And this is a Deck the Hallmark podcast synopsis!

"Mystic Christmas" originally aired October 28th, 2023. And it went a little something like this...

Dr. Juniper Jones is giving one of her famous seal-themed keynotes. But when it comes to talking to uppity ups afterwards, she's less than thrilled. SHE'S AN INTROVERT!

So when her BFF Candice calls, she takes that call and promptly leaves. Candice asks her to come to Mystic to help with a stranded seal...plus, she gets to see Sawyer - Candice's brother - who Juniper once spent the most romantic night of her life with.

He tries to hide when he sees her but it doesn't last long. He gives her an awkward ride to the aquarium and Candice introduces Juniper to a seal named Peppermint and three undergrad interns (Eric, Peter, and Thresa) who worship her. Juniper is like, “I can't work with people! I'm an introvert!” But Candice is like, “you'll be fine.”

After a long day, Sawyer brings Juniper a pizza and she invites him in to talk. They're having a great night but he gets called away on a pizza emergency.

She goes to the boat parade and it's wild! Elfs are dancing on boats and stuff.

Juniper brings the interns baked goods and now they're best friend. Juniper and Sawyer talk about travel - how he doesn't travel and how she probably travels too much. Will she ever settle down? Who can say? She can't.

She takes a gander at the Seal Cam and Peppermint is sick! She is so committed, she basically moves in to keep an eye on Peppermint. Eventually, the interns tell her to get lost cuz they’re friends now! So much so that she's talking to them about crushes and stuff!

She decides to go for it and ask him to go to dinner. He pumped. He gets a basket of goodies. It's gonna be amazing. Until it's not. There's a seal emergency and she just texts him "can't make it" with no other info, so he starts to freak out and spiral and sends back just a thumbs up emoji.

They talk about it and they realize they both goofed. But the ultimate goof is Sawyer cuz they argue again about how he never emailed her and it turns out this whole time he's had it in the draft. Whoopsies.

Juniper’s favorite Christmas tradition from her travels, brings them back together, and we get a book-shopping montage. Oh boy! After opening book gifts, they read by the Christmas tree. Juniper and Sawyer talk about the first time they had a romantic connection, and he admits that he didn’t send the email because he was scared of how much she meant to him.

Juniper realizes she is falling for Sawyer and tells Candice that she is declining her job offer. Candice knows that she is running away.

It is the aquarium toy drive, and it is the most successful one EVER! (It must have been the flyering!) Candice’s daughter Louisa reads a Christmas poem. Then they do a Christmas around the world tribute or something and it touches Juniper so much that she decides to stay and take the job at the aquarium.

Sawyer is happy about the news, but he is leaving town?!?! They make out.

The movie flashes to next December, and Sawyer is back from his travels. They go down for the boat parade and they’ll do that for the rest of their lives.

And that my friends was “Mystic Christmas!”