A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas QUIZ!

Starring:  Rachael Leigh Cook and Benjamin Ayres 

Released:  2019

Summary:  A hotel manager returns to her Virginia hometown to help her sister plan a Christmas wedding at the inn her family once owned and must work with the current owner.

Image:  Crown Media, United States LLC

Where Have We Seen Them Before?

When you watch a Hallmark Christmas movie, there's often the nagging feeling you've seen the actors in other shows, but you can't pinpoint which ones.  

Many of them are on the Hallmark payroll and rotate through the heart-happy Hallmark movie circuit, which usually accounts for their foggy familiarity.  

Rachael Leigh Cook's career in film, television, voice characterizations, and video games is expansive, but I remember her most from her recurring role in the hilarious detective show that aired on the USA Network:  Psych.  

Any Psych fans out there?  

Cook played Abigail, Shawn Spencer's girlfriend before he finally connected with his true love and fellow detective, Juliette O'Hara. 

Benjamin Ayres is Canadian and best known for his role as Dr. Zach Miller from the series Saving Hope.  He has also starred in several Hallmark movies including Cranberry Christmas, Falling for Vermont, and You, Me & the Christmas Trees.  

Fun fact:  Ayres is a distant relative to Boris Karloff, the narrator of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The Importance of Vision

David Lyndon is trying to sell the inn so he can focus on his law career.  He's worked hard to make partner, but the inn consumes too much of his time.  

David has one potential buyer, who remains undecided because he can't picture what the inn would look like spruced up and decorated to entice visitors.  

As a hotel manager, Willow Petersen is an expert in staging.  Not only can she recapture the decadence of the inn from her childhood, but she also has vision to transform an empty barn into a spectacular venue for her sister's wedding.

Willow's master plan includes motion sensor Christmas lights that light up as her sister takes each step towards the barn, multitudes of Christmas trees, a snowman family, garlands, wreaths, and carriage rides.  

As soon as the buyer sees Willows master touch on the inn, he submits a bid.

Do you have Willow's kind of vision?

Whether it's decorating your own house, putting together a stylish outfit, or helping someone you know reach their full potential, vision is important.

Life hands us many diamonds in the rough. Some of us know just what to do to make these dirt-caked gems shine, and some of us give up because we only see the mud.  

Let's learn to open our eyes and see things, people, and situations differently.  Having vision means we don't dismiss challenges as lost causes, but we invest and are tenacious about finding the sparkle.  We must train ourselves to look at people and situations and not see them for what they are, but what they could be with a healthy dose of love and determination.

Comfort Food

When you are stressed, do you turn to food as a source of comfort, or do you lose your appetite?

Willow's sister, Juni, gets a case of pre-wedding jitters.  She devours fruitcake and binges on cookies to cope.

Don't most brides avoid extra calories to make sure they don't pop out of their wedding dresses?  Look at any couples' wedding photo and you will notice they have never been slimmer or trimmer than that day.

Christmastime is a beautiful season for a wedding, but it's the worse time for weight. Experts can't agree on the exact amount, but the average American gains between one and five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. 

Image:  Crown Media, United States LLC

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