Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story (Hallmark Channel - 2026)

[00:00:03] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast

[00:00:54] Well, well, well. It is great to be back! My goodness, it was like it was just yesterday that we were here. In fact, we were for our first episode of the holiday season. It's our second episode of the holiday season. We're still all together. Yeah, it's hour 29 of our annual marathon, the eighth annual Deck The Hallmark marathon. We've raised, we broke a record.

[00:01:20] Yeah. We broke a record this year. I bet we broke a Kringle record too. That's just hearsay. That's what I'm hearing on my end. Wow. But I can't confirm it. At the Kringle Toms? That's right. Kringle.com, Racine Danish Kringle. They were given to the charity. They're also giving everybody the best pastry in the world. Everybody's winning there. They're using the code DTHOCT26. They're getting money off. It's amazing. And then we raised over $40,000 for SAPI, a great organization. That's right. Throughout the United States for kids in foster care. That's all there is too.

[00:01:50] That's all there is too. That's all there is too. Yeah. Yeah, no big deal. Just us watching the Hallmark Christmas movies together for so much time. 29 hours? 29 hours. 29 hours. 29 hours is a long time. I can't say it, but we raised like $40,000. Dude, that's worth it. $40,000. I don't know how else to say it. $40,000. Unbelievable. I do feel like this would be a great time.

[00:02:13] Just shout everybody out. Everyone, not everybody, but all the double-deckers who watched and gave over the 29 hours. That's right. What a crew. That's right. We have folks helping us along the way. Elizabeth, Martin, Langley, Aaron. Aaron was also here talking and hanging out, obviously. So everybody, Chase, PD, stop by for making the merge. Yep. You know, these guys now, all of these guys have been here. Chad is a newbie. Everybody else, this is their at least third marathon. It's not fourth consecutive marathon.

[00:02:44] And then, Alonzo, this was your fifth consecutive marathon. Sixth consecutive marathon. Try again, sir. Oh my goodness. One crew we have. Really a ton of fun. Really just the best year ever. And you can't say it's the Hall Stars who called it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Natalia Ricci. Yeah. Bob Butt. Andrew Walker. Chris Palaha. Russell Hainline. Aaron Cahill. Antonio Cahill. Michael Rady. Yeah. The Goos. Peter Coutts. Peter Coutts. Peter Coutts. Yeah. Palaha. Palaha.

[00:03:12] They all have called in. A lot of them donated money. Britt and Dustin. Britt and Dustin. Yeah. Absolutely. What a time we have. You know what? Re-living it like this. Yeah. Should we just run it back? Should we do it again? Should we decide for the episode? Alonzo, you win? Oh God. Oh, carry me out of here. Okay. Well, we'll sit. Alonzo. Okay. Y'all do it. I want my official last nerve. Okay.

[00:03:38] We are going to talk about Holiday Touchdown, a Bears love story today. It originally aired on Saturday, October 17th, 2026. And it went a little something like this. It's October. Nope. Not October. It's December 19th, 1971. And a woman named Darlene walks up to a stadium with a note in her hand and is greeted by a fella named Bernie.

[00:04:05] These two lovebirds are on a blind date to the Bears game. They're having the best time. They're holding hands. They're cheering on the Bears. Thanks, fried guy. Fast forward to the present and we see our favorite Touchdown Santa ringing his bell. Someone named Avery gives them some money and heads into a bar to see her mom. She's visiting Chicago from New York. She's a freelance journalist.

[00:04:34] She bounces all around, but she's in Chicago right now. She proceeds to sit at the bar and read a book while the Bears game is going on. Unbelievable. A fella named Matt walks up and is like, I can't believe that you're reading right now. And I can't believe that you don't like football. They flirt. It's fun. She goes to goes into a meeting at the Chicago Herald.

[00:05:00] She's a freelance reporter and they want her to potentially do a story for the Herald. The bad news is a sports story. She didn't like sports, but they pointed the direction of a really cool story. A guy named Matt who works at this fire station. His grandma is the subject of the story. She's going to be going to her 500th Bears game. So she marches down to the station. Matt is the dude from the bar, if you can believe it.

[00:05:28] And he's like, I don't think you're the right person for the gig because you don't even like sports. And she's like, if you want this story written about your grandmom, I'm the one that has to do it. So deal with it. So off they go to meet grandma and the grandma bears. She reluctantly agrees to an interview, but only if her grandson helps out with the bear care charity. And obviously he says yes and call me crazy. I think that might be the excuse for Darlene and Matt to begin hanging out with each other.

[00:05:58] It doesn't take long for these two lovebirds to realize what Grant is up to. She's matchmaking. It could be a set up. Some might say it's a season for a different movie. Grant shares her story. She is the woman from the beginning of the movie. The date was amazing and it started her love of going to these bears games. And there's more of the story and we'll get to it later. Avery and Matt end up going for a boat ride.

[00:06:27] They almost kiss, but are interrupted by a text message because Graham singing karaoke. We've got to go listen to Graham singing karaoke. They end up going to a party and she gives him a kiss on the cheek under the mistletoe. Thanks to a little push and a nudge from grandma. As if things weren't complicated enough now, there's a potential full-time gig available at the Herald. Does she even want to move to Chicago full-time? Or does she just really love doing freelance?

[00:06:58] I don't know. It seems pretty obvious, but we'll find out. Maybe a cornhole tournament will help her decide. Okay. Avery and her stepdad win the tournament. Everybody's happy. Matt is blown away when she finds out that Avery is getting her Graham the Fan of the Year award for her 500th game.

[00:07:18] She goes to interview Darlene some more and finds out that Bernie, the guy from the beginning that she went to the game with, stood with her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and encouraged her to keep fighting and that they would make it to 500 games. And now that she's here, she wants to make sure that she gets the game number 500 for him. Love perseveres. The story is released.

[00:07:44] It is a smash hit and Matt is quickly reminded that Avery is leaving. So, God, why did I do all of this? Well, it's time for game number 500 and the game is nowhere to be found. Turns out she's fine. Everything's good. She's just watching the game with a neighbor who needs somebody to watch the game with. Well, sweet. But the problem is she's going to be Fan of the Year. They got her a sweet. She's going to get shouted out. She doesn't even know that.

[00:08:10] And so we've got to find a way to get her there, which means it's firetruck time. They surprise her and she meets various Bears legends. Caleb Wilson even shouts her out. Williams even shouts her out. Go Bears. After the game, she's officially offered the job at the Herald. She goes to find Matt, who is setting up a grand jester and shoots and shot. And it's like, hey, we can stay in contact long distance. We're fine.

[00:08:40] And she's like, I'm staying, baby. And they end up kissing big ones and celebrating Christmas together. And that, my friends, was... Holiday Touchdown! A Big Love Story! We did it! We did do it! We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to break this movie down with four segments here on... Deck The Hallmark!

[00:09:02] Hello, everybody. We're talking about Holiday Touchdown, our second Hallmark Christmas movie of the season. We're going to break it down. We're going to start with a hot tag. We're going to share exactly how we felt about this movie. I would suggest, I know we're tired. We don't hold back. No. We're not going to hold back.

[00:09:30] And I think we need somebody to show us how it's done. Yeah. Bran! How's it doing? What do you think about this movie? I'll tell you. This... Well, first, I'd like to... I think it will come as no surprise to anybody that I don't like cornhole. If not for me. I'm not a cornhole guy. So... You mean bags? We call it bags. Yeah, we call it bags. That aside, I liked it. It still worked for me. There was...

[00:10:00] I struggled throughout this movie to figure out how to describe what this is. Because I was nervous, like you. Like, I don't like this as the first movie. I do... It turns out I did like it as the first movie because I think what they're doing... It's the second movie. You know what we watched from last. Okay. Okay. You're right. I don't like it this early. Okay. First week. Right. First week. I was like, this is bold. It turns out I do like it this early. And what I'm saying... The reason is... It was like... I can't get the word. It's like campy. It's in your face so hard.

[00:10:29] They're like, we're not even pretending. We're going so hard with showing you Chicago, the people. We're... Obviously, there's a love story here. We're not joking around about it. We're not delaying it. They get right to it. It's like... I don't know. Not gimmicky because it feels like that's... I'm insulting it, but I'm not. It's like... There's a word that I cannot find. But it's like camp. It's like campy almost. So, like, everybody knows what we're here for. Just do the thing. Throw it in our face. Get the season started. And I feel like this is kind of a good move.

[00:10:57] Like, start off with an over-the-top, in-your-face holiday flick where everybody knows what they're getting and just give it to them and we're all going to have a good time. Bob Buck and Lindsey, are you kidding me right now? You're kidding me right now. You're kidding me right now. That's all I'm going to say about that. Absolutely. That makes sense. Patrick, what did you think of the movie? So... Well, we know I don't like football, so that was going to be a tough thing. Off-hill battle. Yeah. The movie didn't really feature a lot of football.

[00:11:24] There was a rehearsal room for football. Yeah, I know that. Which I didn't... Rehearsal room for football, yes. I didn't know that existed. Yes. I learned something new. But I liked that the movie was actually filmed in Chicago. You could tell that they had the stoops of the three walk-up stoops and the inside architecture looked very Chicago to me. So that was cool. But you lived there for a while. I lived there for quite a while. And it definitely kind of meets my vision of Chicago.

[00:11:54] And I liked that they had the Midwest things like the bags and like the Malort and all that type of stuff. So it felt authentic. I think if a Chicagoan was watching this, they would be excited and into it. And if you're not from Chicago, you might not care as much. But isn't that the case with all these NFL ones? I suppose so. So in that sense, I think it was successful. Okay. Chad? Well, look. The vibes were so high from this marathon. It would have had to be really awful to not enjoy it at least, right?

[00:12:24] That's the thing here. So was it awful or was it not? Generally, I don't care about football movies with these and I don't care about city settings. However, it was such a great pairing. And Bob Buck and Lindsey Fox and I were amazing. Right from the get go, right? They had really good energy. Good pace off the bat. Kept moving right from the bar meet cue all the way through. That chemistry was fantastic. The plot, Grandma's 500th game worked well enough. Although, why should you try to set him up with a freelancer who's like bouncing around? It was a little strange to me. Leeds had great chemistry.

[00:12:53] Would I watch it again? No, give me more Christmas, less football, but really fun overall. Yeah. All right. Alonzo. Yeah. Again, I have not slept and I'm a soft touch for breast cancer narratives because my mother died when I was 18. So, I may be like too much of a, of a, of a, of a, of a, of a, of a, of a pudding for this movie. Yeah. But it worked for me. You know, I thought the, obviously, Bob Buck and Lindsey Fonseca scorching chemistry.

[00:13:23] Uh, two time Oscar nominee, Marsha Mason has a really moving monologue and is lovely throughout. Um, I love the whole thing about Avery and her relationship with her stepfather and feeling that she's not as close to her mother and how they sort of work through that stuff. Um, sure. There's some weight butts, but overall, I feel like this is automatically now the best of the three NFL movies and it's a pretty high bar for the rest of the season to me. All right.

[00:13:52] So, yeah, you're wearing bear's garb. The bear. Yeah. I'm ready for it. Um, you guys, I, I'm just so grateful to be here with my friends. So, yeah, I was really excited. The vibes were high. I also had the benefit of watching this love story being cuddled up with Alonzo and with Langley and Aaron and Petey like we were in a five person polycule.

[00:14:19] So there were a lot of good things that were going for this movie, but like Alonzo, I was delighted all the way through. I thought the acting was so strong and that first scene that they had their banter was so smart and funny. She's reading a really cool book that I'll talk about more later. But I just think that this movie was so good and it would definitely be a rewatch for me. Well, I, uh, I adored this movie.

[00:14:46] And I think if at this point in my career of reviewing Hallmark Christmas movies, if you can make me scream at an almost kiss, you're doing something right. And that's what this movie did. It's it's still, it's still works for me. This movie had everything. The chemistry was insane. I thought that the, the plots, the 500th game, all of that worked the way that they told

[00:15:14] that story gave us a good bit of it up front, gave us the real hard hitting stuff at the point where we're ready for it. Everything about this movie worked for me. I will say, I think I'd still have the chiefs above this one if I am ranking them by holiday touchdown, but I love this movie clearly number one of the year. So far, this, this is why we do this. This is why we do this. Dan? Uh, yeah, it's just like, okay for me.

[00:15:43] Uh, I, I like, I think this movie is fighting over what it is. Um, that was, you know, you said they're throwing everything at you. Well, they're throwing a lot at you. I, I think a better version of this movie belongs to Marsha Mason. I think when she's on screen, it's really good. And I also think that Bob Buck and Lindsay Ponseca have great chemistry. The problem is, is I think we're under using them in service of a great story. We're under using Marsha Mason in service of a, of a good chemistry.

[00:16:10] I'd love to see those two in a different movie where they get to be really, really funny, which was not this movie. This movie decided to bail on actual football altogether, which is not a complaint. I think that is smart for the holiday touchdown series. I think that's a great story. You had as much football as you needed here. Yeah. The other two movies were far heavier on football than this one was. Um, I just didn't find, I thought both stories, unfortunately, sacrifice some because the other one existed.

[00:16:38] I think the holiday touchdown and Ed Begley's speech to the empty chair next to him is better than anything in this movie. Um, this was okay. I, I, I do think the chemistry is great and I do think Marsha Mason is wonderful, but I didn't find a lot of it really held together. And then when we see the terrible Italian beef sandwich, and when we see that a lot of this movie is about a cornhole tournament, that, that a lot of that's dead air for me in a movie that needs its time.

[00:17:05] It needs to be a lot more like efficient with its time to be, to service those other two stories better. So yeah, better than the first movie we watched for sure, better than the July ones, but not the best holiday touchdown for me. And we'll probably end up middle of the pack 15, 16. That's pretty, uh, pretty. I like Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper far more than this. Whoa. Okay. I don't think that's even a conversation. I think Ted Cooper is a much better. Okay. We want to have a conversation.

[00:17:33] It's not, we, it's not, don't bring it up. Uh, let's get to the details. Let's talk about what is going to give us feels for a guy. We got a, you betcha, which is just a great Midwest saying. You betcha. Uh, but we also got a two for one donor match while we were recording this episode, which was a pure high, just pure adrenaline highlight. Amazing raised over $40,000 and all the feels and the emotion of this movie were great. That was an amazing moment. Yeah. All right. Very nice. Patrick.

[00:18:05] My emotions. Um, what feels, we call them feels around here. Right. The feels. Yes. Um, so there was a coat in this movie that was really, um, fantastic. And it was a, uh, like bears kind of, what's that called? Like a jacket. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but it was like a crop starter jacket, um, cool colors. And I just think everyone should go out and buy this jacket, um, from the merch store. And that gave me a feel of capitalism.

[00:18:35] Make that money. Yes. Boss lady. You go. What an interesting. Yeah. Burn that took. He doesn't wash these for Christmas shots. That's true. A great gift idea. Yeah. Uh, this, the town itself, I was not excited for a Chicago setting at all, but boy, did it shine. It all worked. It's the baking scenes we had. The town was decorated beautifully. A lot of feels with that. Uh, and there was that one scene in the fire truck where Bob Buck looks at Lindsey Fonseca and they're talking about something.

[00:19:04] He goes, I'll make it up to you. And it was like, the Maldary field really liked that. So it was good. I really liked it. Um, they should have worn more coats. It's supposed to be Chicago in December. Other than that, it's a lot of feels. Alanta? Uh, yeah. I mean, again, I, I haven't wept at one of these in a while, but then, you know, I should see this movie on a full night's sleep and not while, you know, members of your subscriber base are like, you know, raising insane amounts of money to help, um, foster care

[00:19:34] kids. Uh, but I will say that I, I, I, the places that were designed to move me, move me. I also, uh, appreciated the shout out to, uh, uh, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle early on. Yeah. And like the movies, uh, you know, respect our intelligence. Yes. I, uh, clocked it. Uh, Jax? Um, I don't think I've ever identified with a protagonist in a Hallmark movie as much before.

[00:20:02] When I was 14 years old, I went to my first Notre Dame game and they're playing Navy. And it's the most exciting part when everyone was on their feet. My mom always talks about how I was reading a book. Um, but the thing is, I never, I never hated sports just like our leading lady. And now the last time I went to a Notre Dame game, I was right in it because I have taken the fandom and now love it myself. And I find that so moving and I see that on screen. It made me have big feelings.

[00:20:33] More than fair. I got a couple, one after the almost kiss, they have this moment in the fire truck and he's like leaning over her and he's like, I'll make it up to you. And then she's like, I hope you do or whatever. And that, that scene was great. Um, and although it was, sorry buddy. Um, but also, uh, we've got, yeah. How about this one? You ready for this one?

[00:20:59] Let's give a shout out to our first product placement of the year. Woo boy. Almost discreet. Oh boy. Almost. Almost. Almost discreet. Shout out. It wasn't discreet at all. I love it. I live for the product placements. Keep it going. Yeah. Right now. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah.

[00:21:21] It was, uh, this feat, Marsha Mason, the flashback with her and Bernie. And it gave me up feels, you know, in the book where it's like a great adventure. They always look at Paradise Falls and instead they made a life together adventures, which is like the best version of that, obviously. But Hallmark's version wasn't bad. That was a pretty cool scene where they had the 500 ticket book and they talk about doing this thing together. I thought it was really sweet. Yeah. That was nice. All right.

[00:21:49] Let's take a break and come back and get to the weight one, the what the Hallmark here on. We're back everybody. It's time for the weight one. So we're talking about what in the zoom and let's go weight what's. I'll start with you, Brian. Sure. Um, the, the shirts, the shirts, the coats, all of the big bears gear brand new off the shelf. That's right.

[00:22:19] Sparkling. Yeah. I'm hoping to get like some well-worn attire. Yeah. Yeah. Some vintage, some real vintage. Um, the, I feel like a local sports beat writer would have been pretty T.O. good to not get this story. They called it a free land. That's right.

[00:22:50] Right now. Oh, the sports talk radio should have been all up in arms. Yeah. I wish we got some of that on the way up. I love giving the freelancers a little something. Just like you like to give them a little, a little, just a little something to see what they do with a full outside. Yeah. Keep, keep the beat writers on their toes. I guess. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Patrick. So at the beginning of the movie, we get a flashback, which, you know, I love history

[00:23:15] and, um, you know, I know a lot about history, but I feel like it was set in the seventies, right? Yeah. It's probably very like 1940s, like, because with hair and like the way they were talking and stuff, I'm not saying it needed to be like Foxy Brown or whatever, but it was like you're saying it needed to be Foxy Brown. But I would have liked it to be a little more groovy, a little more like, uh, you know, dirty. They were midwestern white people. They were not flower children.

[00:23:43] But it did, it did Chicago in the seventies. I'm sure it was, there was some, you know, hit people, but they weren't them. Yeah. Okay. Well, that was my, my thing. That was your thing. Pat. Did they meet in the seventies at this game or were they together before? That was their first day. Yeah. They met in the seventies, had a daughter 10 years later and a grandson 10 years after that. The timeline was crazy.

[00:24:09] And the Chicago Herald hired an out of town to cover this major local story. Are you doing a bit? Funny. Did you do that already? I just, yeah. I think I, I knew you were doing a bit. Okay. That's a funny bit. So I was, but I was doing a bit. I knew you were. Yeah. And I was doing your bit. Yeah. It's called a circular triangle. It's a triangle bit. Exactly. Alonzo. Yeah. There are no jobs in journalism.

[00:24:35] Um, the, that is not a double dip sandwich. That was dry in the bone. We got it. Guys. There's something about Hallmark and regional sandwiches that they always get it wrong. It's so bad. I think it's a bit. The Philly cheesesteaks that you eat sideways with toothpicks in them. I do not know. Like it's an ongoing thing. It's real easy to just get a pot of something and dip the sandwich in and it will look right. Yeah. I don't like, it's the easiest one to do. Yeah. And Jardinier you can buy at the store.

[00:25:04] They, they, they, they can empty coffee cup their way up. Oh my God. Jardinier over there. You get it. And then finally, one last one, he tells her specifically when he's about the theater, he's sort of grandmother, to his grandmother, don't tell her we're doing the story. It's going to be a surprise. Yeah. And then 30 seconds later, Hey, we're doing a story on your grandma. Like what happened? In his defense. He was so excited. It was a surprise when he told her. That's true. He can't keep a secret. He can't keep a secret.

[00:25:34] He's very excited. Yeah. Uh, Jax. Yes. So in regards to the dry sandwich, yes, we all know it was bone dry, but when I looked at that as someone who mostly eats plant-based, I looked at that and I was like, there ain't no way that that's meat. And Lindsay Fonseca is, um, I've come to learn a passionate and active vegan. So it wasn't meat. So I get even more. So why it looks so, wait, what is that?

[00:26:03] No, they don't have the line. Yeah. Just don't do it. Exactly. I just get that. I'm a huge proponent of them being in a city and not going, well, we gotta have a cheesesteak. Right. Don't talk about it. And let me imagine that you're doing it well. And go off, girl. Yeah. Yay for your veganism. Your skin looks incredible. Sure. Absolutely. Um, I, I loved, she's with the, uh, her ex-boyfriend, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he is like, there might be a job available.

[00:26:32] And then he's like, you ever think about staying in one place for a while? Looks at his watch, then says, gotta go. Gotta go. Gotta go. The answer. What are you doing later? Gotta go. They're not together anymore. Tell me later. Exactly. Right. He was never, he wasn't present. It's the best place. Absolutely. Um, and then, listen, you know, I love a good almost kiss. It was a great almost kiss because it made me mad. And it made me mad because who cares if Graham's singing karaoke? No one.

[00:27:02] Who the dang gets? Yeah. Yeah. With the chemistry and the, and the field in that moment, are you kidding me right now? You get a text that Graham's doing karaoke? Good for her. Yeah. Good for her. You're not making it back in time to hear the song. Oh, wait. You are. Cause she figured out how they heard Graham doing karaoke. They got a phone. Sidebrake. Well, let's ignore your phone. Ignore your phone. They had to turn the boat around. Ignore your phone. All the way back to shore. Crazy.

[00:27:29] I don't, I, I would love, yeah, I would love to see my grandma do karaoke one more time. I'm not leaving that boat. No. That's not worth it to me. This is great. Uh, Dana? Yeah. We hit all the highlights here. I did find very comical. Her mom runs this bar and is in the bar and is talking to her daughter and goes, Oh, here comes a rush. And then we see the calmest, quietest, single-file people just walk through the establishment. That's right. Not to a table. They just walk in and walk through.

[00:27:59] Not to rush. It is the least bar thing you've ever seen in your life. And it's fantastic. They needed a rush. Here's your rush. Single-file, everybody. Follow the person in front of you. Fantastic. Line it up. Uh, it's time for What the Homework is where you wonder what could have been. Maybe I'll get some clarity questions we saw. What are we still wondering about? Sorry. Who? Yeah. Mine's mostly rhetorical. It's, uh, if you can't use a firetruck to get someone into a game in a pinch, then what are we even... What are we having to do for? What else are they for? Why pay taxes?

[00:28:29] It's our truck. We could do that if we want to. I just want to be able to call it in. Like, I want to call... I want to be able to call my local fire department... This is my one. And just be like, hey, I'm calling it in. You should get one. Everyone should get one of these. Yeah. Where you can get into the firetruck and they'll speed you around to get somewhere in an emergency. We should all get one. I think that's only fair. I think that's right. It's more than fair. It's more than fair. Patrick?

[00:28:54] Um, I would have liked to see Grandma Darlene's love story a little bit more, maybe, instead of, um, some of the other stuff that we took time for. So, like, maybe cut out, like, the cornhole stuff. And have more of, like, the grandma... Like, just, like, scenes of them, like, at games and, like, cute things. I mean, that one scene with Barney where she, like, where he brings out the books. So, yeah. Those two are great together. Right. So, like, more of that. Like, how do we get more of that?

[00:29:23] A little more comedy in there, too. They're good comedy shops. Oh, yeah. For sure. These are, like, really... I would love to see them in, like, a Russell Hainline comedy. Yeah. Uh, mine's more rhetorical. Sure. Why can't everybody use a firetruck to get around the town? Dude. I feel like I've heard this a lot of times. I don't know. It's good stuff. I would like to know how long the street goes with Grandma. Does she make it to 600? That's a great question. Is that... She's... Do you think she just stops cold turkey? That's good definition.

[00:29:53] Like, if you had the conversation with Bernie, we're gonna make it to 500, she made it to 500, does she stop? She's like, I can find the rest of the stuff. There's no more in the book. There's no more in the book. There's no more in the book. There's no more in the book. It seems like that's the moment they start giving her free tickets. At that point, right? Same. Yeah. Right, right, right. Alonzo? I mean, I just... I have no confidence that that gig at the Herald is gonna last. No. Because all the print media jobs are just disappearing, so I hope she's got a plan B ready to go. Oh, gosh. She's pretty.

[00:30:23] She could do TikTok. Sure. She could do TikTok. Jax? Um, so I really want to be in a book club with Lindsey Fonseca, because she was reading this book that was called The Girls, and I looked it up. It's a 1921 book by Edna Ferber. It's a novel that tracks three generations of unmarried women named Charlotte living on Chicago's south side. And I was like, oh my goodness, you can tell that this woman is smart. She's reading something interesting.

[00:30:51] I want to like, bruise her Goodreads. Oh, there we go. Um, I was excited to see the current quarterback of the Bears, Caleb Williams. Um, because we, like, he's definitely the biggest football player that's currently playing that's been in one of these movies. I do want to know how much time he gave up. He didn't seem thrilled to be doing the read, and I think it was a one and done. I'll get, I'm going to pop in.

[00:31:21] We'll do it. We'll do, I'll do the read. We'll do a minute. And then I got to get back to practice. But how much time did Caleb give? There was no take two. Yeah, there was no take two. How much time did Caleb give him? Dan? Uh, yeah, this, I just, this Santa that's in all three of these movies and how they connected it. I understand. I do think he is a good actor that is doing something here. It's just not what I want in a Hallmark Santa. And it's just a fascinating choice that they've made. And at this point, I would like to know the story of not why Santa connects.

[00:31:51] And that's obvious, but why this Santa is so very different in performance, in looks across the board as to what we are just so used to seeing from Santa, that it's a fascinating thing to do in their flagship movie every year with the partnership of the NFL. It's a very atypical Santa. And I just would love to hear some reason, like just why they did it. There you go. There you go. There you go. We did it, everybody. Congratulations. We did it. Two movies down.

[00:32:20] Can you believe it? I can't believe it. A quick reminder, Kringle.com, 10% off, DTHOCT26. Through the end of the month, we also got some special deals coming up later this month. Keep listening in. And all holiday season long. And we're actually going to be back tomorrow, back in the studio. The studio. Mr. and Mrs. Christmas. Very excited about that. Dan, anything else for the people? Thanks for an amazing marathon. Best ever. Elena Zaretsky got in under the wire with $30.

[00:32:49] The final total going to Saffy, $40,851. Oh my God. And one cent. Wow. You guys, it's pretty rough. Unbelievable. That's great. We'll be back next time. I don't want to tell everybody the first time if you're out there.

[00:33:39] Hey. Help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep, here they are. Happy day.