Love Under the Mistletoe (Hallmark Channel - 2026)

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

[00:00:41] Well, hello everybody! Yes, sir! Happy end of Christmas in July. Boy, oh boy. Yeah. Are you happy about it, Bram? I'm sad. Really? I talked to you about this during the movie, but I'm already looking forward to the season, the holiday season. Excited less than two months, in theory, to getting the schedule released. Usually that happens mid-September.

[00:01:09] I mean, we've not previewed August movies yet. Yeah, we are. It's coming this week. It's coming this week. Big five-weeker. Five-weeker. Five-weeker. You're right. Yeah, because it's August 1st is a Saturday. Thank you. And I'll tease this. Tease it. It's finally happened. You're like, why don't we just do the themes, the seasons? Yeah, because it's a smash grab into nothingness. This month, the month of August, is a two-themer. What? I know. No, it isn't. I've never seen this before.

[00:01:39] It is. There's only five movies. Those are two themes. So we have three weeks. Pick a theme? Actually, I'm going to save it for the preview. Save it, because I'm already mad. I'm already angry. We have to pick a theme, right? We pick our- So if we did it your way, we'd only be previewing three movies. And then we'd have to do another preview show. And so, really. Yeah, but it would even out in the wash, right? But you're welcome. Thank you so much. Really? No, I thought that you would appreciate that. I feel like we're getting Christmas leak.

[00:02:10] Christmas leaks. We're getting Christmas leak. We're getting Christmas leak. Some of the Christmas movies are leaking out a little bit. Can I tell you what I think they're doing? Can I tell you what I think they're doing? I want to tell you what I think they're doing. I want to hear this. You ready? Yeah. I think that they've got ten movies that they've put a lot of time into. Oh, no. Yep, you know where I'm going. And you know that I'm right. They've got ten movies they've put a lot of time into. And they're doing the slow leak of those ten movies. Slow leak. Because those are the ten that they really put their stand on. And then they're going to have 15 to 20 that are like what we just watched.

[00:02:39] That are like the four we just watched. So wait, what number does that get you to? Right around 25 to 30. Right? Yeah, 25. So I think there's ten big dogs that they are very excited about. Champ dogs? Champ dogs? Is it champ dogs? It is not. They probably put three to five mil into. And then they've turned around and they've spent. Pennies. You know, 750k to a mil on 20 other movies. Which is what you kind of want to hear. You like that. And that is their new model.

[00:03:09] Which is we'll put real money and time behind these ten. And then we'll pimp them out up front. Pimp them. And then we'll slide these other ones in. Like the last four movies we just watched, none of them represent the quality that we've seen from Hallmark over the last four years. None of them. Right? You don't think Snowbound would have made the cut? No. He liked the dumb Christmas village one more than that one.

[00:03:33] So Dan, are you saying definitively that the days of 40 plus Christmas movies are behind it? I'm saying that for Hallmark to have 40 plus, that's done. Wow. Money's not there. We do know that Mistletoe Murders is coming back. Heck yeah. Which is exciting. But as far as I know, no one's scripted. As far as I know, I have not seen any renewal information about Finding Mr. Christmas. Baking. I've not seen renewal. You're not baking again.

[00:04:01] We wouldn't do the contest again, right? I don't know why we would cover the show for not doing the contest again. That's true. That was a lot more work than I thought it would be. It was a ton of work. It was a lot of work. It was great for me. Probably the best thing I've ever done. Maybe Bran would have to do it. And also I won, and so I don't really want to, you know, I won. So what would have to happen is I would then have to compete against you. That's right. And Brian would be that. Or against me, and then the winner faces Dan for all of our champions. Now I'm listening for all the marbles. Oh boy.

[00:04:31] But I am excited about the holiday season. But that we still got. At least it's July 27th, you know what I mean? Up top. We still got two more theme things to go. Season. So any guesses? Oh boy. One of the themes is obviously fall into love. Yeah. No, fall into love. Hatch chilies? Fall into love. I'll give you some money. Which is starting in August. It's starting in late August. You know what? We've complained a lot about them short change of the fall movies and they're not doing it. They're not doing it. It's two full months of fall movies. Well, no.

[00:04:59] We get half a month of fall and half of late summer, right? Is it late summer theme? But if they started it on the 21st. If I did it. If I did. If the first fall movie is on the 21st, right? Of August. Of August. Yeah. Then you're going to get two full months of fall, which is way more than they normally give us. One month. September. Normally two and a half movies and like an olive tree movie. Yeah. Well, no. I feel like they did. I feel like they did something similar last year, but the first batch of fall movies weren't fall. They weren't fall. They just called them fall.

[00:05:27] Well, I wouldn't put them past them to do that. Just color correct it. Now, the one thing that we do need to address is it has come out that Garage Show Mysteries is officially back. Yeah. But... Are we doing our day night? Well, the problem is the first one is happening this fall. So... That's quick. We can't... I mean, I was banking on a January-Feb situation. Where we could just pepper them in. Where we could just... Another thing. I can't do another day night water fight. We can't do another day night water fight. There's no way.

[00:05:56] I can't do another day night water fight with the marathon breathing down our necks. No. Like, we can't. That's like some wonderful donor would have to donate a sizable chunk of change for us to do that. You want to put a number on it? 10K. 10K. Or multiple donors? We'll do... Brian's win. We'll do a day night marathon of the Garage Show Mysteries. Leading up to the day... Leading up to the marathon for... I didn't know it would be back to back.

[00:06:24] It would be whenever we could... You know, we're going to New Orleans for a thing we gotta do. Really? We're also... We got Ry Guy's wedding. We do? Too much. We're really up against it. And it's July 27th. We're hosting a public broadcasting, public television award show. Oh, your dream. Yeah. Wow. That's huge. We do that. It's huge. Wherever you see anything. They're going to live stream it and they put it on public television later, I believe. I hope you guys get to finish the show.

[00:06:54] I mean, we are... Really? And it's Mardi Gras themed. And we have to dress formally in Mardi Gras themed. Oh, man. And we're doing a live Who What When in Nolens. And we're doing a live Who What When in New Orleans. Wow. Information to follow. Sure. So, information... Yeah, exactly. That's only five weeks from now. Yeah. Maybe six. So, we're up against it. When does garage show fit? So, you give us 10K, we'll do it. We'll do the whole bit. And then we'll... And for that 10K, during that garage show mysteries, we'll also raise more money for

[00:07:23] us and then we'll turn around and fly everyone down for the marathon again. Oh, we don't get to keep the 10K? Personally? No, we're going to bank it. 33%. We got to bank that. We need it in the business bank. And then, but then, we'll do a fundraiser during it to fly everyone down for the marathon. Would you take 8K? No, no, no. I'm just joking. I would not take 8K. We'll take 12K. I'll take 12. I'll take 10. That's the low ball for us. And we'll name the marathon after you.

[00:07:52] Not this marathon, the garage sale. The garage sale. It'll be like the garage sale mystery. Yeah, it'll be like the Brian Harreld presents the garage sale mysteries marathon. I want Danny DeVito, you want Brian Harreld. Yeah. Brian, you... Brian's got 10K. Easy. He can't be an anonymous donor, right? Take it on to that Texas Roadhouse stock you got. Come on, man. Oh, I've cleared that out. Dude. What are you, stupid? This would have to be another restaurant. I'll take half in... Cava stock. ...money. Dude, we were... Half in rolls. I know we're up against it in butter. Yeah.

[00:08:22] We are, aren't we? We were at a seafood restaurant in Siesta Key, Florida last week. And this guy comes up and I was like, hey man, I'll take the check. I gave him a classic check. You know what I'm talking about. Of course. He comes over and he says, will that be cash, card, or crypto? Whoa. Never heard that in the wild. He said that to me in the wild in 2026. Wow. And I was bewildered. I almost... Will you take bonk? Yeah. I got some bonk. I got some bonk. This is going up. Trust me. What is the crypto that you'll take?

[00:08:52] Because I've got... I've got some weird ones. I was about to say like, what's the exchange here? Yeah. I mean, I don't think all my bonk would have covered it. No, I don't think I would have covered it. One bonk for one crab. A hush puppy. No, that would have done anything. I wish you would have said, I got bonked. Yeah. I got bonked. What's the exchange rate on bonk? I have a thousand bonk. They're not worth a penny. They're worth so little. Can I get cash back off my bonk? But it's the investment in the future of bonk. You get bonked and I get cash back for that bonk? That's impressive.

[00:09:21] Florida's doing it right. Yeah, they are. Man, they're big in the bonk. So what did you do? Card? I did card. Take your actual points. You and I have some money tied up in crypto. It's going well for us. But I briefly thought about using that to see if it would work. That's hilarious. Just getting the old Coinbase app out to see what would happen. How do you pay with the crypto? A little tap? I don't know how that works. That was my holdup is this is 10 minutes. I think if you had had a like a probably like what's your wallet? Yeah.

[00:09:50] Crypto wallet ID and you go and there's a sound effect. And then everything else gets taken along with it. Anyway, 10K will do the thing. Yeah. Guess so. Or a million bonk. A million bonk. No, you don't want that. No. A million bonk is like nothing. We take some crypto form though. I think a thousand bunk was like $16. Oh, we need way more than that. You don't want a million bonk. We'll talk. No. No. Fill out a form. A certain amount of bonk. Well, but you'd come to us. Timestamp guy. You ready? Timestamp guy.

[00:10:20] Yeah. Here we go. We are talking about what's the name of this movie? Love Under the Mistletoe, not Operation Mistletoe. Operation Mistletoe. Don't call it that. Oh no. Don't call it that. You have to pay a buck. It originally premiered on the Hallmark Channel. Trust us. On Saturday, July 25th. They got the premium Christmas in July. This is the 25th of July. Give it to the Mistletoe movie. And it went a little something like this. We need Grace.

[00:10:48] She's hanging out with Quinn, who is really into her. Grace is really excited to be in charge of decorating the town Christmas tree, but her main goal, her real dream is to get the contract to decorate the entire town. Yeah. So maybe if she does a good job with the Christmas trees, she'll get this. Wow. We then meet Ryan.

[00:11:10] He is a big city finance boy who is trying to figure out what to do with his nana's, his nans. Yeah, not nana. Nans. That's the other side. You dip it in that yogurt sauce. That's right. Really. Yeah, his nana bread. Do you think that's what she did? They were going to cremate her, but then they just dip it in. Bring out the yogurt sauce. Sorry, everybody. Dark turn here so far. This is a good one. It's good.

[00:11:37] You thought week four of the best of us long waiting till. Cheese naan. Onion naan. Death naan. Grand naan. What's Ryan's last name, Bray? Oh, well, good question. Because he's trying to figure out what to do with his grandmother's historic St. Nicholas house. And you might be wondering, oh, that's a house devoted to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus. Santa Claus. That is named after them. Their last name. He is Ryan St. Nicholas. Yeah, he is. Crazy. That's not his triple name. That's just his regular name.

[00:12:07] Do they call him Santa Man by any chance? They do occasionally, but not for a while they haven't. So he's planning on listing the house, but gets a call from the mayor. And the mayor is calling to see if he'd be interested in reviving the beloved Ribbons and Bows charity fundraiser. So beloved, they stopped doing it. They stopped doing it. He's not so sure about this. So he heads back to his hometown and to try to, you know, see what's going on there and is pumped to bump into Grace. Nope.

[00:12:38] To bump into Grace. There we go. The sparks are. I'm going to get that price up one way or another. The sparks are flying. So the mayor comes by Grace's office to see if she would be willing to talk to Ryan and convince him to go forward with the fundraiser. And if she's able to do this, she will move her to the top of the list of potential decorators to decorate the town next year. Everything she could have ever wanted.

[00:13:05] So Grace's BFF Melanie is pumped about this, not because of the deal, but because both these two lovebirds are single and ready to mingle. So she is going to take it upon herself to make sure that these two lovebirds get together. Quinn goes to the St. Nicholas house to talk to Ryan to try to find out what his plans are for the house, because Quinn, he's interested in buying this sucker.

[00:13:32] And Ryan says if he decides to sell, he's going to call him first. As Quinn goes to leave, Grace shows up. Ryan talks to Grace and asks if there's something going on between her and Quinn. And she's like, oh, it's nothing. We just hang out sometimes. She convinces him to move forward with the fundraiser and that she'll do all of the heavy lifting.

[00:14:00] Maggie starts hanging up mistletoe all around town to help make sure that Ryan and Grace get together. They start hanging out a ton. She even tells Quinn that it's just not going to work out between the two of them. Everything is going great outside of the fact that they're not able to find a 14 foot Christmas tree. But he surprises her. He finds one. Hey, look at that. It's all going perfectly until Quinn shows up and ruins everything.

[00:14:28] As Quinn's are one to do. Sorry, Quinn's catching strays out there. He shows up and he tells Grace about his plans to buy the St. Nicholas house. He basically makes it sound like it's a sure thing. And he's not just going to buy the St. Nicholas house. He's going to freaking destroy this building and build some condos. Completely demolished. That's exactly right. She's very upset about that. To eternity.

[00:14:56] And Quinn's like, you didn't think that Ryan St. Nicholas was actually going to move back to town. This is stupid. Ryan speaks up, right? No. He lets it all happen. This is my time. Ultimately, he decides that he's not going to sell. The fundraiser happens. It is a smash success. And he is going to move back home. I guess he's going to stay the St. Nicholas home and be haunted by the ghost of his nan.

[00:15:23] And they end up kissing, not him and his nan, but him and Maggie. No, him and Grace. And that, my friends, was Love Under the Mistletoe. We did it. We're feeling silly today. Feeling real silly. We're feeling silly today. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to break this movie down with four segments here on Deck the Hallmark.

[00:15:55] How are you? Hope you're doing well. We're talking about Love Under the Mistletoe today. And it's time for us to break this movie down with four segments. We're going to start with a hot take. So we're going to share exactly how you felt about this movie. Do you want to hold it back? And I'll start with you, Brian. Brian, what did you think of our final Christmas in July Christmas movie? Our final dose of Hallmark festive films until this holiday season in mid-October. That was really nice, Brent. Really good stuff. Well, this one, first of all, I was surprised to see that I gave this four Founder's Day punches.

[00:16:24] I wasn't. I remember when you did it. In the preview show. In the preview show. Yeah, man. It's like you guys don't take those seriously. Yeah, I was very hopeful. Brent, you gave it five. Brent gave it five. I stand by that. Dan, you were more on the track with zero. Zero. Yeah. So somewhere between four slash five and zero is where we're going to end up. Not, this overall, not a favorite of mine this season, unfortunately. For some of the Christmas in July? Um, possibly, uh, possibly.

[00:16:52] You, it's either this or the Rosner for you. Oh man. No, this one. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. This one. Yeah. Uh, I, I mean, I liked the idea of the meddling friend. I thought that was fun. I think her friend Olivia was a delight in this movie. She was my favorite part. I think I want to say she was fun. Um, the, I, I know they don't do violence in these movies. Uh, but if ever there were a time, we had a second chance. We did it. We had a chance. We had a chance. Wow.

[00:17:22] If anybody deserved a punch in the mouth, it was Quinn. Oh yeah. Yeah. I've never felt so strongly. He's being a real Quinn. A real Quinn. A real Quinn. A real Quinn. A real Quinned it up. Uh, so that was, he was fun though, but at the end really, I've never felt so strongly that somebody just needs to get knocked down a peg or two. Bonk down. Yeah, bonk him on down. He was out of control. So, uh, and we were also way off on our mistletoe, uh, kiss predictions. Okay.

[00:17:47] Which we settled on the idea that say there are three kisses, how many, or three mistletoes, how many kisses happened. Uh, I said two out of three. Bran said two out of three. Dan said one out of three. So you were the closest. Thank you. There were, I guess there were, I only counted three, but I guess there were more opportunity. I think including the last one, I think there were four. So you were close there. Including the one on the kitchen island bar, which we'll get to. The dual. Well that's two. Does that count as one? It counts as one. Okay. So that's one operation.

[00:18:17] And then there was a restaurant and there was front porch and then there was a last one. So there we go. So we were way off there. So I'll take it. Yeah. You're going to take the win. Take the wins while you can. So yeah, just not great for me, but some fun wait what's I'll say. Yeah. I didn't hate this movie. I know I had, this is fun. We're having fun. This is a good Christmas. You know what that is. This is a good Christmas in July movie. I actually, the plot of this movie. Nice. Nice.

[00:18:46] The lead, his last name being St. Nicholas. Heck yeah. Love that. And I thought that Jen Lilly, who has returned to the network this year, showed just how good she can be in these type of movies. I felt that Jen Lilly was falling in love with this man. I wish that it was mutual. That's neither here nor there. It did not seem mutual, but she really sold it and she was fun and bubbly.

[00:19:15] And yeah, she's, she's, she's good in these things. So, um, I like this movie fine. It is not my, uh, least favorite of Christmas in July. My least favorite Christmas in July is still the Christmas market movie. Um, so I would have Christmas market. Then this movie, then, uh, renovation. We all three of us would have different. Renovation romance. Then, uh, Snowbound. So that's what I would have. Um, and, uh, yeah, I, I, I'm just trying to process poor Kat Burrell and Steven

[00:19:45] and Azar both being like in a movie together and somehow this guy, Nick Bateman is in a movie. Brian says is better. I, yes. Stand by. Yeah. This movie is insufferable. Uh, I hate, hate, hated this movie. And to put it in perspective, just how meaningless I will say this before I get going on. Just how bad this movie is. Brian's not wrong about Jen Lilly. Uh, she knows how to do this thing. Um, she knows how to act very smitten and fall in love with, with the, the cute boy.

[00:20:14] Uh, who she's supposed to fall in love with. So kudos to her. Um, that does not mean she's not stuck in a really awful movie. Um, Brandon, I usually watch these together Monday morning. I had something I needed to do. And so I told brand that I would watch 30 minutes of the movie and he, if he would start the movie around eight 50 ish, he could watch 30 and we would watch the rest of it at nine 20 together. Right. I walked in early with any bitty waste. Yeah. Uh, no.

[00:20:44] Uh, and, and, uh, and I think you look good as all. Thank you. Came back from vacation. Not that funny, but yeah. Any bitty ways. Yeah. What happened? No, no. Okay, good. Nothing I'm willing to discuss. I walk in and brand, I stopped the movie at 29 minutes and 50 seconds at a commercial break.

[00:21:12] When brand started the movie to watch his first 30 minutes, he hit play and it was at that spot of the movie. And so he watched almost 20 minutes of this movie thinking that the 30 minute mark was the beginning of the movie. That's right. And he never realized impressive until I walked in and he hit pause. So to show you how meaningless the first 30 minutes is, is brand hit play at 29 minutes,

[00:21:42] 50 seconds and immediately knew what was going on and had no problem. That's a good handle on it. You're a professional. I did find at the beginning of the movie and by the beginning, I mean minute 20 to be a bold choice. Yeah. They, they show up at the St. Nicholas house together. They clearly know each other. They clearly have chemistry together. So I'm like, oh, we have, we have a, uh, people that know each other. They walk into the house. They start talking about the fundraiser. I'm like, oh, she's going to help him with the fundraiser. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:12] I've seen this movie. I got it. Yeah. I get it. That tells you everything you need to know about this movie. I mean, there are, I will say that is the, the joy of Hallmark Christmas movies in general is that you can turn on the channel at any point in time and by and large, you will be good. I, you'll be able to figure it out. There were moments in this movie where I thought I was having a stroke. Like there were times when they were having conversations that I was like, what is going on right now? I have a page of weight watch for this movie. This is far and away.

[00:22:39] Now we didn't count the renovation romance might be in competition with this, but this is far and away the worst. I like it is bordering on party planning. It has a very, like it just has a couple of actors in the movie that are just rough to watch. It's tough sledding out there. There's a reason this was on in 2024 on Hulu under a different title. Um, it's a bad movie. Well, let's get to the feels where we talk about what in this movie gave us feels. I'll start with you, Brian guy. Yeah.

[00:23:09] The, I mean, Christmas was everywhere on the screen. The decorations were popping and that was really nice. So they did a really good job there with the vibe, I would say. And just one, one specific interaction where Quinn and grace were grace basically was like breaking up with him and his recovery I thought was phenomenal. And I wish I learned it in middle school where he was just like, Oh, well, I'm not really ready to settle down right now anyway. And part of me is like, he's not, he's playing, he's playing along here.

[00:23:38] This is what a great way to react. And then, you know, he scampered off and cried by himself. Of course. Yeah. But what a great way to react and just say, yeah, I'm not. No. Oh, you thought we were doing something? No, I wasn't even. I'm not even like in a place. Is this a problem for you in middle school, Brian guy? It's just a good, good info to know how to react in situations like that. It's just great. If it were to come up. Right. Yeah, of course. Just good to have in the back pocket. I was pranked once.

[00:24:05] And when it comes to my Christmas decorations and so far as somebody cutting the wire of Now I'm not very accusatory and I didn't do it. The way that you took it is not my problem. If you play it back, you'll hear how you sounded. I wasn't going to address it. You'll hear how you sounded. Somebody, a mystery person, did cut a couple of wires of some of my Christmas decorations. And I'll just say this.

[00:24:29] If you're thinking about doing a Christmas prank, the Christmas prank that they do in this movie where they leave large Christmas ornaments is a really nice thing. And I would really appreciate it. If you want to prank me in that way, you can. Again, if you're going to mess with my Christmas decorations and cut the cords, not interested in that. And also dangerous to you and to the home, because if you don't have it unplugged, that could be a whole circuit situation.

[00:24:56] All that to say, I like the prank here. And if somebody wants to prank me in that way, please and thank you, Dan. Yeah. No, I don't think that you did. Thank you. I know at first you are the obvious first suspect. And you would admit that. For cutting a wire, Brandon? I know it does. It's... That's a lot. I don't... It's a lot. It's mean-spirited if you're not going to provide a... Yeah. Which... Stealing an inflatable, I would be suspect one. Sure.

[00:25:26] Cutting a wire. Yes. The only way that this would work is if I just denied it for like a decade. And it'd be amazing. And then you... But all I'm saying is if you eventually do say, I did do it and here is the replacement, then that's fun jokes. I did not do it. I promise you I did not do it. And I believe you. Yes. Thank you. No, I believe you. Okay. I believe you. Yeah, I don't have any... I don't have... Okay. Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to the wait one and the what the hallmark here on. Take the hallmark.

[00:26:03] We're back. Hi, everyone. We're talking about cruel love mistletoe love. Cruel love mistletoe love. What's it called? Mistletoe? Love under the mistletoe. Mistletoe love was never its title. It was Operation Mistletoe and Love under the mistletoe. So you're saying love. Cruel love under... You're saying mistletoe love is not one on the table, though? It's there. We could use it. Dot com. Get that domain. That doesn't seem like it. That seems like that. That's a bad domain. Anyway, anyway, anyway. Let's get to the wait one. Before we talk about what in the season is going to wait one. I'll start with you. I think Patrick should talk about that. I'll start with you, Bri. Yeah.

[00:26:33] So anytime Dan mentions cutting the cord, does your brain immediately go to this? Honestly, I hadn't thought about the situation in quite some time. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. So K&R Interiors needs a logo redesign. Yeah, man. The worst logo. Real bad. For all the Christmas and festivities around, how nicely everything is decorated and thought out. To have a generic... I just thought it was like a flooring store. Sure, man. I can see that.

[00:27:00] I can see that. Yeah. Hard. Hard coworker Olivia at one point says, I'm two hours late to meet Jack to wrap presents for the children that we're sponsoring. Two hours late? Dude, you've missed it. Brutal. That's tough. Oh, she respects him zero. That's not late. You've missed it.

[00:27:31] You've skipped it. You know called no show. 100%. And he knows better than to try to get in touch with her about it. Two hours late, I would have stopped wrapping a long time ago. Oh, forget it. Those poor kids. Yeah. It's the kids. Just give them the gifts. Man. So I couldn't believe it. A1 driving school gets some serious play in this movie. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. There's a driving school on this main strip here where they film this movie and it is all over the place. Yeah, man. It's really funny. I wonder if they even approached like, hey, could we cover up your sign? And they were just like, absolutely not.

[00:28:00] No. This is how we get our business when movies come to town. That's it right here. I didn't know what driving school to trust, but then I was watching Love Under the Mistletoe and I was like... You go with A1. You gotta go with A1. A1. His nan, not the bread. Not the non. She had an affliction where every day when she woke up, she thought it was Christmas. And I thought, sign Bran up immediately. 100%. If you could pick your affliction as you get older, that number one... Speaking of 1A, that is 1A on the list right there. 100%.

[00:28:30] Couldn't believe it. Now, the question that I have is, do I realize it's not? Right. Right. That's sad. That's sad. But also, we know that by the end of Christmas Day is when Bran starts getting a little sad. That's true. That would be actually tough. If every day was Christmas Eve, then you just... It's all rise. It's all rise. The... Do you remember that time is out of control in this movie? Do you remember that time? Oh my gosh. Do you remember that time? It was every line. It's every line. All the time.

[00:28:57] Dude, I honestly thought I may have an aneurysm. I... There is a scene in this movie where they're sitting in Nan's house, not the bread. Okay. Thank you. I was wondering. And they do this thing where it is December 7th. That's why we're here. He talks. She's like, do you remember your Nan's... Not the bread. Do you remember your Nan's... It's good bread, though. It's good bread. Do you remember your Nan's chestnut? Some yogurt on there. Chestnut stuffing. Yeah.

[00:29:27] I just have dreams about that. Yeah. And they go back and forth, and then they stand up, and then they walk into the other room, and they sit down, and he goes... Not the bread. Do you remember... Do you remember the sugar cookies? That's why we're here. And she's like, yeah. And then they do it again. Yeah, it was constant. They're like, we're going around for another lap. It was constant. And it's like, what are we doing? Maybe it was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't funny. I just... I do love the idea... Dude, do you remember foods back to back? Yeah.

[00:29:54] I do love the idea of a shirt that just says, I love my Nan, and then in parentheses, not the bread. Not the bread. Would anyone buy that? Let us know. Let us know in the comments. We wonder what in the comments. Why do we need money so bad? The last one is this... It really blew me away at the very end of this movie. They raised money for like three programs. And it struck me, like, does this town only give money when there's a Ribbons and Bows fundraiser where they can stand around, the eight of them together? I don't know, man. It's the only time they can raise money.

[00:30:24] Like, people won't just... I would give money to not have to go to an event. I would rather do that. But these people won't give money unless you're holding an event. And it just struck me, like, what a terrible town of people. A terrible town. They canceled the one lucrative fundraiser. Yep. Shot it. It's like that Ribbons and Bows. Do you remember the time they canceled the fundraiser? Do you remember the chestnut stuffing and the sugar cookies and the... We could have done it all at once, but we did one and we paused and we did a second one. Keep it coming. Anything else?

[00:30:54] That'll be it. Great. We had the joy of watching the premiere of Snowbound for the holidays or whatever it's called. Yeah, we did. And in the room at Bramble Fest, there was audible laughter when the crowd heard that her name was Cassidy Evergreen. Oh, my God. And I was like, it is a funny name. It is a funny name. Yeah. Well, buckle up, gang. We haven't even begun because this movie said, I see your Cassidy Evergreen and raise you a Ryan St. Nicholas. That's crazy.

[00:31:24] Santa man. Insane. I couldn't believe it. And I have to imagine that it was supposed to be funny because of how many times they say his full name. Like, they say his full name Ryan St. Nicholas so many times. I have to imagine that the makers of this movie chose to make it ridiculous and were leaning into it because if not, I don't know what to do with that.

[00:31:47] I do think that we do have to at least mention just because it is the only thing that I knew about this movie going in on a Monday morning was there were a lot of people on the line that had a lot of thoughts about Ryan St. Nicholas's hair. And I do just think we have to talk about that. We have to at least at the very least mention that his hair looked like a hat. Yes. And this guy, we looked this guy up. He's a great looking fellow. He's an unreal looking dude.

[00:32:16] And when his hair is styled differently, it looks great. Yes. This looked like a hair hat. There are times when the camera comes in and it looks literally looks like he could take his hair off. Tip of the hat. Tip of the hair to you. So we don't like addressing the way people look in general. That's not what we do here. But there was definitely a hair conversation we had to address. It is the conversation online about this movie is what's up with this guy's hair.

[00:32:43] So it would be, we have to at least say, hey, we saw it and we also thought that it was wild hair. So shout out Ryan St. Nicholas. I do want to point out, there's a lot of, you know, Quinn walks up to Ryan St. Nicholas and is like, hey, are you thinking about selling the house? And he's like, yeah, thinking about it. And he says, if I decide to sell, I will contact you first.

[00:33:09] But the way that this scene opens up is Ryan St. Nicholas looking on his phone at a website called Maggie's Real Estate. That's right. And the home is already listed on that website. That he happened to have pulled up before the phone call started. Is the house listed? Is it not listed? It seems like he's pretty far along in the process. And then it's constantly telling people, I don't know what I'm going to do. So I don't know what the deal is with that.

[00:33:37] The scene starts, you know, sometimes we get like the tail end of a conversation and then you're just like, that was an interesting way to start the scene. It's like, oh, yeah, that was crazy when that happened. Remember that time? She says like he's talking about his first day at work and she says, you know, you can't comment on the boss's lunch order. What? And what? Why? Like what? What was so bad about the order? What? What did he possibly say that was so offensive?

[00:34:06] Because like I like to like if I hear a lunch order, I'll be like, oh, cool or interesting. Like that's why. Why? Like I feel like lunch food in general is fair game. It's fair game. That's right. To discuss like, oh, that's I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking the room here. My last one is she asks him, what is your favorite Christmas movie? And he just says Christmas Carol. And which happens to be the Christmas movie with the most versions of it made. There are so many versions of a Christmas Carol.

[00:34:36] We've covered, I believe, three. We're about to cover another three Christmas Carol movies just this year for Festive Friday. That's right. There are so many versions of a Christmas Carol. Tens if not hundreds. She says, what's your favorite? He says Christmas Carol. You get it. Pick one. Pick one. It doesn't matter to me. As long as it's a public domain. You pick it. That's right. I found that to be quite funny. Dano? This guy runs a money financial like strategy company called St. Nicholas Strategies.

[00:35:05] And his slogan is, it's your money after all. What? It's your money after all. What? So what should I do? Hey, it's your money. Listen. I don't. At the end of the day, it's not my money. It's your money. Can I get some advice on what to do with money? Look, it's your money after all. Can I maybe one of the worst slogans of all time for a financial strategy company.

[00:35:35] Just a couple of humdanger lines. There's four of them. I'll get through them real quick. Quinn goes, picture it. This place completely demolished. Crazy. That's great. It is Nan's house, not the bread. And he says, picture it. Like everyone's on his page seeing his vision. All of your memories, bunk to the ground. Which is crazy because when he talked to him earlier in the conversation that I mentioned,

[00:35:59] he talks about how he has somebody interested in buying it who's really going to fill the house with love or warmth or whatever. I don't know how he got from there to. The new heating system he's going to put in when he demolished. Picture it. Demolish it. This whole place completely demolished. Rubble, dust, everywhere. Neighbors furious. Ashes, just like Nan herself. Am I right? RIP, obviously. Protesters outside. Not the bread. We have to move them across the street. There's a controversy with the mayor.

[00:36:29] One person chains themselves to the bulldozer. That's right. Refused to move. Are you with me? Heck no, we won't go. You see it? You see it? You're streaming down gray. Stay with me. Stay with me. I got a vision. Picture it. 3, 2, 1. Boom! All of us hands in. All of us. We'll do it together. Dan, Dan. 3, 2, 1. Boom! It takes two explosions. Yeah, two explosions. Yes.

[00:36:59] So demolished. It takes, to rubble's not good enough. Flattened. Some other lines, our lead, Ryan St. Nicholas asked Grace, when's the last time you went pranking? You guys are both adults. Grace says that the cafe is going to do the catering free of cost, which I've never heard before. I'm pretty sure that's free of charge. And lastly, flat white with two sugars is the big city coffee order. Yeah. What? 100%. It's your money after all. Listen, it's your money after all.

[00:37:29] That's why you come to the big city to get St. Nicholas strategies involved. Um, Ryan St. Nicholas tells a story about how when he and Grace were younger, they toilet papered this guy's house seven days in a row. Oh, really? Yeah. That was the last time they went pranking. Yeah, that's the last time they went pranking. And then on the seventh day, the dad waited for him outside and caught him. Yeah. Why did it take that guy seven days? It's a long time.

[00:37:57] So six days in a row, he wakes up and he goes, son of a bee, they did it again. And on the seventh day, he's like, I'm going to catch these mofos. What in the world? How did it take you that long? Yeah. You got away with it seven days. It's a lot of toilet paper. Uh, the friend's last attempt at mistletoe before they kiss is mistletoe above a kitchen island, which you, you would never be under it unless you were horizontal. In which case mistletoe isn't even in the picture.

[00:38:27] You are, you've rounded that base already. Like that's just like, you're not like, there's no world where that's going to work lady. Uh, her and her husband, you know, it's like, Hey, will you fix the light bulb? And so he's like, and then it's like, Oh, could you let's knock this out at the same time? You get that one. I'll get this one. Completely demolished. Completely above four. There's still mistletoe up there. Oh my God. Uh, one of the worst edits of all time is the Christmas tree lighting.

[00:38:56] It's the worst Christmas tree lighting we've ever seen. Ever seen. We see their faces and they go Christmas tree light. And they may say, maybe say three, two, one. And then you hear the tongue of the thing being switched. And then you see light hit their face and then they go wide and the Christmas tree's still off. Yeah. And then they light it again. Yeah. Like, it's like they switched those two scenes. Mm-hmm. If they had done the, what I was still could, couldn't make it make sense. Um, and the mayor didn't do it. The mayor didn't do it. She's in the crowd. Yeah.

[00:39:25] Well, why even be a mayor? I'm glad to see it. Uh, the, this best friend and her husband stare at Ryan and grace kissing far too long. I mean, they have a full conversation and he, the dude especially is given a stare that's just not appropriate. Uh, it's his sister. I will say this, you know, a lot of times they do this thing where the big city doesn't have the holidays and doesn't know how to, how to Christmas and the small towns know how to do it.

[00:39:49] This movie, the small town mayor makes a backroom deal where she doesn't offer a public contract to the public. Instead, pre bids it to someone in exchange for a favor. That is prime small town. That is the most accurate depiction of small town that I've ever seen. And you love it. And I love it. You do love that. You love small town. Oh, you always get a leg up in a small town and I'll die there in a small town. Right.

[00:40:17] Um, not the bread and all right. Last one. He tells a story of him like trying to climb to the top of the town tree. Yeah. He was a real hellion back in his day. Just crazy. When's the last time you went pranking? And he says, I was halfway up the tree before mayor Dodge started to call my parents or I would have made it up. What happened, bro? You're already halfway up the tree. He hasn't even dialed the number yet.

[00:40:47] May as well in for a penny in for a pound. Yeah. But even if he had already called the parents, just go ahead. Knock it out. You're there. It's not like the punishment is going to be worse for full way than halfway. I would actually punish you more. Yeah. You didn't finish the job. You didn't finish the job. We finished. I didn't raise no quitter. We finished our pranks in this house. St. Nicholas's. That's exactly right. Nicolai. Nicolai. It's time for what the hallmarks were. We wonder what could have been. Maybe have it given us a clarity and a question we still have. What are we still wondering about? I'll start with you, Brian. Sure.

[00:41:16] Of all the characters in this movie, the two I enjoyed the most were Olivia and Quinn. And I think seeing them together for a while would be a fun time. I'm so happy you're happy. Their energy together would be a blast. Just them. Did you say Quinn? Yeah. Quinn. Yeah. He's a troublemaker. I know. But him and Olivia out there going crazy on the town would be fun together. Going crazy on the town. So I like those two. I wouldn't mind seeing them in a movie together. I don't know what we do with her husband.

[00:41:47] I don't know. But something. He can go stare at people making out. Yeah. He'll be fine. He's not going anywhere. He'll be there. Yeah. When she's done. Fair enough. Um, I, I do want to know at the end of this movie, uh, Maggie is, we've already talked about it. Maggie and her husband are watching them kiss. That's right. She says, I got, I got my next thing. Operation get engaged by New Year's Eve or New Year, whatever. Um, and then he's like, you're kidding.

[00:42:16] And she's like, no, I, I, she's serious. Does it happen? Like that is a short amount of time, but these two lovebirds have known each other and have been into each other since high school. And they did declare love. If ever there was a case for a New Year's Eve proposal, it might be this one. Does she, does she make it happen? Okay. Dana. So in a perfect world, uh, Jen Lilly's character in this movie needs to be with Rosner's character from snowbound for the holidays.

[00:42:45] They both are big into headphones and both are apparently pretty analog. And that would leave us with the dream pairing. Cassidy Evergreen marrying Ryan St. Nicholas and becoming the evergreen St. Nicholas's hyphenate last name. Are you kidding me right now? The evergreen St. Nicholas's that is a, just a festive powerhouse. Wow. Come on. Phenomenal. That's what needs to happen. 100. Tell AT about that. I will.

[00:43:14] No, I'm gonna for sure. He'd love it. Add it to the list. Yeah. It's time for double deck of the week is where we dive deeper into the life of a double deck. We haven't done this in a while because of how weird Christmas in July has been. Um, let's, uh, let's do it though, Dan. Okay. We are smacked up in the middle of 45 and 45 where 45 people can sign up for Brand One Jam Plus. We are not going to make it. Um, I'll tell you, I don't think we're going to make it. We're in the middle of it. Have we gotten someone signed up? Someone signed up over the weekend and probably canceled and just said, couldn't figure it out.

[00:43:43] And I appreciate that. I appreciate the honesty, but help us. Uh, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't, uh, because you get so many good things. We're heading into the last half of the year. This is the time to sign up for Brand One Jam Plus. Plus you get to double decker community, um, and all sorts of other stuff. So sign up at Brand One Jam Plus.com. Dan, who do we have today? We have Mary Beth Cole. Mary Beth Cole. That's right. Mary Beth. You did a deep dive on her. I did. I did the deep dive of Mary Beth.

[00:44:09] And Mary Beth, something about her for a long time, she thought TLC was right about waterfalls. It turns out she discovered recently. That you should be chasing waterfalls? Yeah. She found out recently you should be actually chasing waterfalls. What do you do with the rivers and lakes you're used to? You just leave them? Yeah. Well, they're, they're in your memory. They're not going far, but she realized that this is, this is what you should be doing. You should be chasing waterfalls. Yeah. Wow. Because this is where people who love waterfalls meet each other.

[00:44:39] She's got a new app. A dating app for people that love waterfalls. A new dating app. If you love waterfalls, this, she figured this is what you have to do nowadays is niche on down. And so she found through very, niche on down to this app. That's exactly what I was thinking. A very special algorithm where she found out that, you know, people who love waterfalls usually have a pretty good time together. Can you imagine somebody that loved waterfalls being with someone that didn't? It wouldn't happen. That would be impossible. Why would, I would never work. There would just be the fights every day. Do you like waterfalls?

[00:45:09] They're fine. Yeah. Yeah. Does anybody not like waterfalls? But I think this is for people that really. Yeah. I see a waterfall and I go, I like it from a distance. I don't want to touch it. Same here. I wouldn't be on this app. Okay. Do you go chasing them? No. Okay. But I look at them. You look at them. I love looking at a waterfall. You like getting a little splash? Yes. I don't mind the mist. Uh huh. But once I start getting soaking wet, I'm out.

[00:45:38] I don't want to get that close to the waterfall. Anyway, what's the app? It's called mist connection. That's really good. You love waterfalls. Mist connections. That's good. That's good stuff. And so it's just like one question and then you're in. Do you love waterfalls? Yeah. And then you're in. Yeah, you're in. And then you just swipe based upon that one fact. And my understanding is that the pictures that you post have to be you in the waterfall. Yeah. One of your favorite waterfalls. Gotta include waterfalls. Yeah. I love that. Really good.

[00:46:08] I gotta be honest, I wouldn't. I do. Like I like waterfalls. I don't love waterfalls. But the app is such a good name that I feel like. Maybe I'm waterfall curious. Yeah. Maybe I'm. Maybe I'm. Maybe you're waterfall curious. I feel like there's a spot for you. Like the right person could turn that like into a love of waterfalls. Sure. Absolutely. I got you. Absolutely. Okay. All right. We did it. Congratulations to us. Brian, you got a busy week ahead of you. Sure. We're going to come back for the ranking in a couple of days. We're going to finally get to our ranking.

[00:46:37] We weren't able to do it before Christmas and July. So we're fitting it in now. Quarter to two ranking. And then a preview show. Yeah. Saturday before the new movies begin. Of course, we're talking five movies. Two separate. Yeah. No, of course. Seasonal preview show. Big week for you. Huge week. Huge week. So come on. If you're a big bride guy. Fan. Then this week is for you. If you're not. Sorry. Until next time. Maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Deck The Hallmark. It's a Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray.

[00:47:06] And yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina. For more information on the show, you go to deck the hallmark.com. Follow us on the socials at deck the hallmark. Leave us a five star rating and review. Help others find the show. And to help the show out financially, you can go to bramblejamplus.com. Become a double decker. Get ad free podcasting, live video watch, along with movie chats, and so much more. That's bramblejamplus.com. I promise all the lights on that tree work. It doesn't look like it. They do. All right. You say so. I'm going to grab a water.

[00:47:34] You're about to hear some ads that 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. Bye.