Lyndie Greenwood was on set for her latest project, entering the van to her go to her trailer, when she hops on the phone with me. I immediately am nervous – intimidated because I know her career. Having watched all of her episodes of Sleepy Hollow, I knew that she was talented. I knew that Lyndie Greenwood was a star.
I have over 50 questions written out in front of me, but as she says hello, I realize I don’t have my glasses and won’t be able to see them.
Great, I think to myself, we’re going to have to wing this.
While I don’t ask what she’s working on right now, I do start to ask about her movie, Magic in Mistletoe. The actress is playing a publicist, opposite Hallmark staple Paul Campbell. Having seen the movie, I knew how Lyndie’s character of April comes across. She’s strong, poised, and fearless. She’s giving advice that people may not want to hear but she knows that it’s still her job to say it all.
She’s magic.
In the movie, Harrington (Campbell), well he takes his pains and anger to the masses versus talking about it to those around her. Like so many, Harrington shouts it out into the void, not realizing it’s implication. So, I ask what she thinks of social media, and Harrington’s choice.
“I don’t think that April does think it was the smart thing to do, voice his displeasure,” she starts to answer. I am listening and I am impressed by the eloquence of her voice and the way she speaks. Lyndie exudes confidence and drive in her voice.
She continues, “She would have much preferred that he took a beat and breathed through it. She’s a publicist. In that sense, we’re very different people. I’m really not much online myself. Social media is a hard beast for me. From her perspective you’ve got some discomfort. Let’s maybe talk it out first before you go airing your grievances.”
She has valid points. Every publicist I know would think the same and not want their clients to take it to the masses.
In order to try and fix the situation and inspire Harrington, April suggests to him that they go to the town that inspired everything. She suggests they go home.
Now, a lot of people don’t like to follow their publicists orders, but Lyndie would follow Aprils advice. Would she go home?
“Yes, I think so. Because I think that these relationships are important. I think that everybody– I mean, I’d like to live in a world where people feel like they can go home and talk things out and be forgiven,” she says, “I think that I’d like to live in a world where people are forgiving of people and want to support them. If he’s having a hard time, the people that really loved you and raised you are going to try and help you through that, are going to try and bring you back to a happier space in your life. Even though it’s embarrassing sometimes to admit when we’re wrong, we can have maybe some faith that the people that love us will welcome us home.”
Mentally, at this point, I am taking notes. I am listening to the words she’s speaking and knowing that she’s the type of person that speaks great things into the world. We could all learn a lot.
And Lyndie, well she learned a lot from her costar, Paul Campbell. When asked about him she said, “He’s one of the best humans I have met. He’s just a delightful person. Like, so funny. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Just timing, just really comedically brilliant, and just a really kind person. Someone that makes everyone feel really warm and welcome and safe. Working with him as an actor is really a joy because he makes you feel safe to play. Yes, I couldn’t have asked for anything more with Paul.”
That makes me smile, because I can’t help but think that Paul would be someone that you can laugh and learn from. He’s a favorite and as a viewer, you can’t help but think that he’s just this genius who creates magic. And hey, Countdown to Christmas is always magic.
Like everyone that I interview, I always want to know why they do Countdown to Christmas movies. The Grinch in me wants to understand their joy for Christmas, because I don’t believe for a second that their main motivation is a paycheck. I believe that the actors on Hallmark do it for their love of the holiday and the joy that it brings to not only themselves, but the viewer.
“I love Christmas. I just love, the warm and fuzzies. I love any excuse to celebrate with people that I love and to celebrate, life. I love the lights and I love the colors. It’s like, why not have fun?,” she says, and to be honest, you hear the genuine love for the holiday in her voice, “Christmas is this time where we all get to just have fun and be festive and celebrate. Being a part of that in a bigger way where I’m bringing- I’m a part of the festivities and bringing this sort of celebration to people’s homes. It’s really something special. I’m really honored to do it.”
The Grinch in me has to tell her that these movies make a difference, because they do. For me, they make a big difference. I don’t celebrate Christmas, because well, that’s a long story. But I know from speaking to people who watch these movies, as well as my own feelings that these movies make a difference.
The melt the Grinch heart that I have. Now, some may say that it’s dramatic, but hey, whatever. These movies are special. They give me smiles and hope. They touch my heart. They remind me that Christmas is a special time in life.
And I am thankful for that.
So, yes, I let me inner fangirl out for a second and then change to talking about Christmas traditions. We all have them and I wonder about hers. After all, Christmas is different for everyone.
“It’s interesting. I grew up in a really interesting home. The way it works for me, so my mom and my dad divorced when I was young, and then my mom married my brother’s dad, and they divorced. We all stayed really close. There’s a lot of like friendship and amicability. Every Christmas morning I would spend Christmas Eve at my mom’s house with my brother. Christmas morning, we’d wake up and we go straight to my brother’s dad’s family. We’d have Christmas there. We’d hang out with all those cousins, and it was delightful,” she starts.
She continues, “Then in the afternoon, we’d go over to my mom’s family, and we’d spend Christmas with our family there. Then I would sneak off and go to my dad’s family. I had a lot of travel and sort of a hectic schedule on Christmas days when I was growing up, but it was always filled with so much love and joy. I felt really blessed to have so many different members of my family that I could see on that day.”
It sounds like the most amazing day, filled with love and heart. I can’t help but think that she’s blessed to have that much love in her life.
I’m taken a back a bit, because the way she speaks is just so eloquent and sincere. It’s what I expected, but I am taken a back because I realize that they joy that she’s conveying for the holiday and family, makes me reconsider my ban on celebrating the holiday at all.
For a moment, I am feeling the Christmas spirit. I am thankful for that. So, before I start to cry, I switch the conversation for a second to favorite holiday stories, “Home Alone is 100% my favorite Christmas movie. I think it’s just– Is that true? You know what? It’s the first one that came to mind and I think it’s because my friend, this year, she did a beautiful display in Wilmington, North Carolina, of just Home Alone related stuff. It’s the first thing on my mind. Now I’m realizing growing up, it was always The Grinch. It was the original animated Grinch. My dad and I would watch it every year. There’s something about the just beautiful rhythm of that poetic story. You know, The Grinch is all–.”
And she say, “Like you said, you’re Grinchy at Christmas, and then he’s turned around by the by the Whos. It’s such a warm story of welcoming in people that aren’t necessarily blood relations, either, which I really love. I love chosen family. To me, The Grinch is a story of chosen family.”
It’s something that touches my heart, because she’s really listening to all that I have said, and I appreciate it. I am Grinchy at Christmas, but like she said, the Grinch is turned around. I want to relate the actors and the movies of Countdown to Christmas to the Whos, because they are.
I smell my dinner cooking and I remember that she’s taking time on her lunch hour to speak to me, so I stop for a second and think about how gracious that she is to give me this time. I need to wrap this up, so she can eat. I know I have time and I know that she would answer questions, but she’s been so amazing in our talk, I ask one last question.
One I hadn’t expected to ask, but I think that her answer would teach me something or inspire me. So in the spirit of winging the interview, I ask her what 2023 has taught her.
And I wasn’t wrong.
She replies, “2023 has been such a mixed bag. There’s been, in my life, not to get dark, but it’s there’s been a lot of grief, and then also a lot of happiness. I guess the lesson that I can take away from it is that this human experience is a gift. You got to take the “good” with the “bad” and be grateful for all of it. Because we’re only here for a short amount of time.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Be sure to watch Magic in Mistletoe, out now.