The Christmas Cottage

• Mistletoe
• Snowball Fight
• Go to Christmas Tree Farm
• Decorate Christmas Tree
• Stockings
• Snows
• Make Christmas Wreath
• Santa's Village Santa
• Hot Chocolate
• Tree Lighting Ceremony
• Caroling
• Pool Table but no one plays on it
• Drink from Empty Coffee Cups
• Ex does nothing wrong but no joy

Director

• Paul A. Kaufman

Producers

• Jamie Goehring
• Paul A. Kaufman
• John MacCarthy
• Joey Plager
• Jonathan Shore
• Ian Smith
• Shawn Williamson

Cast

• Wendy Abbott
• Mark Brandon
• Carey Feehan
• Natalie Gibson
• Steve Lund
• Laurie Paton
• Merritt Patterson
• Taylor St. Pierre
• Brittney Wilson
• Victor Zinck Jr.

QUOTE:"I still think this place is enchanted. There is magic here at Christmas. I can feel it. You know that anyone who's ever stayed here during Christmas time has found true love." Don't you think that's a myth? "Well, it's been in my family for generations and it's been proven right for generations."

QUOTE:I ordered all the decorations online with overnight shipping. It'll be here tomorrow and then all I have to do is set it up. I even got this super cool mid-century modern tree "OK time out. You ordered a tree?" Yeah it's very retro chic. "Lacey, I don't want a retro-chic tree. I want a big pine tree. You know the kind that you cut down?"

QUOTE:"We should get back to the hotel so you can get changed into your party gear for the welcome party." Uh, this is my party gear. "But it's, it's so gray." And sleek and sophisticated and this is all I own. "OK you've become one of your designs. We need to get color back into your life ASAP.

QUOTE:First of all I want to welcome you and thank you all for traveling here during Christmas. It's a tradition in our family to get married on Christmas Eve and to spend the honeymoon in the family cottage. It brings happiness and good fortune to the couple. It's kind of like a family myth. I'm a believer. I had a wonderful marriage for 34 years and although George is no longer with us, I feel his love every day. Like me, Ava has always believed in the magic of Christmas. Maybe it's because she watched It's a Wonderful Life too many times. To Ava and Mason. May the joys of the Christmas season live within your marriage forever and in your hearts. "Cheers."

RELATED:
• [https://www.eatlife.net/movies/its-a-wonderful-life.php]

QUOTE:Seriously Lacey I got this. "No." Why not? "Because, you're gonna choose some misshapen..." Original. Unique. "Asymmetrical." Non-conformist. A little on the wild side. "Shrub." That's a low blow you know. "I just want it to be perfect for Ava." Well you know what they say if you want something done right... you pick a tree and I'll start sawing. "This one, and I'll do the sawing."

QUOTE:"It's perfect." Not yet. "What are those?" Christmas ornaments. Old family Christmas ornaments. "Ean, the tree's already done. The colors are perfect." There are no colors. "Well technically there are. There's Eggshell and Chantilly and Solar." That's so boring. "You say boring I say sophisticated."

QUOTE:What's the concept? "It's a live workspace but for the suburbs. Taking down the walls between professional space and personal space... integration, that kind of thing." So basically you'll be at work even when you're at home? "Precisely." That sounds awful. "I don't think you are our target customer."

QUOTE:You always knew the way to a woman's heart was through her taste buds. "Well that's the real reason I became a chef. It was a shameless way to impress the ladies. "Well it worked. I am amazed."

QUOTE:"I'll never understand why you didn't take the job at Les Bernadette. It was a three star restaurant." I was young. I had wanderlust. I believe that any true chef needed to go to these places where various cuisines were developed. In order to understand the food you need to understand the culture. "I remember such grand pronouncements." But now making a meal for one single appreciative... "Wildly appreciative." ...person feels pretty great too.

QUOTE:There's something about Christmas that always makes people re-examine their lives. "Why is that?" Human nature, I guess. We get to see the choices other people made and wonder if we're going down the right path. But I will tell you this, when someone has a genuine smile on her face that's usually a good sign that she's on the right path...

QUOTE:Dun dun da! "Mmm. It smells incredible." Well, I went all out. I almost felt like I owed you for being my test subject through school. "We were broke students. You were working with oodles of noodles. As I recall you worked wonders." Do you remember our first Christmas together?" Yes, you made a Yorkshire pudding in a toaster oven. "And I'm pretty sure we ate about 2 pounds of ribbon candy that night. Today, however, I have for you a miso-glazed turkey with roasted yams, gochujang green beans, and a five-spice gravy. Now I need your honest opinion." Honestly, I would elope with this plate if I could.

QUOTE:What's that? "This is my very famous Christmas dessert. A cranberry gingerbread souffle with bourbon molasses sauce." Wow! And to think I was expecting a simple cobbler. It smells heavenly. "Well if I did it right, it should taste even better." Mmm. You did it right.

QUOTE:So, what's it like living in so many places? "It was exhilarating. A lot of times I'd show up to a new place and I wouldn't have any kind of plan at all." That would drive me crazy. "It's actually kind of great. It would allow me to discover all kinds of new things. I would wonder down random paths or visit these remote towns and that's always when I would find something special." Actually sounds kind of nice. Nowhere you have to be, nothing you have to do. I can see the appeal of that.

QUOTE:You know, the tree lighting is tonight. "Yeah, I never understood that. Somebody plugs in a tree and then everybody claps." It's about community, being together. It's full on Whoville. It might be kind of fun. "Maybe for some people." When I was a kid I used to love it. I felt like Christmas was officially here as soon as the tree downtown was was lit. "Sounds like you really want to go to this tree lighting thing." No, it's just nostalgia. I haven't been in years. You know what? I think I actually might go.

QUOTE:"You made it!" Yeah, yeah it's been a long time since I've been to something like this. "Oh well, I'll have to get another hot chocolate." We can share. "Oh, okay." Thank you... I got whipped cream on my nose. "Yes. But for what it's worth you wear dairy products very well." You know I've always had a hard time saying no to good desserts. "That's something I've always admired about you."

QUOTE:"I'm really glad you came to the tree lighting. Ava would've been crushed." I would have been crushed. "You know what's funny, in all the traveling I've done it's always the things I don't do, the places I don't go to that I end up regretting the most." Sounds like a good life philosophy. What's one of the best things you've done? "Ooh, in the exciting world of cooking? Well let's see, okay, I have julianned vegetables using a hand made hatchet, I have sauteed sun chokes using clay cooking pots, and I have even harvested my own indigo milk, cap mushrooms." That is exciting! "Yeah mostly it was just a bunch of hiking."

QUOTE:I'm sorry, Ean, I think we just got caught up in the feelings of the cottage. That's all. "That's not all it was for me. Being back here hasn't just brought back memories, it's brought back feelings. Which, if I'm being honest with myself, have been there all along." Don't. I think maybe all the fun we've been having has just, it's just led to some confusion. "Confusion? No. No, not at all. Right now I am the opposite of confused. In fact, I don't think I've been so clear headed in a long time. You know, the last few years that I've been country hopping there's always been this, this thing that I couldn't get away from no matter how far I went... and that's you. No matter where I was I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get rid of you until I saw you back here again... and that's when I knew. It's because you'll always be in my heart, no matter where I am. I guess it's just my luck you don't feel the same way. Once again, we want different things.

QUOTE:We've worked so hard to get this far and we should both be so excited but I'm just, I'm not. It's like something changed in me. "Do you think it has anything to do with seeing Ean again?" Maybe. I think seeing him is like looking into a window of the past. I spent so much time thinking about what went wrong between us, I kind of forgot how right it was at one point too.

QUOTE:"Well, if that's your Christmas wish then I hope it happens for you." You're still gonna be telling me fairy tales when we're a little old ladies. "Because I believe in the magic of the season and I don't think it's done with us yet."

QUOTE:I guess it's time to start the toasts and subject you all to my very amateur thoughts on life and love. I've had a lot of time these past few days to think about what makes a good relationship. One that lasts, one that can survive the hard times, and the inevitable disagreements, and for a moment there, I thought that maybe it's just sheer determination. What makes a love that lasts? I know you're probably thinking if I had the answer to that question I would be a very rich man. Well get out your wallet because I think I have at least part of that answer. Real love is about knowing someone so well they feel like an extension of yourself. You share each other's hopes and dreams, even if they aren't exactly your own. You love and accept each other exactly as you are without asking them to change, and you always put each other first naturally and effortlessly. There's a part of us that most people take for granted, but then there's a part of us that only a few people ever really get to know. I believe that true love is about loving that part two so, to Ava and Mason, for loving all sides of each other naturally and effortlessly.

QUOTE:First, Eva and Mason, thank you for an amazing few days and the best Christmas that I've had in a while. Your love and your relationship are truly an inspiration. I think at Christmas people take a step back and think about what's really important and it always becomes clear. Friends, family, and love. But Ava and Mason have got me doing a lot of thinking about love and relationships over the last few days. I thought I knew. I thought I had it all figured out. When I got here, I would've said that a good relationship is about having the same goals. Striving for the same things, syncing up your priorities. It sounded so simple. But I had forgotten that real love is so much bigger than that. Love isn't simple. It's about disagreeing and agreeing. It's about loving someone enough to care about what they care about, to hope for what they hope for. It's about helping another person live a life that they've always dreamed of. Real love, like Christmas, is about giving. To Ava and Mason may you always share in each other's hopes and dreams.

QUOTE:"Lacey, ever since we got here, I have understood about half the things you're saying. What am I missing?" Me. You've lost sight of me. Or maybe we've lost sight of each other. But at some point, we both put ambition in first place. "And that's worked." Yes it has. We are a great partnership. A great design team. "But?" But that can't be all anymore. That can't be all we are for another year or another month. I won't wait. I can't wait for happiness or love. We both deserve that. "Well, I'd ask you what you were gonna do, but I think I know what you're gonna say." Roger, I'm sorry.

QUOTE:I can't help thinking that maybe there is something about the cottage that brought Ean and me back together, but I messed it up. "Well I don't know about that, but I do know that the only magic at the cottage is the magic of Christmas. The magic of togetherness." It's a special place... and you were right it's the traditions and the memories that make it that way. "It is."

QUOTE:I broke up with Roger. "What? "I was listening to your toast and I realize that Roger doesn't know all the different sides of me. He only knows one. But I realized that I need more than work to be happy. I want love and relationship and family." That sounds pretty doable to me." And I know you say you don't want to open your own restaurant and I know that you're traveling and that you're gonna leave and I know that you're upset with me. "Why would you think that?" I saw the drawing that you tossed... and it's fine. I just I want you to know that the person you've been with for the last few days, she's back for good... and she'll be here when you get back from Finland. Or wherever it is, you need to travel to. I want you back in my life." I didn't toss it. I dropped it. But then I went back for it. This design, this vision is beautiful, so is the woman who drew it... and I'm never gonna leave her behind again. I've always loved you, Lacey." I love you too!

QUOTE:"You can answer that." No. I don't want anything to come between us right now. "You know, maybe this place really is magic.

QUOTE:What about Finland? "No, I'm not going on that trip anymore. I've got another adventure planned." Maybe that old family myth is true after all.