possibly decorate the cray tree because it'sten am. And I didn't know that

(30:18):
there was a rule like that,but I guess there it's five o'clock somewhere
in the morning. Yeah, really, Um, all right, So later
in the afternoon they are decorating thetree and Amelia tells them about a vallin
Christmas tradition that I absolutely love,and it is that when you decorate the
tree, you tie a ribbon aroundone of the branches and you make a

(30:41):
wish for someone else you know thatthat benefits someone else, and then on
Christmas Day you untie it and itlike releases that wish out into the world,
and I thought that was the sweetestI did too. I think up
all of the tropes or like madeup Christmas traditions I've seen in our time

(31:03):
watching these movies. I thought thatwas one of the sweetest ones. Like
I was legit, like I mightuse that for my own family. I
thought it was really nice. Yeah, I really liked it. So she
talks about how she's never really decorateda tree before because servants always do it.
The staff does it, and sheand her family is kind of going
at the end to take a coupleof extra ornaments on and she's like,

(31:26):
you know, I've never decorated atree. I was homeschooled. I've never
been on a real date, youknow, I've just I've had a different
life. And he's like, okay, So they say they're good nights.
But there's definitely another sort of chargedmoment between them. It was very hot
and steamy between these two. Iwould say that there was definitely like a

(31:49):
little extra measure of chemistry between thesetwo actors. And you normally I'm not
commenting anything on what their personal relationshipis or whatever, but normally there's a
there's a baseline, right Amelia andthese You can't be too steamy, you
can't have too much chemistry. It'smy theory on why so many of the

(32:12):
lead actors in real life are gay, because it's not necessarily because they're going
after um like guys who date otherguys on purpose, but because it adds
this air of like chasteness to therelationship. Yeah, this is it's not
lifetime. It's not a lifetime movingso and women don't like women want we

(32:36):
want a guy we find attractive,but we also want a guy we can
feel who is safe, right,we can be friends with. So yeah,
but there there was a little anyways, um gac really did go pretty
far on the steaminess and we've alreadyhad the sleeveless white ninety Yes, he
touched her hand once and now they'rehaving a look. This is a while

(33:00):
a movie or whatever. I'm soglad I watched this alone and didn't have
my daughter with me. I know. Yeah, what was she saying?
She can we go back to bachelorappropriate? So the next day we also
find out that it's Amelia's first timein blue jeans, So what what is

(33:20):
the deal with Vola? Why arewhy aren't they why hasn't she ever worn
blue jeans? Before? I know, I was thinking like, because Kate
Middleton wears blue jeans, Prince Williamwore's blue jeans. Yeah, Diana wore
blue jeans, But I don't rememberwhen Charles wore blue jeans. I'd probably
be like, mmmmm, no,but I bet he has I bet I

(33:40):
can. I bet there's a pictureout there, even though it's wrong.
Or Camilla, Oh I have aCamilla, do like a peasant? Peasant
causeplay? Nope, nope, SoAmelia has ever worn jeans. Let's just
go back to their um. Butgood news. The phone has a dial
tone, so she calls Marcel,who somehow still has a job in Vola.

(34:05):
Marcel should not have a job.He should be fired. He should
have been fired the second he walkedoff that plane. He lost the King's
daughter, Like this is your onlyresponsibility. Yeah, I was. I
was shocked when he answered the phone, Like I was like, is this
guy still working there? I thoughthe was going to pick up the phone
and be like, oh, she'ssafe. All right, I've been fired,

(34:27):
And maybe there'll be a little scenewhere she fights for his job back
or something. Not even an unpaidleave of absence while they investigate. Marcel
has his job, so she's youknow, so he's you know, relieved
that she's okay. It's nice tohear her boys, blah blah blah.
And then he says, soon yourtime there will be nothing but a memory,
and she does not like the soundof that, because she is enjoying

(34:51):
this ordinary life where you live ina beautiful home with really kind people in
a pool. Yeah, I know, I love it. Yeah. So
when Amelia gets downstairs, Grandma letsher know that Sam rush out this morning
without packing a lunch, so maybeyou want to bring him one wink wink
making Grandma. And while they're gettingthat together, Sophie says that she wants

(35:16):
to go to the Christmas Eve party. So Amelia is like, let's just
surprise him, and Grandma's like,great idea. No, sorry, Grandma
agrees with me that it's a terribleidea. I don't think that. We
don't even know what the deal isyet, we just know that he's sad
and doesn't want to go to thisparty. Well, you know at this

(35:37):
point that the very least his wifedied at Christmas time, and so he
doesn't want to you know, justbe out and celebrating it. And he's
said it over and over again.Yeah, the whole shot. He's not
telling Sophie and his mom that theycan't go. He's just saying he's ready
to go. And I think pressuringhim to go would be a really bad

(36:00):
idea, but like tricking him intogoing is the worst idea. Yeah,
I think it's a terrible idea.It's a bad idea. This is why
you don't like kids make decisions.They don't. They don't. They're not
a smart. Meanwhile, at thehouse that is being renovated, Brock and
Sam are working and Brock is askingabout Amelia another little wink wink, like

(36:21):
she seems nice, and Brock islike, listen, she lives halfway on
the world. You know, Idon't know how it ever worked out.
I don't know, but you're blonde. She's blonde. You have blue eyes.
She has blue eyes. Like it'llit'll work out. Yeah, that's
probably true. Good. Um.Amelia is at the Little the Christmas Tree
Farm and is sitting on Santa's throne, which is kind of funny because it's,

(36:45):
you know, a kid joke.Um, all right, so she
ends up having a little hard toheart with Fred Claws and he she's talking
about she's not a very good publicspeaker, and he's like, I have
some advice and I was ready forit because I'm another Amelia Way it's public
speaking, and he was like,speak from the heart. Ah, yeah,

(37:07):
no one's ever said that before,so it makes sense. It makes
sense. This is becoming one ofmy favorite things about Christmas Landscripts is tally
giving somebody a really deep word ofadvice or a deep word of encouragement that
is actually like the most cliche thing. Yeah, and everybody acting like it's

(37:29):
the most incredible thing that they've everheard. Yes, all right, Sam
is mate. Okay. Amelia goesto bring Sam lunch at his house.
So she's over at the house beingrenovated now, and Sam wants to show
her the special thing he's been workingon, which is like a horse themed
room and he's carved this like horseheadboard for the bed and it all kind

(37:57):
of looks like something that you getfrom the mall. But we're supposed to
think he's a really good artist,So he's a really good artist. Okay,
No, yeah, this is howit goes. I this reminds me
of the Hallmark one where Lacy Chabert, the one where she's a banker but
she has to enter the gingerbread Itwas an international gingerbread house competition, and

(38:19):
then the gingerbread houses were just likewhat you would go and see someone demonstrating
at the grocery store. They werethe most basic, yeah creations ever.
But everyone was like, wow,this is amazing. So it kind of
reminded me of just a few episodes. We did Winter Palace with Dannika mckeller
and that guy who wasn't he alsoa prince? I think he was?

(38:39):
He carved those like bears, yeah, and they just were good. There's
literally the bears you get at thegas station on the way to your cabin.
So whatever. So Amelia wants tohelp. She helps him paint the
room. She gets some haint onher cheek and he wipes it off and

(39:02):
they start to go in for akiss, and it's, oh my god,
it was so close. It wasso close. I mean, it
was just getting this is getting ridiculous. Gf um. All right, Sophie
is next door with what's her nameLibby in the stables, and here was
my question about this. This isa neighborhood. This is like a cute

(39:25):
little small town downtown neighborhood. AndI find it interesting day room for like
this indoor riding ring presumably outdoor stuffstables. I grew up downtown in a
small town. And let me tellyou, nobody had horses. A couple
of people had chickens. That's aboutas interesting as it got. It's about
as barnyard as it got. Iwas surprised to see that their quote neighbor

(39:45):
was like a ranch. Like itwas like clearly in this down But I
will say this, um, thereis a horse ranch in the middle of
LA. It's it's in out centralLA in a neighborhood. Though it's in
a neighborhood. Patty Patty Heaton isPatricia Heaton, actress from Everyone Loves Raymond.

(40:10):
Her and her husband are long timedonors to It's an inner city ranch
and it's for inner city kids togo and get a taste of farm life.
And so they cater to a likea largely black and Hispanic population of
kids. And it is it is. It's in an urban neighborhood. It's

(40:31):
very strange. So I've seen it. Well, there you go there you
go. Did Paul Revere really saythe British are coming? And how is
George Washington chosen to leave the FirstAmerican Army. Join us for the Growing
Patriot podcast, a place for curiouskids to ask the big questions about our

(40:51):
nation's history and get kid friendly answersfrom the country's top experts. Help your
child learn about and cherish America's exceptionalhistory. Subscribe to Growing Patriots on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcaststoday. So they're hanging out in the
horse rang the little girls are riding, and Amelia talks to Brock and he's
like, yeah, I'll hope youemotionally sucker punch my best friend by tricking

(41:15):
him, and to go into aparty sounds good, Shamaw Brock, especially
because he knows what really happened.Yeah, all right, So Sam will
not let Sophie jump on her horse, I mean not just in general.
She's allowed to jumping down, butnot on her horse. And Amelia is

(41:35):
like, you know, I amsomething of a rider myself, and goes
to do a little show, alittle demonstrucyone of her jumping skills, and
the girls beg her to teach themas if Libby's parents aren't standing right there
and they are the actual teachers,they are right, lack of a teacher
that the is the problem here.But okay, okay, yeah, but

(41:59):
they're not, you know, apretty princess. Well they don't know she's
a princess, but they know she'sa pretty rich lady, beautiful, rich
European lady. Yes, so shetalks about how so back back at their
house, at Grandma's house, Ameliatalks about how Christmas is more warm and
welcoming there, you know, it'salways kind of formal and Bola or ballen

(42:20):
or whatever it's called. And justthen Storm the dog shows up at the
front door. What and Sam areplayed around. Sam's like, well,
we're gonna have to just keep himhere tonight because the roads are closed.
Sophie wants to keep him forever,but he does have a home, so
they can't really do that. Thegrandma, though, is like, take

(42:42):
this perfectly groomed, no white,clean dog and give it a bath,
because it is disgusting. You cannothave it builthy animal in my house.
No, it's because obviously we needthe opportunity for Sam to wipe bubble off
of off of Amelia's nose or somethinglike that. There's got it. Yeah,

(43:05):
we need the bubbles, Amelia.Yeah, absolutely, and you get
bubbles because the way that they bathethis dog is they take a perfectly polished,
yet rustic galvanized tub. They uppictures of water, pour them into
the tub, put in more SuDSthan anyone could ever need, and begin
to bathe the perfectly groomed dog.Yeah. I put mine in the shower.

(43:30):
That's what I do too, Yes, yes, yes, But I
guess this is cuter and a lotmore work I do. I was wondering,
like when they were they were bathingthe dog, I was like,
this seems like a whole lot ofwork. But I mean, I guess

(43:52):
the SuDS are available heavily available onthe set because they use SuDS as fakes
now all the time. Now Itell you this, Amelia. I was
this weekend. I took my bookand I went up to our little local
park in the one on Saturday morning, and I just like read for I
bought like a Bengal and I saton the bench and read. It was

(44:12):
a nice day and the kid there'sa fountain in the middle of the park
and some kid had dropped a bunchof bubbles in the fountain that was just
overflowing bubble And I was thinking aboutthe community fountain sometimes too. I was
thinking about this scene. I waslike, look at all these bubbles,
like maybe somebody's wanted to wash theirdog in the fountain. It was actually

(44:36):
kind of funny. But um.I then, of course I went on
the next door app and I thought, out, the neighbors are disgusted with
these kids who keep doing it.But that's what I thought, nice word
for um. So Amelia again again, I'm confused about Vola right now because
Amelia says that they don't have anydogs at home, which is about the

(44:58):
least royal thing that I've ever heardof in my life. Yes, every
Royal family has had dogs, hasn'tthe I doesn't the idea of having a
dog as a pet kind of originatewith the Royalty, would think so?
I believe so. I mean,because they could afford like a pet.
It's not a working dog or huntingdog, although they have hunting dogs too.
Yeah, like like the Queen's Corgies. They were just there to chill.

(45:20):
Yeah, I don't know. Inthe old days you have the dogs
because they cleaned up too, likethe lead up your food. They and
they'd protected you. So um,yeah we so we know that Balin is
an aunt probably an anti dog country, and that that's another sort of dark
harming Joe for what kind of nationsthere dog no jeans, I don't know.

(45:43):
Um. She also shares that hermom died when she was young,
but we don't really get a lotof that story, which is kind of
interesting. Um, all right,SuDS are getting everywhere while they wash this
dog, and so she Amelia goesto wipe the SuDS from Sam's face and
again they almost kiss, and thenthe mom yells about the dog running around

(46:07):
full of SuDS, which fair.I wouldn't be very happy about that either.
No, I wouldn't either. Butagain, so that's number two of
an almost kiss. I thought thatwas scandalous to have them two of those
things. I know, I know. Yeah, you get one look,
you get one almost kiss, andyou get a kiss. That's what you

(46:28):
get, what you get, andyou don't get upset. So big news.
It looks like the airport might beable to reopen tomorrow because the storms
starting to clear. But tomorrow.It's also the Christmas Eve party, and
Sophie really wants Amelia to stay forit. Now big news. Grandma knew

(46:49):
that Amelia was a princess because somebodysaid, you know, her Royal Highness
was left behind, but she's justbeen keeping it to herself to see what
would happen with Sam. I thinkI don't think she was keeping it to
herself. I think what she didwas she found out when she finally got
to talk to the royal family oncethe coms opened, because I do recall

(47:13):
her saying when I talked to them, they called you princess. So I
don't think the grandma knew the wholetime, but then she knew by the
time she got through to them.Do you think that Mark's parents are just
waiting to tell you that he's aprince? They want to make sure that
this is like for real, firsttwenty six years in. I wish they

(47:34):
would just go ahead and pull thetrigger. I've been waiting. I've been
waiting a long time for this reveal. I'm starting to suspect he's not I'm
starting to suspect he's just a regularold American guy boring, all right,
all right. Um. So Sophieand Amelia are like hanging out their drying

(47:55):
pictures. Sophie's going to help Grandmawith some stuff. Sam's t storm home.
Now Grandma and Amelia get a minute. She's like, listen, you
have to tell Sam. And she'slike, I know, I'm going to
whatever. She goes over to wherethe conference is. I think it's tonight
at this point, and this Christmasfestival is set up like a business conference

(48:19):
with a bunch of chairs in rows, all facing in one direction, and
that just doesn't sound like a funnight to me. Maybe that's why Sam
doesn't want to go. Well,the mom Melody or Melanie, she'd been
talking about it like it was gonnabe like the biggest thing, and it
was like, look like a churchpot luck in the in the old middle
school theater. You know, itwas just like pot luck. At least

(48:42):
you're facing each other around the tablewith the plastic tablecloths. It was set.
It was a very weird setup,but it's okay. We know it's
still gonna be the most fun ever. Yeah, everybody's going. So Amelia
once again goes to see Sam toconvince him to come to this party and
with seventeen minutes to go in themovie, they kiss, they kiss,

(49:05):
they kiss, not just once akiss. They pull apart and then they
kiss again, and I just waslike, is this movie over? Like
what is going on here? They'rekissing before the end of the movie.
There's been a sleeveless dress, There'sbeen two almost kisses, there's been a
couple of touches, Like, Idon't know, they might as well just
rip off all their clothes. Andit was a straight lifetime I know it

(49:30):
was. It was scandalous. Ipaused it to be like, how many
minutes are left? This is impossible? It was true. It has so
put out. I was like,so, like, what where do we
go from an ear? Now?They might as well just op right in
the bed. I kiss. Soshe starts to tell Sam that she is
a princess, but the phone ringsand they get all off track. So

(49:51):
she gets Sam to agree to dropher off at the party, but he
doesn't agree to come to the party, and on the way there he tells
her the two years ago he andhis wife went to this Christmas Eve party
and on the way home he wastired. Okay, like in real life,
he probably would have had a coupleof beers, a little eggnog whatever,

(50:12):
and not driven. But in thiscase, he was just tired from
having fun. So he has hiswife wife to drive, and they got
in a car accident and that's howshe died. So asking him like trying
to turn him into going to thishas to be like overly horribly traumatizing thing
to do. And Brock should knowbetter, and I'm horrified. Everybody should
do better, Like I did notexpect this. And by the way,

(50:34):
I just want to say, greatAmerican. I think that that twist was
a bit too dark for Christmas Landbecause now dying at Christmas, I get
that, and it's sort of castthis Paul over the holiday. But it
was really I got darker than normalto make it not all And I at
least they didn't make him the murderer, right, They made her fault.

(50:58):
She was because if he'd been driving, then that side of the car would
have gotten hit. Yeah, buthe shouldn't. He shouldn't. We couldn't
make him the murderer like that.That would go too far. We can't
make his responsibility. That his wifedied, so it had to be her
responsibility. So she was driving,but he could take on some guilt.
But I just thought like, wow, that's really dark for Christmas Land,

(51:22):
like a Christmas Eve death. Yeah, you need you need to dial that
back for America. Yeah, itwas too It was too much. And
then it just really put a badtaste in my mouth about all these people
who were tricking him into going tothis event. It's only been two years.
He lost his wife that night atthat party. Give Sam a break,

(51:42):
you guys. So at the party, Amelia finds out that the plane
has landed from voland to take herhome. Sam walks in. He was
not tricked, He just volunteered toattend, but he was probably peer pressured
into it, to be honest.And this was another trope that I enjoy
that I'm not sure we've really identifiedbefore or if it's even really a trope

(52:06):
yet. But Melanie is about togive the big speech, you know,
thank everyone for coming, blah blahblah, and she asks Amelia to,
you know, say a few words. And I feel like that happens fairly
regularly, where they're like, hey, this person who just showed up in
town three days ago is now suchan inherent part of the fabric of this
community. Yeah, she needs tospeak. Yes, we'll give them.

(52:27):
They don't know anything about this community. They don't know anything about how we
run things or how we do things. But but I'll tell you this,
Amelia, I have a feeling thatshe's going to speak from the heart.
Well, just in case, atthis moment we get Santa gives her a
little wink and reminds her to speakfrom the heart. So she's ready,
She's ready, Okay, she's ready, all right. So after she speaks,

(52:50):
she starts telling Sam again that she'sa princess because you know, she's
like, the plane is going tobe here. See, I gotta let
this guy know what the deal is. But as she's saying it, her
dad walks and she goes father andthen curtsies and he's like. Sam's like,
um, what, So the gigis up? Busted busted. Sophie

(53:13):
asks Amelia, or asks the fallencontingent to stay for one dance. So
Amelia and Sam have a last danceto Silent Night, another classic Christmas song
that's actually about Christmas. Yeah,she says that this is the first time
that she didn't feel trapped in herlife because she could just be an ordinary

(53:34):
person, you know, being romancedby a very attractive single dad in an
idyllic small town where everyone's kind andyeah, and he's like, I can
see that you've changed, and Ijust want you to be happy. But
thinking on the plane, head backed, fallen. Yeah, I mean that's
I get it. You know,I get the same thing, Amelia,

(53:57):
from a lot of people like Ijust really be your like idyllic life with
this perfect I mean, you livein California, you don't have to worry
about things like taxes or homeless people. All right, I get it all
the time. You're so beautiful,Kira, you have such this idyllic life

(54:17):
like but I know your kids areshining examples of human beings every yevery every
minute. My husband puts the toiletpaper over, not under, and he
may or may not be a prince. I get it. But sometimes some
people have to go back to theirreal lives, their real obligations. They

(54:38):
all can't have amazing lives like me. I know. Well, yeah,
it's fair, it's fair. Sothe next morning, Sam and Grandma and
Sophie are doing their Christmas morning andhe's trying to get into it, but
he's a little subdued missus Amelia.But what is that the doorbell? And
it's Amelia with a puppy. Neverdo that, Never surprise with a puppy,

(55:00):
ever, No, never surprise someboddywith a puppy? Does everyone here?
It's it's cute for that five minuteswhere that little girl is fawning all
over the puppy. But who's gettingup with the puppy in the middle of
the night when he's got to gooutside. Who's walking the puppy every day?
Who's training the puppy? You?Now, what happens is this is

(55:22):
why in shelters they make sure thewhole family is there before they'll let you.
Some places take the dog home,because you you get the animal home
and that person's like, I don'twant this, and they end up getting
rehomed or sent back. So,yeah, a puppy is cute, but
it's not a cute surprise. Yeah, And like we are dog people,

(55:43):
I am dog crazy. Just don'tever do that though. Okay, thank
you for talking everybody. So it'stime to do their little bow wishes from
the tree. They undo their bowsand Sophie says that HER's already came true.
So I assume it's for her daddidn't meet somebody. They walk over
to the other house, Sophie lovesher room and all that, and they

(56:05):
kiss again. I just I didn'tknow even what to do with myself at
that point. How could you?How could you? Nothing has prepared us
for this. Yeah. So thenSam is surprisingly realistic and he's like,
listen, you live in eastern Europe. I live on the East coast of
America. You're a princess. Iam a guy who renovates a house and

(56:30):
probably has another job, but Idon't know what it is, and like,
this isn't gonna work. And she'slike, yeah, it's a good
point. Do you guys want tocome to my New Year's Eve ball?
And they're like, yeah, wedo so, so they're just delaying the
inevitable. But it's Christmas Land,so it's all gonna work out. No.
I I got the feeling, though, Amelia, that Princess Amelia she

(56:52):
has to go, because there wasthat one little scene with her father on
the plane where she's like, Ihad a good time here. These people
were so good to me. Ijust wish I didn't have all these responsibilities.
And he was like, well,I just want you to be happy,
you know. And then so Ihave the feeling that she had some
responsibilities to take care of in Valin. Maybe go and make sure that there's

(57:13):
someone to make all the international dealsthat she's in America making or whatever,
and then she would come back tothe town to Sann and Sophie, and
that she would be a riding instructorat the at the Horse's Place. That's
what I got. Here's something elseto consider. Okay. She goes back

(57:36):
to Valla, they bring the puppywith them, and she wears blue jeans
and they're like a dog and bluejeans. No, no, your majesty,
there's a Valan uprising. The royalfamily is forced into exile in Maine.
Interesting. I thought you're gonna sayTarovia. No, I think interesting.

(58:01):
The blue jeans and the and thedog would be just too much.
It would inspire a revolution. Yeah, and uh yeah and the yeah okay,
And then we've got a whole otherstoryline about the royal family in exile
in May. Right. Plus youknow that one of the like freedom fighter
guys needs a wife, and theking Amelia's dad, he is a widower

(58:29):
and who's a widow Sam's mom?Yeah? Is it weird? Yeah?
But not in Christmasland, fair enough. That's the end. Everyone lived happily
ever after. Um, I guessI don't know. Sam and Amelia went
and found a room somewhere all thatPDA My goodness. Yeah, I mean

(58:51):
a little bit like she's done someshame to the name of Amelia. We
just don't. We don't act likethat. Oh gosh, it just was.
It was very steamy, very steamy. I was like, whoa,
I can't believe it. I haveto go clean my palette with an episode
of Bachelor. Okay, I dowatch the Bachelor. Um, all right,

(59:15):
Well, I enjoyed it. Therewere some great tropes in here.
We were missing a few tropes,but for the most part, we got.
We got a precocious child that Sophie. We got a snowball fight,
which we love that. We gotChristmas tree decorating. Yeah, we got
baking, but the banking didn't reallyplay the part that we needed to play,

(59:37):
but it was replaced by the painting. Yeah, and the and the
dog batu who else? M Wegot a deadline like the town party,
so something to a deadline A misunderstandingthat could have been cleared up with a

(59:57):
simple conversation. Maybe Santa Claus hmmm, yep, so go a lot.
We didn't give anybody falling over filingoff of anything. No ladders, no,
but we didn't need it. Therewere other things that build that space.
So yeah, I thought it wasit hit all the right notes.

(01:00:20):
I quite enjoyed this one, andI do recommend it to absolutely, Yes,
yeah, absolutely recommend all right.Two questions before we go, Amelia.
First of all, Christmas tradition.Do you have a let's do you
have a favorite Christmas tradition? Weloved the tradition of those tying the ribbon
on the tree and making a wishfor somebody else, which I think is
really really sweet. Do you haveanything that you and your family do or

(01:00:44):
that maybe you could do yourself?M I don't know, I mean just
growing up. We watch a tonof Christmas movies and our family still gets
together and does that, and obviouslythe Christmas Land Christmas movies, but we
also It's a Wonderful Life we alwayswatch and a modern one we've been loving
is Noel on the Disney Channel.So good. Oh so yeah, we

(01:01:07):
we love to do movies. Wealso we also definitely do cookie decorating.
I baked just a ton of cookiesahead of time. Everybody comes over and
we decorate them together. And Ihave two older brothers who get a little
wacky. Why we have one whoI bought googly eyes last year like candy.
I guess they're not googly eyes,but candy eyes. And he made

(01:01:28):
bibli correct angels biblically correct. Sothe cookies were extremely creepy. But hey,
it's a good time. I lovethat. That's cute. Well,
we we have We don't do thisanymore. But when I was growing up,
my mom and I used to spendChristmas with my grandparents and they had
They weren't farmers, but they hadlike they lived on a farm or what

(01:01:52):
used to be an old farm inOntario, Canada. And every Christmas Eve,
the neighbor kids would come over,and by neighbor it is the country,
so my neighbors is like the kidsthat live a mile down the road,
but they're the same age as me. They will come over and we
would write Santa a letter and thenwe would throw the letter in the fireplace.
And then my grandparents told us thatthe letters burn and the ashes go

(01:02:15):
up the chimney and then they reformin the north hole and then Santa yeah,
and then Santa would get our letters. So I used to do that
with my grandparents all the time.And then sometimes my grandfather would sneak out
of the house and somehow get asnow snowmobile at the end of the driveway,

(01:02:35):
and then he'd calmed down driveway onthe snow bill but we couldn't see
it. We could just see alight. And then he would get up
on the roof and stomp around,and my grandmother would be like, oh,
see Santa's here, but he can'tcome in because you guys aren't asleep.
And then we'd all be like,so I love it. Yeah,
I was what we used to do. That. That was that was nice
course, as you know, forhaving Fate Garland. Well, I mean,

(01:02:58):
Amelia's also very annoyed because my familyand I don't do Santa Claus either
exactly. And I mean I wasn'tgoing to say it, but I was
thinking, she has this magical SantaClaus memory and she robbed her children.
Is so very upset that the David'sfamily has never engaged in Santa Claus.
I could have taken it or orleft it. To be honest, it

(01:03:20):
was it was some tradition I inherited. Nobody cares in this family though,
as much as Amelia does, becausethey don't know what they're missing. I
think they're fine. Um okay.The other the other thing is Balin.
What's their main export? What istheir main industry? I think it's something

(01:03:42):
like steel. I think it's likesomething tough and industrial. Okay, what
do you think I I was thinkingit's denim. That's why you can't wear
blue jeans there? Did they exportall their den Hey, everybody, Kiera

(01:04:02):
here. Sorry to interrupt, butit's at this point in the podcast where
I lost Amelia, and not permanentlybut just digitally, and so the audio
got so mixed up. I justthought it better to just end this here
rather than carry on. We weresaying our goodbyes anyway. We were wishing

(01:04:23):
each other a merry Christmas as usual, So don't forget to subscribe to the
podcast if you don't mind. Ifyou haven't done that, already, share
it, leave a rating and ora review. Follow us on Twitter at
a very Merry Pod, or onInstagram, at a very Merry Podcast Gmail,
Verymry podcast at gmail dot com.Let us know if you have some
movies that you'd like us to cover, or if you have a particular Christmas

(01:04:49):
land Star that you love and wantus to review more of their movies.
We'd love to hear from you,and we'll see you next time. Thanks
so much, everybody, Merry Christmas. This has been a presentation of the

(01:05:12):
FCB podcast Network, where real talklifts. Visit us online at FCB podcasts
dot com.