A Welcome Home Christmas

• Drink from Empty Coffee Cups
• Hot Chocolate
• Put up Christmas Decorations
• Decorate Christmas Tree
• Karaoke a Christmas Song and Everyone is a Professional Singer
• Santa
• Mistletoe
• No Exes Involved

Director

• Brian Herzlinger

Producer

• Michael Vickerman

Cast

• Kristopher Charles
• Cole Clinton
• Jessica Craig
• Perry Eidson
• Mara Flanagan
• Jana Kramer
• Rebecca Lines
• Tyler Merritt
• Craig Morgan
• Brandon Quinn
• Reen Vogel
• Rose Reid
• Tim Reid
• Lillian Searcy
• LondonRose Sellars
• Tamiko Robinson Steele
• Charlene Tilton

QUOTE:Sorry for wasting your time Chloe, but I told my liaison that I'm not in need of any guidance advice or counseling. "Yeah we get that a lot. According to your file though you've been isolating yourself. You haven't been participating in any activities, and you haven't found a job yet either." I've been deployed overseas for most of the last 10 years. I have no family. My friends have moved on or are still deployed overseas, and I just haven't found the right job. I'm fine, honestly I appreciate the concern.

QUOTE:You know, sometimes it might be harder than you might think. You know veterans have to learn new skills, provide for their well-being. Military life is structured with very clear objectives. Civilian life not so much. I mean someone in your situation, for example, has to create a whole new social community. "Do I?"

QUOTE:He's cute! "Mom! How would you feel if every time I saw a middle aged... young-ish, looking gentlemen, I tried to set you up with him?" I'd thank you.

QUOTE:You know, sometimes you just have to let yourself feel and... "You know, being vulnerable to the chemical reaction of a potential life partner means having my neuroreceptors set up to filter out cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine that draws one person to the other, and I have mentally disabled those receptors until I've accomplished certain things." "How romantic!" I don't believe in romance. It's all about chemistry.

QUOTE:Oh, here you go, my famous hot chocolate. "All right let's see. Mmm, okay, um, cinnamon, and nutmeg?" Ahh, a man after my own heart! Haha, or my daughter's! "Mom"

QUOTE:What's your purpose? "What do you mean?" I'm just curious how you ended up you know helping soldiers transition and why you became a big sister, uh, I have a feeling you probably work at a soup kitchen too. "Let me remind you that our objective is to find your purpose, not analyze mine." Oh, I'm onto something aren't I?

QUOTE:I want you to try my hot chocolate again. I made a few refinements. I'm leaving nothing to chance this year. "Hot chocolate contest, a Christmas tradition around here and Mom has yet to win." Well, I have a box full of silver medals. I want gold. It's political. I mean, you know Charlotte Bennett knows the judges. "Well, let's see here, let's see where we're at. Wow! That is better than the other one!" That's because I get my cocoa beans directly from Ecuador. Charlotte buys hers at the supermarket!

QUOTE:I can really tell you like being back don't you? "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I really enjoyed my time in the Army, but I missed home, and being back here now I really realize how lucky I am." How lucky we all are. Still, there's so many who aren't.

QUOTE:You know, I've actually been thinking um, if we're gonna use outside sources, then let's not limit this to just military families. Let's expand the program like you wanted, right? But to everyone, the entire community. "That's a fantastic idea!"

QUOTE:You know, I was thinking. Toy drive is so generic right? It's a good cause, people might donate. But if we want this to be something special, it has to inspire people. "Yeah no, no I'm with you like um, like a theme." Think about what we do in the military when we go into combat we name them right? Operation Enduring Freedom. Operation Toy Drive just doesn't have a ring to it. "Operation Santa Claus!" I love it. It's perfect.

QUOTE:It's like they all have the same script. I'm sorry we've already donated to other causes. "It's okay alright. It's like the first thing that happens in every battle. You throw out the first strategy and come up with a new one." It's perfect. We don't need a new strategy, we need a new face.

QUOTE:General this is my Mom. Mom, this is General O'Toole. "It's a pleasure to meet you General." "Likewise. I knew your husband. He was a great man. Great soldier." "Thank you General O'Toole." "Please, just call me Peter." "Peter O'Toole?"

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QUOTE:So I was just thinking, if you'd like, I could take a look at your heater. You know I'm feeling like it might be time to open up that toolbox again. "Yeah I mean I guess that would be part of the whole process right? Yeah of course I don't wanna trouble you though." It's no trouble. "My car can be pretty stubborn." Yeah, well so can I. Bring her by tomorrow huh? "Okay then, I'll see you then." Looking forward.

QUOTE:So why did you leave? "Well I guess I got dinged up a few too many times you know? My best friend got reassigned and I just felt like I needed a new challenge you know? Change. Get on with the rest of my life. "Yeah. Yeah, it's hard leaving friends that was the most difficult part for me too." Some more than others. "So this best friend is more than just a friend?" Yeah, you could say that I loved her more than anyone else in this world. Heck, come to think of it. I've known her longer than anyone else in my life. "Well why can't you be with her?" Like I said, you know she was reassigned and when the Army makes the rules they stick with it.

QUOTE:So uh, where did you get such an interest in fixing things? "Well one of the gifts I got when I was a kid was this chemistry set. I had no idea what to do with it. Hated chemistry. So I told my foster parents, this really great guy, he taught me how chemistry's a part of everything around us right. Electricity, nature, even inside of us, all interacting, all connected to one another... and I don't know, that always fascinated me, how we're all a part of something bigger than ourselves.

QUOTE:So General how do you usually spend your Christmas? "I usually spend it alone." "Alone?" "Well it's not as bad as it sounds. I'm surrounded by people every day of the week. Sometimes it's nice to be alone." "Well you're not spending it alone again this year!" "Is that an invitation?" "Perhaps it is!"

QUOTE:Fun fact: Trees die from old age. They die from disease and among other things people. This one's dying from the stress of the wind that's coming in from the valley. So if we can re-pot it and move it into town, it could be their Christmas tree for years to come. Trunk's a little crooked but... "No, it gives a character. It's perfect"

QUOTE:Oh no, ahh. We, we can't use it. "Why not?" See this, it's called a red sun bloom, and it's extremely rare. They sometimes grow in the winter if they have enough protection from the wind and this tree is protecting it. "So what you're saying is if, if we take this tree, it's gonna die?" Yeah, most likely. The whole legend about this flower, they say it represents love and revival under the harshest of circumstances. I mean, it's a, it's a metaphor. Everyone's duty to protect the less fortunate. "You're kidding." It's ironic, isn't it? I mean us helping others, us finding this flower? "Yes it's like we were, like we were supposed to find it." It's proof that love can survive anything. Well, we're just gonna have to unfortunately find another tree. Ha ha gotcha! "You! I believed you!"

QUOTE:You asked what my purpose was when I came back. I was deployed to so many places around the world and saw just how little they had. You know I want to make a difference. "Makes sense." It's funny because when I'd be home on leave, people would always thank me for my service and I don't know, I just, I never thought of it that way, you know? The army, this country, has given me so much. I'm the one who feels thankful." Paying it forward. "So to speak, yeah."

QUOTE:"What about a family?" Someday. When it's right. What about you? "Someday. When it's right." Is that what she wants too? "Who?" The woman that you're in love with. "In love with?" What's her name? "Her name? Haha, you mean... that's funny, uh, her name is, it's Otter." Otter? "Yeah when she sleeps on her back her feet fold over like an otter. That's how she got her name. Otter, my Army dog.

QUOTE:All right I'll make the call. But I've already used a lot of capital on your other request. "Is there any update on that?" No, but I'm still trying. You haven't said anything to Savannah. "Oh no I wouldn't want to get her hopes up like that." Sometimes I worry, you're getting your hopes up. "Me too. Welp, you know what general, we just need a miracle!" Or two.

QUOTE:I asked for a Raggedy Panda last year. My Mom and Dad told me they couldn't find it anywhere which was okay. Every kid wanted one so they were hard to get. But when I woke up Christmas morning there it was under the tree! "Your parents must've worked really hard for that." It wasn't them. It was Santa. It was the only thing on my list and Santa got it for me. "He's clever that way huh?" I only have one thing on my list this year. I wrote a letter to Santa, the real Santa. I told him all about Operation Santa Claus and how we're helping him so that way it'll be easy for him to deliver all the presents... and that way he'll have enough time to bring my mommy and daddy home. "I think that's a really tall order for Santa to fulfill that kind of wish, sweetie." I thought so. Merry Christmas.

QUOTE:I'm guessing we overloaded the breakers. No biggie but it depends on whether we just tripped a circuit or damaged it. "What if it's damaged?" We won't be lucky enough to find enough generators to power this hanger. All right, the main breaker. All these tiny little atoms bouncing off of each other, invisible to the naked eye, but powerful enough to turn the darkness... into light!

QUOTE:Santa, did you get my letter? "Of course I did." I guess there was nothing you could do. "It's been a very busy time of year Savannah." I understand. "Look over there." Mommy! Daddy! "Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

QUOTE:Bye Santa! "You're welcome to stay." Oh thank you Chloe, but I have quite a busy night ahead of me. "You really saved the day." Oh no, no. It is you who saved the day. You know the work I do isn't limited to just the elves and the gifts and the sleigh ride every year. It's also about inspiring people like yourself. All of your volunteer work, reuniting families, all of the work you do is an extension of me... and I can't do that without people like you." How do you know so much about me? "Oh Chloe, it's there for all to see! By the way that Christmas snow, still working on it."

QUOTE:Oh, that's strange, it's from the agency. They found a Santa, wondering if we still want to hire him. "If he didn't come from the agency then where did he come from?"

QUOTE:You know I was thinking about something. Neither one of us brought a date to this party. "Well there's a simple reason for that." And that is? "Well neither of us sought out someone else because we subconsciously hoped the other wouldn't either. The problem for both of us, however, is that by lowering our defenses, it can cause us to feel threatened and unsafe, which is why neither of us considered the alternative." Which is?

QUOTE:What happened to disarming her neuroreceptors? "Chemistry... our work here is done. Haha"