Podcasts about Hallmark

We welcome Amber "Voice of Pam on Archer" Nash to the show for a little quiz about this year's slate of Hallmark holiday films, and what we think their plots might be. Check out Amber's podcast, RePhrasing: An Archer Rewatch Podcast, right on our own network, Maximum Fun!Tickets for Flop TV Season 3 are ON SALE! Also, we'll be back at San Francisco Sketchfest on January 25! Get tickets now! We'll be discussing legendary flop THE MASTER OF DISGUISE!Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It's got fun stuff in it!

Today Rachel is joined by Bree and Jazzman to talk about this weekend's Hallmark movies (She's Making a List, Single on the 25th) Check out our interview with Daniel Lissing https://youtu.be/7cYUMUophkw Follow Jazzman at https://www.instagram.com/shreem16/ Follow Bree https://www.instagram.com/bree.unabashedly/ Today save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code HALLMARKIES For all of our rankings https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXv4sBF3mPUCgu1AlVoiEMigO6cvdGAAW To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/hallmarkies for 15% off! Uncommon Goods. We're all out of the ordinary. Our Christmas podcasts are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f2KtBPzUE&list=PLXv4sBF3mPUDo41tHqhkjHCvedmZwLzHx For all of our interviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXv4sBF3mPUA_0JZ2r5fxhTRE_-RChCj Send us your feedback at feedback@hallmarkiespodcast.com or the twitter call +1 (801) 855-6407 Check out the merch store and get our #hashtag shirts! https://hallmarkies.dashery.com/ Please support the podcast on patreon at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow us on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288?mt=2 https://twitter.com/HallmarkiesPod on twitter @HallmarkiesPodcast on Instagram Check out our website HallmarkiesPodcast.com Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Follow Rachel on facebook www.facebook.com/smilingldsgirlreviews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Aura Frames. Exclusive $35-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/DECK // Promo Code: DECKPatrick is back to help us break down another episode of Finding Mr. Christmas! FINDING MR. CHRISTMAS SEASON 2 CAST:Angel Garet, 38 — Charlotte, N.C.Craig Geoghan, 33 — Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.Davey Fisher, 34 — Lake Tahoe, Nev.Marcus Brodie, 32 — Hamilton, OhioRustin Sailors, 37 — San Diego, Calif. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We all want our holidays to have the look and feel of a Hallmark movie, but more often than not, Christmas perfection just doesn’t happen. Dr. Linda Mintle will join us to teach us how to navigate the holidays with joy. Learn how to handle Christmas stress while enjoying the reason for the season.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Broomheads! We've had a bit of a busier December than anticipated, so we'll be back with the rest of season 13 in January. To celebrate the season, we're sharing a little Christmas gift by way of our Patreon. This episode is from last year when we watched Paula Brancati and Jake Epstein in Hallmark's (or was it Lifetime? Who can remember) SINCERELY, TRULY CHRISTMAS. Please enjoy our wrap up of the movie and our thoughts about the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni situation from one year ago (incredibly relevant in December 2025)!!! And join us over on Patreon for fun monthly bonus episodes like this! Thanks as always for listening, you've made 2025 another great year for us!   Find us online! Patreon: DEEEMP Email: everyepisodever@gmail.com Instagram: @DEEEMPodcast Facebook: DEEEM Podcast Facebook group: Dope Monkeys and Broomheads

Brooke Clay Taylor is a force. We are so excited to have her on the podcast because her story is so darn inspiring, and she's just a really cool human. In this episode, Brooke shares her journey from growing up in a small town, moving to the big city for college and work, moving back to a small town for entrepreneurship and love, and then becoming an entrepreneur, mother, and cancer survivor. This episode explores what it really looks like to design your life with intention, build community by being a "villager," and choose authenticity in both business and life. About Brooke: Brooke Clay Taylor has made a life of clearing hurdles, but she'd be the first to tell you she didn't jump a single one alone. Born into a farming family in Franklin, Ind., and raised on a ranch in Perkins, Okla., anyone reading the plot to date might've said Brooke's story was more Lifetime than real-life, more Hallmark than even half-believable. When a high school guidance counselor told Brooke her average grades and would-be first-generation college student status made her a better candidate for job training than higher education, Brooke leaped anyway. She landed with bachelor's and master's degrees and firm footing for a career in strategic communications. Her career, and later, love, took Brooke from Oklahoma City to Charlotte, Austin to Nashville. She left Music City for Payne County when the fairy tale proved fiction, trading the keys for a middle-Tennessee Craftsman to a red-dirt-speckled horse barn. With three figures in her bank account, Brooke jumped again: This time to launch Rural Gone Urban, a strategic communications business to support farmers, ranchers and agriculture clients worldwide with her digital prowess. She married Damon — a fellow Perkins kid and junior high crush come full circle — in a snow globe scene, and together, they made a home on the shores of Lake Tenkiller in Eastern Oklahoma. The next summer, they welcomed their daughter, Elsie, the same day Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite extensive treatment and being declared cancer-free, it returned two years later. And it was angry. Whether in finding the courage to take the first step into a lecture hall she allegedly didn't belong or the infusion center to face another round of chemo, Brooke credits her support system for never letting her fall. She founded the Rural Gone Urban Foundation to help women jumping hurdles — the B students, the big dreamers, the start-overers, and especially the women in the ring with cancer — who don't have the support that has propelled her at every leap.  In this episode, we cover: Leaving big-city success to build something meaningful in a small town Receiving a cancer diagnosis the day her daughter was born Building a nonprofit as a vehicle for legacy, not just charity The quiet tension of being nationally respected but locally unseen Why pain comparison silences connection—and how to change it Links + Resources Mentioned: Rural Gone Urban website: https://ruralgoneurban.com/ Rural Gone Urban Foundation: https://ruralgoneurban.org/ Sponsor Spotlight: The Yellow Bird is a longtime favorite and friend of Growing Small Towns and our Executive Director, Rebecca. The Yellow Bird is a family-owned, all-natural skincare company committed to keeping things pure, simple, and safe. Their products are made with real ingredients you can pronounce (and actually read on the label), free from synthetic chemicals, and gentle enough for the whole family—especially anyone with allergies or sensitivities. Founded by Nicole, who grew up in a home that prioritized holistic living, The Yellow Bird was born from a simple truth: what we put on our skin matters. Their mission is to make effective, affordable skincare using minimal yet powerful ingredients like coconut oil and essential oils. You can shop their full line online, including on Amazon. Use https://www.theyellowbird.co/?ref=REBECCAUNDEM for a discount when you shop!  Want to get your business in front of our audience? Become a podcast sponsor! Each season, we feature a select group of Small Business Partners—brands that share our mission to celebrate small-town life and big ideas. With a 4–6% average Facebook engagement rate (well above the industry average), 2,600+ loyal followers, and 45,000 monthly content views, we have an amazing, highly engaged audience of people who can't wait to learn more about you. When we feature you, your story, and your product/service, it's like a friend's recommendation, because it is. Want to know more? Reach out to us at director@growingsmalltowns.org We want to hear from you! We really, really do, and if you'll let us, we'd love to feature your actual message. Some of the best parts about radio shows and podcasts are listener call-ins, so we've decided to make those a part of the Growing Small Towns Podcast. We really, really want to hear from you! We're have two "participation dance" elements of the show:  "Small town humblebrags": Call in and tell us about something amazing you did in your small town so we can celebrate with you. No win is too small—we want to hear it all, and we will be excessively enthusiastic about whatever it is! You can call in for your friends, too, because giving shout-outs is one of our favorite things.  "Solving Your Small-Town People Challenges": Have a tough issue in your community? We want to help. Call in and tell us about your problem, and we'll solve it on an episode of the podcast. Want to remain anonymous? Totally cool, we can be all secretive and stuff. We're suave like that.  If you've got a humblebrag or a tricky people problem, call 701-203-3337 and leave a message with the deets. We really can't wait to hear from you!  Subscribe and Review The Growing Small Towns Show! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Growing Small Towns Show! If the information in our conversations and interviews has helped you in your small town, please click on the images below for Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review. 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This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Aura Frames. Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/DECK  // Promo Code:  DECK---Jacks joins us this week to kick off the newest Hallmark Channel Christmas show, Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas, with a double-episode breakdown.ABOUT: TWELVE DATES 'TIL CHRISTMAS (EPISODE 1 & EPISODE 2)Episode 1: When Kate's best friends sign her up for a holiday-themed dating service, she reluctantly joins, but has no idea just how much her life is about to change.Part 2: Kate's would-be date number one, Richard, tries to reconnect. Meanwhile, Mac attempts to prove his independence, but learns he might need to ask for helpAIR DATE & NETWORK FOR: TWELVE DATES 'TIL CHRISTMAS (EPISODE 1 & EPISODE 2)December 5, 2025 | Hallmark Mystery ChannelCAST & CREW OF: TWELVE DATES 'TIL CHRISTMAS (EPISODE 1 & EPISODE 2)Mae Whitman as KateJulian Morris as CallumJane Seymour as EvelynNathaniel Parker as MacBRAN'S TWELVE DATES 'TIL CHRISTMAS (EPISODE 1 & EPISODE 2) SYNOPSISIt doesn't feel fair to have your heart broken at Christmas. But that's exactly what happened to Kate.Kate is currently taking care of her dad, and life is just passing her by. That's why she did this thing — this thing that ended up giving her the most amazing Christmas ever. She fell in love. But we'll get there.Cut back to three weeks earlier. She goes to check on her dad, Mac, who—despite being supposed to move around more—is doing the opposite, which has her worried.She stops by a coffee shop and her friend Laura tells her she got her a Christmas gift: a Christmas-themed dating service. Kate is NOT into it.So Laura, Calum, and Mac stage a full-on intervention. Her dad tells her she's too young to spend every evening with him. She reluctantly agrees to the 12 Dates thing… which starts in 90 minutes!She goes, and it's very elaborate. A horse and carriage takes her to a magical igloo in the woods. The problem is… her date never shows.Meanwhile, Mac finally gets back out there. He goes to the coffee shop and bumps into Evalyn — and he's not upset about it.Kate decides to give the service another shot and ends up on a skating date with a guy named Oliver. Despite the fact that he talks about his ex the entire time, they find themselves standing under mistletoe. They decide to go for it and kiss — which immediately leads to him breaking down in tears.Mac is walking around town getting a little exercise when Evalyn pops out and drags him into a dance workout class. He doesn't stay long and walks out.It's time for Date #3. She shows up for a baking competition date and meets her GIANT date, Anthony. The date doesn't go terribly… until he suddenly wants to talk about marriage and kids. She doesn't even know what she wants, and he's like, “Well then why are you even doing this?!”Evalyn helps Mac home and basically tells him to stop feeling sorry for himself. He ends up back at her dance class and crushes it.Kate gets flowers and a card from Richard — the first-date no-show. He apologizes for goofing and says he's down at the coffee shop waiting for her. But by the time she builds up the courage to go, he's gone. He leaves his number, so she texts him that he missed out again. He replies that next time he'll wait all night.This turns into a flirty texting conversation. She finds out he's a journalist working on a story about the 12 Dates. He's also a love skeptic. And he loves Die Hard. Maybe this is the perfect match.At the next date event, she talks with a woman who fell for her first date — but sees him dancing with someone else. So Kate becomes fully committed to getting those two back together… and she does.Mac is putting up Christmas lights, feeling himself, until he falls off the ladder and re-injures himself. Instead of calling Kate, he calls Evalyn. She comes over to help — but Kate is NOT thrilled when she finds out.It's time for the next event: Mates & Dates. A lot happens here.Richard finally shows up… and he might be the hottest guy in the world.Crying-in-her-mouth Oliver is there — and it turns out his ex-girlfriend is Calum's current girlfriend, Sarah. Calum shows up to support Kate. It's A LOT.Richard gets frustrated that Kate is running around helping everyone else all night, so he goes to leave. Kate runs after him and ends up kissing him. He kisses her right back — REAL BIG ONES — while Calum and Sarah watch through the window… Sarah pumped, Calum not so much. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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It's time travel week on Bingemas! On the eighth day of Bingemas, Jodi is joined by fellow Southerner Tyler Parker for a movie that dares to give zero fucks about potential impacts on the space-time continuum, Hallmark's ‘A Grand Ole Opry Christmas.' This movie follows Gentry (Nikki Deloach), the Nashville-based daughter of a country singer, and Will (Kristoffer Polaha), a big-city music manager, as they navigate a capricious time-traveling church pew, the complex relationship between a young girl and songwriting camp, how to make money when you go back in time, and so many country Christmas songs. Follow us at instagram.com/wereobsessedpod to find our weekly schedule of movies. Host: Jodi Walker Guest: Tyler Parker Producers: Sasha Ashall, Belle Roman, and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Message us here!Holiday gatherings promise connection, but so many of us walk in bracing for old patterns: the comment that lands like a dart, the sibling rivalry that never grew up, the invisible work of keeping the peace. In this episode, I delve into  why this season can feel so raw and how to survive it when your family reunions don't resemble a Hallmark card.I also talk about this year's surge in anxiety and grief, the rise in estrangement, and the isolation that lingers after the holiday lights come down in January. This time might be stressful under normal circumstances, but it's a whole other thing when you have dysfunctional or even "toxic" family.If you're stuck in old unhealthy patterns with your family, you might not realize how much holding onto a "healing fantasy" is keeping you trapped. I unpack the concept of a “healing fantasy,” that deep, often hidden wish that a parent will finally see you, a sibling will get help, or conflict will stop for good. Then I suggest some practical tools from DBT that will get you focused on what really matters to you this holiday season.Support the showIf you're navigating someone's mental health or emotional issues, join KulaMind, our community and support platform. In KulaMind, we'll help you set healthy boundaries, advocate for yourself, and support your loved one. Follow @kulamind on Instagram for podcast updates and science-backed insights on staying sane while loving someone emotionally explosive. For more info about this podcast, check out: www.alittlehelpforourfriends.com

Send us a textWe finally found a masterpiece with 12 Dates Till Christmas, but the rest of the week had us divided!

6 years later and Alycia has finally convinced Katey to watch Hallmark's the Spirit of Christmas. This movie changed everything for Alycia and was her gateway drug into Hallmark movies. Listen in to see how if Katey feels the same or if she is about to rock Alycia's world.

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Aura Frames. Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/DECK  // Promo Code:  DECKThe Canadian Christmas Prince, Tyler Shaw, joins us to review the holiday flick Single on the 25th.ABOUT SINGLE ON THE 25THThe story follows a 30-something who spends Christmas alone in the city, only to find unexpected companionship with a handsome neighbor.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR SINGLE ON THE 25THDecember 7, 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF SINGLE ON THE 25THLyndsy Fonseca as Nell DukeDaniel Lissing as CooperBRAN'S SINGLE ON THE 25TH SYNOPSISWe meet Nell Duke, who is single and constantly reminded of it during the holiday season. She's excited to host her family from Ohio this year — she's planned the perfect Christmas week. But they cancel last minute. So she's like, “Well, I guess I'll go to Cleveland!”But then she bumps into her neighbor Cooper, who's like, “Why should you give up your perfectly curated Christmas? Just stay. Embrace the singleness.” And she's like, “You know what?! I'm gonna do it!”It doesn't take long for her to feel a bit lonely and a bit silly. Luckily, there's Cooper. They start doing activities both together and separately. Like going to a fancy restaurant but sitting at separate tables. She also agrees to help him plan this charity event.They go to a Christmas mixer together and have fun, but she keeps getting little waves of sadness about being single. They watch Rudolph together and almost hold hands — but obviously that would be too much.She accompanies him to a family gathering, and it goes great. At this point, they're basically in love!Then it's time for his company Christmas party. They go together, she's feeling great… until she overhears a coworker saying Cooper brought his “lonely neighbor” because he felt bad for her. Brutal. She's hurt, tells him off, and leaves.After some self-reflection, she comes to terms with being okay being single on the 25th.But Cooper's not okay with that. He has to make things right — and he does. He tells her he doesn't want to be “alone together,” he wants to be together together. And they kiss. Big ones. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Christmas is not just a love story with red and green coats... Christmas has to do with the birth of Christ." - Karen KingsburyJoin Matthew West for a special LIVE episode of the podcast featuring the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Karen Kingsbury! Recorded in front of a studio audience in Franklin, TN during Come Home For Christmas, this conversation goes deep into the heart of storytelling, faith, and the miraculous way God uses fiction to reveal the ultimate Truth. Let's go to the Story House!

Jason and Emily are in full holiday chaos mode and nothing is going according to the Hallmark script. Jason is trying (and failing) to figure out what to buy the woman who hates everything in the “Gifts for Her” section, while Emily has accidentally become the kind of person who takes Christmas parade floats a little too seriously. Somewhere between a live nativity that might just be in the wrong town and a very opinionated rant about what churches are doing with kids these days, they stumble into a surprisingly honest conversation about what actually makes the season feel holy, fun, and not completely unhinged. If you like your Christmas episodes cozy, unfiltered, and a little bit feral, this one is it. 00:00 Christmas Parade Float 08:33 Paducah is BIG TIME 14:44 Family money 15:24 Mayfield…not so big time… 16:37 Bethlehem is amazing! 17:40 Children's church sure is something… 24:27 Bethlehem continued… 29:19 Emily's germaphobeness… 35:50 Christmas shopping is hard. 49:02 Having the right tools Sponsors for this episode include: Voetberg Method Experience This month, use my code: CRUNCHY20 to get 20% off each month you're subscribed. Get 20% off the  proprietary Voetberg Method Experience, where siblings can share lessons  and learn music in a way they'll never forget, even when lessons stop. https://tinyurl.com/RVCNowThatWereFamily ——— Sweets Elderberry https://tinyurl.com/RVCSweetsElderberry ———  Wayfair Cozify your space with Wayfair's curated collection of easy, affordable fall updates. https://tinyurl.com/RVCWayfair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week my wife Beth joins me for another Hallmark movie deep dive. Instead of focusing on one movie, we have leaned into the whole Hallmark experience. In this episode we discuss USS Christmas, Christmas Homecoming, and the reality show Finding Mr. Christmas. We will have two more episodes, one on Operation Christmas Drop and a final Christmas eve drop of our trip to Hallmark Crown Center in Kansas City to immerse ourselves in the Hallmark experience. You can get access by signing up for our patreon, or purchacing the episodes individually  https://www.patreon.com/Hellofawaytodie  And if you're looking for presents for the father figure in your life, check out the store - https://whatahellofawaytodad.com/ 

[This episode has Hayne Griffen, Robbie Madison, Ellen Mauro, and Joey Svendsen in it]It's a full-on Christmas hangout with the whole crew as everyone brings their own holiday quirks, confessions, and laughs. The team dives into their favorite Christmas movies, what the “Christmas spirit” even is, and reflect on joy and spoiled kids. Joey and Hallmark movies don't mesh (and he honestly wouldn't mind if Christmas just hurried on by this year). Robbie shares the mixed feelings he had about presents growing up. Ellen lets us in on her dislike for her husband's very… Italian Christmas lights. And Hayne plays everyone a Christmas song — plus a funny, heartfelt moment about his mom and her ongoing sickness.E-mail Joey here. Support Joey's work by Being a Patron / (Venmo) PWNA Theme Song by Stoy Prioleau (aka: Riggy Roc): Apple Music Closing song by Derek Minor and other music by Mechanical River.

Send us a textWhat is it really like to be a "Character Actor" in the massive Hallmark movie universe? In this episode, we sit down with the hilarious and talented Lauren Cochrane (The Christmas Club, A Family Thanksgiving) to pull back the curtain on the life of a working actor.From a hilarious acupuncture mishap to sharing the screen with legends like Faye Dunaway, Lauren holds nothing back. We discuss why Winnipeg has quietly become the "Hollywood of the North," the brutal reality of Zoom auditions, and why playing the quirky best friend is often more fun than playing the romantic lead. Plus, we put her memory to the test with a Hallmark Character Quiz and get an exclusive look at her role as Hazel Holly in the new movie Sweet Romance.In this episode, you'll learn:The "Character Actor" Advantage: Why the supporting roles often have the most freedom (and job security).Audition Horror Stories: How the industry shifted from "in the room" chemistry to "self-tape" isolation.The Winnipeg Connection: Inside the tight-knit community of actors dominating Hallmark productions.Improv vs. Script: How Lauren's background in comedy helps her save scenes when things go wrong.Sweet Romance Scoops: Behind-the-scenes stories from her latest project with Director Jeff Beesley.Follow us on social media: Instagram and TikTok: @hallmarkmysteriesandmoreYoutubeOr visit our website. This podcast was created by fans for fans and is NOT affiliated with or sponsored by Hallmark or the Hallmark Channel.

Join Dr. Shine on What's Your Shine? The Happy Podcast for a festive, heartwarming conversation with Elizabeth Schreck, Communications Director for the Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau—and one of the key storytellers behind Grapevine's iconic identity as The Christmas Capital of Texas. In this joy-filled episode, Elizabeth pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to transform a vintage Texas town into a real-life Hallmark destination—complete with 1,400+ events, twinkling streets, ice sculptures, pajama-clad Polar Express riders, and a community that shows up in force to make the season unforgettable.  Discover how decades of collaboration, creativity, and good old-fashioned neighborliness have built a city where celebration isn't just an event—it's a shared language. Elizabeth shares how local businesses dream up their own holiday magic, why volunteers (yes, even the wreath-fluffing crew!) are the unsung heroes of Main Street, and how simple traditions spark belonging for residents and visitors alike. Whether you love Christmas, community-building, or just a great behind-the-scenes story, this episode is an invitation to see celebration through a new lens: not as décor or events, but as connection, pride, and shared joy. Key Topics: The origin and evolution of The Christmas Capital of Texas How 1,400+ holiday events come to life through collective creativity The role of local businesses, volunteers, and city departments in shaping community identity Behind-the-scenes of favorites like the North Pole Express, Peace Plaza Ice Rink, and Gaylord ICE! Why celebration matters—and what it teaches us about belonging

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Aura Frames. Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/DECK  // Promo Code:  DECK--Chad from Christmas Cousins Podcast joins us to unwrap the latest Hallmark holiday release: She's Making a List.ABOUT SHE'S MAKING A LISTA Naughty-or-Nice inspector evaluating a girl's Christmas status falls for her widowed father, making her question the strict rules of her consulting firm and forcing her to choose between protocol and love.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR SHE'S MAKING A LISTDecember 6, 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF SHE'S MAKING A LISTLacey Chabert as Isabel HaynesAndrew Walker as Jason DuncanBRAN'S SHE'S MAKING A LIST SYNOPSISThe Naughty or Nice list has been around since the beginning of time. Back in the day, elves would go down to Earth to keep an eye on every kid. The internet has made things somewhat easier, but they still need help — which is where the Naughty & Nice Inspectors come in. They pop in, observe kids, and make the final ruling.That's where we meet Isabel Haynes — a woman who was recruited by the company as a kid herself. Isabel loves to break the fourth wall, chat with us, and explain her job, and honestly? I love it. While inspecting one kid, she bumps into a hunk named Jason. I'm sure that means nothing, right?Back at the office, her boss Rudolph worries she's spending too much time on the road. But it's time for her next assignment: making a final ruling on a girl named Charlie. Isabel follows her home, where Charlie's dad assumes she's from the power company coming to help him with his Christmas lights. And the dad in question? Jason. He wastes NO time asking her on a date.They go out, but it's cut short when Charlie's sitter calls to say she's “sick.” Isabel knows immediately she's faking. Naughty, naughty.The next day, Charlie catches Isabel watching them. Isabel's like, “Oh yeah, I watch people sometimes. No big deal.” She spends the day with Charlie and Jason and realizes Charlie's behavior is way more complicated than a simple Naughty or Nice label. She even tells Charlie who she really is — but Charlie doesn't buy it. After all, Santa brings her presents regardless, even the year she was naughty all the time.Jason wants to talk to Isabel about what's going on, but she gets called into the office. She ends up quitting because she doesn't believe in the system anymore. Naughty and Nice isn't as black and white as HQ wants it to be.Meanwhile, Jason and Charlie talk. Charlie tells him about what Isabel said — including how last year she noticed Santa's handwriting looked… different. Suspicious.Charlie requests that Isabel attend the grand opening of Jason's new pizza place so they can talk things out. Isabel shows up, tells Jason she quit, and together they decide to take their concerns directly to Santa. She makes her case to get rid of the Naughty List… and surprisingly, Santa agrees. Super easy.Isabel takes a new job working for Santa but gets to work remotely so she can stay with Jason and Charlie. They celebrate by spending Christmas morning together and kissinggggg. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sonia C. and Sonia T. are sharing a mic in New Orleans, and Sabrina has joined the conversation too! They are all excited because the most magical part of the holiday season is here- experiencing the joy of life through the eyes of a child. Your inner child is getting excited too – do you know what your inner child is hoping for this Christmas?   This week's theme is: Connect with your inner child this holiday season.   Reserve your seat at the Speed Dial Your Guidance Experience today!   Sign up for Sonia T.'s Master Manifestation Workshop   Highlights: The ladies are together again! [:45] Creating a cozy and calm atmosphere during the Christmas season. [4:05] The power of daydreaming. [6:15] Getting in touch with your inner child. [10:20] Staying grounded during the holiday craziness. [14:10] Managing sky-high expectations. [24:05] The inner child can't be in the driver's seat. [27:15] Sonia C.'s favorite part of last year's Christmas season. [32:21] You can choose to select out of holiday overwhelm. [36:40] Tool of the Week: Stay grounded in the holiday experience. [39:31] Question of the Week: How can I strengthen my intuition day-to-day? [41:11]   Do you know what your inner child wants for Christmas this year? Whether you're craving a Hallmark movie-esque picture-perfect cozy day at home or you thrive in the chaos and craziness of all that is happening in your town, the holidays are the perfect time to get in touch with your inner child. But be careful! Your inner child holds the magic, but you hold the reins. Don't let the inner child into the driver's seat, or your expectations of yourself might become more than you really want to handle.   If you're constantly piling one experience on top of another, you aren't giving yourself a chance to appreciate the little moments that make the holidays so magical. Slow down and be present in each moment, and your inner child will surely be delighted this holiday season.   Tool of the Week: Stay grounded in the holiday experience. [39:31]   Question of the Week: How can I strengthen my intuition day-to-day? [41:11]   Continue on Your Journey:   Grab Sonia C.'s New Card Deck Here! Your Glorious Life  Sonia C's In the Moment Guidance Good Vibes Tribe  More Sonia Choquette Follow Sonia Choquette on Instagram Sonia Choquette on YouTube Sonia Choquette's Book Read Life ACCURATELY: Recognize and Respond to What's Really Happening Soul Mastery: 22 Lessons to Reinvent Your Life  Order Sonia Choquette's Trust Your Vibes Guided Journal True Balance book by Sonia C.   More Sonia Tully Psychic YOUniversity Level 1 Waitlist Psychic YOUniversity Level 2 Waitlist  Book a Reading with Sonia Tully Sonia on Substack Follow Sonia Tully on Instagram Book a Discovery Call with Sonia Tully Free Spiritual Toolkit and Meditation   Connect with Sabrina Tully  Buy Sonia and Sabrina's Book You Are Amazing   Share with us your questions and vibe stories at itsallrelatedpodcastquestions@gmail.com and vibecheck@soniatully.com

Full show - Monday | Weirdest Christmas wish | News or Nope - Starbucks, Hallmark movies, and New Year's resolutions | 12 Strays of Christmas - Day 8 - Comenii | OPP - The 5 year ex | How to NOT approach women | Things you NEED to do in December | Erica stole from the station | Stupid stories www.instagram.com/theslackershow www.instagram.com/ericasheaaa www.instagram.com/thackiswack www.instagram.com/radioerin

'Tis the season for an viewing diet unhealthily dominated by ugly sweaters, fake snow, and immaculately trimmed prop Christmas trees, and the Alternate Ending gang is celebrating by bringing Tim and Brennan together to discuss something other than horror cinema for a change. They're joined by terrible Christmas movie expert Cameron, and the three of them are sharing their thoughts - or in Tim's cases, confusions - on the omnipresent modern holiday movie genre, slick and cheesy romantic comedies made by Netflix, Hallmark, Lifetime, and other fine purveyors of shameless cinematic comfort food. It's a holly jolly time on this very special episode of Alternate Ending!

This week's episode is the Betches discussing the highly requested Hallmark Christmas book, Lovelight Farms. Will our resident Hallmark movie lover like this one?? Our third Christmas episode of the season! Find us on social media and let us know what you think of the episode! @books_n_betchesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today Rachel and Amber are back to recap the premiere of new limited series on Hallmark channel 12 Dates Til Christmas Watch our interview with the 12 Dates writers https://youtu.be/3QCikpJWVuc Amber back to recap A Very Jonas Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDz0E77EWo Today save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code HALLMARKIES To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/hallmarkies for 15% off! Uncommon Goods. We're all out of the ordinary. Our Christmas podcasts are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f2KtBPzUE&list=PLXv4sBF3mPUDo41tHqhkjHCvedmZwLzHx For all of our Hallmark writer interviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXv4sBF3mPUBxJT6OHAOjOM3F8w48hYu5 Please support the podcast on patreon and be part of these ranking episodes at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow us on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288?mt=2 https://twitter.com/HallmarkiesPod on twitter @HallmarkiesPodcast on Instagram HallmarkiesPodcast.com Get some of our great podcast merch https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies?ref_id=8581 Please support the podcast on patreon and be part of these ranking episodes at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Follow Rachel on facebook www.facebook.com/smilingldsreviews Check out our merch: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies Send us your feedback at feedback@hallmarkiespodcast.com Or call +1 (801) 855-6407 Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey book besties! We have the absolutely lovely Lauren Blakely on the podcast with us today! She was a delight and we had a great time talking all things holiday romance! Enjoy! Podcast Instagram: @smutshowpodcast Podcast TikTok: @smutshowpodcastJoin our Facebook group! Become a Patreon subscriber! Connect with Lauren:Instagram: @laurenblakelybooksTikTok: @laurenblakelybooksFind her book here! Connect with Neely:Instagram: @neelykins and @readwithneelyTikTok: @neelymoldovanGoodreads  Connect with Rachel:Instagram: @rachel_mlewis TikTok: @rachel_mlewis Goodreads/StoryGraphFind her book here! To see the books we talked about, visit our Amazon Store Front!

Send us a textI'm sitting down with the delightful Jessy Schram (Chicago Med, Falling Skies) to talk about her incredible career, from her early days starring in the Jane Doe mystery series to becoming a Hallmark Channel favorite!

Dr. Vaughn Joy's new book, Selling Out Santa, explores the role Christmas movies played in shaping American culture (and vice-versa) during the Cold War. Via a case study on Hollywood Christmas films released between 1946 and 1961, Selling Out Santa offers an examination of political pressures on Hollywood in the post-war period and the cultural ramifications of federal involvement in the motion picture industry. As the House Committee on Un-American Activities opened hearings in 1947 and the FBI gathered reports on potential communist subversion in Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Hollywood executives began to bend to the socially conservative pressures of this post-war moment. In this episode, Kelly and John talk to Vaughn about the genesis of her book and the ways in which Christmas movies have evolved into the Hallmark rom-coms we have all come to know and love-or-hate today. You can find Vaughn on Bluesky @gvaughnjoy

This week on The Nikki & Brie Show, everyone's asking the same question: Is Nikki starring in a holiday movie?! Not quite—but her new Google AI Shopping Ad has people convinced she's headlining a Hallmark film. Nikki spills the behind-the-scenes on playing “Holly,” starring opposite Taylor Kinney (yes, from Chicago Fire) and getting mothered by Donna Kelce! From cut kissing scenes to turtlenecks, Nikki shares what really happened on set and why Hallmark might need to give her and Brie a call ASAP.Then it's time to get unhinged in the “Hear Me Out” game: a hilarious round of unexpected crush confessions. Animated characters? Nikki's team Shrek. Fictional villains? Brie's trying to fix The Joker. And don't even get them started on hot UPS drivers and flight attendants. They're revealing who gives “dad vibes,” which professions are sneakily sexy, and the weird scenarios that shouldn't be hot but are (spoiler: getting coffee orders wrong is a BIG no).Nikki & Brie just might be ready for their rom-com era. Press play for some serious holiday laughs! Call Nikki & Brie at 833-GARCIA2 and leave a voicemail! Follow Nikki & Brie on Instagram, follow the show on Instagram and TikTok and send Nikki & Brie a message on Threads! Follow Bonita Bonita on Instagram Book a reservation at the Bonita Bonita Speakeasy To watch exclusive videos of this week's episode, follow The Nikki & Brie Show on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok! You can also catch The Nikki & Brie Show on SiriusXM Stars 109! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Aura Frames. Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/DECK  // Promo Code:  DECK---Chase Bridges, YouTube sensation, joins us to review the UPtv Christmas mystery A Christmas Murder Mystery — a holiday whodunit filled with secrets, suspense, and snow.ABOUT A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERYThe editor of the Metropolitan Ledger's puzzle section, who also works part-time as a consultant for the local sheriff, is invited to spend the holidays with a family harboring secrets. Soon, she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation — all during the most festive time of the year.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERYDecember 7 2025 | UPtvCAST & CREW OF A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERYVivica A. Fox as Cynthia MarshallMorgan Bradley as Vera VexleyRob Mayes as Troy SterlingCHASE'S A CHRISTMAS MURDER MYSTERY SYNOPSISVera Vexley is the puzzle editor for a newspaper and a part-time consulting detective for the sheriff's department. So imagine her surprise when, while staying with some family friends on Christmas Eve — the rich and powerful Sterling family — she is swept into a murder mystery. The father of the Sterling family, Harold Sterling, has been killed!Vera is on the case. It has to be someone in the house, but who? Was it Harold's wife? One of his two sons, Troy or Michael? His daughter, Katherine? His daughter-in-law Jan? Or the family lawyer, Darren, who was invited for Christmas?Everyone has a motive. Michael had his father invest in his nightclub but then involved the mafia, which upset Harold. Harold gave him until Christmas to buy him out, or he would go public with the mess.Katherine hated her father's business, even telling him, “someone needed to protect the public from people like him.”And Darren, the lawyer, was the last person to see Harold and had argued with him that night over business.As Vera digs deeper, she uncovers all sorts of family secrets: Michael and Jan are getting divorced; Troy was adopted because his mother had an affair with an employee, meaning Troy isn't actually Harold's son; and Darren was secretly having an affair with Michael's soon-to-be ex-wife, Jan.Things get even more dangerous. Someone pushes Jan down the stairs in an apparent attempt on her life. Not long after, someone tries to kill Michael by bashing him over the head!Vera carefully pieces it all together while developing feelings for Troy. In a classic big reveal, she gathers everyone and announces that Darren, the lawyer, did it. He was furious about being left out of Harold's will and, feeling betrayed, killed Harold. He then tried to kill Michael, blaming him for the will fiasco, and pushed Jan because of jealousy.But just when everyone thinks the case is closed… it isn't! After Jan believes Darren has been arrested, she sneaks into Harold's office to destroy evidence — proving she's actually the killer. Vera, of course, is waiting. Jan tries to attack her with a letter opener, but fails.Vera explains the truth: Jan killed Harold because she feared that, after divorcing Michael, she would be cut out of the will. She staged her fall down the stairs to avoid suspicion and then tried to kill Michael so she could inherit his estate — still legally hers since they're technically married.Vera saves the day, kisses Troy, submits her new puzzle to her editor just in time for the deadline, and the Sterlings… live happily ever after. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to time travel week on Bingemas! On the seventh day of Bingemas, Charles Holmes joins for a movie that dares to bridge 100 years of Newport history, Hallmark's ‘A Newport Christmas.' This movie follows Newport-based historian Nick (Wes Brown) and temporally challenged high-society gal Ella (Ginna Claire Mason) as they navigate science-based time travel theories, breathtaking latte art, a Christmas comet, and the imminent disappearance of all they hold dear. Follow us at instagram.com/wereobsessedpod to find our weekly schedule of movies. Host: Jodi Walker Guest: Charles Holmes Producers: Sasha Ashall, Belle Roman, and Ashleigh Smith Engineers: Oscar de la Luz and Donald LoBianco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jon Harris offers encouragement to the growing number of singles – especially Gen-Z and Millennials approaching or past thirty – who dread the holidays because the spouse and children they long for are still nowhere in sight.Drawing from his own years of singleness and prolonged infertility, Jon refuses to give cheap platitudes or toxic “just be content” advice. Instead, he validates the very real grief of empty chairs at Christmas dinner, silent second bedrooms, and Hallmark movies that now sting.He reminds us that:- It's normal and right to mourn good gifts that haven't come yet - Church community and invitations help, but they don't (and can't) replace the family you don't have - Counting it all joy doesn't mean pretending the trial isn't hard—it means trusting the Father's mysterious, loving providence even while you weep - Jesus Himself knows singleness, rejection, and sorrow, and He entered this broken world at Christmas for the precise purpose of meeting you in yours.You're not forgotten, you're not failing, and you're not alone—God sees every tear, and the One born in Bethlehem is still Emmanuel, God with us, even in the ache.“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15)“In this world you will have tribulation—but take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)Order Against the Waves: Againstthewavesbook.comCheck out Jon's Music: jonharristunes.comTo Support the Podcast: https://www.worldviewconversation.com/support/Become a Patronhttps://www.patreon.com/jonharrispodcastSubstack: https://substack.com/@jonharris?Follow Jon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonharris1989Follow Jon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonharris1989/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/conversations-that-matter8971/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Love for Mathew Lillard and all working actors -- it's a tough gig and we're glad people are getting real about it, BOOB TUBE: "Sean Combs: The Reckoning," a "Paranormal Activity" reboot is not a good idea and will probably terrify Jason, and the Lacey Chabert Hallmark/Disney collab has Colleen excited See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the show! In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain and sharing the feedback you've given me over the past year. From the things you love—like honest opinions and those behind-the-scenes bloopers—to areas where you think I could improve, I'm breaking it all down. I'll share how I process both praise and criticism, respond to some thought-provoking and even challenging listener comments, and talk openly about staying authentic on the microphone, no matter what. If you've ever wondered how to handle feedback for your own podcast—or you're just curious about what really goes on behind the scenes—this episode is for you. Let's jump in and talk about what it really means to grow through feedback!Main Points CoveredShared survey results about my audience (how you found the show, preferences on episode length, etc.)The value of opinions and why I'm not afraid to voice mine—people appreciate authenticity!Blooper reel gets love for keeping the show relatable and real.Several listeners said the show's focus has improved—thanks for noticing!Some prefer solo episodes to interviews, and I talk about why I sometimes do interviews anyway.The “same old” show approach: people tune in for consistency, just like reruns of Hallmark movies.Trust is crucial; I work hard to give value and answers you can't find elsewhere.You can tell when I'm tired or distracted! I agree—your energy transfers to listeners.Being award-winning isn't about ego—my goal is always helping people.Repetition helps beginners, but seasoned podcasters would like more advanced content.Technical details: I use a Rode Podmic USB microphone into a Rodecaster Duo, recording in Hindenburg.Notes on ideas and feedback: people want more “behind-the-scenes” and technical information.Reading vs. riffing: I admit sometimes I slip into “reading mode” and work to stay spontaneous.Length controversy: some want shorter shows, some longer, but the majority like the current format.Hobbyists vs. business podcasters: I explain why my content has sometimes shifted toward podcasters wanting to grow.Ads feedback: some want fewer ads, especially repeating the School of Podcasting ad too often.Religion and “blue” humor: I discuss my Christian identity, my sense of humor, and respect differing tastes—even when jokes cross lines.You can't please everyone—sometimes what “crosses the line” for one person is just casual for another.Suggestions for more advanced content and deeper listener Q&A segments.Advanced podcasting wisdom: find out what your audience wants, deliver with value, and keep improving.On making money: it's possible, but requires loving the journey and standing out from the crowd.I'm always open to detailed questions—consider sending in your own for future deep dives!Websites MentionedSchool of PodcastingPodcasting Observations (my email list)PodpageAppSumoVoicemail: schoolofpodcasting.com/voicemailBiz Chicks Podcast

Ready to make January feel like a gentle start instead of a cold plunge? In this episode, we're sharing our January launch plan, designed so you can get prepped for the new term from the comfort of your couch. Whether you're catching up on Hallmark movies or just sneaking in a bit of planning before the break, these tips will help you go back with confidence and calm!Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/january-prep-tips-for-tired-teachers/

Join Pastor Bobby, Jesse & Sean as they dive deeper into the Advent series in Ruth series and continue the conversation around Roots of Hope.Check out the Stories of Hope podcast:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPe4iZS-2t-r7AmWbx1RX9AN5M67rM9anStay in touch with us on Instagram | Facebook | Spotify - True Hope ChurchVisit our Website:https://www.truehopechurch.org

Disney World and Hallmark are teaming up and Allyson talks about this being the busiest day ever to order pizza!

Send us a textOn this week's Super Familiar with the Wilsons, Amanda and Podcast Jesus return to Sunday-morning recording to unpack holiday work parties, questionable parenting moments, mysterious car trouble, and the strange comfort of niche pillows, Hallmark-adjacent movies, and loyal listeners. It's marriage 2.0 with kids, hormones, neighborhood nonsense, and a little Gainesville holiday magic, exactly the kind of chaos you can put in your ears while pretending to be productive.Super Familiar with The Wilsons Find us on instagram at instagram.com/superfamiliarwiththewilsonsand on YoutubeContact us! familiarwilsons@gmail.com A Familiar Wilsons Production

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Every year, dozens of ridiculous identical holiday movies are unleashed by Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix, and the like. (They're so cookie-cutter that many of them literally involve cutting cookies.) And every year, we try to fix them by making them weirder. So we've selected a few new Christmas movies, and we're discussing their plots (featuring time travel, glassblowing, and pickleball) and casts (featuring, as always, Lacey Chabert). Then we're randomly inserting some strange new element (a camel with wings, perhaps) into each movie so it meets our strict weirdness standards. There, we just saved Christmas. Pass the figgy pudding. The Flopcast website! The ESO Network! The Flopcast on Facebook! The Flopcast on Instagram! The Flopcast on Bluesky! The Flopcast on Mastadon! Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!   This week's promo: Earth Station Boo!    

Ped, Burk and guest Grace open the show discussing a horrid Black Friday experience and people dumbly slipping on ice. Another fantastic Tik Tok video series has reached Adam's algorithm, much to the chagrin of Ryan. Burk brings us his perfect song of the week and back by popular demand, THE ROTTEN TOMATOES GAME!! In the Meat, Mm!, we celebrate the Christmas season by reading real and fake Hallmark movie plots and seeing if Grace can guess correctly. We end with fondly remembering some 90's Christmas gifts. Hut Hut! Love y'all. 

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Racine Danish Kringles. Exclusive 10% off entire order -  www.kringles.com  // Promo Code:  HALLMARK25We're wrapping up the week with one final Hallmark Christmas movie from Thanksgiving Week — The Christmas Cup.ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS CUPStaff Sergeant Kelly Brandt, recovering from a knee injury, leads her hometown team in the annual Christmas Cup, despite her heart aching for her career. She discovers there are multiple ways to serve a community.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR THE CHRISTMAS CUPNovember 30th 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF THE CHRISTMAS CUPRhiannon Fish as Kelly BrandtBen Rosenbaum as Quinn StokleyBRAN'S THE CHRISTMAS CUP SYNOPSISThe movie kicks off with Fish returning from the army — her name is Aunt Kelly. Her brother and daughter pick her up from the bus, and when they get home, there's a surprise party waiting for her!Apparently, it's the 50th Christmas Cup! We don't know what that means yet. It turns out there's a friendly rivalry between two neighboring towns, Bridgeport and Longleaf. To make things more complicated, the towns now share a school board, police, and fire department. When the mayor of Longleaf shows up with a hot firefighter, she has alternative motives: she wants to shut down the troops' welcome-back party. The firefighter, Quinn, is clearly smitten with Kelly, but it seems like it could never work.Kelly reluctantly agrees to lead her town in the Christmas Cup this year — and ropes Quinn into helping. The Christmas Cup is a friendly competition between the towns, consisting of challenges like a snowball fight, eggnog chug, and more.Kelly soon learns she has to leave town again soon, which makes her sad. Luckily, Quinn is there to lift her spirits. He invites her on a romantic date wrapping presents for kids, and the night goes beautifully.But then she gets a call — the Marines need her to leave on Christmas Day. She tells her friend the news: she won't be there for the Christmas Cup. But what about Quinn? Kelly insists, he's a stranger, who cares! Unfortunately for her, Quinn is right around the corner and overhears everything — and he's not happy.Kelly starts to rethink leaving and goes to talk to Quinn, but he's upset: he heard what you said. She realizes she doesn't want to leave, so she announces to her family, after blowing out the going-away cake candle, that she's not leaving! The military can wait.Christmas Cup time arrives, and Kelly is initially sad to see Quinn has joined the other team. Longleaf falls behind early after losing the singing and eggnog chug challenges. But then they make a comeback, winning the light untangle and trivia challenges. Bridgeport takes the spice contest, so it all comes down to the snowball fight, worth 20 points.Longleaf is about to win, but a little girl decides to be kind and not throw a snowball at her bully. The teams agree it should be a tie, but the bully concedes: Longleaf won fair and square.Kelly and Quinn make up — and share a big, romantic kiss. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessIt's another mailbag episode (part one of two)! Abby, Patrick, and Dan respond to listener questions about everything from the utility of psychoanalytic concepts in everyday life to the complexities of Melanie Klein to the allure of AI “wisdom” and beyond. Plus, they tackle Abraham Maslow's famous “Hierarchy of Needs” and get into the weeds of why, exactly, Hallmark movies exist, who they're for, and what libidinal work they do.Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you've traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

Today Rachel talks to writers Erin Rodman and Davah Avena about the new Hallmark limited series The Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas For more from Erin go to https://www.erinrodman.com/ Today save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code HALLMARKIES To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/hallmarkies for 15% off! Uncommon Goods. We're all out of the ordinary. Our Christmas podcasts are at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f2KtBPzUE&list=PLXv4sBF3mPUDo41tHqhkjHCvedmZwLzHx For all of our Hallmark writer interviews https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXv4sBF3mPUBxJT6OHAOjOM3F8w48hYu5 Please support the podcast on patreon and be part of these ranking episodes at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow us on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288?mt=2 https://twitter.com/HallmarkiesPod on twitter @HallmarkiesPodcast on Instagram HallmarkiesPodcast.com Get some of our great podcast merch https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies?ref_id=8581 Please support the podcast on patreon and be part of these ranking episodes at https://www.patreon.com/hallmarkies Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Follow Rachel on facebook www.facebook.com/smilingldsreviews Check out our merch: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hallmarkies Send us your feedback at feedback@hallmarkiespodcast.com Or call +1 (801) 855-6407 Follow Rachel on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/rachelsreviews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Racine Danish Kringles. Exclusive 10% off entire order -  www.kringles.com  // Promo Code:  HALLMARK25--It's time to unwrap another new Hallmark Christmas movie: An Alpine Holiday.ABOUT AN ALPINE HOLIDAYFaith and Kelly, estranged sisters, reunite for Christmas in the French Alps, reminiscing their grandfather's first trip. They cherish sisterhood and romance with their guide, Frederic.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR AN ALPINE HOLIDAYNovember 29, 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF AN ALPINE HOLIDAYAshley Williams as FaithLaci J. Mailey as Kelly GreenJulien Samani as FredericBRAN'S AN ALPINE HOLIDAY SYNOPSISThe movie kicks off with old home videos of two sisters, Faith and Kelly, spending Christmas every year with their grandma.Cut to present day: Faith shows up late at night at Kelly's apartment. She's in town from Miami for their grandma's funeral. It's clear the sisters aren't as close as they used to be.The next day, they meet with their grandma's estate lawyer. He gives them her travel journal from when she was younger. It details a trip she took to the French Alps, where she and their grandpa got engaged. Her last request is that Faith and Kelly take the same journey on Christmas Eve. They can't believe it, but they can't go against her final wish. Kelly initially says she can't go — but decides at the last minute to join Faith just as she is leaving.Their first stop is a French café to grab a croissant. They meet their tour guide, Frédéric, who was hired by their grandma but won't say why. He flirts with Kelly before realizing she's his tour guest.The sisters take the train to the French countryside and almost leave grandma's journal behind. Frédéric shows them around the town and takes them to a lodge. Faith invites him to stay with them, which is awkward considering his earlier flirtation with Kelly — but he agrees to stick around.Faith checks in with her boyfriend back home, who is a bit offended she traveled to France to get space after he proposed.The sisters visit a spa with a hot tub and cold plunge, and a fight scares Frédéric away for a moment. The argument doesn't last long, and the trip continues. It turns out Frédéric is the grandson of a woman their grandma met on her original trip.One evening, Kelly opens up to Frédéric about feeling guilty since her grandma passed away. They slow dance and kissgggg — but Kelly quickly becomes emotional, insisting she doesn't want a holiday fling.It's time for the big hike. Things go smoothly until they reach the cabin, where a big storm hits. Faith insists on continuing the hike and heads out on her own.Kelly and Frédéric set out to find her, leading to a heart-to-heart between the sisters. They eventually reach the top of the mountain, leave a lock to commemorate the journey, and Kelly and Frédéric share a romantic kiss. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this theologically rich episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Jesse and Tony delve into the Parable of the Lost Coin from Luke 15:8-10. They explore how this parable reveals God's passionate pursuit of His elect and the divine joy that erupts when they are found. Building on their previous discussion of the Lost Sheep, the brothers examine how Jesus uses this second parable to further emphasize God's sovereign grace in salvation. The conversation highlights the theological implications of God's ownership of His people even before their redemption, the diligent efforts He undertakes to find them, and the heavenly celebration that follows. This episode offers profound insights into God's relentless love and the true nature of divine joy in redemption. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Lost Coin emphasizes that God actively and diligently searches for those who belong to Him, sparing no effort to recover what is rightfully His. Jesus uses three sequential parables in Luke 15 to progressively reveal different aspects of God's heart toward sinners, with escalating emphasis on divine joy. The coin represents something of significant value that already belonged to the woman, illustrating that God's elect belong to Him even before their redemption. Unlike finding something new, the joy depicted is specifically about recovering something that was already yours but had been lost, highlighting God's eternal claim on His people. The spiritual inability of the sinner is represented by the coin's passivity - it cannot find its own way back and must be sought out by its owner. Angels rejoice over salvation not independently but because they share in God's delight at the effectiveness of His saving power. The parable challenges believers to recover their joy in salvation and to share it with others, much like the woman who called her neighbors to celebrate with her. Expanded Insights God's Determined Pursuit of What Already Belongs to Him The Parable of the Lost Coin reveals a profound theological truth about God's relationship to His elect. As Tony and Jesse discuss, this isn't a story about finding something new, but recovering something that already belongs to the owner. The woman in the parable doesn't rejoice because she discovered unexpected treasure; she rejoices because she recovered what was already hers. This illustrates the Reformed understanding that God's people have eternally belonged to Him. While justification occurs in time, there's a real sense in which God has been considering us as His people in eternity past. The parable therefore supports the doctrines of election and particular redemption - God is not creating conditions people can move into or out of, but is zealously reclaiming a specific people who are already His in His eternal decree. The searching, sweeping, and diligent pursuit represent not a general call, but an effectual calling that accomplishes its purpose. The Divine Joy in Recovering Sinners One of the most striking aspects of this parable is the overwhelming joy that accompanies finding the lost coin. The brothers highlight that this joy isn't reluctant or begrudging, but enthusiastic and overflowing. The woman calls her friends and neighbors to celebrate with her - a seemingly excessive response to finding a coin, unless we understand the theological significance. This reveals that God takes genuine delight in the redemption of sinners, to the extent that Jesus describes it as causing joy "in the presence of the angels of God." As Jesse and Tony note, this challenges our perception that God might save us begrudgingly. Instead, the parable teaches us that God's "alien work" is wrath, while His delight is in mercy. This should profoundly impact how believers view their own salvation and should inspire a contagious joy that spreads to others - a joy that many Christians, by Tony's own admission, need to recover in their daily walk. Memorable Quotes "Christ love is an act of love and it's always being acted upon the sinner, the one who has to be redeemed, his child whom he goes after. So in the same way, we have Christ showing the self-denying love." - Jesse Schwamb "The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace... The reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased, is because God has this real pleasure to pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire." - Jesse Schwamb "These parables are calling us to rejoice, right? Christ is using these parables to shame the Pharisees and the scribes who refuse to rejoice over the salvation of sinners. How often do we not rejoice over our own salvation sufficiently?" - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: There still is like the sovereign grace of God who's initiating the salvation and there is a kind of effect of calling that God doesn't merely invite, he finds, he goes after he affects the very thing. Yeah, and I think we're seeing that here. The sinner, spiritual inability. There's an utter passivity until found. The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace. It's all there for us. And the reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased is because God has this real pleasure. To pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire. Welcome to episode 472 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. [00:00:57] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother. [00:01:01] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. [00:01:02] Jesus and the Parable of the Lost Coin [00:01:02] Jesse Schwamb: So there was this time, maybe actually more than one time, but at least this one time that we've been looking at where Jesus is hanging out and the religious incumbents, the Pharisees, they come to him and they say, you are a friend of sinners, and. Instead of taking offense to this, Jesus turns this all around. Uses this as a label, appropriates it for himself and his glorious character. And we know this because he gives us this thrice repeated sense of what it means to see his heart, his volition, his passion, his love, his going after his people, and he does it. Three little parables and we looked at one last time and we're coming up to round two of the same and similar, but also different and interesting. And so today we're looking at the parable of the lost coin or the Lost dma, or I suppose, whatever kind of currency you wanna insert in there. But once again, something's lost and we're gonna see how our savior comes to find it by way of explaining it. In metaphor. So there's more things that are lost and more things to be found on this episode. That's how we do it. It's true. It's true. So that's how Jesus does it. So [00:02:12] Tony Arsenal: yeah. So it should be how we do it. [00:02:14] Jesse Schwamb: Yes. Yeah, exactly. I cut to like Montel Jordan now is the only thing going through my head. Tell Jordan. Yeah. Isn't he the one that's like, this is how we do it, that song, this is [00:02:28] Tony Arsenal: how we do it. I, I don't know who sings it. Apparently it's me right now. That was actually really good. That was fantastic. [00:02:36] Jesse Schwamb: Hopefully never auto tuned. Not even once. I'm sure that'll make an appearance now and the rest, somebody [00:02:42] Tony Arsenal: should take that and auto tune it for me. [00:02:44] Jesse Schwamb: That would be fantastic. Listen, it doesn't need it. That was perfect. That was right off the cuff, right off the top. It was beautiful. It was ous. [00:02:50] Tony Arsenal: Yes. Yes. [00:02:51] Affirmations and Denials [00:02:51] Jesse Schwamb: I'm hoping that appearance, [00:02:53] Tony Arsenal: before we jump into our, our favorite segment here in affirmations of Denials, I just wanted to take a second to, uh, thank all of our listeners. Uh, we have the best listeners in the world. That's true, and we've also got a really great place to get together and chat about things. That's also true. Uh, we have a little telegram chat, which is just a little chat, um, program that run on your phone or in a browser. Really any device you have, you can go to t Me slash Reform Brotherhood and join that, uh, little chat group. And there's lots of stuff going on there. We don't need to get into all the details, but it's a friendly little place. Lots of good people, lots of good conversation. And just lots of good digital fellowship, if that's even a thing. I think it is. So please do join us there. It's a great place to discuss, uh, the episodes or what you're learning or what you'd like to learn. There's all sorts of, uh, little nooks and crannies and things to do in there. [00:03:43] Jesse Schwamb: So if you're looking for a little df and you know that you are coming out, we won't get into details, but you definitely should. Take Tony's advice, please. You, you will not be disappointed. It, it's a fun, fun time together. True. Just like you're about to have with us chatting it up and going through a little affirmations and denials. So, as usual, Tony, what are you, are you affirming with something or are you denying again, something? I'm, I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm ready. [00:04:06] Tony Arsenal: Okay. Uh, it is, I thought that was going somewhere else. Uh, I'm, I'm affirming something. [00:04:13] AI and Problem Solving [00:04:13] Tony Arsenal: People are gonna get so sick of me doing like AI affirmations, but I, it's like I learned a new thing to do with AI every couple of weeks. I ran across an article the other day, uh, that I don't remember where the article was. I didn't save it, but I did read it. And one of the things that pointed out is that a lot of times you're not getting the most out of AI because you don't really know how to ask the questions. True. One of the things it was was getting through is a lot of people will ask, they'll have a problem that they're encountering and they'll just ask AI like, how do I fix this problem? And a lot of times what that yields is like very superficial, basic, uh, generic advice or generic kind of, uh, directions for resolving a problem. And the, I don't remember the exact phrasing, 'cause it was a little while ago since I read it, but it basically said something like, I'm encountering X problem. And despite all efforts to the contrary, I have not been able to resolve it. And by using sort of these extra phrases. What it does is it sort of like pushes the AI to ask you questions about what you've already tried to do, and so it's gonna tailor its advice or its directions to your specific situation a little bit more. So, for example, I was doing this today. We, um, we just had the time change, right? Stupidest thing in the world doesn't make any sense and my kids don't understand that the time has changed and we're now like three or four weeks past the, the time change and their, their schedule still have not adjusted. So my son Augie, who is uh, like three and three quarters, uh, I don't know how many months it is. When do you stop? I don't even know. When you stop counting in months. He's three and a quarter, three quarters. And he will regularly wake up between four 30 and five 30. And when we really, what we really want is for him to be sleeping, uh, from uh, until like six or six 30 at the latest. So he's like a full hour, sometimes two hours ahead of time, which then he wakes up, it's a small house. He's noisy 'cause he's a three and a half year old. So he wakes up the baby. The baby wakes up. My wife, and then we're all awake and then we're cranky and it's miserable. So I, I put that little prompt into, um, into Google Gemini, which is right now is my, um, AI of choice, but works very similar. If you use something like chat, GPT or CLO or whatever, you know, grok, whatever AI tool you have access to, put that little prompt in. You know, something like since the time change, my son has been waking up at four 30 in the morning, despite all efforts to the contrary, I have not been able to, uh, adjust his schedule. And so it started asking me questions like, how much light is in the room? What time does he go to bed? How much does he nap? And it, so it's, it's pulling from the internet. This is why I like Google Geminis. It's actually pulling from the internet to identify like common, common. Related issues. And so it starts to probe and ask questions. And by the time it was done, what it came out with was like a step-by-step two week plan. Basically like, do this tonight, do this tomorrow morning. Um, and it was able to identify what it believes is the problem. We'll see if it actually is, but the beauty now is now that I've got a plan that I've got in this ai, I can start, you know, tomorrow morning I'm gonna try to do what it said and I can tell. The ai, how things went, and it can now adjust the plan based on whether or not, you know, this worked or didn't work. So it's a good way to sort of, um, push an ai, uh, chat bot to probe your situation a little bit more. So you could do this really for anything, right. You could do something like I'm having, I'm having trouble losing weight despite all efforts to the contrary. Um, can you help me identify what the, you know, root problem is? So think about different ways that you can use this. It's a pretty cool way to sort of like, push the, the AI to get a little deeper into the specifics without like a lot of extra heavy lifting. I'm sure there's probably other ways you could drive it to do this, but this was just one clever way that I, that this article pointed out to accomplish this. [00:08:07] Jesse Schwamb: It's a great exercise to have AI optimize itself. Yeah. By you turning your prompts around and asking it to ask you a number of questions, sufficient number, until it can provide an optimize answer for you. So lots, almost every bot has some kind of, you can have it analyze your prompts essentially, but some like copilot actually have a prompt agent, which will help you construct the prompt in an optimal way. Yeah, and that again, is kind of question and answer. So I'm with you. I will often turn it around and say. Here's my goal. Ask me sufficient number of questions so that you can provide the right insight to accomplish said goal. Or like you're saying, if you can create this like, massive conversation that keeps all this history. So I, I've heard of people using this for their exercise or running plans. Famously, somebody a, a, um, journalist, the Wall Street Journal, use it, train for a marathon. You can almost have it do anything for you. Of course, you want to test all of that and interact with it reasonably and ably, right? At the same time, what it does best is respond to like natural language interaction. And so by turning it around and basically saying, help me help you do the best job possible, providing the information, it's like the weirdest way of querying stuff because we're so used to providing explicit direction ourselves, right? So to turn it around, it's kind of a new experience, but it's super fun, really interesting, really effective. [00:09:22] Tony Arsenal: And it because you are allowing, in a certain sense, you're sort of asking the AI to drive the conversation. This, this particular prompt, I know the article I read went into details about why this prompt is powerful and the reason this prompt is powerful is not because of anything the AI's doing necessarily, right. It's because you're basically telling the AI. To find what you've missed. And so it's asking you questions. Like if I was to sit down and go like, all right, what are all the things that's wrong, that's causing my son to be awake? Like obviously I didn't figure it out on my own, so it's asking me what I've already tried and what it found out. And then of course when it tells me what it is, it's like the most obvious thing when it figures out what it is. It's identifying something that I already haven't identified because I've told it. I've already tried everything I can think of, and so it's prompting me to try to figure out what it is that I haven't thought of. So those are, like I said, there's lots of ways to sort of get the ais to do that exercise. Um, it's not, it's not just about prompt engineering, although that there's a lot of science now and a lot of like. Specifics on how you do prompt engineering, um, you know, like building a persona for the ai. Like there's all sorts of things you can do and you can add that, like, I could have said something like, um. Uh, you are a pediatric sleep expert, right? And when you tell it that what it's gonna do is it's gonna start to use more technical language, it's gonna, it's gonna speak to you back as though it's a, and this, this is where AI can get a little bit dangerous and really downright scary in some instances. But with that particular prompt, it's gonna start to speak back to you as though it was a clinician of some sort, diagnosing a medical situation, which again. That is definitely not something I would ever endorse. Like, don't let an AI be your doctor. That's just not, like WebMD was already scary enough when you were just telling you what your symptoms were and it was just cross checking it. Um, but you could do something like, and I use these kinds of prompts for our show notes where I'm like, you're an expert at SEO, like at um, podcast show notes. Utilizing SEO search terms, like that's part of the prompt that I use when I use, um, in, in this case, I use notion to generate most of our show notes. Um, it, it starts to change the way that it looks at things and the way that it, I, it responds to you based on different prompts. So I think it, it's a little bit scary, uh, AI. Can be a strange, strange place. And there's some, they're doing some research that is a little bit frightening. They did a study and actually, like, they, they basically like unlocked an AI and gave it access to a pretend company with emails and stuff and said that a particular employee was gonna shut out, was gonna delete the ai. And the first thing it did was try to like blackmail the employee with like a risk, like a scandalous email. It had. Then after that they, they engineered a scenario where the AI actually had the ability to kill the employee. And despite like explicit instructions not to do anything illegal, it still tried to kill the employee. So there's some scary things that are coming up if we're not, you know, if, if the science is not able to get that under control. But right now it's just a lot of fun. Like it's, we're, we're probably not at the point where it's dangerous yet and hopefully. Hopefully it won't get to that point, but we'll see. We'll see. That got dark real fast, fast, fast. Jesse, you gotta get this. And that was an affirmation. I guess I'm affirming killer murder ais that are gonna kill us all, but uh, we're gonna have fun with it until they do at least. [00:12:52] Jesse Schwamb: Thanks for not making that deny against. 'cause I can only imagine the direction that one to taken. [00:12:57] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. At least when the AI hears this, it's gonna know that I'm on its side, so, oh, for sure. I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords. So as do Iye. [00:13:05] Christmas Hymns and Music Recommendations [00:13:05] Tony Arsenal: But Jesse, what are you affirming or denying today to get me out of this pit here? [00:13:09] Jesse Schwamb: So, lemme start with a question. Do you have a favorite Christmas hymn? And if so, what is it? [00:13:16] Tony Arsenal: Ooh, that's a tough one. Um, I think I've always been really partial to Oh, holy Night. But, uh, there's, there's not anything that really jumps to mind my, as I've become older and crankier and more Scottish in spirit, I just, Christmas hymns just aren't as. If they're not as prominent in my mind, but oh, holy night or come coming, Emanuel is probably a really good one too. [00:13:38] Jesse Schwamb: Wow. Those are the, those are like the top in the top three for me. Yeah. So I think [00:13:42] Tony Arsenal: I know where you're going based on the question. [00:13:44] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, we're very much the same. So, well maybe, so I am affirming with, but it's that time of year and people you, you know and love and maybe yourself, you're gonna listen to Christian music and. That's okay. I put no shade on that, especially because we're talking about the incarnation, celebrate the incarnation. But of course, I think the best version of that is some of these really lovely hymns because they could be sung and worshiped through all year round. We just choose them because they fit in with the calendar particularly well here, and sometimes they're included, their lyrics included in Hallmark cards and, and your local. Cool. Coles. So while that's happening, why not embrace it? But here's my information is why not go with some different versions. I love the hymn as you just said. Oh, come will come Emmanuel. And so I'm gonna give people three versions of it to listen to Now to make my list of this kind of repertoire. The song's gotta maintain that traditional melody. I think to a strong degree, it's gotta be rich and deep and dark, especially Ko Emmanuel. But it's gotta have something in it that's a little bit nuanced. Different creative arrangements, musicality. So let me give two brand new ones that you may not have heard versions and one old one. So the old one is by, these are all Ko Emanuel. So if at some point during this you're like, what song is he talking about? It's Ko. Emmanuel. It's just three times. Th we're keeping it th Rice tonight. So the first is by band called for today. That's gonna be a, a little bit harder if you want something that, uh, gets you kind of pumped up in the midst of this redemption. That's gonna be the version. And then there are two brand new ones. One is by skillet, which is just been making music forever, but the piano melody they bring into this and they do a little something nuanced with the chorus that doesn't pull away too much. From the original, but just gives it a little extra like Tastiness. Yeah. Skill. Great version. And then another one that just came out yesterday. My yesterday, not your yesterday. So actually it doesn't even matter at this point. It's already out is by descriptor. And this would be like the most chill version that is a hardcore band by, I would say tradition, but in this case, their version is very chill. All of them I find are just deeply worshipful. Yeah. And these, the music is very full of impact, but of course the lyrics are glorious. I really love this, this crying out to God for the Savior. This. You know, just, it's really the, the plea that we should have now, which is, you know, maranatha like Lord Jesus, come. And so in some ways we're, we're celebrating that initial plea and cry for redemption as it has been applied onto us by the Holy Spirit. And we're also saying, you know, come and fulfill your kingdom, Lord, come and bring the full promise, which is here, but not yet. So I like all three of these. So for today. Skillet descriptor, which sounds like we're playing like a weird word game when you put those all together. It does, but they're all great bands and their versions I think are, are worthy. So the larger affirmation, I suppose, is like, go out this season and find different versions, like mix it up a little bit. Because it's good to hear this music somewhat afresh, and so I think by coming to it with different versions of it, you'll get a little bit of that sense. It'll make maybe what is, maybe if it's felt rote or mundane or just trivial, like you're saying, kind of revive some of these pieces in our hearts so we can, we, we can really worship through them. We're redeeming them even as they're meant to be expressions of the ultimate redemption. [00:16:55] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I, um, I heard the skillet version and, uh, you know, you know me like I'm not a huge fan of harder music. Yeah. But that, that song Slaps man, it's, yes, [00:17:07] Jesse Schwamb: it does. It's [00:17:07] Tony Arsenal: good. And Al I mean, it, it also ignited this weird firestorm of craziness online. I don't know if you heard anything about this, but Yes, it was, it was, there was like the people who absolutely love it and will. Fight you if you don't. Yes. And then there was like the people who think it's straight from the devil because of somehow demonic rhythms, whatever that means. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm not a big fan of the heavier music, but there is something about that sort of, uh. I don't know. Is skill, would that be considered like metal at all? [00:17:38] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, that's a loaded question. Probably. [00:17:39] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So like I found, uh, this is, we're gonna go down to Rabbit Trail here. Let's do it. Here we go. I found a version of Africa by Toto that was labeled as metal on YouTube. So I don't know whether it actually is, and this, this version of skill, it strikes me as very similar, where it's, ah, uh, it, it's like, um. The harmonies are slightly different in terms of like how they resonate than Okay. Other harmonies. Like I get [00:18:05] Jesse Schwamb: that [00:18:06] Tony Arsenal: there's a certain, you know, like when you think about like Western music, there's certain right, there's certain harmonies when, you know, think about like piano chords are framed and my understanding at least this could be way off, and I'm sure you're gonna correct me if I'm wrong, is that um, metal music, heavy metal music uses slightly different. Chord formations that it almost leaves you feeling a little unresolved. Yes, but not quite unresolved. Like it's just, it's, it's more the harmonics are different, so that's fair. Skillet. This skillet song is so good, and I think you're right. It, it retains the sort of like. The same basic melody, the same, the same basic harmonies, actually. Right. And it's, it's almost like the harmonies are just close enough to being put into a different key with the harmonies. Yes, [00:18:52] Jesse Schwamb: that's true [00:18:53] Tony Arsenal: than then. Uh, but not quite actually going into another key. So like, sometimes you'll see online, you'll find YouTube videos where they play like pop songs, but they've changed the, the. Chords a little bit. So now it's in a minor key. It's almost like it's there. It's like one more little note shift and it would be there. Um, and then there's some interesting, uh, like repetition and almost some like anal singing going on, that it's very good. Even if you don't like heavier music. Like, like I don't, um, go listen to it and I think you'll find yourself like hitting repeat a couple times. It was very, very good. [00:19:25] Jesse Schwamb: That's a good way of saying it. A lot of times that style is a little bit dissonant, if that's what you mean in the court. Yeah. Formation. So it gives you this unsettledness, this almost unresolvedness, and that's in there. Yeah. And just so everybody knows, actually, if you listen to that version from Skillet, you'll probably listen to most of it. You'll get about two thirds of the way through it and probably be saying, what are those guys talking about? It's the breakdown. Where it amps up. But before that, I think anybody could listen to it and just enjoy it. It's a really beautiful, almost haunting piano melody. They bring into the intro in that, in the interlude. It's very lovely. So it gives you that sense. Again, I love this kind of music because there's almost something, there is something in this song that's longing for something that is wanting and yet left, unresolved and unfulfilled until the savior comes. There's almost a lament in it, so to speak, especially with like the way it's orchestrated. So I love that this hymn is like deep and rich in that way. It's, that's fine. Like if you want to sing deck the Holes, that's totally fine. This is just, I think, better and rich and deeper and more interesting because it does speak to this life of looking for and waiting for anticipating the advent of the savior. So to get me get put back in that place by music, I think is like a net gain this time of year. It's good to have that perspective. I'm, I'm glad you've heard it. We should just open that debate up whether or not we come hang out in the telegram chat. We'll put it in that debate. Is skillet hardcore or metal? We'll just leave it there 'cause I have my opinions, but I'm, well, I'm sure everybody else does. [00:20:48] Tony Arsenal: I don't even know what those words mean, Jesse. Everything is hardcore in metal compared to what I normally listen to. I don't even listen to music anymore usually, so I, I mean, I'm like mostly all podcasts all the time. Anytime I have time, I don't have a ton of time to listen to. Um, audio stuff, but [00:21:06] Jesse Schwamb: that's totally fair. Well now everybody now join us though. [00:21:08] Tony Arsenal: Educate me [00:21:09] Jesse Schwamb: now. Everybody can properly use, IM prompt whatever AI of their choice, and they can listen to at least three different versions of al comical manual. And then they can tell us which one do you like the best? Or maybe you have your own version. That's what she was saying. What's your favorite Christmas in? [00:21:23] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And [00:21:24] Jesse Schwamb: what version of it do you like? I mean, it'll be like. [00:21:28] Tony Arsenal: It'll be like, despite my best efforts, I've been un unable to understand what hardcore and medical is. Please help me understand. [00:21:37] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, we're gonna have some, some fun with this at some point. We'll have to get into the whole debate, though. I know you and I have talked about it before. We'll put it before the brothers and sisters about a Christmas Carol and what version everybody else likes. That's also seems like, aside from the, the whole eternal debate, which I'm not sure is really serious about whether or not diehard is a Christmas movie, this idea of like, which version of the Christmas Carol do you subscribe to? Yeah. Which one would you watch if you can only watch one? Which one will you watch? That's, we'll have to save that for another time. [00:22:06] Tony Arsenal: We'll save it for another time. And we get a little closer to midwinter. No reason we just can't [00:22:10] Jesse Schwamb: do it right now because we gotta get to Luke 15. [00:22:12] Discussion on the Parable of the Lost Coin [00:22:12] Tony Arsenal: We do. [00:22:13] Jesse Schwamb: We, we've already been in this place of looking at Jesus' response to the Pharisees when they say to him, listen, this man receives sinners and eats with them. And Jesus is basically like, yeah, that's right. And let me tell you three times what the heart of God is like and what my mission in serving him is like, and what I desire to come to do for my children. And so we spoke in the last conversation about the parable lost sheep. Go check that out. Some are saying, I mean, I'm not saying this, but some are saying in the internet, it's the definitive. Congratulation of that parable. I'm, I'm happy to take that if that's true. Um, but we wanna go on to this parable of the lost coin. So let me read, it's just a couple of verses and you're gonna hear in the text that you're going to understand right away. This is being linked because it starts with or, so this is Jesus speaking and this is Luke 15, chapter 15, starting in verse eight. Jesus says, or a what woman? She has 10 D drachmas and loses. One drachma does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls together her friend and her neighbors saying, rejoice with me for I found the D Drachma, which I lost in the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. [00:23:27] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. On one level, this is, uh, again, it's not all that complicated of a scenario, right? And we have to kind of go back and relo through some of the stuff we talked about last week because this is a continuation of, you know, when we first talked about the Matthew 13 parables, we commented on like. Christ was coming back to the same themes, right? And in some ways, repeating the parable. This is even stronger than that. It's not just that Christ is teaching the same thing across multiple parables. The sense here, at least the sense I get when I read this parable, the lost sheep, and then the prodigal, um, sun parable or, or the next parable here, um, is actually that Christ is just sort of like hammering home the one point he's making to the tax collectors and or to the tax collectors or to the scribes who are complaining about the fact that Christ was eating with sinners. He's just hammering this point home, right? So it's not, it's not to try to add. A lot of nuance to the point. It's not to try to add a, a shade of meaning. Um. You know, we talked a lot about how parables, um, Christ tells parables in part to condemn the listeners who will not receive him, right? That's right. This is one of those situations where it's not, it's not hiding the meaning of the parable from them. The meaning is so obvious that you couldn't miss it, and he, he appeals, we talked about in the first, in the first part of this, he actually appeals to like what the ordinary response would be. Right? What man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one, does not. Go and leave the 99. Like it's a scenario that anyone who goes, well, like, I wouldn't do that is, looks like an idiot. Like, that's, that's the point of the why. He phrases it. And so then you're right when he, when he begins with this, he says, or what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until he, till she finds it. And of course, the, the, the emphasis again is like no one in their right mind would not do this. And I think like we think about a coin and like that's the smallest denomination of money that we have. Like, I wouldn't, like if I lost a, if I had 10 silver coin, 10 coins and I lost one of them, the most that that could be is what? 50 cents? Like the, like if I had a 50 cent piece or a silver dollar, I guess, like I could lose a dollar. We're not really talking about coins the way we think of coins, right? We're talking about, um. Um, you know, like denominations of money that are substantial in that timeframe. Like it, there was, there were small coins, but a silver coin would be a substantial amount of money to lose. So we are not talking about a situation where this is, uh, a trivial kind of thing. She's not looking for, you know, I've, I've heard this parable sort of like unpacked where like, it's almost like a miserly seeking for like this lost coin. Interesting. It's not about, it's not about like. Penny pinching here, right? She's not trying to find a tiny penny that isn't worth anything that's built into the parable, right? It's a silver coin. It's not just any coin. It's a silver coin. So she's, she's looking for this coin, um, because it is a significant amount of money and because she's lost it, she's lost something of her, of her overall wealth. Like there's a real loss. Two, this that needs to be felt before he can really move on with the parable. It's not just like some small piece of property, like there's a [00:26:57] Jesse Schwamb: right. I [00:26:57] Tony Arsenal: don't know if you've ever lost a large amount of money, but I remember one time I was in, um, a. I was like, almost outta high school, and I had taken some money out of, um, out of the bank, some cash to make a purchase. I think I was purchasing a laptop and I don't know why I, I don't, maybe I didn't have a credit card or I didn't have a debit card, but I was purchasing a laptop with cash. Right. And back then, like laptops, like this was not a super expensive laptop, but. It was a substantial amount of cash and I misplaced it and it was like, oh no, like, where is it? And like, I went crazy trying to find it. This is the situation. She's lost a substantial amount of money. Um, this parable, unlike the last one, doesn't give you a relative amount of how many she has. Otherwise. She's just lost a significant amount of money. So she takes all these different steps to try to find it. [00:27:44] Understanding the Parable's Context [00:27:44] Tony Arsenal: We have to feel that loss before we really can grasp what the parable is trying to teach us. [00:27:49] Jesse Schwamb: I like that, so I'm glad you brought that up because I ended up going down a rabbit hole with this whole coined situation. [00:27:56] Tony Arsenal: Well, we're about to, Matt Whitman some of this, aren't we? [00:27:58] Jesse Schwamb: Yes, I think so. But mainly because, and this is not really my own ideas here, there's, there's a lot I was able to kind of just read and kind. Throw, throw something around this because I think you're absolutely right that Jesus is bringing an ES escalation here and it's almost like a little bit easier for us to understand the whole sheep thing. I think the context of the lost coin, like you're already saying, is a little bit less familiar to us, and so I got into this. Rabbit hole over the question, why would this woman have 10 silver coins? I really got stuck on like, so why does she have these? And Jesus specific about that he's giving a particular context. Presumably those within his hearing in earshot understood this context far better than I did. So what I was surprised to see is that a lot of commentators you probably run into this, have stated or I guess promulgated this idea that the woman is young and unmarried and the 10 silver coins could. Could represent a dowry. So in some way here too, like it's not just a lot of money, it's possible that this was her saving up and it was a witness to her availability for marriage. [00:28:57] The Significance of the Lost Coin [00:28:57] Jesse Schwamb: So e either way, if that's true or not, Jesus is really emphasizing to us there's significant and severe loss here. And so just like you said, it would be a fool who would just like say, oh, well that's too bad. The coin is probably in here somewhere, but eh, I'm just gonna go about my normal business. Yeah. And forsake it. Like, let's, let's not worry about it. So. The emphasis then on this one is not so much like the leaving behind presumably can keep the remaining nine coins somewhere safe if you had them. But this effort and this diligence to, to go after and find this lost one. So again, we know it's all about finding what was lost, but this kind of momentum that Jesus is bringing to this, like the severity of this by saying there was this woman, and of course like here we find that part of this parable isn't just in the, the kingdom of God's like this, like we were talking about before. It's more than that because there's this expression of, again, the situation combined with these active verbs. I think we talked about last time that Christ love is an act of love and it's always being acted upon the sinner, the one who has to be redeemed, his child whom he goes after. So in the same way, we have Christ showing the self-denying love. Like in the first case, the shepherd brought his sheep home on his shoulders rather than leave it in the wilderness. And then here. The woman does like everything. She lights the candle, she sweeps the house. She basically turns the thing, the place upside down, searching diligently and spared no pains with this until she found her lost money. And before we get into the whole rejoicing thing, it just strikes me that, you know, in the same way, I think what we have here is Christ affirming that he didn't spare himself. He's not gonna spare himself. When he undertakes to save sinners, he does all the things. He endures the cross scor in shame. He lays down his life for his friends. There's no greater love than that. It cannot be shown, and so Christ's love is deep and mighty. It's like this woman doing all the things, tearing the place apart to ensure that that which she knew she had misplaced comes back to her. That the full value of everything that she knows is hers. Is safe and secure in her possession and so does the Lord Jesus rejoice the safe sinners in the same way. And that's where this is incredibly powerful. It's not just, Hey, let me just say it to you one more time. There is a reemphasis here, but I like where you're going, this re-escalation. I think the first question is, why do the woman have this money? What purpose is it serving? And I think if we can at least try to appreciate some of that, then we see again how Jesus is going after that, which is that he, he wants to save the sinner. He wants to save the soul. And all of the pleasure, then all of the rejoicing comes because, and, and as a result of that context. [00:31:22] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:23] Theological Implications of God's People [00:31:23] Tony Arsenal: The other thing, um, maybe, and, and I hope I'm not overreading again, we've, we've talked about the dangers of overreading, the parables, but I think there's a, and we'll, we'll come to this too when we get into the, um, prodigal son. Um, there is this sense, I think in some theological traditions that. God is sort of like claiming a people who were not his own. Right. And one of the things that I love about the reform tradition, and, and I love it because this is the picture the Bible teaches, is the emphasis on the fact that God's people have been God's people. As long as God has been pondering and con like contemplating them. So like we deny eternal justification, right? Justification happens in time and there's a real change in our status, in in time when, when the spirit applies, the benefits that Christ has purchased for us in redemption, right? But there's also a very real sense that God has been looking and considering us as his people in eternity past. Like that's always. That's the nature of the Pactum salutes, the, you know, covenant of redemption election. The idea that like God is not saving a nameless, faceless people. He's not creating conditions that people can either move themselves into or take themselves out of. He has a concrete people. Who he is saving, who he has chosen. He, he, you know, prior to our birth, he will redeem us. He now, he has redeemed us and he will preserve us in all of these parables, whether it's the sheep, the coin, or as we'll get to the prodigal sun next week or, or whenever. Um. It's not that God is discovering something new that he didn't have, or it's not that the woman is discovering a coin, right? There's nothing more, uh, I think nothing more like sort of, uh, spontaneously delightful than like when you like buy a, like a jacket at the thrift store. Like you go to Salvation Army and you buy a jacket, you get home, you reach in the pocket and there's like a $10 bill and you're like, oh man, that's so, so great. Or like, you find a, you find a. A $10 bill on the ground, or you find a quarter on the ground, right? Yeah. Or you find your own money. Well, and that that's, there's a different kind of joy, right? That's the point, is like, there's a delight that comes with finding something. And again, like we have to be careful about like, like not stealing, right? But there's a different kind of joy that comes with like finding something that was not yours that now becomes yours. We talked about that with parables a couple weeks ago, right? There's a guy who finds it, he's, he's searching for pearls. He finds a pearl, and so he goes after he sells everything he has and he claims that pearl, but that wasn't his before the delight was in sort of finding something new. These parables. The delight is in reclaiming and refining something that was yours that was once lost. Right? That's a different thing. And it paints a picture, a different picture of God than the other parables where, you know, the man kind of stumbles on treasure in a field or he finds a pearl that he was searching for, but it wasn't his pearl. This is different. This is teaching us that God is, is zealous and jealous to reclaim that which was his, which was lost. Yes. Right. So, you know, we can get, we can, maybe we will next week, maybe we will dig into like super laps area versus infra laps. AIRism probably not, I don't necessarily wanna have that conversation. But there is a reality in the Bible where God has a chosen people and they are his people, even before he redeems them. [00:34:52] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly. [00:34:53] God's Relentless Pursuit of Sinners [00:34:53] Tony Arsenal: These parables all emphasize that in a different way and part of what he's, part of what he's ribbing at with the Pharisees and the, and the scribes, and this is common across all of Christ's teaching in his interactions and we get into true Israel with, with Paul, I mean this is the consistent testimony of the New Testament, is that the people who thought they were God's people. The, the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the, the sort of elites of, uh, first century Jewish believers, they really were convinced that they were God's people. And those dirty gentiles out there, they, they're not, and even in certain sense, like even the Jewish people out in the country who don't even, you know, they don't know the scriptures that like, even those people were maybe barely God's people. Christ is coming in here and he is going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like you're asking me. You're surprised that I receive sinners and e with them. Well, I'm coming to claim that which is mine, which was lost, and the right response to that is not to turn your nose up at it. The right response is to rejoice with me that I have found my sheep that was lost, that I have reclaimed my coin that was lost. And as we'll see later on, like he really needles them at the end of the, the, uh, parable of the prodigal son. This is something I, I have to be like intentional in my own life because I think sometimes we hear conversion stories and we have this sort of, I, I guess like, we'll call it like the, the Jonah I heresy, I dunno, we won't call it heresy, but like the, the, the like Jonah impulse that we all have to be really thankful for God's mercy in our life. But sort of question whether God is. Merciful or even be a little bit upset when it seems that God is being merciful to those sinners over there. We have to really like, use these parables in our own lives to pound that out of our system because it's, it's ungodly and it's not what God is, is calling us. And these parables really speak against that [00:36:52] Jesse Schwamb: and all of us speak in. In that lost state, but that doesn't, I think like you're saying, mean that we are not God's already. That if he has established that from a trinity past, then we'd expect what others have said about God as the hound of heaven to be true. And that is he comes and he chases down his own. What's interesting to me is exactly what you've said. We often recognize when we do this in reverse and we look at the parable of the lost son, all of these elements, how the father comes after him, how there's a cha singer coming to himself. There's this grand act of repentance. I would argue all of that is in all of these parables. Not, not to a lesser extent, just to a different extent, but it's all there. So in terms of like couching this, and I think what we might use is like traditionally reformed language. And I, I don't want to say I'm overeating this, I hope I'm not at that same risk, but we see some of this like toll depravity and like the sinner is lost, unable to move forward, right? There still is like the sovereign grace of God who's initiating the salvation and there is a kind of effect of calling that God doesn't merely invite, he finds, he goes after he affects the very thing. Yeah, and I think we're seeing that here. There is. The sinner, spiritual inability. There's an utter passivity until found. The coin doesn't seek the woman. The woman seeks the coin. And in this way, I think we see God's act of searching grace. It's all there for us. Yeah, it's in a slightly different way, but I think that's what we're meant to like take away from this. We're meant to lean into that a bit. [00:38:12] Rejoicing in Salvation [00:38:12] Jesse Schwamb: And the reason why I think it leads to joy, why God is so pleased is because God has this real pleasure. Jesus has this real pleasure. The Holy Spirit has this real pleasure. To pluck sinners as brands from the burning fire. You know, it was Jesus, literally his food and drink like not to be too trite, but like his jam went upon the earth to finish the work, which he came to do. And there are many times when he says he ammi of being constrained in the spirit until this was accomplished. And it's still his delight to show mercy like you're saying He is. And even Jonah recognizes that, right. He said like, I knew you were going to be a merciful God. And so he's far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved. But that is the gospel level voice, isn't it? Because we can come kicking and screaming, but in God's great mercy, not because of works and unrighteousness, but because of his great mercy, he comes and he tears everything apart to rescue and to save those whom he's called to himself. [00:39:06] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I love that old, um, Puritan phrase that wrath is God's alien work. And we, you know, like you gotta be careful when you start to talk that way. And the Puritans were definitely careful about everything. I mean, they were very specific when they spoke, but. When we talk about God's alien work and wrath being God's alien work, what we're saying is not, not that like somehow wrath is external to God. Like that's not what we're getting at of Right. But when you look at scripture and, and here's something that I think, um. I, I don't know how I wanna say this. Like, I think we read that the road is narrow and the the, um, you know, few are those who find it. I think we read that and we somehow think like, yeah, God, God, like, really loves that. Not a lot of people are saved. And I, I actually think that like, when we look at it, um, and, and again, like we have to be careful 'cause God, God. God decreed that which he is delighted by, and also that which glorifies him the most. Right? Right. But the picture that we get in scripture, and we have to take this seriously with all of the caveats that it's accommodated, it's anthropopathism that, you know, all of, all of the stuff we've talked about. We did a whole series on systematic theology. We did like six episodes on Divine Simplicity and immutability. Like we we're, we're right in line with the historic tradition on that. All of those caveats, uh, all of those caveats in place, the Bible pic paints a picture of God such that he grieves over. Those who are lost. Right? Right. He takes no delight in the death of the wicked. That's right. He, he, he seeks after the lost and he rejoices when he finds them. Right. He's, his, his Holy Spirit is grieved when we disobey him, his, his anger is kindled even towards his people in a paternal sense. Right. He disciplines us the way an angry father who loves us, would discipline us when we disobey him. That is a real, that's a real thing. What exactly that means, how we can apply that to God is a very complicated conversation. And maybe sometimes it's more complicated than we, like, we make it more complicated than it needs to be for sure. Um, we wanna be careful to preserve God's changeness, his immutability, his simplicity, all of those things. But at the end of the day, at. God grieves over lost sinners, and he rejoices when they come back. He rejoices when they return to him. Just as the shepherd who finds his lost sheep puts that sheep on his shoulders, right? That's not just because that's an easy way to carry a sheep, right? It's also like this picture of this loving. Intimate situation where God pulls us onto himself and he, he wraps literally like wraps us around himself. Like there are times when, um. You know, I have a toddler and there are times where I have to carry that toddler, and it's, it's a fight, right? And I don't really enjoy doing it. He's squirming, he's fighting. Then there are times where he needs me to hold him tight, and he, he snuggles in. When he falls down and hurts his leg, the first thing he does is he runs and he jumps on me, and he wants to be held tight, and there's a f there's a fatherly embrace there that not only brings comfort to my son. But it brings great joy to me to be able to comfort him that that dynamic in a, uh, a infinitely greater sense is at play here in the lost sheep. And then there's this rejoicing. It's not just rejoicing that God is rejoicing, it's the angels that are rejoicing. [00:42:43] The Joy of Redemption [00:42:43] Tony Arsenal: It's the, it's other Christians. It's the great cloud of witnesses that are rejoicing when Aah sinner is returned to God. All of God's kingdom and everything that that includes, all of that is involved in this rejoicing. That's why I think like in the first parable, in the parable of the lost sheep, it's joy in heaven. Right? It's sort of general joy in heaven. It's not specific. Then this one is even more specific. It's not just general joy in heaven. It's the angels of God. That's right. That are rejoicing. And then I think what we're gonna find, and we'll we'll tease this out when we get to the next par, well the figure in the prodigal son that is rejoicing. The one that is leading the rejoicing, the chief rejoice is the one who's the standin for God in that parable. [00:43:26] Jesse Schwamb: Right, exactly right. So, [00:43:27] Tony Arsenal: so we have to, we have to both recognize that there's a true grief. A true sorrow that is appropriate to speak of God, um, as having when a sinner is lost. And there's also an equally appropriate way to speak about God rejoicing and being pleased and delighted when a sinner returns to him. [00:43:53] Jesse Schwamb: That's the real payoff of this whole parable. I think, uh, maybe all three of them altogether, is that it is shocking how good the gospel is, which we're always saying, yeah, but I'm really always being moved, especially these last couple weeks with what Jesus is saying about how good, how truly unbelievable the gospel is. And again, it draws us to the. Old Testament scriptures when even the Israel saying, who is like this? Who is like our God? So what's remarkable about this is that there's an infinite willingness on God's part to receive sinners. [00:44:23] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:44:23] Jesse Schwamb: And however wicked a man may have been, and the day that he really turns from his wickedness and comes to God by Christ, God is well pleased and all of heaven with him, and God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, like you said, but God has pleasure and true repentance. If all of that's true, then like day to day, here's what I, I think this means for us. [00:44:41] Applying the Parable to Our Lives [00:44:41] Jesse Schwamb: Is when we come to Christ for mercy and love and help and whatever anguish and perplexity and simpleness that we all have, and we all have it, we are going with the flow. If his own deepest wishes, we're not going against them. And so this means that God has for us when we partake in the toning work of Christ, coming to Christ for forgiveness, communing with him despite our sinfulness, that we are laying hold of Christ's own deepest longing and joy. [00:45:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And [00:45:10] Jesse Schwamb: Jesus is comforted when we draw near the riches of his atoning work because as his body, even his own body in a way is being healed in this process. And so we, along with it, that I think is the payoff here. That's what's just so remarkable is that not only, like you're saying, is all heaven kind of paying attention to this. Like they're cognizant of it. It's something worthy of their attention and their energies and their rejoicing. But again, it's showing that God is doing all of this work and so he keeps calling us and calling us and calling us over and over again and just like you said, the elect sinner, those estr belongs to God and his eternal purpose. Even that by itself, we could just say full stop. Shut it down end the podcast. Yeah. That's just worthy to, to rejoice and, and ponder. But this is how strong I think we see like per election in particular, redemption in these passages. Christ died for his chief specifically crisis going after the lost coin, which already belongs to him. So like you were saying, Tony, when you know, or maybe you don't know, but you've misplaced some kind of money and you put your hand in that pocket of that winter coat for the first time that season and out comes the piece of paper, that's whatever, 20 or whatever, you rejoice in that, right. Right. It's like this was mine. I knew it was somewhere, it belonged to me, except that what's even better here is this woman tears her whole place apart to go after this one coin that she knows is hers and yet has been lost. I don't know what more it is to be said. I just cannot under emphasize. Or overemphasize how great God's love is in this like amazing condescension, so that when Jesus describes himself as being gentle and lowly or gentle and humble or gentle and humiliated, that I, I think as we understand the biblical text, it's not necessarily just that he's saying, well, I'm, I'm displaying. Meekness power under control. When he says he's humble, he means put in this incredibly lowly state. Yeah. That the rescue mission, like you're saying, involves not just like, Hey, she lemme call you back. Hey, come over here, says uh. He goes and he picks it up. It's the ultimate rescue, picks it up and takes it back by his own volition, sacrificing everything or to do that and so does this woman in this particular instance, and it should lead us. I think back to there's this virtuous cycle of seeing this, experiencing this. Being compelled by the law of Christ, as Paul says, by the power of the Holy Spirit and being regenerated and then worshiping, and then repenting, and then worshiping, and then repenting, and then worshiping. Because in the midst of that repentance and that beautifulness recognizing, as Isaiah says, all of these idols that we set up, that we run to, the one thing they cannot do for us is they cannot deal with sin. They cannot bring cleanliness and righteousness through confession of sin. They cannot do that. So Christ is saying, come to the one you who are needy, you who have no money. To use another metaphor in the Bible, come and buy. And in doing so, we're saying, Christ, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. And when he says, come, come, I, I've, I have already run. After you come and be restored, come and be renewed. That which was lost my child. You have been found and I have rescued you. [00:48:04] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And these, these are so, um, these two parables are so. Comfortable. Like, right, like they are there, there are certain passages of scripture that you can just like put on like a big fuzzy warm bathrobe on like sn a cold morning, a snuggy. Yeah. I don't know if I want to go that far, but spirits are snuggy and, and these two are like that, right? Like, I know there are times where I feel like Christ redeemed me sort of begrudgingly, right? Mm-hmm. I think we have, we have this, um, concept in our mind of. Sort of the suffering servant, you know, like he's kind of like, ah, if I have to do it, I will. Right, right. And, and like, I think we, we would, if, if we were the ones who were, were being tasked to redeem something, we might do it. You know, we might do it and we. We might feel a certain sense of satisfaction about it, but I can tell you that if I had a hundred sheep and I had lost one, I would not lay it on my shoulder rejoicing. I would lay it on my shoulder. Frustrated and glad that I finally found it, but like. Right. Right. That's not what Christ did. That's right. Christ lays us on his shoulders rejoicing. Right. I know. Like when you lose something, it's frustrating and it's not just the loss of it that's frustrating. It's the time you have to take to find it. And sometimes like, yeah, you're happy that you found it, but you're like, man, it would've just been nice if I hadn't lost this in [00:49:36] Jesse Schwamb: the That's right. [00:49:37] Tony Arsenal: This woman, there's none of that. There's no, um, there's no regret. There's no. Uh, there's no begrudging this to it. There's nothing. It's just rejoicing. She's so happy. And it's funny, I can imagine, uh, maybe, maybe this is my own, uh, lack of sanctification here. I can imagine being that friend that's like, I gotta come over 'cause you found your coin, right? Like, I can be, I could imagine me that person, but Right. But honestly, like. This is a, this is a situation where she's so overcome with joy. She just has to tell people about it. Yeah. She has to share it with people. It, it reminds me, and I've seen this, I've seen this, um, connection made in the past certainly isn't new to me. I don't, I don't have any specific sorts to say, but like the woman at the well, right. She gets this amazing redemption. She gets this, this Messiah right in front of her. She leaves her buckets at the well, and she goes into a town of people who probably hate her, who think she's just the worst scum of society and she doesn't care. She goes into town to tell everybody about the fact that the Messiah has come, right? And they're so like stunned by the fact that she's doing it. Like they come to see what it is like that's what we need to be like. So there's. There's an element here of not only the rejoicing of God, and again, like, I guess I'm surprised because I've, I've, I've never sort of really read this. Part, I've never read this into it too much or I've never like really pulled this out, but it, now that I'm gonna say it, it just seems logical, like not only is God rejoicing in this, but again, it should be calling us to rejoice, right? Christ is. Christ is using these parables to shame the Pharisees and the scribes who refuse to rejoice over the salvation of sinners. How often do we not rejoice over our own salvation sufficiently? Like when's the last time? And I, I don't want to, this is, this can be a lot of loss. So again, like. God is not calling every single person to stand up on their lunch table at work, or, I don't know if God's calling anybody to stand up on the lunch table at work. Right. To like, like scream about how happy they are that they're sick, happy, happy. But like, when's the last time you were so overcome with joy that in the right opportunity, it just over, like it just overcame you and you had to share it. I don't rem. Putting myself bare here, like I don't remember the last time that happened. I share my faith with people, like my coworkers know that I'm a Christian and, um, my, they know that like, there are gonna be times where like I will bring biblical ethics and biblical concepts into my work. Like I regularly use bible examples to illustrate a principle I'm trying to teach my employees or, or I will regularly sort of. In a meeting where there's some question about what the right, not just like the correct thing to do, but the right thing to do. I will regularly bring biblical morality into those conversations. Nobody is surprised by that. Nobody's really offended by it. 'cause I just do it regularly. But I don't remember the last time where I was so overcome with joy because of my salvation that I just had to tell somebody. Right. And that's a, that's a, that's an indictment on me. That's not an indictment on God. That's not an indictment on anyone else. That's an indictment on me. This parable is calling me to be more joyful about. My salvation. [00:52:52] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. One of the, I think the best and easiest verses from Psalms to memorize is let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Yes. Like, say something, speak up. There's, there's a great truth in what you're saying. Of course. And I think we mentioned this last time. There's a communal delight of redemption. And here we see that played out maybe a little bit more explicitly because the text says that the joy is before the angels, meaning that still God is the source of the joy. In other words, the angels share in God's delight night, vice versa, and not even just in salvation itself, but the fact that God is delighted in this great salvation, that it shows the effectiveness of his saving power. All that he has designed will come to pass because he super intends his will over all things that all things, again are subservient to our salvation. And here, why would that not bring him great joy? Because that's exactly what he intends and is able to do. And the angels rejoice along with him because his glory is revealed in his mighty power. So I'm, I'm with you. I mean, this reminds me. Of what the author of Hebrew says. This is chapter 12, just the first couple of verses. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses in this communal kind of redemption of joy surrounding us. Laying aside every weight and the sin,

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Racine Danish Kringles. Exclusive 10% off entire order -  www.kringles.com  // Promo Code:  HALLMARK25--We're back to unwrap this another new Hallmark holiday movie: The More the Merrier — where Christmas miracles, snowed-in romance, and a baby boom collide under one roof.ABOUT THE MORE THE MERRIERAlice, an emergency room doctor, volunteers to work Christmas Eve shifts at a rural hospital. During a snowy Christmas, Alice and Brian, a top-rated cardiologist, help deliver three baby booms, sparking a lasting bond.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR THE MORE THE MERRIERNovember 28, 2025  | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF THE MORE THE MERRIERRachel Boston as Alice RogersBrendan Penny as Brian DavisBRAN'S THE MORE THE MERRIER SYNOPSISWe meet Alice, who picks up cookies before heading to the ER to volunteer. She's a nurse who volunteers every Christmas. While getting the cookies out of the back of her car, she slips and almost falls — but is saved by a hot doctor named Brian. He's a cardiologist.Brian's sister also works at the hospital and is very pregnant. Brian is shocked to learn that Alice is a doctor too — an OBGYN, in fact. He keeps trying to find out more about her, but she's a closed book. He does discover, however, that she has four job offers that would take her out of town in the new year… but no one else knows.Brian's sister goes into labor and gives birth right as the clock strikes midnight. A Christmas baby! She immediately gets to work trying to set up her brother and Alice.But honestly, that doesn't seem likely after Brian accidentally lets it slip that Alice is planning to leave the hospital in the new year.Meanwhile, another woman who brought her son in after he bonked his head ends up going into labor with twins. What a day.Alice and Brian start hanging out more during their downtime. Another pregnant woman tries to get to the hospital, but the roads are bad, so she stops at a bakery with its lights still on. Coincidentally, the people inside are the couple planning to adopt her baby. With help from a tow truck driver, they all make it to the hospital, and she gives birth.Everyone chips in to make sure all the patients and staff get a nice Christmas breakfast.Alice decides she's not taking any of the out-of-town jobs — she's sticking around. They celebrate by kissssingggggg. Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week of Deck the Hallmark is presented by Racine Danish Kringles. Exclusive 10% off entire order -  www.kringles.com  // Promo Code:  HALLMARK25Get 10% off your first month of Better Help // BetterHelp.com/hallmark--We're back with another Christmas movie breakdown — this time diving into The Snow Must Go On.ABOUT THE SNOW MUST GO ONIsaiah Heyward returns to Broadway after a decade, but faces challenges in finding a director. He saves a Christmas musical and discovers love, family, and friendship as the greatest holiday gifts. He reunites with his family and friends.AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR THE SNOW MUST GO ONNovember 28, 2025 | Hallmark ChannelCAST & CREW OF THE SNOW MUST GO ONCorey Cott as Isaiah HeywardHeather Hemmens as Lilly-AnneBRAN'S THE SNOW MUST GO ON SYNOPSISThe movie starts with a Rudolph musical. It's safe to say this is off-Broadway. Actor Isaiah Heyward wrote, directed, and stars in the one-man show that no one cared about. He put his heart and soul into it, working on it for over a year.His sister, Jess, and her daughter, Aurora, show up to cheer him on and invite him home for Christmas. He says he has a big Broadway audition tomorrow, so he can't come.Isaiah shows up for the audition and sees a poster for a musical he was in long ago. Now, he can't even get in the room to audition before the casting director leaves for the day. To make matters worse, he gets fired from his caroling gig for showing up late.With nothing else going on, he heads home to Hancock.His sister picks him up and immediately guilt-trips Isaiah for not being around for Aurora, who is struggling to adjust to her parents' divorce. To make it up to her, he offers to pick her up from school — and naturally ends up taking over as director of the Christmas musical when the old director quits.The school guidance counselor, Lilly-Anne, gets roped into being the staff supervisor.But it turns out Isaiah doesn't just have to direct — he has to finish writing the show, which happens to be about reindeer.It doesn't take long for Lilly-Anne to open up to him about her past. Isaiah discovers that one of the kids in the theater program is the daughter of the woman cast in the musical he wanted to audition for. He hatches a plan: he's going to cast himself as the lead to impress her.Aurora hears about his plan and volunteers to help make his vision come to life.Lilly-Anne helps Isaiah learn how to work with kids, including helping one student, Steven, conquer his fear of singing in public and audition for the musical. There's a lot of confusion over why Isaiah cast himself as the lead, but Aurora convinces everyone they're lucky to learn from a Broadway legend.He starts spending more time with Lilly-Anne outside of rehearsals — holding hands while looking at Christmas lights, watching a movie together, and shopping for a bad Charlie Brown-style Christmas tree.After showing off his stage lighting setup, Isaiah and Lilly-Anne share a kiss — but he's conflicted because he hasn't told her the truth about why he's the lead.To help the kids feel comfortable performing in front of an audience, they go Christmas caroling.The more Isaiah cares about the kids, the wiser he feels — but it's time for the final dress rehearsal. He finds out a producer will be in the audience, so he goes out there and crushes it. The producer finds him backstage and invites him to the city on Christmas Eve to audition. Isaiah is thrilled — it's what he's been waiting for. Unfortunately, Lilly-Anne overhears, is upset, and demands he tell the kids the truth, or she will. It does not go well.He goes to the audition but can't focus, constantly thinking about letting the kids down. He tells the producer he has to return to Hancock to see the lead — the kids' performance — and pleads with her to come with him.She shows up just in time to give a pep talk, and Isaiah arrives behind her to apologize to everyone.The show is a smash hit. He tells Lilly-Anne this is his favorite standing ovation. He confesses that he has a new dream — one with her — and decides he doesn't want to go back to Broadway. The snow machine starts, they kiss, and he quips, “The snow must go on.” Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.