Hallmark's The Angel Tree

Garry and Amy are headed to Pine River for this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time! A wish filled Christmas tree, a small town protecting a decades old secret, and two childhood friends who still know exactly how to push each other’s buttons but in the best way. This time, they’re diving into Hallmark’s The Angel Tree. If you love Hallmark Christmas movies with a gentle mystery at the center, this one has plenty to unwrap.

Rebecca (Jill Wagner) returns to Pine River and sets out to uncover the identity of the person behind the angel tree wishes, partly to help her writing career and partly because there’s something about the tradition that still feels like real Christmas magic. Matthew (Lucas Bryant) runs the local diner, plays it cool, and somehow manages to foil Rebecca’s attempts to snoop at every turn. Their easy banter gives the romance a warm, believable rhythm that makes their second-chance connection especially fun to watch.

Garry and Amy are breaking down their favorite scenes, the re-meet-cute that had them laughing, all those pun filled coffee names, and the heartfelt moments that give the story its emotional charm. They’re also answering the all-important question: Which character would they most want to share a glass of wine with?

Pour your favorite beverage, get cozy, and press play. Cheers!

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

Transcript

Welcome, Wine, And Hallmark News

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Pour the Wine, it's romcom time, where we'll sip some wine and review all things romcom on the Hallmark channel. I'm Amy.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

And you can send us an email to porthewine, it's romcomtime at gmail.com and let us know your thoughts about anything hallmark related or maybe anything romcom related. We would love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We sure would. And if you want to help other Hallmark fans find our podcast, you can do so by giving us a five-star review on Apple or Spotify. But if you enjoy watching us, you can catch us on YouTube at Pour the Wine is Roncom Time. Don't forget to hit that bell and subscribe button so you don't miss any of our new episodes.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Oh, I was just enjoying my wine for a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We switched to what do we have today? A Chardonnay, I think, or is it a calves halve?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Because I don't know. It's just white.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

It's just white. I think it's a Chardonnay, but it's about a million degrees again.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I know. And it's supposed to be like a with the um, I guess, humidity or whatever they call it. It's supposed to be like 110 tomorrow. Yes. I mean, no, yes, let's go. Tens in years, man. What in the world?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Swill fall, sweat of weather. So I was just enjoying this crisp white wine on this hot, hot day.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Tell us what did we have or heard it through the grapevine?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Well, we've gotten a lot of drops from Hallmark in the past few days. We'll talk about a couple today. We did um, you know, talk about this and do a quick video over on our social media, but some people aren't on there, and we definitely want to bring up a couple things. We'll still be sprinkling things in our podcasts, um, but we got a lot of information the other day. But we're just gonna talk about two big things. We got two premiere dates. So holiday ever after, a Disney World Wish Come True, will premiere on Saturday, November 28th at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Of course, that is Thanksgiving weekend.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Of course, Turkey Turkey Day.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

And then one week later, a grand Biltmore Christmas will premiere on Saturday, December 5th at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

I know, it's getting very exciting. The more we get for countdown to Christmas, the more exciting it is and the busier we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

I know. But I can't wait till we do our drawing of which movies we're going to review.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

I know, I know. Yeah, we haven't quite decided how we're gonna pan that out yet this year.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Nope, nope, so stay tuned.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Stay tuned. We're in the talks.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

We're in the talks.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

The talks are happen are happening.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Oh, you're silly.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

I know, I know. All right, should we get into it?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Yeah, let's get

Listener Recommendation And Movie Setup

SPEAKER_01 3:04

into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

All right, let me preface this by saying we received an email from one of our listeners, Steve. And in part of the correspondence, we did ask him um, you know, to give us a few Christmas movie recommendations. And he gave us four or five.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I can think of four off the top of my head. Um, but he gave us some and that he enjoys watching every year. And, you know, and we had said maybe we'll review one, you know. So this particular movie is one of Steve's recommendations. So thank you very much, Stevie. Did not disappoint. We actually enjoyed all of the movies, and we were able to watch them all during Christmas and July. Not that we had to during Christmas and July, but we did. That's when we asked him. So today we're going to be reviewing one of those movies called The Angel Tree. We had never seen it.

unknown 3:55

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

It originally aired on the Hallmark channel on November 21st in 2020 and is streaming on Hallmark Plus right now. It stars Jill Wagner as Rebecca and Lucas Bryant as Matthew. Yep. Now, Hallmark fans last saw Jill in 2021 in Mystery 101, Deadly History.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Deadly History.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Now, Jill is in or was in all seven, I think there were seven Mystery 101 movies with Christopher Palaha. I think there was some controversy when that ended. I think the fans maybe want that one back. We've never seen that one either. So she was also in several homework movies um before making the switch to Great American Family. And she is right now in Taylor Sheridan's series Lioness, which is hugely popular. We watched like the first season of that, yeah. And we loved it, we just haven't gotten back to it yet because we've been busy. And she was also in Apple TV's Imperfect Women, which just which aired relatively recently. And it's still Apple TV, Apple Plus, what's it called?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Apple Apple TV. Apple TV. I don't know how it's called.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah. Now, Lucas, he was in several Hallmark movies with 2024's The Real West with Kimberly Sustead. That was the most recent one that I was in. Now I did just real quickly, I was looking up to see if he actually plays guitar and sings because we have seen that a few times in his movies now on Hallmark. And he really does. And what's interesting is when I was reading about this, you know, they filmed this during 2020. So they had their 15-day quarantine before they started filming and all this jazz. And he talked about how, you know, he knew this movie was coming up and everybody was secluded, of course. And he started thinking about songs, and and he really thought they were going to use Oh Christmas tree at some point in this because it's called the Angel Tree. Right, right, right. Um so he started just writing these little ditties, like he was using the music to Oh Christmas tree, and he never thought that they would actually make the movie. And he said, Um, Jessica, who you're gonna talk about in a little bit, the director, he was sending them to her and to someone else, and they really liked it. They really liked the little ditties he was doing, so that's how they ended up in the movie. I thought that was pretty cool. I mean, I was just looking up to see if he actually played and and sung, and and he does. Yeah, and he did, and I just read about that little tidbit and wanted to share.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

You know, didn't that that hat store look like the same one in the Hannah Swanson movie?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

The hat store.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Well, not the Hannah Swans, the um the one with the cowboy. Um, her ex-husband bought the store.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Oh, the Hope Hope Ranch or Love at Hope Ranch or something with Allison.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

I swear that's the same hat store, but I could be Oh, it might I have the same set.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I don't know. Maybe that would be something to look up. All right. I did just want to mention uh a few of the supporting cast members because we love them so much in this. Cassidy Nugent plays Cassie, Rebecca's daughter. She was really cute.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah, she was.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Oscar Farrell plays Owen, Matthew's nephew, and Annabelle Kershaw plays Mimi, Rebecca's aunt.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Aunt.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Aunt.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Aunt Chiclen. This is based on Daphne Benedice Grabb's book of the same name, with Teresa Kale writing the teleplay. We last saw Teresa's writing work on Providence Falls. Jessica Harmon is the director. Jessica has directed numerous Hallmark projects, with the most recent two being All's Fair and Love and Majin. And I'll be seeing you, which were all great.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

We loved those.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Beautifully shot movies. Just like this one was.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Check and check.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

So let's go ahead and drop the sonabs.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

All right.

First Impressions And Holiday Themes

unknown 8:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

You've come in at the end with that. Okay. A writer seeks the identity of the person who helps grant wishes that are placed upon an angel tree and in the process reconnects with her childhood friend.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Oh no. Don't you just love those childhood friends? Yes. All right. So let's pour it out. What did you think?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

First of all, we might give away a few spoilers, but we are not going to give away the end. We're going to try not to accidentally spill the ending.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

We'll try.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

This might be hopefully just spoiler light. It'll be spoiler-ish. But not give away the end. All right. Um, I actually you know, if I had to pour it out first, um I just thought this was a really sweet, heartfelt movie. I loved the banter between Matthew and Rebecca. You know, uh the the two lead characters, obviously. I thought it was really fun. I thought there were funny lines, I thought the pacing was great.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I just, you know, it's all about finding the magic and coming together. And it's, you know, really about the spirit of the holidays and community. And I just, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

unknown 9:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

What about you? Time for you to pour it out.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I did too. I I enjoyed the way the town was decorated. All the all the houses inside and out were decorated with Christmas stuff. It was beautiful. Um, I loved the concept, which was 40 years, you know, old. Um, the angel tree, which I thought was really good. Um Rebecca, I just I she said her. See, this is why I don't think she got hers because she said it out loud. So, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Oh, oh. So so the premise is what they put up an angel tree, people put their wishes on the tree, and then all of a sudden the wishes start magically coming true throughout the season.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yeah. But I really enjoyed it. Like you, I thought it was well really well paced. Um, I thought each character played um played the role really well.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So yeah, I enjoyed it, man.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, it was just a fun, and it was a little bit of a mystery because Rebecca's character is trying to find out who the angel is. Yeah. Who is the angel? And she's trying to get people in the town to tell her, you know, and and her daughter is doing the same thing, and it's just really just a fun and you know it's it's a fun ride, actually.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah, it is. And we usually watch these twice. We watch it first just to enjoy it, right? When it when it comes out. But this one had already come out. And then we watch it and we take notes. And I noticed on the second go-around that there were some clues that kind of um lead you to who it is and who it not who it's not going to be. So I thought it was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Oh, I didn't really watch it the second time for that, but that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

I wasn't either, but I I just noticed those things. There was there was a couple of them.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

All

The Re-Meet Cute At The Diner

SPEAKER_01 11:12

right. So you want to dive into our favorite scene?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Um or do you want to do the meat cute?

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Let's do un let's unwrap the merry meat cute.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

All right. So we're going to rate it. It's either going to be merry and bright, snow much potential, or ho ho no.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

And in this case, it was a re-meat cute.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Matthews. And it was at Matthew's Diner, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Right, right. Rebecca. Pine River Diner, I think. Yeah, but Matthews.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah, and I thought it was so cute because Rebecca shows up and um Matthew is behind the the counter and she's trying to get. No, she wasn't trying to get that was when he was a little, when they were little. And she kind of shoots a straw at him.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

And then when they're bigger, oh, does she shoot a straw at him when they're little?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah, at the beginning, she runs into it.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

You know, I think I glossed over that both the times we watched.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

And then on the re-meet cute, she's she's kind of facing the other way, trying to get the paper off the straw. And Matthew, he kind of sneaks up on not on purpose, but and then says, Hey, and she kind of jumps, turns around, and shoots the straw paper at him and hits him in the face, and his nephew just starts laughing. So I thought it was kind of cute. I mean, it it was it was kind of original, and I'm gonna give it a snow much potential.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Snow much potential. Yeah. I mean, I think well, that makes sense now because she's she's he he says something about how her aim hasn't changed, and he's not standing there when she first goes up to the bar. She walks into the diner with her aunt and her daughter, and they meet some of her aunt's friends, and then she goes up to the bar to order a you know, coffee, and they have all these fancy names for the coffee, which we'll talk about in a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, they're so cute.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

And then um, and then she that yeah, when he comes out and she shoots the straw, and it's just I thought it was cute. And then they kind of hug, and like you said, it's a remeet cute because they knew each other back when they were kids before she had to move away, the dreaded move away, right? For all those years. I know and then um, you know, and she's on a mission to find out who the angel is for an article that she's writing, and she hasn't told him that yet, but her aunt comes up and is like, Hey, she's here. Did she tell you she's here to find out who the angel is? You know?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

So, and we find out right away in that moment that Matthew helps the angel, but he doesn't know who it is because he gets notes of things to do. He gets instructions. So yeah, I'm with you.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Which is a pretty cool concept, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, I I I would say snow much potential. I thought it was light, I thought it was fun. And we both laughed out loud, I think both times with the straw. Yes, you know, in that moment when she accidentally you know shoots the straw at him. Yeah, so that was cute.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

And Owen laughed when she has his nephew.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

The nephew, yeah,

Favorite Scenes And Running Gags

SPEAKER_00 14:09

yeah. All right, so let's talk about a couple of favorite scenes. If you had to narrow it down to two, what where would you start?

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Um, I I liked how Matthew always snuck up on Rebecca and scared her.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, and it's kind of a running joke throughout the whole movie.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, it was so funny because every time she tried to sneak up on somebody to eavesdrop, um, Matthew showed up right behind her, you know, seconds later and and just scared her. And she's like, You gotta stop doing that. And then she would act like she wasn't eavesdropping or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So I just thought those scenes were fun and and um they played really well with each other.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, I agree. Their banter back and forth, and it was like it it felt so natural the way they both played off of one another. And I don't know, I I mean, I'm sure all that stuff was written, but I don't know if they, you know, improvised a little bit too. But they just they really did, they just had this sort of effortless flow between the two of them during the the scenes where they didn't it, it was just reminiscent of two people who had known each other as kids, and they were kind of just right back in that mode, sort of they picked up where they left off, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Type thing. Yeah, but what but the the funny one was when she fell into the Christmas tree, yes, trying to eavesdrop on Matthew on a phone call. Yeah, I laughed out so hard. We did, we laughed out loud a few times. I couldn't stop. I was like, it's and it looked so real. She did a really good job falling into that tree because it looked real, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah, I had that as one of my favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

And she was like, he was like, Matthew said, Are you done decorating? And she she was holding a branch and she let it go, and she goes, I am now.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think in also that scene since you're since you brought it up, um, he kind of accuses her of following him because you know she's trying to find out who the angel is, and he's got this call, and so she follows him outside, and she's like, Why? Why would you think that? Like she plays all it. It's just the way they handled that scene, yeah, was really funny.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, and she's like, What?

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Me? No, I wasn't following you, you know. So just really cute and fun banter. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

So what was one of yours?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Um, well, that was one, but um, and you you brought it up so it doesn't count as one of mine. I really liked like you. I I just enjoyed all the banter scenes. I liked when he snuck up on her, and sometimes not on purpose, right? Well, most of the time I guess it was, but uh before the tree scene where she falls into it, they meet um her. It's Rebecca, Matthew, Cassie, and Owen. So it's Rebecca and Matthew, and then Rebecca's daughter Cassie, and Owen's or Matthew's nephew Owen, and they meet at the angel tree. And Cassie calls Matthew Diner Man.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Hey Diner Man, you know, this is so cute.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

That's like her nickname for him throughout the movie, which is really cute. And then Matthew and Rebecca kind of continue to sit on the bench and they kind of raz each other, you know, and she's like, she's gonna do everything possible to find out, and he says he's gonna do everything possible so she doesn't find out, you know. So right away you kind of get the sense of how they're gonna be throughout the movie. So yeah, I really, you know, I really appreciate that. And then he's got all these, you know, really so bad they're funny puns throughout the whole movie, you know. Like he's like, you know, I think we slayed it, ha ha, you know, or whatever. So I just that worked really well too, because you know, he played it like they're supposed to be corny and they are, but they're still kind of funny tongue in cheek.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

I enjoyed that also, and then all of the coffee names oh my gosh were hysterical to me.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

I know what were some of them? Um did you guys beans, cool beans, espresso yourself, Java the Hut.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

It's beginning to look a latte like Christmas, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

And then I love you a latte, a latte, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I love you a latte, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

And what was it? A couple more was Can I Call You Joe or Call Me Joe? Call me Joe. And then grounded forever for life, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

You're grounded forever.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Uh those are some cool names.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

All right, any other favorite scenes?

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Um, just one more, and that was when he had the uh Matthew had the talk with Owen.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Um I had that one downstairs.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

You know, because Rebecca told him just be open and honest with them. And when he was, you know, Owen kind of called him out and said, Well, you know, you stopped your coffee business because of me. And he's like, What, what? How did you know that? Because you know, kids know things, they just don't tell you. And um, so I just thought that was a real heartfelt moment, a talk between them two, and um, and they end up saying, 'You're gonna help me, we're gonna get this thing going.' So yeah, that was my last favorite scene.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah, I I agree. I mean, I had that one down also. It was just a really good, heartfelt where you know, if you really talk to kids and they start opening up to you, you realize they're thinking one thing and it may or may not be true, and then you can discuss it, and then they come to an agreement about helping each other, right? Like Owen's gonna help him with his is that when he decides he's gonna help him with his coffee business? Yeah, I can't remember. Yep. Yeah, he says he'll do the coffee thing if Owen is on board too, and he kind of includes Owen and Owen's probably I don't even know how old he is, maybe a teenager, like 13, 14.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yeah, definitely around that age.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, I just I enjoyed that scene too. It was just a really strong scene between the two of them, I thought. And then I would have to say the end, but I won't talk about the details, you know. So you know, you kind of have just uh the reveal, and then you have some things after that that are just really great conversations, you know, really great discussions about community and helping each other. And I just I I just yeah, the end. I don't want to say too much because I really hope people if you haven't watched it, watch it or pull it up on Homework Plus and watch it again, you know, because it was it it's just really really good.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah, yeah, I I agree with you. Um so did you have any wait what?

Chemistry Ratings And Wait What Moments

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Wait, what? Do you want to do chemistry uncorked first? Oh yeah, we can do that. We can do that. I jumped ahead.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So we have we have what? What house wine, which is forgettable or lacking chemistry at all. We have a state, which is warm chemistry, and then we have the grand reserve or the grand crew. It's electric chemistry. It is on fire, it's cooking wine, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

I would go with estate. I thought it was just lovely from the beginning. You know, it was two old friends sort of hooking up. They didn't have that. Oh my gosh, come here, baby. You know, chemistry. But um, you know, I just I yeah, I would say I would uncork an estate bottle of wine for this one. Just warm, nice chemistry, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

And it was throughout the movie, too.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah, yeah. And the banter, you know, that's always a good, a good sign of a couple if they can joke around with each other and take it lightly, which they do. Yeah, which they did. So what about you?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

No, I agree. The the the estate, it was some more chemistry. And I just love how she was trying to figure out who Angel was, and then he was in the background stopping her from finding out who she was putting roadblocks up for her. And it was just so and and she wasn't mad about it, and he wasn't mad about it, and they just the banter back and forth with. That was just it was good. Yeah. It was really good. So.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

All right.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Now we can move on to wait, what? Did you have any?

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Uh the biggest one for me would be that no one sees the angel taking the wishes off of the tree. Now I know we got a glimpse of like a hoodie, right? Someone in like a dark hoodie.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Blue hoodie.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Um so I guess you would kind of disguise yourself as it were. But I was like, in, you know, no, this was 2020. This was not like, you know, even like 1995. You know, this is 2020 where there's cameras, everybody knows your name. Cell phones, a town that every yeah, it seems like everybody knows your name, but um, but I, you know, am gonna choose to let that go. That's not gonna affect my for 40 years.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

For 40 years. 40 years. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

This person got away with it.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

So well, she maybe she had help, or maybe they had helpers.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah. Oops.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

I can't take you anywhere. Cannot take this man anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

I didn't say anything. Anyways, you want to know.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I hope people are watching it and can see your beef red thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Oh my god, I knew I'd be the one.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Anyhow, um maybe you can edit it and go blow over it.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Maybe I will do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

People will think you set up bad words.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

So that was at the around the 23 mark, 23-minute mark. Now I know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Um, my way was those marshmallows and those hot chocolate glasses cups, they did not move.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

I didn't even notice that this time. Usually I noticed that.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

I was like, okay, that's fake. And I love how Owen kind of blew on it and went like this, and the marshmallows didn't move at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

It was just usually I pick up on that right away. I didn't even notice that.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

But you know, you gotta be careful with these young kids. So you don't want that hot chocolate spilling on it. But that was so fun.

Cheers, Community Message, And Tinsel Top

SPEAKER_00 24:06

All right, let's get into some cheers and jeers. So um what is your biggest cheer?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Um just the the I just loved um how all the wishes were granted. You know, it was it was a bunch of townspeople getting together to make this stuff happen. So they were kind of like angels helpers. And I just thought it was really cool. And um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Just what you just said.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Huh? What did I do again? Did I do it again?

SPEAKER_00 24:48

It's fine, it's fine. Yeah. No, it's good. Um it's kind of the moral of the story, right? There are heroes in my own. Well, you end up you do you do learn that townspeople help.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Right? Like during the I mean, they talk about that. I mean, Matthew says that at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

He helps the angel, like he gets instructions, but he doesn't know who it is. Because when you think about it, I mean, if it's a big tree, one person can't, they're gonna, you know, Santa needs help.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

And it Santa has L's, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

And and one of the issues, one of the issues this time around was that Rebecca had written a column about it, which brought out even more people to write wishes and hang them on the tree. So it was even bigger this time around.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Right. She writes one article first just about the angel tree in general.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

And then she basically doesn't get bribed, but her editor is like, if you can figure it out, I'll give you your own column. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

So what about you?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Did you have a um just kind of what you what you just talked about, just like the sense of community and you know, finding it in your heart to do good at a time when, you know, people do get down, they do get low, but there are there are a lot, you know, we see so much bad these days, we see so much of the opposite, and we kind of forget because you do, you get dragged down by news, you get dragged down, you know, and you and I were just talking about, and actually I was just talking about it with one of the kids about just social media, and I you some of them are just you just the videos are just it's non-stop, right? Like real bad stuff, like people getting injured and people getting into a fight, and it just it affects my brain, and I'm 54 years old. I know, and you know, and you just feel you start go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I'm sorry, I was gonna say heaven forbid if you say something out loud, because the next time you check social media, whatever you spoke about is on your phone, you're like, whoa, blast.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Yeah, oh well, yeah. But I mean, but you just you just feel like and it can feel like that's all the world is, and it's not, but it just you can see how that affects people and kids and you know, even adults. And it's just so this is just a good reminder that there are good people, there are heroes out there. You're gonna see them. You see them in all walks of life, you just don't always recognize them, right? Because it's always like the bad seed gets the you know, gets the news, you know. I wish we had more news stories about people doing good and then kind of reverse that. But but so I I thoroughly enjoyed that message. I enjoyed the message of you know, finding the magic again if you lose it, especially at the holidays. Um, the banter between Rebecca and Matthew, I thought was so great. So great. And you already talked about the way he kept startling her throughout the whole movie. You know, there's no big argument between the two of them. I always love it when we get a movie that there's no big rub right between the two of them. I loved her wardrobe. I would wear any of those sweaters anytime. I thought her wardrobe was so cute and the red dress beautiful at the end. Yeah, yeah, I thought that that was great. And I love the uh the Cassie character who played Rebecca's daughter, the actress who played her. She's so cute because she's like this kid who who is in LA, but she gets to go and have a good Christmas and snow, and she's all excited. She wants like hot chocolate and snow angels, and she's just all into it, and she's all about helping her mom, you know, and she's really complimentary of her mom. And I just I loved I love that too. I I just thought it really worked.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

So all around it was warm and fuzzy.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah. What about jeers? Did you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I didn't have any. Um no, I didn't. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 28:41

No, I didn't. There is a military angle to this movie also.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

That we haven't really talked about. And, you know, I was glad that they put that in there. We've mentioned this before. We live in a very large military town, um, a military area, very strong in the area. And, you know, lots of people aren't home for holidays and don't make it back, you know, for the holidays, can't come home. There's parents, you know, siblings and things. And so it's just, it was a really good. I just I liked that they put that in there.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I thought that that was uh And that was Matthew's younger sister, younger sister.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

She served right in the army, right? So yeah, and I I think at one point they say, you know, people just in general want to believe in something good at Christmas, like you just innately want to, and this just this movie just really brought it out, I thought.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

So so what was your tinsel top moment?

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Um, my tinsel topped moment, gosh. Um I was just trying to I think it would be the Matthew and Owen talk.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Because they finally because Owen's kind of, you know, if you have a teenager, you know they're kind of uh how's your day? Fine, you know, or whatever. And Owen's mom is isn't home and he's kind of feeling that, and he feels like he's a burden to his uncle, but he doesn't want to say that. And then their conversation just opens it all up.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

And it was just it was just a really, you know, pointing apart. And I I really liked Rebecca's character's kind of evolution through the whole thing. I I thought that that was really, really well done. Also, what about you? Um Tinsel Top moment.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

I liked the Owen and the Matthew too, but I also liked um Rebecca and her daughter Cassie's talk on the porch, which was decorated beautifully, and how Casey was just, you know, saying this was the best Christmas ever, and you're the best mom, and you know, I I just loved that conversation.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

So that was my tonsil top moment. All right. All right. So you want to do the final pour?

SPEAKER_00 30:58

The final pour.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Our overall rating on this one.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Do you want to talk about who you'd have a glass of wine with?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Oh, oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Which character would you want to sit down and have a glass of wine with by the fireside?

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Um, I would do Mimi.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

I like Mimi. She was good.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Interesting. Yeah. What about you? Who would you say?

SPEAKER_00 31:27

I'd really like to have a glass of wine with Matthew. I want to talk about all the coffee names. I want to sit down and have a discussion about his new business, how he's going to do it. Okay. You know, he owns the diner, but he's going to expand into the coffee business, and we like coffee.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

And I like the names. So I would like to just have a discussion about them.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yeah. Yeah, they were fun.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah. All right. Now we can get into the overall final pour out of five ornaments. How many would you hang on the tree for this one?

SPEAKER_01 31:57

I'm giving this one a four, seven, five.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

Oh, that's really high.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

I enjoy it. I I love the story. I love the meaning behind it all. And we didn't talk about the meat and potato of it because we didn't want to give it away.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Right, right. Well, one of us didn't.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

I thought it was just don't listen around 23 minutes. Okay. Um, but yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

So what what what do you I would go a solid four and a half. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was I thought it was really good. You know, we haven't I don't think we've seen we haven't seen any of the mystery 101s. I'm not real super familiar with Joe Wagner, but I loved her.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

I loved um Lucas Bryant that played Matthew. And we've seen him, you know, in several movies. So I just thought I I th I thought it was really well done, really well written, directed, the pacing. So yeah, I mean I would go, I would go a four and a half. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

That's a good score.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Yeah.

unknown 33:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

I definitely would sit down and watch it again.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

We'd have a so thank you, Steven, for giving us this little nugget.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

We enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Yeah. Thank you for the recommendation. And some of the other movies might be coming your way for a review. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

So is that a wrap?

Final Scores And How To Support

SPEAKER_00 33:19

That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

All right. Well, we'd like to thank you for listening. And again, if you want to help other Hallmark fans find our podcast, you can do so by giving us a follow at five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And if you like watching our videos, you can catch us on YouTube at Pour the Wine is RomTom Time. And don't forget to click that bell and that subscribe button so you don't miss any of our episodes. Cheers.