Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time

Hallmark's Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!

• Garry & Amy

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A pink cropped sweater, a high school crush, and a weatherman determined to keep the holiday spirit alive no matter what Christmas chaos ensues! On this episode of Pour the Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy unwrap Hallmark’s Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! Robert Buckley and Kimberley Sustad’s effortless chemistry as Ted and Hope anchors every moment. With Ted’s sunny outlook, Hope’s steady charm, and a cast that keeps the holiday warmth flowing, the forecast calls for 100% chance of romance with lingering flurries of festive feels. 

Send us an email to pourthewineitsromcomtime@gmail.com! We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's rom-com time where we'll sip some wine and review all things romcom on the Hallmark Channel. I'm Amy.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm Gary.

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And tonight I'm gonna pour.

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh.

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How about that? I'm taking control.

SPEAKER_02:

You're taking control.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm taking control.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, well, while you're pouring today, we're reviewing Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper. It originally aired on the Hallmark Channel on Sunday, October 25th, 2025. You can find it right now on the Hallmark Plus channel.

SPEAKER_01:

On the Hallmark Plus channel or streaming services. Or streaming service. It's not a channel.

SPEAKER_02:

It's not a channel.

SPEAKER_01:

It's not a channel, but they do have that uh beta that they're testing channel like what sections in it where it's like all Christmas or I don't know if they have a wing calls the heart or rom com. Rom coms. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

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Yeah.

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So go check it out there.

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Yeah, please do.

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We are on all of your favorite podcast platforms.

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Yeah.

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So if you'd like to make sure you like and follow so you don't miss an episode, that would be great. And we are also on all the socials.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01:

We even picked up the tick a talk.

SPEAKER_02:

The talk of the tick. Yes, we did. And we got a couple, we have a couple of videos out there and some pictures.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So we've been messing around with that. We're we're learning that a little bit as we go. We're super late to that party, but it's kind of fun. I mean, we'll keep it. We've been having fun with it, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And we got a couple more good ideas coming out.

SPEAKER_01:

And um Yes, we do. Yeah, we're having fun. So if you're on TikTok, make sure you go find us. Uh Pour the Wine. It's rom com time. I think is that our handle on there? Yes, it is. Okay. Yeah. I know we have different handles based on character limits. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know.

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Yeah, there you go.

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And just let us know what you think. Send us an email at pour the wine at RomCon Time at gmail.com.

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Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So hey, there you go.

SPEAKER_01:

Let us know what you think about Countdown to Christmas so far.

SPEAKER_02:

It's been pretty decent.

SPEAKER_01:

It's been pretty good. It's been pretty good. Or um anything hallmark related, really.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And they just released the unscripted. Yes, yes. We just watched Finding Mr.

SPEAKER_01:

Christmas and Baked with Love. Yes. Holiday edition, which leads me to believe there are going to be other editions. I know. Hopefully. We like a good baking show, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my goodness. We watch a lot of bacon shows.

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We do. We do.

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And a lot of food shows.

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A lot of food shows. Well, reality.

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Right.

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Unscripted. Unscripted TV. Yeah, we do. I do like those. What are we doing this weekend?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, we are putting up the Christmas. I can hardly wait.

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I want to take down all the fall stuff right now before Halloween and get it put away. I can't wait.

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I know. We are this weekend.

SPEAKER_01:

November 1st is go time for us. Maybe even Halloween night. I don't know. Might have a glass of wine, put up the treat. Not sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, our tradition. Trick-or-treat. As soon as Halloween is over with, the Christmas lights. Yes, we're so excited.

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Let us know when you send us an email and let us know when you decorate.

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Yeah. That's that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Is it November?

SPEAKER_02:

Is it December?

SPEAKER_01:

December? Is it right after Thanksgiving? We traditionally used to do right after Thanksgiving. Right. And then recent, well, I guess in the past five or six years, we've been bumping it up to worse.

SPEAKER_02:

I like to enjoy it. I don't know. Doing it right after Thanksgiving. I feel like you put it out and the next day you're taking it down.

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Yes.

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Doing it right after Halloween, I feel like we get to enjoy two months.

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We do.

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Well, we go into the new year, a week into the new year, and that's when we usually take it down. But you know, we have a lot of stuff and I like to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01:

We do. It takes us a few days or a week to get everything in our way.

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If we could, I'd leave it up year-round.

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I know, I know. But we do respectfully leave the dining room and fall decor for Thanksgiving.

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Yes, we do.

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Respect.

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Yes. Respect.

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We respect Thanksgiving. So well. All right. You ready to get into it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Tell us who's in this one.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper stars Robert Buckley as Ted Cooper. Now we first saw Robert Buckley in Chesapeake Shores, where he played Evan Kincaid in 18 episodes. And how much do we love Chesapeake Shores? He was so great in that.

SPEAKER_02:

I know he played The Billionaire.

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Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

He has also he was also in Love and Store. He was in the Christmas House movies, The Christmas House and The Christmas House 2, Deck Those Walls with Jonathan Bennett, Treat Williams, Sharon Lawrence. That's so cute. And we recently watched those.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we did. I really enjoyed them.

SPEAKER_01:

They were really, really good. Yep. We watched both of those. Like last month or two months ago.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think it was last month.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh in 2024, he was in Twas The Date Before Christmas and Blind Date Book Club, both of which we loved.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I think we're Robert Buckley fans.

SPEAKER_02:

I think so too. He's really, really good.

SPEAKER_01:

He's really good. And we last saw him in the Loveary 2025 movie and Unexpected Valentine with Lacey Shabert. And that was our very first podcast review.

SPEAKER_02:

Isn't that crazy? That is so, so yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01:

So we like him. We like him a lot. Kimberly Susted plays Hope Miller, and she's so great too. Oh my God. Because we just watched and reviewed the three wise men movies, right? The third one's about to come out. She's been in more than two dozen Hallmark productions. A few include four from last year, The Santa Class, which of course we loved. We love Three Wiser Men and a Boy. She was in Aurora Tea Garden Mystery, Death at the Diner, and The Real West. Those were all in 2024. Of course, as I just mentioned, she was also in Three Wise Men and a Baby, The Nine Kittens of Christmas, which comes on frequently. That's so cute.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that just came on this past weekend.

SPEAKER_01:

Sensibility and Snowmen. She was actually on two episodes of Chesapeake Shores and an episode of Sign Seal Delivered.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is pretty good. And of course, The Nine Kittens of Christmas, she was in the first the Nine Lives of Christmas. So both of those movies. She will also be in this year's three wisest men movie. It airs on Saturday, November 15th.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. Can't wait for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Megan Heffron plays Kate Cooper. She plays Ted's sister. She's been in several homework productions, including three last year alone: Autumn at Apple Hill, The Cases of Mystery Lane, Death is Listening, and Betty's Bad Luck, which was really cute.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was. I really enjoyed that one too.

SPEAKER_01:

A few others, a few other movies of hers include Retweet, Retweet, Twitter on my brain, or X, as it as it's called now, Retreat to You and Winter Castle, which was also just on the last weekend. Man on the Hallmark Channel. Barbara Pollard plays Ruth Mittens. Mittens. I love that her last name is Mittens. She's Ted's old high school science teacher.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

And old, I meant like in the past, not that she's old. Barbara was in last year's Confessions of a Christmas Letter and Just in Time. A few of her other hallmark works include A Kismic Christmas, Good Morning Christmas, and the All of My Heart movies with Lacey Shaber and Brennan Elliott. That's the one where she inherits half the house and Brennan Elliott. Right. And then they make it a bed and breakfast. So there's like three movies. There's uh there's a trilogy of movies there, also.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Is it the third one when they get married?

SPEAKER_01:

I think so, because the second one they open the the bed and breakfast. Right, right. Right? They make the that's what they turn the house into. And then I think they get engaged. By the end, you're really stretching my memory. But yeah, I think Yeah, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02:

I think I think so. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Moving on, Brendan Penny plays Ken. He is a news anchor that works with 10.

SPEAKER_02:

That's so funny in this one, too.

SPEAKER_01:

I had no idea he was in this.

SPEAKER_02:

No, me either. He is so funny in this.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't do any of this part until after we watched it. Because a lot of times IMDB isn't up to date with all the actors and actresses. So I just thought it was a fun surprise. I had no clue he was going to be in this one.

SPEAKER_02:

And he did a great job.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he was so good. He, of course, is a Hallmark favorite. He's been in more than 20 Hallmark productions. We last saw him in Providence Falls, Thief of Fate, where he played the angel Gabriel. Another surprise. We had no idea he was going to pop up there. He was in four films in 2024: Private Princess Christmas, A Novel Noelle, Love on the Danube, Kissing Stars, and Family Practice Mysteries Coming Home. Some of his other work includes a season for Family, The Wedding Cottage, and In Mary Measure. He's also known as playing Kevin O'Brien in 54 episodes of the popular hallmark series You Guessed It. Chester.

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Yay.

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Read and Elizabeth plays Sydney. She is a fellow Doctor of Hope and Hope's best friend.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

She has four acting credits, including this one. This is her Hallmark premiere. She was in an episode of Invasion, eight episodes of Missing Persons Unit, and an episode of The Last of Us.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, good for her. I'm glad this one was her first.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. It's a pretty big one to be in, I would say.

SPEAKER_02:

Some really big name actors in this one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Well. All right.

SPEAKER_02:

Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper was directed by James Bork. In 2024, he directed four Hallmark movies: A Reason for the Season, Our Holiday Story, Scouting for Christmas, and a Whitewater Romance.

SPEAKER_01:

Aw, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02:

I love me some Whitewater.

SPEAKER_01:

You love me some Whitewater.

SPEAKER_02:

I've never been. Never been Whitewater.

SPEAKER_01:

I've never been Whitewater rafting.

SPEAKER_02:

A few others include a world record Christmas, Mrs. or Miss Christmas comes to town, and Game of Love.

SPEAKER_01:

And what?

SPEAKER_02:

Game of Love.

SPEAKER_01:

Game of Love.

SPEAKER_02:

Not Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_01:

No, not to be confused with Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_02:

Which was an good series. But not Hallmarky. But not Hallmark.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, but a good show on HBO. Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

And Robert Burke uh Buckley is credited as coming up with the original concept. He and Russell Hailine.

SPEAKER_01:

Hainline.

SPEAKER_02:

Hainline. That's what I said.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It could be my pronunciation, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

Or it could be my hearing. Which is probably the case.

SPEAKER_02:

Both. Accredited with this story, and Russell wrote the teleplay. How about that?

SPEAKER_01:

That's very cool. So Robert Buckley came up with the idea and then shot. Very cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's always good to collaborate with people, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02:

Russell's Hallmark writing credits include The Santa Class, Christmas Under the Lights, Three Wiser Men and a Boy, The Santa Summit, and Merry Measure. He wrote the upcoming countdown to Christmas movie Three Wisest Men, which airs on Saturday, November 15th at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on the Hallmark Channel.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, we're gonna definitely be watching that one.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01:

And now I understand why we liked this movie so much, spoiler alert. Because of all the movies you just read that were written.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, by Russell. Yep. Yeah. And Robert.

SPEAKER_01:

Robert.

SPEAKER_02:

Who created the story characters of the Christmas House movies, also.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. That's right. And we love those as well. So no surprise here, right? I know.

SPEAKER_02:

These guys are very creative.

SPEAKER_01:

They're very creative.

SPEAKER_02:

Which makes me happy. So you want to dive into this now?

SPEAKER_01:

Let's let's let's go.

SPEAKER_02:

Give me your first thoughts. What did you think?

SPEAKER_01:

My first thoughts. What did I think of this one? I think we talked about it a little bit when I talked about Robert Buckley's credits, but we've sort of been on a Robert Buckley kick lately, right? And Unexpected Valentine was so great, which we loved. And we recently watched the Christmas House movie. So I knew we were on track to at least like this film. Right, right. You know, I wasn't sure how it was going to be. But with him and Kimberly Susted, I mean, how can you go wrong?

SPEAKER_02:

You can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

You can't go wrong. I thought it was funny and sweet, it was full of fun banter, the family dynamics, and just the optimism that Ted has is what we all need. I definitely especially right now. I mean, we literally laughed out loud.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

Like literally a few times in this movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we'll get to some of the parts where I really laughed out loud.

unknown:

I know.

SPEAKER_01:

Where we and I mean we enjoy, you know, and I I just love it when a movie is sweet and can make you laugh and smile. I mean, we smiled and laughed throughout almost the whole thing. So and you just I just really appreciated that. So I really, really enjoyed it. What about you?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, before I get started, guess what? I forgot to drop the synopsis to you.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yes, you did. Oh no, we didn't drop the synopsis.

SPEAKER_02:

I am terrible at remembering this.

SPEAKER_01:

And guess what I did? I didn't even remember. Yeah, you just went right into a girl.

SPEAKER_02:

That was awesome. So let's drop the synopsis real quick.

SPEAKER_01:

I call you out on it. I missed it today. I missed it. I missed my opportunity. That's okay. Okay. Shall we drop the synops? Drop the synops. Yes, we should. A weatherman reunites with his high school crush while on vacation in his hometown. And now we can proceed.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, let me let the people know that we do drop some spoilers. So if you haven't seen the movie already, please stop the podcast, go watch it, come back and let us know what you think, or do it in reverse. Listen to the podcast and go watch the movie and let us know what you think.

SPEAKER_01:

Word.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, what did I think?

SPEAKER_01:

What did you think? Yes. Please tell me what did you think about this series?

SPEAKER_02:

We thought this was fun. I mean, from beginning to end. Yes. Not only did you have the big name characters and our actors, but the supporting cast in this movie was they were great, right? I mean, like you said, Ruth, uh Russell, Jerry, Janice, Ken, all of them. Just they brought the whole movie together. I thought Ted's character growth was nice to watch. The chemistry between him and um hope was seemed natural. And even though they were old school or old high school friends, they didn't really know each other in high school. They knew of each other. Right. And I thought that was really interesting because they both had the same feelings in high school. Like she was, if you would have said something, I would have dated you, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

So I thought she was out of hit easily game.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. I I thought the banter between Ted and Ken on live TV was so good and funny, and that and that whole pool, Ted Christmas tree or Christmas that on the whiteboard was awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

What was it called?

SPEAKER_02:

The the I think it was the Ted Cooper Christmas pool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think that's what it was called. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the Ted Cooper Christmas pool.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Yeah, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

I I I agree. I agree. So let's go into the meat cute. So you kind of mentioned it, they they sort of knew each other in the past. They know who one another is, but they're sort of meeting again as adults.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Right now that they're back in their hometown. And and it I I like that they had hope knew that he was gonna be her patient. You know, before she went in there, it wasn't like this, oh my gosh, it's so great to see you. You know, and he had no idea. And I thought that that was I thought that little twist was kind of cool. Well, Sydney, her friend, had given her a little heads up because she's a doctor and she saw the chart and she she knew that it was Ted Cooper. And then um, you know, she he explains what happened because the box falls on his head. Christmas lights fell on his head, and you know, and and and hope is kind of like, you know, was anything broken? And he's like, No, I have a hard head, and she's like, I was talking about the lights, you know, it's just kind of so instantly you know they're gonna have some sort of banter, you know. And then um, of course, he's wearing the pink sweater from the cut from the suitcase because the suitcase got mixed up with someone else's at the airport, and he ends up with some college girls suitcase. So he's wearing a cropped pink sweater, which was so great. And he's like, I got it from a college girl's suitcase. And he goes, That sounded bad. Then he then he said something else, like, I I brought a college girl's clothes home with me. And he's like, That sounded worse. He's like fumbling over his words with hope. And I just thought it was really cute and fun. And then they kind of move out into the hallway after she's done examining him and his, you know, after he got his bell rung from the from the box, you know, and um so and then he's in the hallway and Mrs. Mittens is there, right? His old his his high school science teacher.

SPEAKER_02:

Science teacher, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And when Hope walks away, he's kind of like, Hey, did you hear all that? So they're kind of like buddies in the hallway. It was so cute. Yeah, what do you think of the being cute?

SPEAKER_02:

I too really enjoyed it. I thought it was I thought it seemed natural, I thought it flowed, I thought it was really cute when she was shining the flashlight in his eyes, and she was like, I didn't know you had blue eyes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And he was just sitting there like a puppy dog, but with those eyes just staring up at her, and you just knew he just had a thing for her. And she seemed like she had a thing for him, too. So and throughout the movie, we find out that yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it seems I I I know we use this word not a lot, but I think we used it in the last podcast, but effortless, right? Like their relationship just flows and there's no, you know, sticky point. There's no it just it just is it's just effortless between the two of them.

SPEAKER_02:

Built up throughout the whole every scene moved into their next, you know, portion in their relationship. And I thought I thought it was really good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So let's dive into some favorite scenes. What was one of yours?

SPEAKER_01:

All right, why don't you go first? Because I went first with the okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Um well you just talked about it, and that was the pink crop sweater, crop top sweater. When he I guess he he well, his car broke down, so he had to take the bus to his sister's. Right. And then when he got off, his luggage got mixed up.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's right. It's the bus, it's not a plane. I've seen it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's got mixed, it got mixed up. So he ends up and he doesn't realize it until he gets to his sister's house when he opens the suitcase and you know, he pulls out the sweater, and it and it's so funny that it's it's pink and everything. And I just like the way how he just ran with it. Yeah, you know, he's just that that kind of guy that oh well, what do I do? I'm just gonna wear the sweater.

SPEAKER_01:

And yeah, you just really good in it. I I've kind of viewed it as I kept thinking about Christmas vacation and Clark Griswold, and just the optimism, and you know, because Ted is, you know, and he kind of talks about it, like all this bad stuff happens to him at Christmas time.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, every Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

He's eternally optimistic that one year it's gonna be the best Christmas ever, and nothing like that's gonna happen. And I just kept thinking, you know, it's sort of like a toned down Clark Griswold.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, you know? Yeah, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01:

So, yeah, I I agree. I I had that as a one of your favorite things, not a favorite scene per se, but just the fact that he ends up wearing that, he wears the five beta cap or whatever it is, like the other hoodie, the pink sweatshirt. Like you said, he just went with it. So anytime he was wearing any of the clothes was so funny to me and so perfect. I I loved that. Yeah, loved it. Um I liked when he and Miss Mittens go to the tree farm.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

So they go right from the hospital, right? I think because she says, I was gonna go get a tree, but now my hand, because she cut her hand or something. So he goes with his teacher and they go to the tree farm, and I just I just like their banter because he's very complimentary of her. Um, he compliments her something with her age, and she's like, you know, that was disgustingly shameless flattery, and I so appreciate it. You know, and just her, her relationship with him I thought was really cool. And then, you know, she kind of calls him out on his crush on hope because she knew he had that in high school.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

So and then and then when she starts flirting with the handsome lumberjack, as they call him at the tree farm, that was so funny to me.

SPEAKER_02:

That was funny. I I really enjoyed that scene.

SPEAKER_01:

And then, and then you have, of course, the the the tree farm worker, the handsome lumberjack, cuts down the tree and he swings it around and it hits Ted. And Ted ends up back in the hospital to see hope, which I thought was such a good the way that goes, the theme of that. No, the theme of that through the movie. Yeah, you know, he's injured, he goes to the hospital. He's injured, he goes on yeah, it puts him right back with hope.

SPEAKER_02:

Right back with hope. And that was one of my other favorite scenes is when he goes on air after that with an eye patch with a that has a snowman drawn on him.

SPEAKER_01:

No, Santa Claus. The Santa Claus?

SPEAKER_02:

No, I thought it was a snowman.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But um that when he gets on air, Ken goes into his, you know, his little banter with him about how he's always getting hurt, and in the background they're doing the pool that he closed his eye or something. He ended up back in the hospital again.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that when Ken was saying you're a sight for sore eyes? Yes, right. Yeah, because it was a sand. I think it's a maybe it's a snowman. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, whatever. It was one of the characters.

SPEAKER_01:

It was one of the characters.

SPEAKER_02:

I say snowman.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, you're right. And that that was the other thing they kept flashing back to, which was really great, the um Ted Cooper Christmas pool, and they would show the workers at the station that he worked at because he's a weatherman, right? So they would show them if they won something. Yeah, you know, like cheering because they who had poke poke his eye out or whatever. You know, it's cute.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was. So what's another one of yours?

SPEAKER_01:

Um I really liked I liked anytime he was with the walking group. I thought that was really the soul sisters. The soul sisters, yeah, we're there, you know, when he's talking to them and they they kind of, you know, they help him shop. Right. Right. He runs into them and they all kind of gather around. And then when he is telling them the story about Mark Harmon, and he's like, someone whispered it in my ear, who could it be? It was the j what did he call him? Um the mountain of a man or something, you know, Mark Harmon. Because I mean, if you're, you know, like our age or my age, I mean, Mark Harmon was it, you know, back in the day. And all the ladies in that group, they're like, oh, you know, they all are like swoony. No, they're a little bit older than us, but I mean, I'm a little bit young for Mark Harmon, but I do remember him being just such a good looking, you know, actor. And yeah, he was one of the people had yeah, he was one of those crushes that girls had when they were teens and stuff. So I'm not sure how that lands today with a lot of people, but you know, he's still hanging around in one of those what CSI or something, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, he is. He's still working it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. So I I thought that was really cute. I wasn't even gonna bring that up, but we were talking about it. And and that's when he's in the pink hoodie, too. When Ted is he's shopping in the pink hoodie, the the sorority pink hoodie.

SPEAKER_02:

So funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And then that, you know, and then he runs into I mean, the whole thing is just so good, right? Just the way it flows and everything, right? And that's when he runs in Hope comes into the place where they are, right? When when he's with the ladies, and and then that leads into he and Hope going to have burgers and so it just that whole thing just really that those whole few scenes really worked for me. What about you? Any others?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, just the the whole costume party that the sister threw, I thought was so funny. And the scene when he's dancing on his by himself in that snowman costume just was I was just rolling good, weren't they so I mean I my I was busting a gut laughing. It was so funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, what's great is hope comes to the costume party and it's at Kate to the channel. And he doesn't know she's coming. He doesn't know hope is coming because he chickened out on asking her. And you know, she kind of shows up and um he's he takes his sister into the kitchen and they have like this whisper fight, you know, only it's not really a fight, but he's like, What are you doing? You know, and then she's just like um I don't know what she says, something like, you know, I you know, I I love you and I want you to be happy. Yeah, you know, and he's like, I love you too. You know, I just thought that was so funny. And his sister in the elf costume stunned.

SPEAKER_02:

Was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

It just it was so good. Yes, it was the costumes were so good.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, what was funny about that is she had seen him on the on the uh camera on her in the on the back porch trying to leave a message for uh Hope to come to the party, and he just kept he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't know what to say, and that's why she invited her.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I thought that was funny.

SPEAKER_02:

And that was their argument in the kitchen. It was so funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, right, right. But yeah, so that I I agree with you. That was another favorite scene, the whole thing, and then you know, even he and Kate or he and Kate, he and um Hope having Ted and Hope having an a moment, right? They they get time alone, and that well, I'll talk about that uh in my cheers, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, do you have any more cheers?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I liked the escape room. Yes, that was one of my the Christmas escape room.

SPEAKER_02:

That was awesome, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you know, and he he was he was still optimistic. They got stuck in there, right? You know, and I mean, yeah, the challenge was cool, yeah. But I mean, just them getting stuck in there, and he's like, you know, we can't escape from an escape room. That's a little bit funny.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that was that was really good.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm really mad, you know. So I thought it was I thought that was really cute. I really loved when he got his own jogger suit from the walking club. And he's like, and he's genuinely happy, like, no way. Yeah, I love this. You know, he's so naked. Yes, yes. And then that kind of led into when he's talking to Mrs. Mittens, you know, just about what's going on with him. And she's like, you know, in life, there will be so many situations, you get your wires crossed, don't make assumptions. And this is after he and Kate have had or Kate, why do I keep calling her Kate?

SPEAKER_02:

Hope.

SPEAKER_01:

Hope. Kate is his sister, hope. He because Hope hasn't called him, right? Because he had left the phone in the limo, and he's like, Oh, she hasn't called me. I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02:

And then he left a note in her door, which he knew was gonna blow up.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what it was. Right, right, right. The note in the door.

SPEAKER_02:

So does it be like, so when he's talking to Mrs.

SPEAKER_01:

Mittens for some wisdom, you know, and she drops that little nugget, like, yeah, you're gonna get your wires crossed a lot in this life. Don't make assumptions.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And that is very, very true, right?

SPEAKER_02:

She said it's kind of like a lot of those romantic movies, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. She kind of does say that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

The little thing there for Hallmart. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Lack of communication.

SPEAKER_01:

Any others? Any others for you?

SPEAKER_02:

Um no, that was it. I think we covered them all. I, you know, the the the car ride I thought was cool. You know, he always gets along with somebody. The car ride. The the share ride with the in the limousine.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, right. So he gets phone, yeah. He gets he gets a share ride to go do the the the interview or the the to go to the hospital to do something real quick before he's gonna go see Hope. Right. Right. Because he's supposed to call her and whatnot. Right, right. And he's so he's in there and there's all different people in the limo and he's talking to them and you know learning.

SPEAKER_02:

And what a cool share ride, a limousine, and the guy's thumping music and everybody's getting it. Yeah, and the driver was really cool. That's the way it should be, man.

SPEAKER_01:

And then I really like too, towards the end when Hope she gets um, she realizes that Ted he hasn't called her because he didn't want to. He didn't have his phone. Right. Right. And she goes, Oh, I did it again. You know, I thought that was so good. Kimberly Sosa was so good at that.

SPEAKER_02:

And it kind of sounded like she had that New Yorker accent.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I don't know, yeah, maybe, but I just thought it was so cute. Because she's like, oh no, I do this all the time, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

So I thought it was I thought that was that was cool.

SPEAKER_02:

So did you have any gears in this one?

SPEAKER_01:

No, did you? I didn't have any that I could write down. I I was gonna talk about um and this is going way back to the beginning where Ted, and this is totally off topic, but I thought about this when we watched it, when they when he first sees Mrs. Mittens, right, and he calls her Ruth. Right because her name is Ruth Mittens, and his sister is like, That's our teacher, right? She's Mrs. Mittens. And I'm like, you know, my friend's parents growing up, we always used first names. Yeah, or I'm sorry, last names. It was Mr. or Mrs. And I don't even think to this day, and I'm you know, in my fifties, I I would feel very uncomfortable calling them by their first names. My teachers also, right? You know, and I mean I'm even I know them personally outside of there, and I feel so weird, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

It just is a weird thing, but I know like Like our kids, it's Miss Julie or Miss Rebecca. Like they use first names. And I don't know if that's more of a southern thing or I think it's definitely a southern thing.

SPEAKER_02:

What did you we did the same thing? I mean, I I would always say Mrs. and then the last name or Mr. and the last name. I never except except for my driving teacher. He was the football coach, so I always called him his first name. Were you allowed to?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it was fun because our one of our driving tests was to take him to McDonald's so he could get McMuffin and Hash Brown combo.

SPEAKER_01:

That was during school. That was during school.

SPEAKER_02:

So one of us had to drive there and the other one had to drive back. So and that that was pretty fun. And that's when they had that. Yeah. Oh man, it was fun. It was fun. So a little nerve-wracking at first, but it was fun.

SPEAKER_01:

That was a little sidebar.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry about Ted.

SPEAKER_01:

So Ted also says, cool your jets. And I'm like, oh, that's a phrase from our generation, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't give your age away.

SPEAKER_01:

Ah, that's all right. I already did. I'm in my 50s and I'm proud of it, right? We've made it this far.

SPEAKER_02:

We both are. Oh well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh well.

SPEAKER_02:

Moving on. Um, I know I jumped into cheers real quick. Well, what about our cheers? I'm sorry. What about cheers? I am like awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. We're just so maybe excited about Christmas. It's the weather. It's cooling down. We're just going to do that. Let's go into cheers.

SPEAKER_02:

What was your favorite cheers?

SPEAKER_01:

Cheers. Overall, I love the story. Yeah. I I loved how, like I mentioned earlier, Ted is eternally optimistic. He looks at the bright side. And, you know, towards the end, he realizes I bright side things a lot. Right. And I need to really not do that all the time. Right. But I mean, there is something to that to look, you know, to be optimistic. Maybe, you know, you still gotta talk about your feelings once you if you if you are upset about something because it does frustrate other people. But um, you know, I just I enjoyed that. I thought I like that we talked about this also that, you know, he has bad things happen, but he's like, you know, there's always hope.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, one year I'm I'm hopeful that Christmas is gonna be banging this year, you know, and there's not gonna be anything major wrong. Only, you know, and then of course this year he, you know, hurts his eye, he gets knocked in the head, goes to jail. His his clothes are messed, you know, mixed up with someone else's from the bus. And but he's just like happy go lucky. And I just thought the story was really, really great and really well done. Yeah, that'd be my biggest year. What about you?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, going off of yours, you know how uh Hope was kind of upset that he wasn't upset about her her not calling. And Sydney, um, Hope's friend, was like, You're mad at him for not being mad at you for him being so optimistic. Yes. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, she, you know, yeah, Hope in that moment is kind of like, you know, aren't you upset? And he's like, Well, no, it was a misunderstanding that you know, Mrs. Mittens was right and we have misunderstanding. It's fine. You know, he's kind of like, now we've cleared it up, let's move on. You know, that's now we know why we miss each other.

SPEAKER_02:

Crossed our wires.

SPEAKER_01:

She's like, we need to talk about our feelings, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

That's you know, typically I just love the way he talked to people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

I one of my other favorite scenes that I didn't include was when the the girl um gave him a cookie in the hospital and it had peanut butter in it, and he's allergic to peanut butter.

SPEAKER_01:

That was the other thing that added to him.

SPEAKER_02:

And that was it was kind of a funny scene, but a serious scene too, because he was allergic and he's sitting there knowing full well that he's allergic, but still carrying on the conversation until the end.

SPEAKER_01:

And he didn't know there was going to be peanut butter. It wasn't like he knew there was peanut butter in his gun. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02:

That was and I I just loved the way that he just, you know, he just went through life.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And to I had in my cheers also to add on to that was how he treated, you know, the the women, the older women. He wasn't condescending. Right. You know, he wasn't embarrassed to be around them. He liked joined them. He was like, I'm excited. When he got the outfit, he was like, ooh, I know, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

I thought that was a good idea.

SPEAKER_01:

And they really enjoyed us, great and kind, and you know, because so often, you know, as you age and older people, they kind of people make fun of them and everything. And it it is what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

I know.

SPEAKER_01:

You should be so lucky to get to your 70s, 80s, you know?

SPEAKER_02:

I I hope we do.

SPEAKER_01:

So um, other cheers from me would be I liked how the moments between Ted and Hope alone were sprinkled throughout the movie. You didn't have like one big date. I mean, they did go on a date, but it was, you know, sort of sprinkled throughout, like right before the costume party. They had a little bit of time. They had time in the hospital a few times when he went, right?

SPEAKER_02:

And they had a little bit of dinner, they played some darts.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. I just thought it was it, it really worked. I loved the office pool like we talked about. I don't even remember some of the categories. I I meant to like impaled by a reindeer, chips a tooth on a candy cane, kisses, goes to jail, kisses beautiful woman live on air, ends up in jail. Yeah, so they were checking.

SPEAKER_02:

He pretty much ran a gambit and he and even got to kiss the beautiful girl.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he sure did. He sure did.

SPEAKER_02:

So good on him.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, did you have any other cheers?

SPEAKER_02:

No, that was it for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, let me see if I had anything else. Just the banter between Ted and everyone else, you know. He he had good banter with his sister. I liked his relationship with her, and I you know, I thought it was profound when he said, you know, I just tried to disappear because I didn't want to be a problem for her. That's where his he just tried to be optimistic and do what was right, and because his mother had left, and then you kind of find out why he is that way.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. So I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Well, did you have a tensile dot moment?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh gosh, there were so many.

SPEAKER_02:

Um I'm just gonna say the whole movie.

SPEAKER_01:

I I know there were so many great scenes in this really that just really worked and I really enjoyed. Um I guess I would have to say probably the end when when he's you know, what do you want for Christmas? Or doesn't he, you know, and and when Kimberlisa said when hope comes up and she says peace and goodwill towards men, you know, and she's like, Oh, that's a good one, right? You know, she's because she's like, and then they end up kissing. I thought that whole scene, I mean, I guess that would be my tinsel top moment.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that was a good thing.

SPEAKER_01:

The kiss at the very end, yeah, or the moments leading up to that, but the whole movie really worked, right? So um, what about you? I I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02:

You said the whole point of moment because it was all good. I get it. And I you know, I loved his moment with um Ruth when they were walking, like he said when they were walking through the Christmas tree farm, and he's like, How did you stop collect how did you start collecting ornaments 10 20 was it two decades or something like that before you were born?

SPEAKER_01:

That was the compliment that he gave her.

SPEAKER_02:

And I just thought that was so sweet. I just loved in and how he hung out with them, and when they showed up at um his sister's Christmas party or um costume party, they walked in as like all together they they were wearing Santa uh suits or not Santa suits, but you know, claw uh Mrs. Claw suits. Yeah, that was really a little bit more on the sexy side.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. They walked in.

SPEAKER_02:

They were ready to party.

SPEAKER_01:

And she, you know, and maybe she was more like a mother figure to him.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

He was getting advice from her, relationship advice, and maybe she did that in high school too, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But yeah, because he was like, you know, something about his him being her favorite student, and he said something, she was like, Where is he?

SPEAKER_01:

Where is she?

SPEAKER_02:

Where is she? Where is she? Yeah, it's like you still got it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's what he did. Some cute moments, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, so out of five ornaments, what are you gonna give this one?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh gosh. I I would have to hang five.

SPEAKER_02:

Me too.

SPEAKER_01:

I I would have to, I was gonna go four and a half, and I'm like, you know, as we were talking about it, I'm like, I just really thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

SPEAKER_02:

I thought it worked on all cylinders.

SPEAKER_01:

It wasn't too I mean, the the costume party a little bit, but it was a costume party, right? So that's how it's supposed to be. That's how it would be.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, you know, you have a costume party, that's how it's gonna go down.

SPEAKER_01:

That they went to in the back. That was cool.

SPEAKER_02:

It was cool. The dance floor in the back in the barn.

SPEAKER_01:

So we could have some that I just thought that was really because you and I, I was like, where is that? I know you said in the house. I'm like, no, it's not. I can see the and then you're like, oh, it's in the back, it's a barn in the back.

SPEAKER_02:

It was really, it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, it was it was great. It was I I think we've just had such a good start to count down to Christmas so far.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'm enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

So is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_01:

That is a wrap.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, if you really, really like the show, we would really, really appreciate your positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And if you didn't really, really like the show, we still appreciate your positive review.

SPEAKER_01:

We would follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Until next time. Cheers.