Hallmark's The Christmas Baby

A baby. A handwritten note. A couple who thought the door on parenting was firmly closed. On this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy pour a glass and unwrap Hallmark’s The Christmas Baby. With standout performances from Ali Liebert and Katherine Barrell, the film tenderly explores adoption, identity, embracing unexpected change, and extending grace when life doesn’t go according to plan. 

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

SPEAKER_01 0:07

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

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

And I'm drinking a cab.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Are you drinking one too?

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Yes, right here. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

And we finally, finally put our Christmas trees away. It is mid-January 2020.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I know.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

It's so dark. I needed a little more time with my trees.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

We both yeah, they just they look so nice and just lights up the house. It does. And now it's just dark and dreary and empty.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Like my soul.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Like your soul. Yeah. Like January is. It's such a bummer, man. Such a bummer. But I mean, it's good. They needed to be put away. And there is something to be said about, you know, we don't have a lot of clutter. So now things are back where they should be.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

It's fresh, even though it's dark, a little empty, but it's still fresh.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

We're moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Moving forward. Today we are going to be reviewing the Christmas baby. It originally aired on the homework channel on Saturday, December 21st, 2025. So we are kind of keeping the Christmas spirit alive.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

We're going to do that. We're going to drop um Christmas content on tinsel Tuesdays throughout 2026. We started doing that in 2025 or most of 2025. So we're going to continue that. And the Christmas baby actually was something we drew to review that particular weekend and countdown to Christmas. And we just, with everything going on, we just did not get to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

We sure didn't. And there was a live going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, we kind of life was lifing, as they say. And uh we just did not get to it. But we are happy to get to it today. And moving forward, there were other movies that we did not draw to review, but we watched everything, and we're looking forward to reviewing those as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yes, and it's a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

So yeah, we liked a lot. We liked several movies this year.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah. And down to Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

But here we are dropping this one. So if you listen on Apple or Spotify, you can drop us a review.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Or some stars. And if you want to watch and listen, you can hop over to YouTube at Pour the Wine. It's rom com time. Hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any of our new material.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Don't miss any new content. That's right. And yeah, I think you can just do stars on Spotify. But Apple allows you stars and a review. So if you have time, we would really, really appreciate it. Hopefully it's a positive review. We hope. We hope. And if you know anyone who enjoys Hallmark and you think would appreciate our podcast, we'd love for you to share it.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah, please do.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah. Yeah. Sharing is carrying.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

And we'll read it on one of our podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

There you go. Speaking of dropping us a line, you can do that to pour the wine. It's romcomtime at gmail.com. Let us know your thoughts about Countdown to Christmas, or now we're well into the winter escape movies.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Since it's past well through. Yes. So send us an email, let us know your thoughts so far about Hallmark. We sort of think they've hit the ground running in 2026 with these movies. They're bringing it. Spoiler alert, right? Yes. So send us uh send us an email and let us know. We may read it on the podcast.

unknown 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

So let's tell the folks who's in this one.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

The folks. We're gonna tell the folks who's in this one. Allie Liebert plays Erin Pinelli. Allie has been in several Hallmark movies, of course. After looking over her IMDB, I did, I think her first Hallmark film was in 2012. I believe, unless I need to go a little further back. And that movie was Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Some of her other Hallmark were movies include Three Wise Men and a Baby, and Three Wisest Men, Love of the Irish, and Every Time a Bell Rings. Allie has also dipped her toes in directing. So some of her Hallmark directing credits include Love of the Irish, Deck the Halls on Cherry Lane, and Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Catherine Burrell plays Kelly Townsend, and Erin and Kelly are a couple in this movie. We just saw her in two episodes of season two of Mistletoe Murders. Some of her other hallmark work includes A 90s Christmas, Shifting Gears, A Tale of Two Christmases, and she played Joy Harper in the series Good Witch. Which we loved. Go watch it. So, so good.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Binge it, binge it.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Binge it, binge it. Barbara Niven plays Betty Mitchell. Barbara, of course, is a hallmark staple who has starred in a ton of hallmark movies, including the Hannah Swenson mystery movies, Leah's Perfect Gift, Christmas at the Golden Dragon, Ms. Christmas Comes to Town. We loved her as Megan O'Brien on the series Chesapeake Shores.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Another good binge watching series.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Such a good binge series. And that one actually, Chesapeake Shores started in 2016. There's this whole thing on social media now about 2026 is the new 2016. So people are posting like their pictures from them or their projects they were working on in 2016. And so Chesapeake Shores, it's a great time to start it then, since 2026 is the new 2016. Start and binge. I I don't remember how many seasons there are of that, four or five, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 5:48

I think so. I think it's five, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, I can't remember for sure, but yeah. But there's enough to keep you it's binge worthy.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Other cast members include Rebecca Staub as Joyce Townsend. So she plays uh Kelly's mom, which is played by Catherine Burrell. Um Kriona Murphy plays Angie Pennelli. She plays Allie Larder's Aaron character's mom. Robert Wilson is Mr. Seltzer, he is their neighbor. Sydney Scotia is Stephanie, she is the coffee shop girl. Right. Right. And Lucas Grasmick is Nicholas, the baby. The baby.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Such a cute baby.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

The baby's such a cute baby. Oh gosh, adorable, adorable in this.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

He is.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Can you imagine being in a movie and being like, oh, that was me, you know? That was me when I was a little baby. I was in the Christmas baby. Yeah, pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Would it be cool if he if he ends up doing as he grows, he's in more m more movies.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

If he stays an actor.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

If he stays an actor, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah, yeah.

unknown 6:55

Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Right. Well, the director of The Christmas Baby is Eva Tavares. Eva has directed a few music videos and shorts, but this is her first directorial debut. She's no stranger to Hallmark, though. As an actor, she has a and she was in a handful of films, a Royal Montana Christmas, all three Cherry Lane movies, and Easter Bloom. And she also played Christine in the National Tour of Phantom of the Opera.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

We saw it in New York on Broadway.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

We did. We got to see it on New York. Oh my gosh. One of my all-time favorite memories of us going to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Oh gosh. I was not okay when we left that. I was not okay. And guess what?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

It was during Love Love Wary.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yes, it was. Our own Loviery in New York City in February. It was freezing cold, but we were warm on the inside.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Topher Payne is the writer on The Christmas Baby. Topher has written five other Hallmark movies, including A Christmas to Cheris, Roman Love, A Gift for Christmas, Broadcasting Christmas, and My Summer Prince.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Oh, very cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah.

unknown 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

So time to drop the synopsis.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Time to drop the synopsis. And you know what? I think I just put it away, so I'm gonna have to pull it back up. It's my fault. A couple receives a baby boy before Christmas with a note meant for them while temporarily caring for him during the holiday rush, they navigate their relationship, careers, and the foster to adopt process.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Now, this is the point in the podcast where if you haven't seen it, stop, go watch it, come back, let us know what you think. Right? Or do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

We might give away spoilers. Or we will give away some spoilers.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yeah, but that's okay. Yeah. So what did you think?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

That I, well, first off, I will say, you know, I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

I think that Hallmark is doing a great job at telling stories like this. Um, you know, not only about the couple, but it's about adoption. It's about relationships, it's about careers, it's about babies changing everything in your life, right? Like what you're going through. So I just I thought it was really, really well done. I loved um Allie and Rebecca in it. Right. You know, I thought they were I thought they were cast perfectly for their roles because, you know, Alan's excuse me, Alan's character, Aaron, is sort of like this, you know, she's I don't want to say um unorganized, but she kind of, you know, is late to things and she's not, you know, she's kind of not very punctual. Yeah, not very punctual and sort of, you know, lives by the seat of her pants kind of thing, you know, and and Catherine is more, I mean, they're both Catherine is a creative, but she's more organized and you know, likes things a certain way. So, but I just thought Catherine's um character, Kelly. So I thought Aaron and Kelly as a couple worked really well because they're they're the same but opposite a little bit. So I thought they both played those roles really, really well. And I thought the cast was great, the supporting cast, the actors who played their friends and their parents. And I thought, I thought it was just a really, and it was a realistic look at a relationship who maybe didn't or decided they didn't want a baby. And then, you know, when they have the opportunity, they kind of, you know, question whether they do, whether they don't.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Should they, should they not? One really wants one, you know, can things change in a relationship if you've decided not to. Is that okay? So I think, you know, and how do you handle your career then? What do you do? So I thought it was just, I thought it was really well done. I mean, I enjoyed it. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Um, I agree with you. Um, it definitely pulled at the heart, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah. Yeah. There were some scenes that you we teared up for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Yeah. To me, it was more real, real life um episode or movie from Hallmark. Um, I loved their their relationship, like you said. The supporting cast was awesome. But what's funny is Aaron, she's more of the kind of neat type person, but she's late. Whereas Kelly is more of the messy type person. Well, that's a better description. Yeah. She's always on time.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, that's a better description. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

So when you throw a baby in the mix, right, now you have to incorporate the baby into your everyday routine.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, those pesky babies, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Darn it. Yeah. You ruin your can't just go down to the coffee shop and get you a coffee.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Oh, you can. It's just gonna be a different experience than what you're used to.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

So I too really enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, yeah. I guess there's there isn't really a meet cute because it starts out, well, we meet them, right? Right. So we meet them and they're already married.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah, they're already together. Yeah, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Which is yeah, yeah. It's cool to jump into someone's story like that. I I kind of like that it started that way. I thought that was cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Yeah, me too. So let's talk about some favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

All right.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I want to I'll start with um when Kelly has the baby alone for the first time and she's in the garage, you know, it's so funny because she doesn't know what to do, and she does, and she's she's working on the set for the um local theater. Right. So she's doing some sanding, she's doing some drilling, and you just add this baby to her everyday routine, and she doesn't know what to do. Change diapers, feed the baby, and then comes the neighbor, right? Um, which I thought it kind of reminded me of um Mr. Wilson, you know, the neighbor across the fence.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yes, oh Wilson on um home improvement, Mr.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Sil Sils Seltzer, what is it? Seltzer. Seltzer Um who is always coming over and asking, do they really gotta make that not that much noise at night and then or in the morning? And then he talks about, you know, is the baby gonna cry all day long? But that was one of my favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

When she's well, I think I I gotta quit since you brought up Mr. Seltzer, so he's like this, you know, cranky neighbor. Right. You know, this this cranky next door neighbor. And I'm like, how close are the houses that he heard what was going on inside of her house, like the sanding of something down? I was like, are your houses that I mean I know I know houses are closed, like we're close to our neighbors, but I'm like, would you hear it that loudly? You might, you know, in your I mean, maybe, I don't know. Depending on where your living room is, and then the nerve to go over there and you know say something.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

And complain. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Not quite fun. Yeah. What was one of yours?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Um, so we didn't really, you know, kind of set up the premise where the baby's dropped off. Um, Erin's at work, she's in the back, yes, right, and the baby's dropped off. This is aside from my favorite scene. So the baby's dropped off, and she picks up the baby, and then she goes, or you know, she sees the baby, there's a note for her and for Kelly to take, you know, they're they're giving the baby to her and Kelly.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

And she goes to an event, and um, so then they have this baby. Barbara Niven comes in, she's a social worker, and she's so good as a social worker. I really appreciated her character. I call I'm calling her a social worker. I don't know officially, isn't that what she was? Sort of fostering the adoption process and you know, kind of, but you know, that aside, so um, so Aaron and Kelly decide that they need help, right? Probably from their parents, but they don't want to tell their parents. But then Aaron's like, well, I'm just gonna kind of because they're trying to figure out who the mom is, right? So, because they they're not sure who left them this baby. And so Aaron, so Aaron and Kelly are talking, and Aaron's like, well, you know, I have a cousin who's pregnant. I'll just ask my mom, you know, hey, you know, and Kelly's like, you're not exactly subtle. And she's like, What? I can be subtle, you know, and then and then the next scene is the mom show up at the door because Aaron was not so subtle. I just thought that that was funny. That was really kind of a cute, you know, because she was gonna ask her mom, and then the moms all of a sudden show up at the door, and you know, and Kelly's like, I, you know, like I told you, you're not subtle. Your mom totally picked up on that hint, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

You already knew about the baby, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Right. And then I just liked when the moms came in, they're a team and they're excited to see the the baby, and then they're like, Hey, do you this is all part of that same scene. Yeah, you know, do you have enough supplies? And Aaron's like, yeah, the social worker gave us like, you know, 24 diapers. And then the moms start laughing because of course, you know, you're gonna go through those really quickly. That's not gonna be enough for a week, you know. So then they go off shopping or whatever. But I just thought that that was really cute. That whole lead into the moms coming to the house. Right. That'd be one of them.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

It was.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Um, another one would be so they they have, you know, they have the baby, and then and then um Betty comes, the social worker comes and and takes the baby, finds like a foster for the baby, right? Right. And then they they she takes the baby to this this foster family, and Kelly finally admits that she misses Nicholas, but she doesn't know how to feel about it yet.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

You know, and Aaron, because they've kind of had this conflict. Like Kelly's like, you know, look, I like our life the way it is, but Aaron really wanted the baby, she didn't think she did, she realized she wanted the baby, and it takes Kelly a little bit to admit that, you know, gosh, yeah, I do, I do miss Nicholas. And Kelly's like, or Aaron's like, I, you know, I don't feel so alone now because now I know that you miss him also.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

You know, and I just thought, you know, knowing that Kelly felt the same way that she did when they hadn't really been communicating that, I thought that that was that was a really good scene. And for Kelly to admit, you know, I miss him, but I've viewed my life as not having a baby. How do I fit that into my mindset? And then that's a shift for people.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yeah, and the other thing is, is and Kelly had a point was what if one day somebody comes knocking on the door and wants them back? You know, you've given your heart and soul to this baby, and now it can be yanked out from from under you. And that was a good point. So yeah, that was that was a good scene. And I think okay, go ahead. No, I was gonna move on to my next one.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

No, I was just gonna say, um, when they were at the party, um, Erin explains to Joe, which is one of her friend's husbands, um, because he kind of says that's randomness. Somebody would just drop a baby off and not let anybody know.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

And and Aaron was like, you know, it wasn't a random thing. The baby was left at the store for them. The note said, I want you to, you and Kelly to take care of the baby, you know, so it wasn't a random thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

And the way she explained it, it was just, it was really, really emotional.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

That was a really that was a great scene. And that's something I should have mentioned at the at the top too, when we talked about, you know, what we thought about it. That's another topic that I think Hallmark is handling really well. And we've seen this, I believe, in other movies, but you know, the mom who dropped the baby off cared so much for the baby that she wanted to give the baby a good life with them because she knew them. And I think in that scene that you're talking about, Aaron kind of alludes to it wasn't an easy thing. She the baby was loved, the baby was well cared for. Yeah, the baby just wasn't dropped off randomly. Right. The baby was given to us from somebody, we don't know who it is yet. Yeah, but the baby was given to us from somebody who cares enough to give the baby. And I think Hallmark is doing a really good job because I think, you know, there is sort of a stigma if you give your baby up for adoption or if you drop your baby off at a fire station, which you uh, you know, can do and safe houses. It's like people just are so harsh on the birth moms. Right. You know, the biological moms. And it's like, it's, it's not easy. None of that is easy or fun or just disregarded. It's it's gotta be heart wrenching to do that, even though you know you're doing the right thing because maybe you're not financially set. Maybe you're maybe like, you know, you you find out it's a young, it's not like a teenager, but it's, you know, a younger, a young adult. And she's just not ready. And the dad wasn't in the picture and didn't want to be in the baby's life, and she felt like she couldn't provide for the baby. So why are you gonna be harsh about a parent doing that? That's really the best thing they can do for their child if they can't provide, you know. So that's a whole other topic. Sorry, I digress.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

No, but you had a good point, you know. The thing is, you know, the heart's gonna love what the you know, what the heart wants to love.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

You know, I I'd rather have somebody give the baby up to give it a better life than to, you know, maybe struggle throughout their time with the baby. And you know, things happen. So, you know, I think Hallmark did a good job on that.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah, I think they I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

So another one of my favorite scenes was when Mr. Celsa comes over. Because, you know, there there was a lot of back and forth with um Kelly and Aaron um giving the baby to the to uh the social worker. And yes, and um there was a uh scene where he comes over and is like, Where's the baby? Why isn't there any crying?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Why don't I hear the baby crying? Yeah, he's like this.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Yeah, and and he takes a walk with Kelly and he explains you know his situation, and he was kind of explaining it using the dog that he was walking, and she's like, Are you really gonna compare the dog and you to a baby and us? And he's like, No, not really, but it's kind of the same.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

It's kind of an analogy a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

No, he came along when I needed it, and he came along when he needed it. So that's what he was trying to explain.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

That was a cute scene. Yeah, that was cute because he's this, you know, cranky guy, but he ends up he's not, I mean, he's a little bit cranky, but he's actually a nice guy. Right. And he kind of helps her a little bit, and she's like, Are you being nice? And he's basically like, Don't tell anybody, don't let it get out. Yes, it was so it was yeah, it it was cute. It was cute. I think, and I think that's something else I wanted to discuss because uh a theme here too is you know, one of Kelly and Aaron's um not disag well, I guess disagreement, you know, they agreed that they were not gonna have children. They both neither of them wanted to have children. And you know, Kelly's big thing was she was always what did she say? She always had to compete for attention. Yeah. That's why she wanted it to just be her and Aaron, because sh, you know, she had her full intention. And before I say what Aaron said, um, I I think the only part about this that I I think people should consider is if you go into a marriage with that agreement, if one side changes about a baby, I I don't think it's fair to be mad at the other person who maybe still doesn't want one.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

I don't think that that's fair because yeah, people change, people evolve. Once you have a baby, like this baby was, you know, uh given to them in a secretive way, but you know, kind of like here I want you, you know, I can't take care of him. And I mean, they get the baby, and yeah, you can change, but not everybody wants to do that. Right. And if you go into a relationship, and so I sort of felt I understood there were moments when Erin, you know, was upset with Kelly because she's like, you know, you keep making up all these excuses. But I'm like, but she didn't, you know, you agree that you didn't want a baby.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

And I don't think it's fair to be mad at her for thinking about things, you know, thinking things through. Like it's gonna change our lifestyle. And like you said, what if somebody comes to pick up the baby? What if, you know, and I mean, the babies do not solve everything and they do not make everyone's life better just because they're in it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

It's like, I mean, well, that's what they say. Like, if you're a couple that's and and this cup and Aaron and Kelly are not struggling at all, they have a good, solid relationship, right? Everything's going pretty well between the two of them and their careers and everything, so they're fine. But I'm talking about couples who may be having problems, they think the baby is an answer and it's not, you know. So I just think that it was a little bit unfair to Kelly at times, right? With Aaron being upset, you know, and at the same token, I mean, Kelly has to understand that I guess Aaron changed also. Right. She's like, Well, I said I didn't want one, but man, when I was holding Nicholas, you know, it changed things. I realized I wanted a baby. And then that's when it, you know, and then Aaron does say, you know, I don't think love is divisible, love is infinitely shareable. Right. And I was like, ooh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

That's a good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

That's a really good line. You know, love is infinite, you know, infinitely shareable. So, you know, she was telling Kelly, you'll have my attention just as much, but now we'll have this baby and I can share my love. You know, it's not, I don't have to split my love in half. It's going to be shared with both of you. So exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Well, another one of my favorite scenes was when they had the house inspector come in to make it.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yes, I had that also as a favorite scene. Yeah, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

That was a very emotional scene when Kelly tells the the story about the fish and what the fish does.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

You know, when they're when their home is destroyed or whatever, they move it to another like clan. Yeah. And I can't remember what the fish was called, but that was a really, really good scene. And afterwards, the inspector was like, now you just have to write that down.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

You have to write it down, right? Because they need they need statements on why they want to be parents because they've gotten the baby back and they want to move forward with adopting the baby, even though they still don't know who's tears.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

I have some tears. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Yeah. Even though they don't know the parent yet or the mom. Right. They don't know who the mom is yet. And they're trying, still trying to figure that out, but they've decided that they want the baby. So they get the baby back from the foster family where the baby was, right? And um, and what is Betty? She says something to them like, you know, I I told that foster family it was only going to be a couple days anyway, because I had a hunch you guys were gonna want the baby back. You know, that was kind of cute. That was cute. It was because I'm not, I'm not, you know, I'm usually not wrong about that. I have a good instinct about that. So I thought that that was cute.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

And then um, yeah, and then Kelly's speech to that guy was really, really good. And really powerful. You can kind of see, so it's the what who'd you say?

SPEAKER_02 27:00

He's the um for the adoption, he's like the home inspector, make sure that the house is like the home, the home visit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Right, right. And so, and you can see Aaron's kind of trepidatious about what Kelly's gonna say because Kelly's sort of been on the fence about it. She wants to, but she's a little scared. But then she gives this beautiful speech, and Aaron's kind of like, okay, you know, like that was really good.

SPEAKER_02 27:25

It was, it was really good.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Um, another favorite scene, uh, my final favorite scene would be when the birth mom officially asked them to be the parents. They find out who the birth mom is, and we won't give that part away, but they do find out who it is, and you know, and I liked that they had Betty say, because the birth mom wants to meet them, right? Right. And Aaron's like, uh, what would you do? What do you say? And she she basically says something, I think I wrote it down somewhere, but something like, you know, I'm always in favor of kindness wherever you can give it.

SPEAKER_03 28:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

It's something to that effect. So show her some grace. And so that's what we were talking about earlier that Hallmark does so beautifully is the birth mom. It's just, it was just really, really well done and well handled in the movie about the birth mom. So the birth mom does meet them, she knows it's the right decision, and then she, you know, officially asks them to be the parents because she has left the baby before with a note and now she does it officially.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

So and she originally wanted to talk to him, but when she dropped him off first, she just lost her nerve and just made the note and took off. But she got her chance to officially do it properly, and she did. And the whole time Aaron and Kelly were thinking, Oh, she wants the baby back.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Yeah, they well, they were nervous, they were worried, and and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Yeah, and then they had, of course, all their family members were hidden at that point.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I do. So Aaron and Kelly were having their Christmas Eve party and they made all the family members hide when she came to not overwhelm the birth mother.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

So it was good. It was a good scene. Yeah. So you have any cheers?

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Cheers, none. No. Um, we've already talked about a lot of my cheers, just how homework handles the whole situation. You know, you have Aaron and Kelly are a couple. Um, I think it's so important to emphasize. I mean, I know there's so many children in foster care. There's so many children, not just babies, but you know, older kids too who need to be adopted. And, you know, love is love.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

And if you have a happy couple who can take care of a baby or, you know, an older child, I know they're older children. I think, and I I just think that Hallmark handled it beautifully in this movie. I think they handled the birth mother situation. I really liked that the social worker Betty was really kind and giving because social workers get a bad rap too.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

You know, and I just and she was really, you know, she worked all night to, you know, get paperwork to them, to get them in front of a judge, to, you know, to do all the things for them because she believed in them, she saw them, and you know, so I just thought uh the cheer would just be how they handled all of those topics throughout this film.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

It was really well done.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

And they made and they made Stephanie a good person, you know, who just wasn't ready to raise a a child. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

That that that was my cheer.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah. That was it.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

So do you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Um, the only jeer um I talked about the cranky neighbor, Mr. Seltzer. I didn't understand he could hear, but I guess you can possibly, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Um, yeah, I guess. So um, no, I didn't really have any other other jeers other than that. Did you have any?

SPEAKER_02 31:00

No.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

I don't think there were any green screens.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

No. We didn't have to worry about that.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Drama. Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

In a good way, so yeah, yeah. All right. Well, is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Um, do you wanna how many?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Oh, oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

How many ornaments would you hang on the tree for this one?

SPEAKER_02 31:20

I'm gonna give this one three and three quarters.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Oh, three and three quarters. Okay. Um, I think I will do the same. I'm gonna do a 3.75 for this one. I enjoyed it. I I really enjoyed the way it was produced. I enjoyed the way it was directed. I mean, I think overall they did a really, really good job, you know, handling all of the topics that were in, and there were several, right, in this particular movie. So um, yeah, I give it a 3.75.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Okay. So we're the same.

unknown 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

We're samers. We're samers. We're samers.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

All right. So now is it a wrap?

SPEAKER_01 32:03

That is a wrap now that we've officially hung our ornaments on the trees that don't exist anymore.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

I know it's not there. But it will be. I know.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

It will be before you know it.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Well, thanks for listening and watching.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

And watching, yeah. Be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss a thing. Until next time. Cheers.