Great, great,
I will have all the Christmasdecorations
in your officebefore you know it,
No one is going to recognizethis place
when they come in tomorrow,
Wow, It's gonna be beautiful,
Well, Christmas is kind ofmy speciality,
I wish we had known about youlast year,
Oh, I haven't beenin Boston that long,
I moved from Seattlejust after last Christmas
to start my owninterior design company,
That's a long way to come,
Well, that wasn'tthe only reason,
Oh, no?
No,
Uh, I found out that I hadfamily in Vermont,
But it wasn't just spending timewith my family
over Christmas that made itso wonderful,
I met someone,
Someone very special,
Something tells me he feltthe same way about you,
Before I met Ian, I spent mostof my life trying to avoid
the holiday hoopla but he mademe believe in Christmas again,
We had fallen in loveat Christmas
so it just seemed right for usto get engaged then, too,
He proposed? At Christmas?
Mmmhmm,
That's so romantic,
We rode up on a horse-drawncarriage to a gazebo
shining with Christmas lights,
So when are you getting married?
Christmas Day,
Oh my gosh, that's perfect,
And the greatest partof the story
is it's just getting started,
I was just thinking about you,
Hey, I'm still trying to finda gift for your folks,
Any ideas?
Hey, remember what they said,
"This wedding is allwe want for Christmas,"
I know, but I'd still liketo thank them
for letting us have the weddingdinner at the inn,
Are you kidding?
They've absolutely lovedhelping us make all our plans,
I know,
They're so sweet,
So when're you heading back?
I just have a few thingsto wrap up
at the office tomorrow morning,
Uh- huh, And thenyou're coming home?
Ian, I've barely beengone a week,
Doesn't mean I can't miss you,
And then I'm coming home,
I love you,
I love you, too,
Oh, Ian, good,
Do you know when Mirandaplans on going back to Boston
for her final dress fitting?
She's still in Boston, mom,
But do you know when her finaldress fitting is?
It is so sweet, she asked meto go with her and Margaret,
But I still have to schedulethe wedding cake delivery,
Right, Ok, uh, I can be herefor that then,
Like you won't haveenough to do?
You worry too much, mom,
Trust me, this wedding'sgonna be great,
That's exactly what your fathersaid on our wedding day,
Just before the roof inthe church started to leak,
Oh,
As I recall it was more likea downpour than a leak,
And when everyone was runningaround looking for
a mop and a bucketmy husband to be
got a big grin on his face,
Could you blame me?
If the wedding was that much fun
I couldn't wait forthe marriage to start,
Hi, Margaret,
Hello, Miranda,
I know that you're busy,
I hope that I'm notinterrupting,
Not at all, no,
I just had somewonderful news,
What is it?
Well, you remember I spoke to you about
Yvonne and Amelia Williams,
they were very closeto your father,
Sure, sure,
They're lovely people,
I am so delighted, they wouldlove to come to the wedding,
Oh,
Really?
I know that I should have spokento you about this but,,,
well, I hope you understand,
they cared so muchabout your father
and when they heard thathe had a daughter they-
well, and you're such animportant part of this family,
they said they couldn'twait to meet you,
Thank you, that'sreally wonderful,
Miranda,
When you and I mettwo years ago
there's no way wecould have known that,,,
there,,, there was no waywe could have known that,,,
that I would never be ableto write my own wedding vows,
Excuse me,
Hi,
Um, I'm lookingfor Miranda Chester,
I'm Miranda,
Hi,
My name's Charles Finley,
I don't have an appointment,I'm afraid,
That's ok, but I'm- I'm notactually here today,
I'm- I'm sorry?
I just mean I'm only hereto wrap up a few things
and then I'm leavinguntil after the holidays,
Right,
Oh, you're getting married,
I am, yes, Christmas day,
Wow,
Um, congratulations,
Thank you,
So then I guess you're nottaking on
any new office decoratingclients today,
I'm not, no,
But let me take downyour contact information
and then I can getback to you-
Uh, no,
Don't worry, I'll get backin touch with you,
Ok,
Yeah,
What are you doing here?
I thought I'd wait so I could,you know,
be the first to welcomeyou back,
So, how long have youbeen waiting?
Not long, just a coupleof days,
Totally worth it,
Oh, you!
Coming, I'm coming!
Ah, there she is!
Hi!
Hello, Miranda,
Hi, Ellie,
Merry Christmas,
Merry Christmas,Everything looks so beautiful,
Oh, thank you,
Hello, Ian,
We have our girl backfor another Christmas,
And you know what they say,
Third time's the charm,
Well, it certainly isfor you two,
Hi Aunt Miranda!
Oooh!
Merry Christmas,
You guys must have beenvery busy
while I was in Bostonthis time,
Do you like the tree?
I think it's the bestone yet,
It's amazing,
Miranda, I've been practisinghow to throw the petals
when I'm the flower girlat your wedding,
Really? That's great,
It's a very important job,you know,
But I'm the ring bearer,
You can't have a weddingwithout the rings,
Mmm-mmm,
That's right, buddy,
You know, I was a ring bearerwhen I was about your age,
Really?
Mmmhmm, If you have anyquestions just ask away,
Thanks, Ian,
Ok, I'm gonna go put thesethings in my room,
I'll come with you,
I'll get the rest of your thingsfrom the car,
Oh, here you go,
Oh, you put up all the Christmasdecorations,
Well, we love having youfor the holidays,
But fair warning,
we're gonna have to makethe most of it this year
because next yearyou're gonna be
in your own home for Christmas,
I know, I can hardly believe it,
The first day that we met didyou ever imagine
things would turn out this way?
Well, when you fall in loveat Christmas
I can't imagine thingsturning out any other way,
Thank you, Pastor Wayland,for performing our ceremony,
We really appreciate you takingtime out of your Christmas
to marry us on Christmas day,
My pleasure, Miranda,
Now that we havethis chance to talk,
just the two of us, I've knownIan and his family for years,
I'd like to get to know youa little better,
Well, that sounds great,
You know, Margaret and I haveknown each other forever,
As a matter of fact I marriedher son Peter to his wife,Ellie,
She told me,
So you've known Margareta very long time,
You must have knownher husband, James,
I knew your fathervery well, yes,
Sorry, I guess I'm stilljust getting used to the idea
of people knowingI was his daughter,
Well, I can assure you Margaretis making sure everyone knows,
I'm beginning to getthat feeling,
But let me ask you something,
Why Christmas day?
What's so important about that?
Christmas was alwaysvery special to my mom,
But after I lost her I,,,
I guess I didn't really feel
like I had anythingto celebrate,
But all that changedafter I found my family
and met Ian,
Now it feels likeeverything good in my life
has come out of Christmas,
So what better way to startour lives together
than to do so on the daythat makes us both so happy?
I agree,
So I talked to Pastor Wayland,we're all set,
the only thing is he wantsto talk to both of us
before the wedding,
Oh, absolutely,
Just let me know when,
How are you doing on your vows?
Yeah, uh, yeah, great,
Really,
I have never known you to beat a loss for words before,
What? No, No,
We said that we were gonnawrite our own vows
and that's what I'm gonna do,
I'm just trying to find a wayto say uh,,, stuff,
Stuff,
Yeah,
Anyway, let's go see how mydad's making out on the set,
Oh, there you are,
Hi,
Looks like Ian's really puteveryone to work in there,
Well, if they'd stop laughinglong enough
to get any actual work done,,,
I didn't realizeuntil I got back here
just how much I was lookingforward to singing
a Christmas carol again,
And before you know it youwill have that thing memorized
just like the rest of us,
By the way, I heard from anotherof James' friends this morning,
Really?
Yeah, Thomas Reed,an old fellow actor,
He said he'd love to cometo the wedding,
Oh, um,,, you invited him, too,
I did it again, didn't I?
Um, it's just that I am soexcited about this wedding
and about you and,,,
and the fact that you and Ican do this together,
Well, I think it's so wonderfulthat they can come,
I just- I'm not sure there'll beenough room at the cottage, so-
You're exactly right,
I mean, that- that placeis too small,
But I think that I havea solution,
You do?
Why not have the weddingat Peter and Ellie's house?
And we can put up a tenton the back lawn
and that way you'll haveplenty of room,
Oh, your fatherand I just had
the most wonderfulparties there,
That's,,, I,,,
Just think about it, ok?
I will,
Ian, Margaret invitedso many people,
Well, we'll talk to herabout that,
You didn't see her face,
I've never seen her like that,
When she talks about our weddingshe's just so,,, vibrant,
It's like for the first timeshe wants everyone to know,
To know?
What do you mean?
Look,
Everyone she invited,they knew my father,
Mmmhmm,
Cared about him,
Mmmhmm,
I think, for Margaret,our wedding is a chance
to show people that I'm a partof him and he's a part of me
and she cares about methe way he would have,
That's actually pretty sweet,
I know,
What would you like to do?
I don't know,
Come here,
I just can't helpbut wonder,,,
what if something happens?
Happens, like what?
I don't know, just somethingto spoil this for us,
Nothing is gonna spoil thisfor us,
I promise,
How can you be so sure?
Because I'm pretty surethat every couple
wants their wedding day to beperfect just like we do,
And they worry aboutwhat can go wrong,
But there are two things thatI feel very confident about,
What?
The first is somethingalways goes wrong,
Great,
And the second is that somethingalways goes wrong,
Ian!
But nothing is gonna stop usfrom having the wedding day
that we've always wanted,
Nothing,
Thank you,
Goodnight,
And the flowers you orderedfor your bouquet are on the way,
They're gonna be beautiful,
Thank you so much, Lydia,
Mmmhmm,
Now, Margaretmentioned something
about a change of venuefor the wedding?
She did?
It's not a problem,
just be sure to let me knowwhere you want
everything delivered,
See you later,
Bye,
Thank you,
Yeah,
Merry Christmas,
Merry Christmas to you, too,
Hi,
Miranda, hi,
Hi, Peter,
No hug for your futurefather-in-law?
Well, bring it in,
Nice to see you again,
You too,
I'm sorry I missed youthis morning,
I had to get out ofthe house early,
We're finalizing plans forthe Christmas tree lighting,
Oh, no, it's fine,
The kids have kept me busy,
I'm sure they have,
So what brings youby the theatre?
Well, Ian had some errandsto run
so I thought I'd dosome shopping
and then I saw you outsideof the theatre
talking to someone,
Ah, our mystery man,
No, he seems likea nice enough guy,
it's just not every daythat someone just drops in
out of nowhere and wantsto make a donation,
A donation?
To the theatre,
Mr, Finley says he'd be morethan happy to help,
So who is thisgenerous stranger?
Not quite sure,
He found his way here allthe way from sunny California,
California, Really,
He said he remembers dadfrom his acting days
and when he read aboutthe Whitcomb Theatre
he decided to get in touch,
Did he happen to say wherehe read about the theatre?
I don't think so,
I'm sure we'll hear moreabout it
when we see him the next time,
Oh, he's- he's comingback to town?
Actually, he said somethingabout staying at the inn,
He wanted to take in some ofour town's Christmas spirit,
Um, I have a few more errandsto run so I'm gonna go,
-See you at the house,-Ok,
Bye,
Miranda,
Oh, it's so good to see you,
You too,
How are you?
Good,
Yeah? Are you crazed with allthese last minute wedding plans?
Not just yet,
Good, let's keep it that way,
Mmmhmm,
Meanwhile, our Christmasrush is officially underway,
Mmmhmm,
Plus a wonderful wedding,
So you know where everything is,uh, help yourself to some tea,
There's fresh sconesin the tea room,
I'll be in as soon as I can,we'll catch up,
Ok, Thanks, Catherine,
Carlton Heath Inn,Merry Christmas,
Mr, Finley,
Hello, uh, Ms, Chester,
You show up in my officein Boston
and the next dayyou turn up here,
That's no coincidence,is it?
Miranda-
I know why you're here,
This is about James Whitcomb,
About how no one knewhe was my father-
No, No,
Miranda, this is notabout your father,
I'm here because ofyour mother,
What about her?
Um, is there somewhere elsewe can talk?
I saw your mother play, Miranda,in the Tempest,
Eve was mesmerizing,
But so was your father,
A remarkable man from everythingI've heard about him,
So you were there,
You saw them,
Yeah,
Eve invited me,
And how did you know her?
Eve was my sister,
I'm your uncle,
What?
That- that's impossible,
I'm sorry, but my motherwas an only child,
She told me thatwhen her parents died
she had no other family,
Miranda-
And when she died I hadno other family,
Until I came here,
Please, let me explain,
There's nothing to explain,
You're not the first personto show up here
at Christmas asking questions,
digging into my family'sprivacy,
risking their happinessand my father's good name,
You're too late,
Whatever it is you're tryingto gain it's not gonna happen
so please just,,,leave me alone,
Let us enjoy our Christmas
and let me have the weddingthat I've always wanted,
Look, I never came hereto tell you any of this,
Then why are you here?
Because after I met youin Boston,
you told me you weregetting married,
I wanted to do something nicefor you,
I knew you'd never accepta wedding gift
from a complete stranger, so,,,
So you offered to make adonation to the theatre,
Yeah,
You told them you werefrom California,
That's true,
A small town in the northernpart of the state,
But when you came to my office
you made it seem likeyou were from Boston,
Yeah,
Look, I just um,,,
I wanted an excuse to meet you,to talk with you,
So you expect me to believethat my mother had a brother
with a different last namewho she never told me about?
Chester was your mother'smiddle name,
She used it for a stage name,
Miranda, I never meantto upset you,
After I leave tomorrowyou'll never see me again,
I promise,
I'm so sorry,
It was actually Ian's ideathe first time
that we delivered gift basketsat Christmas,
Remember, Ian?
Mmmhmm, My first year backhelping out with the inn,
It was only a couple daysbefore Christmas,
And we were in a rush andwe put all of the cookies
in the basketswith everything else,
Yeah, and dad and I were gonnadeliver them first thing
in the morning so I thoughtit would be a good idea
if I put them in the back of the truck the night before,
That was a bad idea,
What happened?
Sorry, what happened?
It- it turns out raccoonshave a serious sweet tooth,
Uh-huh,
So, needless to say,
we were up very early the nextmorning baking cookies,
Mmm,
Oh, there we go,
Alright,
I've got it,
Hi,
My name's Thomas Reed,I'm here to see Margaret,
Tommy,
Merry Christmas, Margaret,
Merry Christmas,
I- wha- what are you doing here?
I know I should havecalled first but uh,
I wanted to surprise you,
To say the least,
Thomas Reed, this is my son,Peter,
Peter, this is Thomas Reed,
he was a close friendof your father's,
They were in the theatretogether,
We met back in the daywhen your mom
used to bring you backstageafter your dad's shows,
I was a lot younger then,
Weren't we all?
Well, I have a few things to do,I'll let you two catch up,
Nice to see you again,
And you,
Bye, dear,
Bye,
Margaret, you look amazing,
Oh, stop,
Ah, but then you always did,
And you were alwaysa good actor,
So tell me, what- what on earthare you doing here so early?
The- the wedding isn'tuntil Christmas,
Well, after I got your emailabout it I-
I started thinking aboutJames and you
and how much I enjoyedour time together back then
and I realized how longit's been since I've seen you,
Oh, it's good to see you,Tommy,
When you came into my lifesomething changed,
Things changed,
Whatcha doing there?
Nothing,
Ok,
Here, let me take that,
Hmm,
Miranda,
I just,,,
I just have one question for youbefore you leave,
Sure,
How did you know thatI was Eve's daughter?
It's true I had no idea Evehad a daughter,
Not until I saw the articleon the internet last Christmas
about James Whitcomb,
The internet, Of course,
So it was the storythat brought you here,
Listen, Miranda, I don'tblame you for being skeptical,
You know, your motherloved Christmas,
Merry Christmas, Miranda,
I really missed you, Tommy,
Oh, it's just so niceto have someone
to share all theseold memories with,
Yeah, I've- I've missed you,too, Margaret,
But I can't remember the lasttime anyone called me Tommy,
Oh, Well, that's, you know,an old habit, Sorry,
No, I- I like it,
Suddenly I feel kinda,,,energized,
Can I get yousome more coffee?
Yeah, that'd be great,
Thank you,
Sure,
Do you believe him?
No, I,,,
I don't know,
Miranda, he admitted thathe found out about you online,
He saw the story about howyou came to Carlton Heath,
he found out whoyour father was-
I know, but he also didn'task for anything,
And he left after I askedhim to leave,
I just,,, I got a feeling,
Look, what if it's true?
What if my mother didn'ttell me about him
the same way she didn't tell meabout my father?
What if he really is my uncle?
I understand why you'd want itto be true,
What?
For the first time you'd getto hear about a part
of your mother's lifethat you never knew,
A part of youthat you never knew,
What better gift thanto open a window
into that part of your world?
Maybe it is too good to be true,
You know, there is one thingwe haven't talked about yet,
What?
Well, I believe it's traditionalfor the bride and groom
to have the first danceat their wedding,
Oh,
Yes, yes,
I believe I have heard somethingabout this,
And it occurred to methat you and I
don't do much dancing,
That's true,
So,,,
So what're we doing?
Wait for it,
Ok,
I thought we could,,,
Practise,
So Margaret mentionedthat you may want to have
the wedding ceremonyat our house?
Oh, um,,, we talked about it,
Is that what you want to do?
Um,,,
Ok,
Having been Margaret'sdaughter-in-law
for some time now,
if you want my advice?
Mmmhmm,
Just be direct
Direct,
Yes, You may have noticedthat she's not really one
to beat around the bush,
Oh, sorry,
Hi, this is Miranda,
Yes, hi,
Oh,
Fantastic, We will bethere tomorrow,
Thanks,
My dress is ready,
I can't wait to see it!
Alright, one week and countinguntil Christmas
and the wedding that we'veall been waiting for,
Lydia will deliver the flowersin the afternoon,
we have our photographer andsomeone to video the ceremony,
You really think two camerasis enough?
Two are plenty,
Ian and Andrew are gettingtheir tux fittings on Thursday,
musicians are on stand-by,
Oh, when are you two meetingwith Pastor Whalen?
The day after tomorrow,
Although I'm not totally sure
what we're supposedto talk to him about,
Don't worry, he has a sixthsense about these things,
it'll be fine,
Is everything ok in there?
Um,,,
Honey?
Do you need some help?
Uh, no, no, I'm good,Thanks,
Are you ready?
All set,
Here goes,
Oh,
Oh, Miranda,
What do you think?
You- you look absolutelybreathtaking,
Beautiful, Beautiful,
Oh, honey, I am so happyfor you,
Thank you,
And Thomas said that most ofthe questions he gets
from his students are stillabout his work with James,
Really?
Wow,
Yeah, we've been talkingon the phone
and sharing old stories,
I had forgottenhow funny he is,
Hmm,
Well, he sounds really nice,
Mmm,
Sounds like you two arereally hitting it off,
What? No, No,
Tommy's just a friend,
Tommy,
Well, I would really liketo meet him,
Oh, you will,
No, he's coming to the wedding,remember?
Oh, of course,
Oh, and speaking of that, haveyou given any more thought
to my idea of havingthe ceremony at the house?
Ian and I talked about it,
At the house?
Oh, Catherine,don't you remember
all those wonderful partiesthat James and I had there?
Yeah, no, I do,
And I talked to the tent company
and even on such short notice
they said that it's nota problem, they can do it,
Oh,
So we just have to get backto them as soon as possible,
I mean, we still haveso much to do,
Yeah,
Miranda, when I first met you,,,no, saw you,,,
when you first walkedinto my life,,,
In all the time I've known youmy feelings have never changed,
You're back,
I'm back,
How'd it go with your dress?
You'll just have to waitand see,
I'm looking forward to it,
Have you told Margaret yet?
I kinda chickened out,
I just didn't know howto tell her,
Well, we'll work on iton the way,
Where are we going?
The McKendrickfamily tradition lives on,
You're delivering baskets,
Ho, ho, ho,
I am so excited,
Lydia?
Merry Christmas!
We brought baskets!
I love this,
Merry Christmas, Santa,
Hey there, how'd it go?
It's gonna be another greatChristmas, dad,
Ah,
Hey, sweetie,
Oh, a package came for you,
A package?
Yeah, I put it in the office,
Thank you,
I didn't order a package,
Maybe it's an earlyChristmas present,
Or maybe it's an earlywedding present,
What is it? What'd you get?
What's wrong?
Who is she?
My mother,
Who sent these?
Charles Finley,
Mmmhmm,
Look at this one,
Look at that costume,
It must have beenjunior high,
Her first play,
She told me she only hadone line,
but that was enough,
She had been bittenby the acting bug,
I'm sorry you've never seenany of these before,
We travelled around so muchgrowing up,
she didn't really hang onto photos or keepsakes
from when she was a girl,
Just what she could fitin her suitcase,
She told me so many storiesbut these,,, these make it real,
I can't believe I let him go,
We still don't know that Finleyis who he claims to be,
How else would he havethese photos?
I need to find out ifhe's really my uncle
and I need to knowwhat happened between them
and why she nevertold me about it,
What do you think?
I think it looks beautiful,
I thought I'd get a jump on thisfor Santa's grand entrance
at the tree lighting tonight,
Oh,
I assume Prancer will be pullingSanta's sleigh again this year?
With bells on,
Oh, I see what you did there,
You know, Mrs, Claus was sucha big hit last year
I was thinking she might like tocome along tonight for the ride,
Hmm, were you?
I mean, since she will bethe real Mrs, Claus very soon,
She wouldn't miss itfor the world,
Santa will be very happyto hear that,
So I tried to findCharles Finley
on the internet last night,
I couldn't find anyoneby that name or description
in California,
Oh, no?
No,
Charlie, Chuck, even Chaz,I tried them all,
I just wish I knew a little moreabout who he is
or where exactly he lives,
What his job is,
Anything,
Well, we'll just haveto keep looking,
In the meantime I believewe have one or two things
to help keep us inthe holiday spirit,
Would you mind hanging thoseon the back for me?
When is Santa coming?
Oh, I'm sure he will be hereany minute,
Margaret!
Tommy?
Merry Christmas,
I didn't know you werecoming tonight,
Well, I heard about
the Christmas tree lightingand I thought I'd check it out,
Oh, Look at youfull of surprises,
You remember my son,Peter,
Yes, hi,
Welcome back,
His wife, Ellie,
My grandchildren,Mark and Julia,
Hi,
We're having some peopleover to the house
after the tree lighting,hope you can join us,
I don't want to intrude,
Don't be silly, Tommy,Of course you're coming,
Well, how could I sayno to that?
Why don't we go and get thathot chocolate and warm up?
Sounds good,
Nice to meet you,
Nice to see you,
Bye,
We'll see you two later,
Shall we?
Don't mind if I do,
Oh my, look at that,
What a beautiful tree,
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Merry Christmas!
Ho, ho, ho,
What a turn out,
Merry Christmas,
So good to see everyone again,
Everybody ready?
Yes!
Ten,
Nine, eight, seven, six,five, four, three, two, one,
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Santa,
Merry Christmas, Julia,
Merry Christmas,
Hi sweetie,
You see, Miranda?
We hung your stockingjust like last year,
I see that,
Thank you so much,
And after you're marriedwe'll put one up for Ian, too,
Well, if he's a good boy,
Miranda, I have someone who verymuch would like to meet you,
This is Thomas Reed,
Thomas, Miranda,
Hi,
What a pleasureto finally meet you,
Your father was a verydear friend of mine,
Well, it's very niceto meet you,
Maybe later I could uh,
share some wonderful storiesabout him,
I'd like that so much,
Come with me,
I want you to meet Ian's parents,
Nice to meet you,
You too,
Miranda, can I showyou something?
Sure,
You remember our mystery man?
What about him?
Turns out he wasn't just talk,
I got an email from him
wanting to make a donationto the theatre,
Wha- that's- wow,
So his name really is Finley,
Well, according to this,
it's Joseph Charles Finleyof Fuller Springs, California,
So Charles is his middle name,
But he insists that his donationbe anonymous,
He doesn't want usto use his name,
Just shows you how wrongyou can be about someone,
Yes, it does,
Miranda, Ian's here,
Now, what aboutthe service itself?
What do you have in mind?
Well, we'd liketo keep it simple,
Really just an opportunityto include
our friends and familyin our celebration,
Um, we've written our own vows,
How's that going?
Good, All done,
Really?
Aren't you?
Yeah, I mean, practically,
I have some tweakingto do, but yeah,
Good,
I understand from Margaretthere may be a change in venue?
The Whitcomb homeinstead of your cottage?
Well, we haven't exactlydecided yet,
Christmas is in four days,
And it's at the top of our list,
What about family?
Is everyone on boardwith the marriage?
Any issues you'd liketo talk over?
My parents absolutelylove Miranda,
They can't wait for usto be married,
That's what I like to hear,
Miranda?
Um, Ian and I haven't reallytalked about it yet
but I've been thinkingand there is someone else
I'd like to inviteto the wedding,
A family member?
Um, maybe,
I'm- I'm actually not sure yet,
I'm sorry, I don't understand,
You didn't tell methat you wanted
to invite him to our wedding,
I just thought about iton the way over here,
You don't know anythingabout him,
I know, but I would talkto him first
to make sure before I invitedhim to the wedding,
Ian, is there somethingyou'd like to say to Miranda?
Miranda grew up not knowingwho her family was,
Now that she does it meanseverything to her,
All I want is for her to behappy on our wedding day,
I like him,
Me too,Good guy,
Yeah,
Thank you for what you saidabout inviting Charles
to the wedding,
Sure, Joseph,
What?
His real name is Joseph Finley,
which he forgot to mentionwhen he met you, apparently,
You think inviting himis a mistake,
I meant what I said,
I want you to be happy,
I know, but there was moreyou wanted to say
when Pastor Whalen asked,
What if you're wrong?
What if he's just some guywho's in this for himself?
Who thinks he can get somethingout of it?
I don't believe that's true,
What if it is?What then?
I told you, I'm not gonna letanyone hurt you
and I'm worried aboutwhat this might do to you,
and to this day that meansso much to us,
Ian,,,
Look, when I came to CarltonHeath two years ago
I was looking for my familyand no one believed me,,,
except you,
And if you hadn't I neverwould have had the chance
to prove that my story was trueand we wouldn't be
about to startour lives together,
If there is even the slightestchance that his story is true,
that he's just tryingto find his family
the same way I was tryingto find mine,
shouldn't I give himthat chance?
I hope you're right,
Me too,
Come in,
I'm not supposedto wake you up,
It's alright, sweetie,I'm already awake,
Can I ask you something?
Of course,
Everybody else is busy with workand shopping and stuff
and Mark is going sleddingwith his friends,
Uh-huh,
But I really wanna bakeChristmas cookies
and mom says I'm not old enoughto do it by myself,
even though I totally could,
Lots of times,even when she's there,
I do everything anyway and shedoesn't even have to help me,
Julia, I would love to makeChristmas cookies with you,
Really?
Mmmhmm,
Just let me get dressed,I'll meet you out there,
Thank you, Auntie Miranda,
You know, I was thinkingabout it,
that the last time you worea tux you must have been
in high school, right?
Senior prom under protest,
What're you talking about?
Everybody wears a tux to prom,
It doesn't mean you have to like it,
It's a special occasion,One of life's moments,
Like getting married,
Well, the getting married partis great
but does the bow tie haveto cut off my air supply?
You look like a million bucks,
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Oh, hey, we've come upwith a new floor plan,
If we rearrange the dining room
there'll be plenty of roomfor everybody,
You don't have to do that,
Are you kidding?We're having a blast,
You just let us know if there'sanything else you need,
How are youwith wedding vows?
Stuck, are you?
I know what I wanna say,
I know the words to say it,
I just can't seem to get themin the right order,
And there's just beenso many distractions
over the last couple of days,,,
That's normal,
You're both busy,got so much to do,
This is different,
You wanna talk about it?
I think Miranda and I needto work it out,
She's just been through so muchover the last two years,
I really wanted this to be,,,simple for her,
Well, whatever's going on son,simple or not,
I'm sure that you and Mirandawill work it out,
'Cause that's what a vow is,right?
It's a promise from the heartto somebody you love
that no matter whatyou'll always be there,
And from what I can see,
you and Miranda took that vowa long time ago,
I am so proud of you, son,
Thanks, dad,
I still can't breathe,
Miranda?
Mmmhmm?
Were you ever flower girlat a wedding?
Mmmhmm, When I wasabout your age,
Were you ever kind ofnervous about,
you know, doing it wrong?
Maybe a little,but you know what?
What?
I remembered that out of allthe little girls in the world
the bride had chosen meto throw the petals
for her to walk down the aisle,just like I chose you,
And I am sure you are goingto do a wonderful job,
I can't wait,
Neither can I,
Well, what do you think?
I think they're ready,
I do, too,
That's the angel braceletthat Ian gave to you
the first Christmasyou were here,
Yes,
Yes, it is,
It's very pretty,
Sometimes, when I look at itand I think very hard about Ian
and just how much he meansto me-
Your timing is incredible,
What'd I do?
Oh, just made Julia and mebelieve in Christmas magic,
With one phone call?
Not bad,
Where are you?
I just finished getting my tux,
Oh! How'd it go?
I guess you'll just haveto wait and see,
Sounds like we both havesomething to look forward to,
Listen, about yesterday,
I think sometimesI worry too much,
No, I think you worryjust the right amount,
So you're ok?
Hey, we're getting marriedin three days,
I'm a lot more than ok,
I'm gonna head overto the theatre,
help dad out with rehearsal,
Why don't you come by later?
I'll see you there,
I love you,
I love you, too,
Oh, you little sneak!
You are in trouble, missy!
Margaret,
Oh, hello, Ian,
How's it going in there?
Good, Good,
No, your father seems morethan ready to be back on stage,
No kidding,
Well, I better get in there,
make sure he doesn't chew upthe scenery,
Oh, Ian, uh, did Miranda mentionthat she met Thomas Reed
at the party last night?
Yeah, she told me about that,
He so enjoyed talking to her,
Gosh, I have known Tommy for,what, 40 years now?
He was always such a good friendto James and me
but now that it's justthe two of us it feels,,,
it feels strange,
Well, Miranda said he seems likea really nice guy,
You knew, didn't you?
When you met Mirandatwo Christmases ago,
you knew how you feltabout her,
Yeah, I guess I figured outpretty quick
that I wanted to be with her,
Yeah, I could tell,
I remember thinking howextraordinary it was that,
despite everything,all the obstacles
that stood betweenyou and Miranda, you,,,
you always stayed true to yourfeelings and you found a way,
Here you are,about to be married,
Here we are,I'm a lucky guy,
No, no, Luck had nothingto do with it,
You fell in love and youwere fearless with your love,
That's uh,,, thank you,
It's just been so long,
Margaret, I'm no expert, but yousaid you and Thomas are friends,
That seems like a prettygood place
for two people to start out,
Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
Thank you,
Merry Christmas,thanks for calling
Grace Fellowship Church,this is Nicole,
how may I help you?
Hi, um,,, I hope I havethe right number,
I was um, I'm just tryingto reach Charl-
I'm trying to reachJoseph Finley,
Oh, I'm sorry, Pastor Finleyis off until the holidays,
Pastor Finley?
Yes, that's right,
I'm just curious, how longhas he been a pastor there?
Oh, gosh, 20 years?
Yeah, he's become quitethe fixture around here,
We're all very fondof Pastor Charlie,
I thought Charles washis middle name,
Uh, everyone's been calling him Pastor Charlie for,
like, forever,
Is there um- do you-do you have a cell number
where I could reach him?
Oh, I'm sorry,
But he does check in sometimesfor messages,
Could you please tell himthat Miranda called?
Miranda, sure, Merry Christmas, Miranda,
Thank you,
He's a pastor?
Mmmhmm,
Has been for years at the samechurch in Northern California,
I don't understand,
Why wouldn't he justtell you that?
I don't know,
But he came here at Christmas,Ian, and,,,
and it was to find me,
Someone he believedwas his family,
and I,,, I didn't listen,
Well, that's- that's not,,,no one would expect you
to just open your arms andwelcome him into the family,
The way everyone openedtheir arms to me?
Tell me what you wanna do,
I want to marry youat Christmas,
I want to spend the restof my life with you,
And I need to find him,
I just,,, I need to know,
Ok, I think we should doall of the above,
but first let's get outof the cold,
Ok,
Hello?
Oh, hi Miranda,
You two look busy,
Uh, we sent Peter on an errandwith the kids
so we could finally get someChristmas wrapping done,
Oh,
Why don't you sit downand join us?
Thank you, but I'm actuallyfeeling a little tired,
I think I'm just gonna headto my room,
Wait, you're not getting sick
right before your wedding,are you?
It was just a busy day,
Ok,
But let us know ifyou need anything,
I will, Goodnight,
Goodnight,
Oh, uh, Miranda, I- I spokewith that tent company again,
They tell me they hadn'theard from you,
No,
Well, we don't havea lot of time left
so you really shouldspeak to them,
Margaret,,,
You know what?
I'm gonna run and just goget some tape from the office,
Margaret, I so appreciateeverything you've done
to help plan this wedding,
Ian and I both do,
But,,, we want to be marriedat the cottage,
Oh, but there areso many people,
I know, but,,, the cottage hasjust been a part of this family
for so long and that makesit mean even more to me,
There's really nowhere we'drather start our lives together,
And being there, it just,,,
it makes me feel closerto my father
even though he won't be thereto walk me down the aisle,
Of course, I,,, I just didn'tknow that you felt that way,
Thank you for understanding,
Goodnight,
Come in,
Miranda,
Hi,
Um, forgive the intrusion,
Um, I just wanted to apologize,
What you said about the cottage,I should have realized,
I'm afraid I've just beena little distracted lately,
It's alright, really,
But now that I know we willmake this right,
I promise you,
Thank you,
Oh, what a cute girl, Who is that?
That's my mother,
In high school,
Every Christmas she workedat the mall,
Miranda?
I just haven't seen any of thesephotos until a few days ago,
Where did they come from?
My uncle,
I- I'm sorry, I don'tunderstand,
I thought you told me thatyour mother had no siblings,
That's what I thought,
I first met him in Bostonand then he- he came here
to tell me who he was and,,,and he sent me those photos,
So you knew nothingabout this man
and your mother never mentionedshe had a brother?
No,
I just wish that you had felt
that you could have cometo me about this,
I wanted to, I just didn't,,,
You didn't what?
You've seemed so happywith Thomas
and I didn't want you to haveto worry about any of this,
Still haven't heard from Finley?
Did I do the right thingtelling Margaret about him?
Of course,
I could just see how concernedshe was that this was gonna
affect the family and that's-that's the last thing I want,
I know that, love,
And after Margaret has hadsome time to think about it
she'll understand that, too,
I hope you're right,
Have you ever asked yourself
why your mother keptthese secrets from you?
I think she was just trying toprotect me from getting hurt,
I think so, too,
Kinda like you,
The first time you came hereyou were ready to leave
without telling anyonewho you were,
You were gonna keep it a secret,
But I stayed because of you,
No, You stayed because of you,
You're so much stronger thanyou give yourself credit for,
You don't need to keep secretsto protect yourself,
or anyone else,for that matter,
Ah, Peter told meyou'd be here,
Am I interrupting?
Thomas, I didn't think I'd seeyou until tomorrow,
Well, I had this sudden urgeto be roasting chestnuts
over an open fire,like in the song,
Well, what a nice surprise,
I also heard there'sa performance tonight
of a certain Dickens classic,
I thought we might get a biteto eat and see it together,
Uh, my grandchildrenare in the show
and I always gowith Peter and Ellie,
But of course you're welcometo join us,
Sounds like I shouldhave called first,
I'm sorry,
No, you have no reasonto apologize,
I've enjoyed our time togetheras much as you have,
No, it's I who should apologize,
What're you talking about?
Well, I just realized that,uh, I've allowed myself
to become distracted and there'sjust so much going on
so I feel that I should justtake a step back
and focus on my family,
I think your family's doingjust fine, Margaret,
Maybe it's time to focuson yourself a little bit,
Who knows whatmight happen?
Wow, that looks great,
There you go,
Mr, Finley?
Oh, Miranda, Hi,
I was just on my way to comeand find you but,,,
I've never been ableto resist church bells,
especially at Christmas,
You got my message,
Yeah, And you gotthose pictures of Eve?
Why didn't you tell me that youwere the pastor of your church?
I thought abouthow it would sound,
me coming here askingfor your trust
and then saying I wasa man of the cloth,
Might have just been a littletoo convenient,
don't you think?
Probably,
Anyway, I figured no matterwhat I said
you're gonna have to make upyour own mind
whether to believe me or not,
Ah, so beautiful,
When I saw mom's photosthey reminded me
so much of all the stories shetold me about her childhood,
She was a real firecracker,your mom,
Nothing slowed her down,
But she never told meabout you,
Well, it's not whatshe wanted,
What happened?
When I went to see herin the Tempest I was uh,,,
a young pastor in my veryfirst church
and I was so certain aboutright and wrong,
Everything was black and white,
There was no room for greyor doubt or,,,
Anyway, she introduced me afterthe show to James Whitcomb
and they were so much in love,
Everyone could see it,
But then I found out that he wasstill in the middle
of his divorce and that was justsimply not acceptable to me,
I told her so in so many words,
I said some thingsthat night that,,,
What did she say?
Well, she was stunned,She was hurt,
She hugged me, hard,told me she loved me,
I never spoke to her again,
She never told you about me?
I never gave herthe chance,
What do you mean?
When she phoneda few months later
and I was still so sure of howthings should be in the world,
I was so arrogant,
I never picked up the phone,
And then, ultimately of course,the phone stopped ringing,
I realize now that she was-
she was trying to tell meabout you,
She was reaching out to me,her brother, for help
and I just wasn't therefor her,
You didn't know,
Yeah,
I've told myselfthat a thousand times,
It doesn't matter,
She was family,
I should have been therefor her no matter what,
Did you even know howto reach her?
I mean, she moved aroundso much at that time
I uh, I lost track of Eve,
And then I found out
she had a beautiful daughternamed Miranda,
and all I want now isto tell you how sorry I am
that I was never therefor you, either,
I am very glad you're here now,
Well, I- I should get going,
It's almost Christmas,
you must have a million thingsto do before the wedding,
There's someone I'd reallylike you to meet,
Are you sure?
Very much,
The show will begin in two minutes,
please take your seats, That's two minutes,
I was just calling you,The show's about to begin,
Sorry we're late,
Ian, I'd like you to meetCharles Finley, my uncle,
It's a great pleasureto meet you, Ian,
And congratulationson the upcoming wedding,
Nice to meet you, too,
It's a pleasure,
Think we can find an extra seatin there?
Yeah, of course,
Thank you,
There isn't doubtbut ever about that,
And scrooge's name was good upon change for anything,,,
God bless us, everyone,
Have you seen this weatherreport for Christmas Eve?
Hmm?
It looks like there'sa front moving in,
Good, Looks like we'll havea white Christmas,
Hmm,
Oh, and a white wedding,
White wedding,That's good,
Listen, we're taking the kidsfor hot chocolate,
Why don't you join us?
Uh,,, I don't think so,I have a lot to do here,
But you go ahead,
I was surprised I didn't seeThomas Reed
at the show last night,
You two seemed to reallyhit it off,
Peter, I have known Thomasmost of my life
and we did not hit it off,he's,,, he's just a good friend,
And a really nice guy whoI think would like to spend
Christmas with you,
And who makes you smile in a wayI haven't seen in a long time,
Just saying,
So tomorrow morning we areopening presents very early
with the kids and thenwe're having a quick breakfast
before Ian and I have to startgetting ready,
so you should just planon coming over to the house,
You're so kind to invite mefor Christmas and the wedding,
but um,,, this is yourfamily here,
This- this is your home,
This is where you and Ianare gonna start
to build a life together,
This is a time when you shouldbe with people you're close to,
People you love,
And I would- I would never wantto intrude on that,
But I have so many more storiesto tell you about your mother,
so believe me, we'll be togetheragain very, very soon,
Merry Christmas, Miranda,
Merry Christmas,Uncle Charlie,
I don't want you to,,,
No, that's no good, Anyway,
Tommy?
What're you doing out here?
I want to talk to you,Margaret,
Ok, fine,
Let's go in the house soyou don't freeze to death,
No, I- I need to thinkabout this
and I want to say this now tomake sure that I say it right,
What're you talking about?
You're not the easiest personin the world to talk to,
you know?
You can be very stubbornat times,
Oh, for goodness sake,
Over the nearly 40 yearsthat we've known each other
I have come to cherishyour friendship,
Well, of course,
But at the same time, in the-in the past couple of weeks
I have discoveredthat I may have,,,
other feelings towards you,
Feelings that I never hadwhen James was with us,
which is why it's socompletely unexpected,
And confusing,
Hmm, confusing?
Because I never want tojeopardize our friendship,
So if that's what you want,,,
Tommy,
To remain just friends-
No, no, Tommy, Tommy,Listen to me,
Would you like to spendChristmas Eve with us tonight?
Very much,
Good,
Now can we go inside?
Good idea,
It's very cold out here,
How long have you beenstanding out here?
You really don't have,,,
It's still snowing,
I know,
According to this the roadsbetween here and the highway
have been closedpretty much all day,
Nobody's going anywhere,
Well, at least it's a very cozyChristmas Eve in here,
Though we might haveto dig a path
for our weddingguests tomorrow,
All the more reason to cozy upby the fire tonight,
Did,,, did Charles Finleycheck out?
Yes,
Yeah, about two hours ago,
But I'd be surprised if he'sgotten very far in this weather,
Come on,
Oh,
It turns out I'm not goinganywhere tonight after all,
I'm so glad,
We're all happy you're here,Charlie,
Merry Christmas!
Thank you, I love it!
Be careful when you open it,
I love you,
Ian, Ian,
What if I trip when I'm walkingdown the aisle?
Or what if I drop the ring?
I've been a little worriedabout that stuff myself,
You have?
So it sounds like we're kindain the same boat, huh?
What do you thinkwe should do?
I guess we just have to,you know,,, focus,
And try not to thinkabout all the other stuff,
Makes sense,
I mean, even if we're a littlenervous it's probably ok, right?
Yeah, I mean, we just haveto remember why we're there,
That you and Miranda are gettingmarried and that's pretty cool,
That's very cool,
We're all friends and family,anyways,
And that's what matters,
That we're all togetheron this,,, special day,
To help make this happen,
So what's there to benervous about?
That's right,
Thanks, Mark,
This really helped me,
No problem,
Hey, you know what?
I'm getting married today,
I better get dressed,
Me too,
Cool,
Oh, she said she wanteda few minutes for herself,
But it's almost time,
Maybe we should remind her,
I think we can give heranother minute,
Ok, Alright,
How're you feeling? Ian?
Ian?
Dad?
Yeah? You'll be fine,
Just remember who's comingthrough that door,
Come in,
Miranda,
Hi,
You almost ready?
Good,
Margaret?
Would you,,,
there's something I'd liketo ask you
and it means a lot to me,
Hi,
Charles Finley,
Thomas Reed,Pleasure to meet you,
There's a seat right hereif you want,
Thank you,
Ok,
How uh, how do you know,,,
I'm Miranda's uncle,
Oh, really? Fantastic,Wonderful,
Take your time,
There's no hurry,
It's a special dayfor Miranda and Ian,
and one you'll rememberfor the rest of your lives,
So smile andenjoy yourselves,
Smile!
Please rise,
There you go,
You look so beautiful,
Ian,
Please be seated,
We're gathered here to jointhis lovely couple
in holy matrimony,
And now we come to the timefor the couple to read the vows
they've writtenfor each other,
Miranda, it's no secret that itwas a very special photograph
that brought you to CarltonHeath two years ago
and I've been grateful that you found that photograph
every day since,
It's almost as if FatherChristmas, your father,
had a hand in guiding you hereto me,
When you came into my life everything changed,
You brought so much joy and light and beauty
that I had neverexperienced before,
But best of all you've shown mewhat love really is,
And that our love is stronger than any obstacle,
any distance,any challenge,
That together there isabsolutely nothing we can't do,
You make me fearlesswith love,
I had a little bit of troublewriting my vows,
I hope that was ok,
With this ring I promisethat I will always love you,
I promise that no matterwhat we face
I will always be beside you
and I promise thatI will cherish you
for all the days of my life,
I love you so much,
Ian, when I first saw youI was trying and failing
to get directions on my phone,
Fortunately for me,
you were there to point mein the right direction,
I thought about that a lot since then
because you've been there beside me
to help me find my wayever since,
For most of my life I'vewondered where I belonged,
When I came to Carlton HeathI met you,
I found my answer,
Oh,
With this ring I promiseto always be there for you,
to encourage you, to honour you,to cherish you,
I love you with all of my heartand I always will,
And now, by the powervested in me,
Miranda and Ian, I couldn'tbe happier,
I now pronounce youhusband and wife,
You may kiss your bride,
And Merry Christmas!
Bye!
You ready?
Hey!
Oh, yeah, that's our sign,
I'm ready,
Step up,