Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / The Christmas Baby

Transcript

The Christmas Baby · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is a bramble Jam podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy, I'm
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: a former Hallmark hater. Today, if you can believe it,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we are reviewing the final movie in the Countdown to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Christmas lineup for twenty twenty five, The Christmas Baby, which
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: originally aired on Sunday, December twenty first, twenty twenty five,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: and is currently available to stream on Hallmark Plus. If
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: you're catching up on all your holiday watching over the break,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: you can catch up with us always on Instagram, where
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we are Girls Gone Hallmark. We do have episodes dropping
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: daily through the end of the year, so check in
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: over there to see what we have going on. Hey,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: while you're following us on Instagram, you want to pay
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: close attention to January second, because that is when we're
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: going to drop the first day of our Countdown to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Christmas Best Movie bracket. Super fun. You just play along
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: on Instagram Stories. You can also play along at home.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: We will drop your own printable bracket on our website.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Girls Go on Homemark dot com or you can make
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: your decisions and see how you fare throughout the public
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: voting segment of the contest.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I still gotta work on that. Yeah, still gotta
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: work on all of that.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: But it's it's it's in the forefront of my brain
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: of this is coming. So but you know, got to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: deal with Christmas first. So yes, well, speaking of Christmas,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: let's start with us. In Office of The Christmas Baby,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a couple receives a baby boy before Christmas with a
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: note meant for them. While temporarily caring for him during
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: the holiday runs us, they navigate their relationship careers and
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the foster to adopt process. The Christmas Baby was directed
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: by Ava Tavares, an award winning filmmaker with a background
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: in acclaimed short films. This marks her first feature length
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: film and was made as part of Hallmark's Make Her
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Mark directing program. The screenplay was written by Toefer Payne,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: whose work on The Christmas Baby marks his sixth writing credit.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Other projects of his include broadcasting Christmas Roman Love and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Christmas to Cherish.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Catherine Burrell plays Kelly.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: We last saw her earlier this season as Piper on
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the series Mistletoe Murders. This movie marks her thirty fourth
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: acting credit. Ali Lieber plays Aarin with one hundred and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: three acting credits, who was recently seen reprising her role
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: as Fiona in Three Wisest Men every single time, every time,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I know it should say that, Yeah, you know, I
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: actually spent a lot of time thinking about this the
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: other night, and I the reason, and I'm sure you
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: know it's because the other two movies don't start with
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the three wise men and a baby, three wiveser men
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and a boy, so to then change course. But it
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: does not roll off the tongue.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: It doesn't.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: It doesn't anyway back to Ali. She is known for
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: her work both in front and behind the camera.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Barbara Niven plays Betty.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: She's best known for Hallmark roles on Chesapeake Shores and
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: the Hannah spentson Mysteries. With one hundred and eighteen acting credits,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: she was recently spotted on season twenty three of NCIS.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Katrina Reynolds plays friend Jennifer. This marks her twenty ninth
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: acting credit, and she was last seen in the Five
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Year Christmas Party.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Andrew J.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Hampton plays friend Travis. You may recognize him from his
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: role as Patrick on The Chicken Sisters.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Did you realize that was him?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I did?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Ah I watched The Chicken Sister. I know, I know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I watched season one. I know it was on Season
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: one too.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Sydney Scotia plays the birth mom, Stephanie. She has twenty
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: six acting credits and was most recently seen on Hallmark
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty four movie Our Holiday Story. Rebecca
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Stob plays Kelly's mom Joyce, with ninety eight acting credits.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: She's appeared in numerous Hallmark movies, including The Santa Steakout,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Christmas in Tahoe, and Christmas by Starlight. Catriona Murphy plays
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Aaron's mom Angie. She has twelve acting credits, and this
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: marks her first Hallmark appearance. Lucas Grassmik plays Baby Nicholas.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: This is his first IMDb credit.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Break and come right back with our first impression. Hey, Wendy,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: what was your first impression of the Christmas Baby? Everyone
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: needs a Betty in their life. Oh, my goodness, Barbara
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Niven is so good.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I love her.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I just love her, and I love her character Betty.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Me too.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: My first impression is the last movie the season has
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: no business being this beautiful. Let's talk about it being
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: the last movie of the season by design question Mark.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I you mean, like, are they like just put it
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: here and hope that people are too tired to complain
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: about it? Uh huh. Let me just say this, if
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: you are a Hallmark watcher who enjoys representation in your movies,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: if you enjoyed this movie, if you're just you know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: a decent human being, I would love for you to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: hop on over to places like IMDb and the Hallmark Channel,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: socials on Instagram and Facebook and just drop.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Some positive comments about this movie. You don't even need.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: To engage with others, just say nice things. Yeah, eh, gooye,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: let's talk we what we liked about this movie? Okay,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I have a question for you. Do you think this
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: was originally like a Miracles of Christmas.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, it fits right in, but it does.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: But I just feel like a movie that is a
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: little more quieter, a little more reflective. It doesn't have
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: any hyjinks in it, and I think it a place
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: in Hallmark Channel. But this is the first year that
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: like Miracles of Christmas didn't exist for the network, so
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I feel like, oh, it's obvious like this would have
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: been on that channel or under that lineup.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: You know, yes, it's while you were saying that, I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: was thinking, I know, there was another movie earlier this
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: year that you said was ripe for Miracles of Christmas. Yeah,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Kelor Christmas, I thought was one, and I think that
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: was another one as well.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: You thought the hospital movie. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: The more the merrier, the more the marrior.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: My brain is mush at this point in the season.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I apologize.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I know people have some concerns about the future of
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Hallmark Mystery and specifically what that means for our mystery franchises,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: But I don't mind the mix of movies, and I
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: think I think it's nice to have a balance of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the kind of movies that we're seeing on Hallmark. But yeah,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I think in a normal year this would have absolutely
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: ended up on Miracles of Christmas. It's kind of a
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: shame because those movies always had lower viewership simply because
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: it's not the main channel and it's for some people
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: in an actual subscription, and so those movies were always
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: at a little bit of a disadvantage. I do think
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: there is a room for a mix of movies. They
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: don't all have to be you know, single gal falling
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: in love with a single guy. You know, the mix
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: can exist for me while I was watching, once I
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: realized that this movie wasn't a rom com. Look, I
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: knew going into it, it wasn't going to be you know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: single on the twenty fifth, right, Like, I knew what
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: it was. But it wasn't about like dating or it
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: was an established couple and they are navigating these enormous
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: life decisions. Then the movie clicked in place for me
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: because I do have some wishes which we'll get to.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: But once I realized like, oh, this is the movie,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: then it worked for me.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: And to your point about this movie is about an
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: established couple, I like that they really dig in to
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: some of these real worries that people have about becoming parents. Yeah,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: and they spent some time figuring it out. It wasn't
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: a single conversation. They both really had to work it out.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: There's not a lot of time to play with in
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: an eighty four minute movie, but I think they took
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: the time that they had available to them and made
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: it clear that this was not a snap decision. This
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: was going to change their lives. They both had to
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: adjust their expectations of what that was going to look like.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: I suspect you'll talk about pacing in a little bit,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: but I think in this, for this piece of it,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: it worked.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Agree, Well, let me talk about the things. Some of
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the things I liked, especially when it comes to the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: writing of this movie. I like the way it explored
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Kelly's self discovery as a character, like she was trying
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to figure out what she wanted, what her limits were,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: whether she was capable of being a parent. There's a
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: little bit of childhood trauma to.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Unpack there too.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: It was a lot of stuff, but I like that
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: we explored all of that. And she has this mini
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: monologue she's on the phone and it was kind of
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: a little mixed up, like identity she thought that. I
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: think it was like the makeup artist. She thought the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: makeup artist had a baby and blah blah blah. You
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: know you know what see I'm talking.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I absolutely do. It's one of my favorites.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: She has this where she's like basically talking out loud
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: about like who she is and how people don't always
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: accept who she was born to be. And I was like, man,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: that was so well done. Yeah, the language is really powerful,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: very powerful. I just love that they didn't have to
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: hit us over the head of like i'm a I'm
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: a gay woman, right. Like, she didn't have to like
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: come out and say like what she has been dealing
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: with her entire life, right and how it has impacted
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: where she is right now. It just was like a
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: little bit nuanced but very powerful in the same way.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I thought it was so good.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: That's really a powerful scene for me as well. Most
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: of the movie, Erin and Kelly just exist in the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: world as a couple. Wish I love, Like, when we
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: talk about representations, it shouldn't always be this is the
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: same sex couple living in the neighborhood, right, Like, they're
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: just existing. They have established jobs and great friends, and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: they have a great rhythm to their relationship. But also
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: there's this like brief nod where we're reminded with the
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: extra bits that come with them existing in this world.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: And when she says complete strangers look at her and
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: think that she's wrong. Yeah, really well done. I'm glad
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: that made the final script. Yeah, me too, me too.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: And then in terms of Ali, I thought Ali was
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: really good here too.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: In this movie.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: There's one scene where she gets mad, and she gets
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: mad because the birth mother is trying to return and
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: and I was so glad like they played it that way,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Like that is such a human reaction to be like
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: mad at a situation, not like try to bright side
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: the situation. And I just I just know they were
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: both great. I thought they were both great. Well, if
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I can piggyback on Ali, she does this wordless acting
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: in a scene where Kelly is talking to her. It's
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: everything's coming to a head. Baby's crying, Kelly's trying to
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: get her work done, and she's talking to Aarin to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Ali as Aaron, and she says Aaron has this hopeful
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: look on her face when Kelly says Nikky deserves stability.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: It's almost like she thinks that Kelly's going to tell her,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: like this is the life he deserves. And then she
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: says that we're not really the ones to provide it
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: right now. And the way you can just see her
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: heart break in her face. She doesn't say a word
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: throughout that entire scene. It's fabulous.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought so too.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: I liked the trajectory of Kelly's relationship with her neighbor,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: mister Seltzer. Yes, he's kind of grumpy, he's alone he's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: dealing with some of his own stuff, but he shows
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: up for her. He sees that something's going on, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: drags her out of the house. And he's not a
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: perfect parent, he's not a perfect person. He acknowledges all
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: of that. But the way he talked about his daughter
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: and says, yes, like I may not be in her life,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: but I'm so glad she's in the world.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I have this same note written down.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Oh and then he just becomes part of their village
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: and he babysits the baby, and he's just part of
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: their extended family. Of course he reconnects with his own daughter.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I liked mister Seltzer. You know, we you and I
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: just had this conversation. I don't even remember where it
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: was at. It might be our Patreon, which, hey, come
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: join uspatreon dot com. Slash Megan and Wendy. But remember
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: we talked about maybe this is a fever dream. Oh
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: my god, I'm like flipping outright. But didn't we talk
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: about could you as a parent not talk to.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Your kid every single day? Oh?
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: We did talk about that. Well, I don't talk to
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: my kid every day, and it's it's sad, right, But
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: could you imagic wan weeks, no months, no, no, I
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: just but I can. This is what we talked about
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: on Patreon. I think it was Patreon. I can go
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: weeks without talking to my own parents.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I know, do they feel that same way? I don't know.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I wonder, I don't know. I'm not brave enough to
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: ask that question. No way, especially our boomer parents would
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: be like, I'm not talking about feelings, or at least.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Mine power through it, baby, power through.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: My final like is I loved how they did not
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: villainize the birth mother here m. She isn't broken, she
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: isn't like some wayward teenager who made a bad whatever.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: She just simply was not in the place to raise
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: a child. I thought that they treated her choice with respect,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: and that feels very important. Yes, a few more likes
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: just piggybacking on the birth mother. I thought the reveal
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: of who the mother was was earned, and it makes
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you look back on moments throughout the episode with new eyes,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: including her being happy when they originally came in for
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: their standing coffee day, and then she has a little
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: bit of a concerned look the first time they bring
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Nicki in and things are not going well. It puts
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a different weight on those moments. NICKI, the baby was
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: so damn cute and kind of maybe wish someone would
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: like temporarily drop a baby off on my front porch.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, I just totally need that right now. No,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I don't, but I just thought my mom at one point,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: I remember we were younger. This is just super tangent,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: but she said something about like, man, I wish I
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: had a baby, because then I could just be like, sorry,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: can't I have a baby? Sorry, can't I have a baby?
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I think about that all the time. That's not why
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I would like a baby. This just made me miss
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: having a baby in my life, and none of my
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: friends are having baby. You have a baby in your life.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: It's kind of nice. Yeah, well someday soon, Megan, hopefully
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: for you.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: No no, no, no no no no. No grandchild in the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: next ten years. That's so funny.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: My husband said that the other day. He said something
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: about ten years and he was like, man, in ten years,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: we could be grandparents. And I was like, bite your tongue.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: They're too young.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: They're too young. Ten years.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: No, yes, ten years, fifty six, ten years not me.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: My children are too young.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Oh Okay, yeah, they'll only be twenty five and twenty
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: eight in ten years, like they.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Live your life a little bit.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe fifteen years. Also, I don't think either of
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: my children wants children. Is that interesting, but you know,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I know it's changed. No, no, it'll change.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: We'll see.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Y the mothers, they really could have. You spoke about
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: villainizing the birth mother, they could have villainized these mothers too.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: They are overbearing in the most loving way though, and
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: they keep some moments of levity in there, like when
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Kelly looks at Aaron when her mom tries to reorganize
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: the spice cabinet or whatever.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but they're just there.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: The whole movie is about their village and their parents
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: come in, and when the birth mother is gonna come
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: to the house, the parents are like, we're not doing that,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Like they're so on their daughter's side in all of this.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: And I also loved their supportive friend group as well.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Throughout this movie, everyone just shows up. Just was a
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: real feel good time for me. Let's talk about your wishes.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: You don't have any, I really don't. I need to
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: realy tell me what yours are and let me let
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: me see if that resonates with me, Okay, okay, that's fine.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I wanted more Barbara Niven. Oh yes, I love her
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: so much, man, Homark, Can we put her in a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: lead role in a movie? I would love that, love
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: that so much. But her character was great, and I
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: didn't talk about in my likes. She did make it
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: to my first impression. Her character was fantastic, so great,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: so great. My next wish is it was a little
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: bit of a slow start for me. It took a
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: bit for the rhythm of the story to settle in
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: for mem but it did eventually get there. Even I
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: texted you while watching and I was like, oh, this
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: is kind of slow, and You're like, I loved it
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: so and it's funny me hang on that you say
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that because my first the first thing I wrote in
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: my notes was their relationship has a really nice rhythm
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: to it, Like I was actually drawn in instantly by
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: their relationship and their day to day. Yeah, but for me,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: you start this well, and I guess you have to,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: because they start this movie outwards. It's just their a
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: regular day for them, right, yes, and then a baby
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: ends up on their doorsteps, so like, yes, that would
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: be kind of Jarring. So I was like super invested
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: in the like Kelly's storyline of like her building these
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: things and for the community theater.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Oh no, me either.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Not in the details of it, just in the way
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: their life revolves around it.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: There was one line, a little bit of language that
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: kind of made me feel uncomfortable. Oh and it was
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: after kind of like going back and forth and all
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: this stuff. Ali's character says, I want to get our
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: boy back, and I felt like, this is not your boy,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Like we hadn't established like, yes, you guys are going
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: to be like the foster parents or the adoptive parents
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: or whatever. But anything can happen, right, the birth mother
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: could come back. It just felt like a level of
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: attachment that felt too early.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it made me a little uncomfortable.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I hear them in addition, and I just mentioned it,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: but this like back and forth, like I understand how
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: serious this kind of decision is, but I was wondering
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: would that be realistic in a real foster to adopt situation.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Would that social worker Betty, would she be like, Okay,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: let me get him, Okay, let me bring him back, Okay,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: let me.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? I get like the should
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: we shouldn't.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: We were not cut out for this wait, like I
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: don't know exists, Like, yes, these are enormous decisions, but
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I didn't know if this social worker would have been
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: so like gracious about picking up, taking away, bringing back,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Like I feel like that baby would have been like
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: placed into another home.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, potentially.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: I don't know the inner workings of the foster care system,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: but it does seem like you guys passed on.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Your opportunity to happen.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna go yoink him out of another home,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: right particularly when we haven't at that point located the
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: birth mother and we don't know what's gonna happen there.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: And that's a lot of back and forth for that baby.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, exactly. And my last wish and it's not
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: even really a wish, but we never really hear about
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: the birth father unless I missed it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: She just says he's not in the picture, okay.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: And when she just kept it as simple as that, yep, yep,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: those were my wishes.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Well, great, let's talk.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Did you see that I have several Well, why didn't
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: you kick it off? We got a pampered chef and
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: a door dash mentioned. Now he did first of all,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Pamper Chef. I was a big fan of a Pampered
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Chef party. I love their products. Yes, does it exist anymore?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I was gonna ask the same thing, does it exist?
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Because man, some of those if you are of a
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: certain age, you probably have a Pampered Chef product in
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: your house that you're like, do you remember the little
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: plastic scraping squares?
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: No that I don't know. I know listeners.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I know you know they're like hard plastics and you
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: could use them to like scrape pants.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes I do.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I don't own mine anymore, but they were the best.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I had a really cool like orange peel tool to
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: open like oranges.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Oh hook on it.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: It almost looks like a knitting hook that you would
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: like open a peel of an orange.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I loved that. Do you pamper chev do you own
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: a cookie press? I do?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I do. I did think it was funny that the
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: door dash mentioned. I was like, why why are they
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: not sponsored? It should have been like this should have
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: been like a sponsored door dash should have shown up,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: like they should have grabbed the food off the porch
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: right missed Opertunitday.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Indeed, did you notice again?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I may have missed it, but are both our main characters,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Kelly and Aaron their moms are very present?
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: But did they have dads? I don't know. I don't
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: think so.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: I looked at the shots, you know, when the whole
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: family is there at the end, and I don't I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: saw the next door neighbor dad, but I never saw
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: like a who I thought might be their dads. Yeah, No,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: I don't think they have dads in the movie. I
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: don't think there are actors portraying their dads. But are
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: that's my question? Yeah, I don't, like, are they still
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: alive or in their lives?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: No, I don't think there are actors portraying their dads.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: There was no mention of like a husband, a dad.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: That's what I was trying to remember, Like did the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: mom say anything about, like, oh left or dad at home?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: It didn't make my memory if they did.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I have two more. Did you see that?
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: One is just an observation. I love how everybody looks
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: at this baby. Oh, everybody looks at a newborn baby
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: with like so much possibility. I love and like one tiny,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: perfect little human. Everybody's so excited for a baby, right,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: It's so fun to watch, like everybody, everybody's eyes lights
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: light up.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: And in most of the scenes it's a real baby.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: In most yeah, there is that is my Yeah, that
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: is my next did you see that unless it's yours.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: But at the very end, the last scene where she
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: is in front of the window, that is not a baby.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: She is holding it as some sort of doll.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Oh. Interesting that the time I saw it was when
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: they were getting ready. I think they were getting ready
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: to leave the house and you can just see the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: back of a head. I'm like, that's not that baby's head,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: like she's holding it bundled up baby. But there was
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: quite a bit of baby in this movie and I
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: appreciated that that you know, that baby was present, and
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of times he's just sleeping in someone's arms.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Those moments just made me mould. Did you see like
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: he's sleeping on the grandma's chest or.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: It just lived it?
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: There was enough baby that I thought, are there twins
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: playing this role?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Right? There is a lot of baby in this movie.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're very limited on how much they can
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: actually use them. Yeah, I only have a couple of
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: little DIGITU that's I really enjoyed the little free library
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: that Kelly and mister Seltzer walk by on their walk,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: and I thought it was so funny. She's like, you're
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: a good man. He's like, ah, those books that I
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: just dropped in there are all duds. Thought it was funny. Well,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: you know I have one of those in my neighborhood, right, yes,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: and you gave me all those books from your mom. Yes,
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: So we wrapped them up and we did like blind
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: date with a book or blind date with a book.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we wrapped them up when we put them in there,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: and we were a little worried like they might, you know,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the Facebook group would be like, hey, pu these wrapped
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: books in here. But I went by there after I
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: dropped them off and they were all gone, and it made.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Me so happy. I'm so exciting.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I honestly would be shocked if people would be mad
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: It's not like you put trash in there. You put
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: like a fun twist on the books.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: People get weird about stuff, so I just thought it
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: is a fun little like, oh, look at this fun
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: little tree, wrapped pretty and like has a little you
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: know whatever.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. I'm so glad that that panned out.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: The last did you see?
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: That is just a scene that I loved when the
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: social worker comes to their house for their home visit
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: and they're just in chaos with everything that's going on,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: and he tells them the story about the grease fire
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: he had and he said, this is your grease fire.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And I just thought, yes, he's just giving people grace.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: And I found so much of this movie so touching.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Was it was a balm on my heart. It was
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a soothing hour and a half that I needed in
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: my life.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna fast forward to Barbara Nivens scenes over
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: and over again. I just love her how reassuring she is, Like, yes,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: oh god, she's so good. Well, what did you rate
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: The Christmas Baby? I gave it a solid four stars.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I gave it four stars as well. Oh, I honestly
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: thought it might be a five star movie for you.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: It's almost there, almost all right. It was a good one.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: It was good. I hope people watch it. Absolutely.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, take
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: a quick second and leave us a five star rating
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: and a little written review if you're feeling extra generous
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: this holiday season, and we will be back next time
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye bye all right friends, before
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: we go, just a quick heads up, you're about to
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: hear some ads. Thee Little Gems help us keep the
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: show running and the Hallmark love flowing. So do with
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: that info what you will, Grab a s neck, hit
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: discover your new favorite product.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Bye.