Christmas Connection
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Stars: Brooke Burns and Tom Everett Scott.
Synopsis (via Hallmark)
Flight attendant Sydney is tasked with looking after Leah, an unaccompanied minor. After Leah is safely delivered to her father, Jonathan, Sydney finds a package Leah left behind and delivers it to Leah. She missed her connection, and Jonathan invites her to spend the holidays with them.
Thoughts
Sydney is a flight attendant who is great at her job and hates Christmas. She is taking one last flight to Chicago before she takes a Christmas vacation on the beach with a book. Sydney get assigned a minor to take care of on the flight and the two bond over their dead Moms, who are now angels. (The kid is a pretty good actress!)
When the little girl’s dad doesn’t show up to pick her up on time, Sydney decides to miss her connecting flight and stay with her until her Dad comes. He eventually shows up, he was busy with work (he is a reporter) and to apologize for making Sydney miss her flight, he and Leah take her to get hot cocoa.
At hot cocoa, we get an adorable scene where Jonathan (the Dad) and Sydney talk about their lives. He doesn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to have a wintery Christmas, and she reveals that she was from Chicago originally. Her parents met there and fell in love, but since they have both passed, Sydney grew up in California with her grandparents. Jonathan gets a work call and has to go but not before Sydney teaches Leah how to say goodbye in Italian. (Sydney has applied to work for an airline in Rome.)
While at the hotel, Sydney realizes that Leah “accidentally” put a present she made for her Dad in her purse. She calls the airline to track down the family and drop them off. At the house (which is beautifully decorated inside and out) the Jonathan, Leah, and the whole family are gathered together to decorate even more! Sydney’s cab leaves her and she decides to stay and help out. Sydney gets a call from her airline and she can’t get a flight out until after Christmas, Johnathan seizes the opportunity and offers up a plan. He offers to do some research about her parents and learn their Chicago love story while getting an opportunity to see Chicago. In return he can write the story he has been struggling with, about their adventures. She agrees, but says to herself in the cab as it drives away.
“What am I getting myself into…”
Turns out they are in for a Christmas Mystery and they gallivant around town with pictures of Sydney’s parents piecing the puzzle together. They even ask his family about they mystery at dinner, but not before Sydney does a flight attendant speech with adjustments for dinner. (It sounds stupid, but I loved it!) The family approves of Sydney and they love how much Leah likes her, could she be a good replacement mom?
They head up to Fox Lake to a tree farm. Turns out the owner knew Sydney’s Dad, who used to work at the tree farm and play hockey at Northwestern. Next it is onto her mom, whose picture is with a nutcracker in a ballet outfit. Before they go to the ballet, they have a cookie-decorating party, build a snowman, and, of course, ice skating.
At ice skating, they realize that they are where Sydney’s mom’s picture was taken. She is fo grateful to have the opportunity to stand where they stood and experience what they did—and so close to Christmas. Another touching moment, and then they have a family snowball fight.
On Christmas Eve, Eve. The family and Sydney exchange gifts. Leah gets an angel necklace and Jonathan gets a Christmas music box. Leah’s gift for Sydney is the present she was going to give her dad with a new photo in of them in the frame. Then her red-headed Canadian friend calls and tells her that she got the job assignment in Rome, as long as she can get there by Christmas. She breaks the news to Jonathan and he is understanding
While packing her bags for Rome, Sydney gets a call from the front desk. It is Jonathan and Leah, they are coming to say goodbye and thank her for everything. Jonathan doesn’t tell her how he feels, but his sister encourages him to take a chance.
Jonathan realizes that he never fulfilled his promise to find out how Sidney’s parents met. He goes back to the gazebo by the ice skating rink. (Of course there is a gazebo.) He puts together the Christmas mystery! He discovers that Sydney’s mom was rehearsing for an ice skating competition and her partner dropped out; Sydney’s dad stepped in and they won the competition.
After reading his article on her phone on the way to the airport, Sydney decides to skips her flight and head to the gazebo. She meets Jonathan and he tells her the parent story. She realizes that Chicago is her home and there is no where she’d rather be. Snowfalls as they kiss!
Side Note
This movie consistently covered all it’s bases as a movie, explaining any nit picking a viewer might have. Very good writing.
My friends and I got into a huge debate about whether Christmas Eve is the whole day or just the night of Christmas eve. (Please discuss)
Brooke Burns looks just like a flight attendant and is aging VERY gracefully.
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Overall rating
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 (5 Christmas Trees)
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷(5 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2017 Crown Media United States, LLC
Thank you for this thorough synopsis! I missed the convo about what happened with the parents, sending them on this adventure and found the answer in your summary! Thank you, it was a cute movie indeed.