I’ve been staring at this screen for two days, trying to figure out how to put into words what I feel when it comes to this movie. Not because of anything bad, to be honest I loved it. But, in so many ways The Holiday Stocking broke me and put me back together.
The Holiday Stocking was 90 minutes of joy, pain, and a reminder of what Christmas is truly about.
The Holiday Stocking was 90 minutes of reminding you to believe in something bigger than yourself.
The Holiday Stocking was just fantastic story telling with great acting.
The basics? Dani and Marlow’s older brother passed away. He’s convinced his head angel that he needs some time to get his sisters back on the right path, as they don’t speak. How does he plan to do this?
Well, when they were all kids, their Mom would play a game with them. They had a stocking and in it would be a riddle. Whomever solved the riddle would pick what good deed they all did. This was something that they loved. They had fun giving back to others.
But after their Mom died, the family became estranged. The sisters refused to speak to each other, They are all angry and feel as though the other person was not there for them. Marlow was the type to devote to family and Dani was the type who always wanted a bigger life.
Robert is sent back to earth as a man named RJ, and he tells them that he worked with their brother. He says that their brothers final wish that they play the game again.
Dani shows up the next day at the Christmas market after she originally meets RJ, when he showed up at her house. Marlow didn’t meet him, so she got the request from a note that he left. But she didn’t show up.
Dani and Marlow are not willing to work together on the riddles, not until Dani realizes that it will benefit her. She wants her company to grow, but in order to get some of the funding they want to see that they are doing charity work and giving back to the community.
So when she needs the publicity, she decides that she will do the game with her sister. This way she’s giving back, doing her brothers final wish, and getting the funding that she wants. Her business partner and her had come up with the idea and she was ready to see the whole thing through.
While I could go on and on about the game and the way that it made these sisters fight, as well as come together, I think that the most important thing here is the feeling of what it left you with.
Dani and Marlow aren’t perfect. The road to finding their way to getting along isn’t easy. But what it centers around is miscommunication. What we need to learn in life is that we all have different ways of looking at things, feeling, and loving. Marlow and Dani are the epitome of that. They don’t realize that though.
When we have issues in our lives, al lot of us want to believe that it has nothing to do with us. We want to believe that things that happen are other peoples issues, but not things that we have done. The truth is though – everyone is a part of a situation and it’s okay to know that and embrace that and make amends for the things that you say or do.
But also take responsibility for the things that you do and allow others the grace to not think the worst, but believe the best that you can from them. Love languages and the way people feel they can help differs from person to person. We need to be able to talk things out and be able to understand that life is not simple.
It’s complex.
Marlow and Dani are forced to understand that because it’s the only way that they can co-exist. It’s the only way that they can allow themselves to see that each one gives everything that they have. The two finding their way back to each other and seeing that they missed out on time together for no reason, but not understanding each other.
And so for that, I have to believe that in Hallmark fashion, we’re being shown the joy of understanding others and ourselves. We’re being given a chance to understand that we, as humans, need to not waste time. Instead, we need to embrace the time that we have with those around us and choose to believe that there is beauty in moving forward in understanding.
It takes a lot for these two to find the faith that they should have had in each other no matter what. And even when they do – it’s really Robert with the lesson to learn.
He wasn’t aware of the fact that his actions also had consequences. And him understanding that his actions also changed the way that the three of them interacted and lived, was part of his fault. Then again – I don’t really think it’s a matter of fault. I think it’s a matter of understanding.
We can’t change the past, but we can make our apologies for it. And we can be sincere about those apologies.
We don’t have to be perfect in this life, that’s not what living is. What living is – well that’s making our mistakes, but knowing when to make amends.
And never letting anyone doubt that they are loved.
