'Tis the Season for Setups (Hallmark Channel - 2026)

[00:00:02] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast

[00:00:35] I like Hallmark Christmas Movies I'm the real Dan Thompson and I despise Hallmark Christmas Movies and this is the Deck of the Hallmark Podcast Deck the Hallmark, it's this podcast That should be fucking good stuff, you ready?

[00:01:09] Yes, yes, yes, hello everybody It's great to be here, we are live at the 2026 Marathon and we just launched our first Hallmark Christmas Milky of the Table Yeah! Chad, what are you doing over there, bud? I just believe it's never been up No, I don't know, number one, number two Have a great time, thank you for inviting me I actually just didn't leave the cast, I wasn't invited Well, you look great enough

[00:01:37] You were here recording More Than Marrier, another podcast we do Yes And you just, we told you we had to start this numerous times Right And you just kept nodding Finally we just said, I guess you're here I guess you're not going to leave it Yeah I drove five hours, so I'm not leaving Yeah, everybody Well, and you know what? We're okay with that Thank you Because you can't, you need to be a change Yep That's right You're making matters better Making matters better

[00:02:04] Another year, another marathon, another episode of Deck the Hallmark with everybody on It's very exciting But Dan, what's more exciting, I think than any of this, is a Kringle It sure is, Brian Racine Danish Kringle, if you're asking me in Racine, Wisconsin They are our presenting sponsor And it's the best pastry you can buy If you're in the US, you gotta get yourself a Kringle Get a whole bundle of Kringles It's great for parties, they freeze well My kids love them, you can have them any day of the week

[00:02:33] You can have them with your coffee in the morning You can have them in the evening for dessert Amazing, we got some great autumn flavors I know it's Christmas in your heart, Brian But it's still autumn outside And fair almond, bourbon, pecan The big thing Pumpkin spice Did you keep that bad boy up? Pumpkin caramel You go to Kringle.com, put in D-T-H-O-C-T-2-6 You're gonna get 10% off your whole order And if you're listening to this It's too late for you to donate to the marathon That's true If you're listening

[00:03:01] But all weekend long, we were raising money And Racine Danish Kringle got in on the action They sure did They were donating to the great pastry To bring company They were donating as well For everyone that purchased the Kringle So win-win, Brian That's exactly right It absolutely is a win-win You know what else is a win-win? Maybe I don't know if you're gonna win or not But Christmas Movie Magic Is out If you play it, you're gonna lose That's true You are undefeated But Christmas Movie Magic Is also undefeated It is the perfect addition To your holiday movie watching experience

[00:03:31] You can play with your family You can play with your friends You can play by yourself If you really want to It is so much fun You can pick it up online Wherever you I think on Amazon On Common Goods And it's even got our little It says the Deck the homework on it Which is really exciting That's really exciting That's seal of the season You know what else got seal of the season? Brian's crazy Our new book As soon as you're related to the show It's gonna be all last This could be the one I love it Yeah, yeah, yeah Oh Christmas Con? Oh Christmas Con Seal of the season confirmed Yeah Wow

[00:04:01] That's big That's right Yeah, that's out now all over the place Man, that's exactly right Is it good? Word is it's pretty good Pretty? Jack, you started it a few minutes ago I couldn't put it down Yeah And a festive fork full of Pringles Started my season And it's been absolutely amazing Brian, I do want to know Is it a sequel? Or does it just exist in the same universe? This is a standalone novel Same world So some familiar folks Even a Christmas Cousin shout out I hear You heard that Yeah, you heard it right, Jack Point one Really?

[00:04:31] Yeah, you read it though I don't think you know You've got to run through the whole book Really? It's actually a very big part two The leads are cousins Oh really? Not romantic though Right Yeah, of course Pick up a copy just for that I say seasonal Sherpa when I read the book Really? Yeah, two of them Of course People People that are watching live during the marathon Have already received the book Many of them have And they're rave reviews so far Someone also threw out an idea We should pass this along to receive

[00:05:01] Anish Kringle A 24 day Advent Kringle mini-cowl I think they're 24-1 a day Boy, how do you get a hit? I can read one page of the book a day And have one Kringle a day It'd be cool It'd be 24 pages long It'd be really great Exactly right All right, let's talk about Let's talk about Tiz the Season for Setup That's our very first Hallmark Christmas movie of 2026 It originally aired on October 16th, 2026 And it went a little something like this

[00:05:29] Single mom Lexi is hanging out with her mom June They get home and Lexi gets straight to work She's an event planner Things are serious There's nothing fun about event planning, okay? It's very serious work And so her mom goes upstairs and has a dance party with Piper Piper's Lexi's daughter There's layers to this, folks All Piper really wants for Christmas is to hit the slopes

[00:05:59] But it's too expensive In this economy? We can't be spending Christmas going skiing Naturally, June puts in a call to her old pal Dan Thompson Shout out Not that big Not that big I got you They have to plan They can all come to the ski resort If Lexi plans the resort Christmas party Alongside of the ski instructor, Ridge She doesn't want to say yes to this

[00:06:27] But Piper overhears this Can't say no to Piper and her dreams of skiing And so off they go When they get there, she meets the ski instructor, Ridge Ridge immediately clocks her as somebody who doesn't ski And for some reason she finds that very offensive Despite the fact that she does in fact not ski But they get there real quick Because there's a party to play But they don't get to that They don't agree to a vision yet It's a whole thing

[00:06:57] Lexi and Ridge see Dan and June talking And immediately decide that they're going to set those two lovebirds up Did you mention that Ridge is Dan's son? Ridge is Dan's son Yes, thank you a lot He's Dan's son And so it doesn't take long for Ridge and Lexi to start opening up to one another As they're hanging out They're really enjoying each other's company

[00:07:23] Ridge keeps coming up with excuses for his dad to hang out with June But naturally that ends up leaving him to hang out with Lexi And that is good for everybody, I guess They end up going to a Christmas escape room together And they win Or I guess they escape I guess would be the way they would say that There's cross-country skiing in this movie There's Christmas karaoke in this movie

[00:07:49] There's absolutely no Christmas party planning in this movie One night they're up late They're hanging out And they end up kissing big ones But the night gets even crazier When they find out that Dan and June have been dating for a year now I know So now it's weird, right? Because they've kissed But they're all... So they kissed Yeah The parents kissed

[00:08:19] And so now they're like Well, we're falling for each other Actually, they don't address that concern at all She does look like a step back though From being really into Ridge And gets back to the reason why she's actually there Which is to party plan The party happens And they overhear Dan and June get into a big fight And so they pull their parents aside They have a very nice heart-to-heart, each of them with their respective parents The next day, it's Christmas Day And Dan...

[00:08:49] It's Christmas Day It's Christmas Day And Dan proposes And she says yes Will that stop Ridge and Lexi from getting together as now soon-to-be step-siblings? No, it will not It's not an issue at all She meets him on the slopes And they end up kissing big ones And that my friends was... To the thief and poor... He did it That's exactly right

[00:09:18] 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 Hi everybody Great to be here today Talking about our very first Hallmark Christmas movie of the holiday season Season 9 Season 9 Year 9 Great to be here

[00:09:48] You're good? Yeah? I'm great How are you? I'm awesome No, you do a thing Something like a grandfather would do Like a dance Like a dance Call me Dan-Dan We're going to start with our hot text We're going to share exactly how we felt about the first movie of the year I'm just going to go with this bum circle Is that okay? I'm going to start with you Chad What did you think of the movie? Listen, if Rory doesn't tell Dean how she feels And how long this is going on Yeah, yeah So, you know what? They're siblings

[00:10:20] Rory and Dean No, full on Full on Yeah, yeah, yeah We never discussed that Full on Yeah, it started always in Alabama There was a circle there So, as far as the movie goes I zoned out I zoned out during the movie I zoned out during the synopsis Right? I have not as well But I liked it And I liked it because It was the first movie of the season I liked it Brand's excitement Made me like it And there were parts of it The decorations The decor Were definitely giving As we say But overall I think you said Exactly

[00:10:50] I would watch it on mute for the decorations And just kind of keep an eye on Bran's excitement About it So overall good Not great Jax Could not I'll kick it to Jax Yeah Jax Jax What are you doing? Thank you so much, Brad Look, there's an escape room Tinsel or Tell Multi-generational story I loved it I loved it Were you disturbed by the step siblings dating? Not even Not even What? Here's the thing

[00:11:20] When I say loved it I'm really excited about it I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just

[00:11:49] It's wild The reviews The earlier The earlier The earlier Alonzo? Yeah I mean This is This feels very sort of standard issue The thing they do In a lot of ways Yes, you have Barbara Niven You have Victor Webster You have John B. Lowe It's one of my favorite Not Santa of these movies I always do appreciate it When they shoot at a ski resort

[00:12:19] And there's real snow And you can see people's breath Like I remember back when Operation Christmas was on And they had that whole like helicopter scene Where they go to the top of the mountain It's like okay This is you know We're not just spraying some you know Fire extinguisher foam At the side of the city hall And calling it a day But this movie is too ambitious for 85 minutes In terms of It's about the older couple's relationship It's about the younger couple's relationship

[00:12:48] It's about the mother and the daughter It's about the party It's about the back And it's They kind of rush through everything so much That none of it quite sticks for me Fair? That's right Well I was most interested in what everybody was wearing in this movie Because there was a lot of fun winter gear Getting me ready Good hats Good hats Exactly And that made me want to go shopping for the holidays Which is you know 50% of the reason for these movies

[00:13:17] Is to get us to go out and shop for the holidays 50% Is it not? The reason for the season is half birth of Jesus Half fashion Yeah That's the way I understand it I think that presents This is giving me great ideas for presents Okay And it felt more like a winter movie Yeah, those three Three presents All right Russian hat Russian hat Columbia I think Columbia Anything

[00:13:45] And maybe a gift certificate to an escape room Okay The one that I took for me and Caitlin too Exactly Because somebody like Jacks would love that You know it But it felt more like a winter movie Not necessarily anything to do with Christmas I didn't really Even though they were doing like Christmasy things I didn't feel Christmasy And then the indicator for me That it wasn't for me Was that In the last like 20 minutes That's like if I'm staying seated And watching the movie That's a good sign But I was like more interested in getting

[00:14:15] Snacks ready and veggie tray They did a great job by the way I've seen this spreader Yeah, thank you Rockley did not make it No Unfortunately It didn't That was the 13th and not the 16th So this trade is like really expired But I wish we had a close-up of Jacks' face It's fine It's fine It was like The first thing It was like Before she got her smile on It was a real It was a dying video

[00:14:44] It was just like I didn't know But I couldn't do it before I will say That this movie was expired for me And it's a put a cork in it for me A put a cork in it for me A put a cork in it for me Brian This was okay for me This was just okay Vic doing a thing Was something I didn't expect And I welcomed it I like that You're right Alonzo It was a bit ambitious For this time frame

[00:15:15] There's a lot of stock Christmas music in this That I liked We had a fun time With the music Winter was there The slopes Winter was there Winter was there The slopes part was my favorite part And we didn't get nearly enough of that And when we did get it I still had problems with it That I'll talk about later So overall This is just okay for me I'm glad to be here though I'm glad we're here I'll go next It feels weird It feels certain For me to go after you I'm glad you're on the end of the downer

[00:15:42] I think that this is like a It's like a C It's like a C Wow A just okay from Brian A C from Brainy It's devastating It's a devastating The worst movie out of the gate Is a super Christmas It's fine

[00:16:11] To me it was unoffensive Aside from the fact that The minute that the step siblings Storyline becomes a thing I can't stop thinking about it And it just It felt like this could have all been avoided If Dan's not Rich's dad And they're like Dan's the owner And he's the kid who's worked there forever And then I don't have to think

[00:16:39] Like they can still want to set him up They can still like All of it can still work If Dan is not Rich's dad And there's not a weird step sibling You have to think about all the awkward Christmases to come Because they're not going to talk about it But it is a part of it It is a part of the movie And it's hard for me not to think about The weirdness of that That could have been avoided And so I did like the movie

[00:17:09] But once that happened I couldn't stop thinking about how weird it is And that's unfortunate Dan? Devastating news for this movie If Brian gave a C out of the gate In the first movie of the year And he drafted it He had every reason to tell him it was good This movie sucks It is not a good movie It The best point is Alonzo's Which is They have a two hour movie That they're jamming into 80 minutes And they're skipping important stuff In exchange for party planning

[00:17:38] And empty ski slopes With just wide open runs It's icky It's weird My name is in the movie That should tell you It probably wasn't going to be good All of that I love that They're trolling you at Hallmark I think they're like Let's get it I mean like Brandon Gray is not a generic name We haven't seen that yet I just Vic is doing a thing here And I'm so used to Vic Being either like You know Five star Christmas Strong silent type

[00:18:07] Or just easy going But still serious In this movie He's like Hang loose Like Go with the flow And I just I don't know I like to Amanda Show a lot more In the Operation Christmas movie Barbara Niven As the mom In the Hannah Swenson movies Is the best part of those movies And in this She like Turns up the cookie To a degree That I don't think anybody Like I didn't buy it at all There are three scenes Where she's like Singing or chanting No

[00:18:37] Four scenes Where she's singing Chanting or dancing Something for comic relief It just felt very forced In a movie Where we're setting up A couple that's already Been set up And both of their Respected children Are making out I just don't need this To open up the countdown To Christmas What Like Sneak this in On Christmas Eve Like we're all And it's like Is that himself I think so No On Christmas night We opened up Out of the gate

[00:19:06] With what if our kids Also got together That's what we started with Guys this movie's a bad movie You guys are It's getting From all of you It's getting the opening night bump It just is You'll settle in In a little bit We're gonna be a good one And you're gonna be like Oh yeah this movie Was real bad But I had fun with you guys Thank you Yeah winter was there Yeah it was cold I wasn't It always helped To catch the snow Yeah Alright let's get to all the feels The bonding snippets

[00:19:36] Christmas feels Chad Well first of all The lodge was cool No matter what happened The movie the lodge Decorations were great I loved the ski scenes Every Christmas I go on a little family Snowboard trip And it's so It was definitely Giving those feels But the overall feel Like you touched on Brand was You can't get past The guy just proposed To the mom And then the two new Step siblings Are making out That was fun You can't get past it I didn't expect that For Hallmark right out of the gate Maybe Lifetime Not Hallmark

[00:20:05] That was too bad Those are my feels Ick feels Ick feels Ick feels I mean obviously I do make feels My first one Is the fact that Dan Thompson I'm a grown woman Is a lie In our first movie Of the season No one Will be able to convince me That that wasn't intentional And they're not a troll It was perfect Perfection I had to And then look

[00:20:35] Raise your hand If you have divorced parents Just me So I think I'm the only one That gets to weigh in On the alleged Insect Thank you You guys Maybe your mom Or your dad But in this case my mom Dated someone Who had a cute kid I won't reveal any names And you know what? Kid thinks that cute kid

[00:21:03] Is not incest You're not related at all Did they get married with them? No my mom My mom and dad aren't remarried No okay No did the Did your mom marry the guy The gentleman Who had the son She didn't But they could have Of course They could have got married What a Walmart They made a movie about it And they should have But you know Jax I don't think you kissing him is wrong But imagine explaining the relationship Exactly

[00:21:32] Imagine explaining that relationship In every conversation you're in for it If you were a teenager Living in the house Like on the Brady Bunch Yeah Oh right But I think it's grown adults She's like Yeah our parents got married How wild That double wedding baby Is Shakespearean And I had to Well Shakespeare writes tragedies Yeah Sheels are like comedies You're right You're right Alonzo? So I'm currently watching the Netflix

[00:22:02] East of Eden And you know It's a big theme of the John Steinbeck book Where the characters feel like You know They're all good Or they're all bad Even though There's this notion of Tim Shell And Thou Mayest And even when Mired in sin There's still the option of Being good And doing better You know And living a different life This movie is so locked into You are either A head-tossed back Can't Liberty jib it

[00:22:31] Not paying attention to the world Or a super nose to the grindstone Pill And Barely acknowledge that there's any ground Between those two extremes So my feels was You should watch East of Eden On Netflix It's really good A lot of times you couldn't Liberty jib it I helped you through it And we got it together You know what I mean? Like it happened And if you can't Liberty jib it For More than Three hours

[00:22:57] My feeling While watching this movie Was Second to an embarrassment Uh oh Oh Lexi could not sing Jingle Bells properly And You didn't know where It's the easiest song The ho ho ho and the ha ha ha Or whatever She couldn't play that part And then she had to do it again In karaoke And when she did it right They just stopped the song And was like get off the stage You did it

[00:23:26] Cheer for you I could no but think about The people in the room That don't know the backstory Right When they just stopped singing Jingle Bells mid chorus What happened? I don't know They all seemed so happy They were into The crowd was into Jingle Bells Which let me tell you If you pick that as your karaoke song You will be booed off the stage Um Oh Yeah Brian be careful You gotta pick a better Christmas Jingle Bells song I would recommend Mary did you know Mary did you know

[00:23:56] Breath of Heaven You know Breath of Heaven is a tough Would cry Yeah Breath of Heaven Breath of Heaven She did That doesn't mean So yeah So I love Mary Everyone think about your karaoke Christmas karaoke song And we'll do that later tonight Okay thank you guys No Brian My feels was Oh at one point Lexi went for a run on the slopes And it helped clear her head She felt like re-energized And that does work I've been in that situation

[00:24:23] And it reminded me to do some stuff to make you feel alive And that was a good feeling I saw Zach Brown with my buddy Dan Yeah I got home and thought I gotta see more live music So We had a great time Great Great show That was a Did you wear the headband? To the show no He did That's a lot He did Come on Dan Yeah That's how I picked you from I have two One The idea of gingerbread half-pipe It was a great idea We saw like it for a split second It was pretty bothered that we didn't get to see it And it's full

[00:24:53] And clearly we weren't proud of the final thing Well you gotta put it in the oven over like a bowl or something And hopefully it doesn't crack They would've showed us I bet it cracked I bet it cracked I bet it cracked Or they would've showed us more But also as the I believe lone escape room enthusiast in the room I do wanna talk about Chris Bennett's escape room I thought maybe someone else was gonna know Wow When they said you had two feels and one of them wasn't escape room I was offended

[00:25:21] I'm glad we did though For my hot take I didn't wanna be a broken wreck Raise your hand if you are a fan Well Grant, keep those bracelets I still have my bracelet off from the last escape room I did with my girl Jack So Boom It was a now you see me One and then saw And it just says now you see me, now you don't I was like did you get a bracelet from the movie? They gave it a bill I'm a big fan of the movie Alright let's take a break We'll come back

[00:25:51] We will get to our hot Wait what? And what the Hallmark That's exactly right And the right And the right The sound of music Welcome back everybody Welcome back Welcome back I'm just kidding Welcome back to the Hallmark Let's get to We're talking about

[00:26:21] Tis the season First set ups It's time for the wait one So we're talking about one to two minutes Go wait one I'll start with you Chad Thank you Brian You took notes Yes well I there was one We were ten minutes into the new season And all of a sudden He goes up and goes Are you my student? And she goes I am not a snowboard student He goes oh okay And she goes Why don't you think I'm your student? I'm not a student Why would you never think it and look at me and say I'm not a snowboard student Meanwhile one second earlier she goes I am not your student Biggest wait one of the season

[00:26:50] I am not a snowboard student Yeah I felt as though there were two takes there and they I think they combined them Because it just didn't make any sense for her to go I'm not Okay The premise is she says I'm not he says oh I can tell actually that you are Right And it's like well why aren't I? You know because she's just been told by everybody else what a dullard she is Oh my goodness Yeah that was tough that was a big one I was like flippity-juippity You were like that Yeah that's right Uh Jack what should we know what should we know? Oh I

[00:27:20] Okay and I think that I'm not alone in this because I also thought in the chat and I felt it in the room As much as I did enjoy this movie At 9pm it did feel like we were maybe watching it for a few hours already And I really thought that that couldn't be correct Right Um so that and also while the escape room feels were so fun as people are pointing out in the chat

[00:27:46] There was some confusion with are the clues actually leading to actual It didn't really give as much as I would have wanted I do like the idea though of a 12 days of Christmas escape room where you have to find each of the 12 days Absolutely Great idea I love that idea but I want to see As an escape room with a twist Exactly I want to see a lead from flu to flu and I don't want them to split up like I want even more from them Like 12 days of Christmas Yes

[00:28:16] May Whitman They did a great job They did amazing Yeah So we know they can shoot it That's right Alon Oh do you have any more? Okay No No No Yeah So my Wait what is One of the dividing lines between like Hallmark movies and ones from the lesser networks Is that very often with the lesser networks they will shove 12 Christmas trees into a foyer Yeah For no good reason but just to do it

[00:28:46] And this movie is sort of violating the unspoken we don't do that here at Hallmark Because every room they walk into there's like 6, 8, 10 trees And then on top of it there's a scene where Dan Thompson and Barbara Niven go out to the forest to cut down another tree The one real one All the other ones are fake and they're all very close to fireplaces It was a pro deforestation movie Yes

[00:29:16] Finally somebody did it Exactly Big trees Exactly So yeah So that just to me felt You know I felt like I was watching you know Up or something And it was just That kind of bugged me Well that's the plot the more trees Patrick Uh Nobody's worried about snow quicksand That was really scary You're exactly That was That is scary Yeah I didn't realize that was a thing I don't know if it is

[00:29:44] I've never seen anybody waist deep in snow trying to get out and they just sneak lower and lower and lower Oh you did fresh powder Yeah It actually I snowshoed before But is it a slow sink? No it's not slow It's you go fast Yeah You have to get your board to make a ledge Right This was a slow Like this was quicksand Yeah But stuff Yeah I've heard of like an avalanche or whatever Yeah But like Quicksand Huh? Oh Oh Oh Oh boy here we go So yeah so outside is dangerous

[00:30:13] It's getting more dangerous every Hallmark movie I see I'm never going to find it And I will stay inside and watch Hallmark Getting more dangerous by the hour Bye Brian thank you They uh They teased a half pipe gingerbread dessert Oh my gosh And we didn't watch We don't see like We know they can make fake Make a fake one And make it look awesome And that's all we want Is to just see it Like make a great fake one I really want to see it Right

[00:30:42] I got a skateboarder of the family Right I just I have to imagine if they had a good one they would have shot it Right They could be It is disappointing Not my Hallmark Yeah That's what I'm saying It gets worse with every day Dan Thompson And not this Dan Thompson He was just Just middle of the day Middle of the shift Bar inventory No I can't No I can't I can't join you for a sleigh ride No In the middle of the day

[00:31:12] I got an inventory to do Fine I'll join you in the middle of the day for a sleigh ride They just take off Like You shouldn't be doing inventory And you shouldn't go for a sleigh ride Both hands You should just work in the bar Oh And then don't forget That's the scene also where they body shame The two younger people Oh yeah We need to We need to have heavy weight back here To keep the sleigh from Couple biggons Couple biggons Get off that You know Yeah You look like a ridge for another So that was true The last one was

[00:31:40] One of my feels here Or the feels I had And it was the slopes And seeing the skiing And going down Which were empty Empty Ghost town Yeah It was a busy Yeah This is a big mountain Christmas week They all got They all got Pulled into the snow Pulled into the snow Oh no Dude it's getting more dangerous every minute Yikes Yeah that's good Blood beach Um I got a couple One is the line where she's uh talking about her

[00:32:10] Talking about dad her dad and stuff Yeah And she explains that her mom was all like all over the place And that he like kind of kept things together And she explains this by saying He was the safety net to my mom's high wire axe Until he wasn't Yeah It sounds really dark when you say it like that It sounds like someone killed the man Yeah Until he wasn't Or that she hit the ground Yeah Yeah

[00:32:40] Until he took the net and walked away And then my mom died Wah wah wah Um And then I also got a kick out of the fact that He tells her I really want to start connecting with my dad again And then proceeds to invite his dad to do things with him And then bails immediately Like you could have hung out with your dad multiple times this weekend And he went with you to the sleigh ride thing He went with you to like these different things

[00:33:09] Thinking that he was going to get to spend time with his son When in reality you were just there to just throw him off on what's her name So uh you could have just done it You could have just done it Oh and also by the way The line I'm a master rose sniffer Yeah Is a wild one And I love it Yeah Add to that line Barbara Niven says She felt like she could live in the escape room Yeah Barb Come on You're really mad at me Yeah Yeah Yeah

[00:33:36] What happens is you don't get out in time Oh you just don't win Yeah Uh uh Yeah And then uh Um At one point Vic pipes in and goes There's a lot of birds up there Wow great Thanks Vic Good job I will echo what Alonzo said in the fields Which is like They make anyone in this movie who is a planner Look like a lunatic Yeah Like an absolute Or anybody that's laid back Look like they are Incapable You know what I mean Of having any issues with anything ever

[00:34:05] There's just no middle ground of any kind Um And one of them is Fred Sheet Also dressed like a wacky Marathoner You could do both You could do both Ryan Froof Yeah And you know like in horror movies typically It's like the party planner gets there and it's like We've got three days till Christmas Eve And they put it all together And we're like this is an offense to real party planners This movie is an offense to the movies That are an offense to real party planners They say they're hiring a big shot party planner from Denver

[00:34:35] And then they proceed to do no party planning For pretty much the whole movie And I was fine with that I didn't need to see the party planning But the like We're now like two or three carbon copy pages down From what a party planner might actually look like Which is unfortunate And then when the party happens Amanda Scholl's daughter She's like How's things going Oh half fight? Oh half fight yeah Amanda Scholl's like I'm not being too bossy am I? First of all you're the party planner You're probably going to need to boss people around

[00:35:04] You are the boss But then our daughter's like Nah You're like a benevolent Napoleon Polar Think of literally any other man No That's a most honorable What part of reassuring is that? I just I couldn't get over That that's what they went with And I'm also opinion on behalf of all Ohioans At Harvard Dimmons OHIO Reading It's a column It's OHIO And she does not

[00:35:34] She didn't get that It's kind of the Canadian take That's no one gave her the back and forth She just went OHIO Like she just went straight across Just Ron Burgundy She does to Ohio what the other one does to Jingle Bell That's right Yeah yeah yeah yeah Just Ron Burgundy ran it off the call That's all I got And it's time for What the Hallmark That's where we wonder what it could have been Maybe how it gets to clear any questions we still have What are we still wondering about Any questions Chad? Two words Ridge's haircut Yeah A lot of questions

[00:36:02] A bit of a stumble Yeah Aside from that How does it go If they are getting married The parents Right The oldest generation Then the other two doesn't work out It's going to be really awkward And it might break up that relationship Can they survive this? This is very tenuous dangerous The category that we're going into here Right? I don't know I'm so worried about this Yes Jack I'm not worried about anything Is he really been looking the step sibling you were into? Is he really helpful?

[00:36:33] Is he really helpful? Is he really helpful? Yeah Yeah Okay Hiya Her name is Katie But Shut up Shut up Shut up Sister girlfriend I would say that Piper's romance for me Did that ever even Kind of wrap up? No No Occasionally went back to it But like barely And I love that

[00:37:03] She went and hung out with some friends Like that was cute But yeah I would be curious I wasn't particularly interested in that romance However I would have liked to have at least seen it wrapped up Yeah Can I have one more question Jax? Yeah So you said it was your mom was dating a guy So you were dating with... I wasn't dating Not dating The daughter I wasn't dating So then your mom did that There was just some kidnapping Okay your mom didn't know When her dad did that She She doesn't know Unless she's listening Okay

[00:37:33] Jack's small Jack's mom Give ten dollars If he's like Alonzo? Yeah I definitely share Chad's concern about future awkward Christmases In case one of them don't work out But then I also thought like What if now both generations are so obsessed with the Yentas That they ruin Piper's life by like micromanaging her love life And I really don't want to see that movie Yeah Love the Yentas

[00:38:02] Is this the first time Yentas been on deck to Hallmark? Possible Probably Yeah well because they don't even know what Fiddler on the Roof is So it's in time We do now We do know They learned We know about it Yeah there's a roof And there's a Fiddler On the Roof It's shaking Patrick? Yes I'm not sure if it's my hunger for pizza But we have a catering item called pizza balls And I'm curious about those How that would work It seems like logically it doesn't make sense

[00:38:32] Because it'd be hot and cheesy when you bite into it And that could burn your mouth Like the roof of your mouth And then ruin your eating for the rest of the evening Ugh it's a worm's name But That's A pizza ball is portable And maybe I wouldn't get my hands so greasy So I'm very curious about this Toothpake maybe? Yeah maybe a toothpick like Yeah exactly Like a mac and cheese pipe Those are safe Like a mac and cheese pipe You're right that is safe So Let's explore pizza ball more Let's explore pizza ball more Brian you vote now

[00:39:01] We vote I just can't stop wondering how they're gonna explain this to people Yeah In conversation Just how How will they describe their family dynamic going forward? Funny story Yeah Tough one I can believe that really So Her name was Katie So We have talked about LH We have talked about the potential weirdness of it But we haven't explored the potential cost saving measures of a joint wedding Sure

[00:39:31] Between these two Both mother, father, kid and kid, double wedding Let's knock this out, save some money And the party planner can get all that stuff wholesale Absolutely So Do they have a joint wedding? That's what I want to know Dan? Yeah it's the Dan Thompson of it all I don't Like I guess my name is fairly generic I could have been bound to happen It does seem Too much of a coincidence Very coincidental Very coincidental

[00:40:00] And she says Dan Thompson The writer The writer of Rocky Mountain Christmas The first Christmas movie of the first season We We have no That first movie we ever covered We can never review it Ever Yeah Is the same writer of this movie The movie has only written one other Hallmark movie Oh wow That's it I just We should we get my Pretty crazy Yeah Was it Dan Thompson in that movie? Dan Thompson is in this movie It was all I feel I just

[00:40:28] Yeah it was something It was something to hear over and over again You don't hear A, B, C, D on the call sheets First and last name a lot Right Right You heard it a lot in this one So There was that It felt personal It did Yeah and that character sucks So it made like a loss Should have been my kid Ridge Silver Fox Silver Fox We did it everybody Congratulations to us 30 I'm sorry One down 33 to go Yeah Three down Is that another one?

[00:40:58] Right along Yeah I'd say We stick around for another 24 hours And we do this again Yeah I love it I love it I think we'll send Justice Shepard Yeah Thank you Coming back tomorrow For Bears Love Story It's gonna be a lot of fun Until then move the first to wish you A Merry Christmas Sick Homework This is Bramble Jam Podcast Produced by Brandon Gray And yet at Greenville, South Carolina Presented by Racine Danish Kringle at Kringle.com For more information on the show You go to deckthehallmark.com Follow us on the socials

[00:41:27] At deckthehallmark Leave us a five star rating Review on Apple Podcasts If you please Then head on over to Bramblejamplus.com And join the best corner of the internet Become a double decker Get ad free podcasts And live video watchers Movie chats And so much more Bramblejamplus.com 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

[00:41:57] I mean, you're listening to me Hi But here they come I promise they're coming Yep, here they are Happy day Bye Bye You're getting ready Say take one please Bill