Hello and a happy November to you!  It has been an awfully long time, I know. There is a little update further down if you are interested. For now, let’s jump straight into todays post, featuring film locations from one of my personal favorites, The Christmas Ornament!  From Hallmark:

“Newly widowed Kathy (Kellie Martin) plans to skip out on decking the halls and trimming the tree this Christmas, trying to avoid anything that will bring back memories of her late husband. The only Christmas tradition she will observe is baking cookies for her friends, a passion since she was a child. When Kathy meets handsome Christmas tree shop owner Tim (Cameron Mathison), their undeniable chemistry – along with an ornament Tim gives her that symbolizes hope – helps Kathy open up to the joys of the season again. With the support of her best friend Jenna (Jewel Staite), and the budding relationship with Tim, Kathy begins to embrace the hopeful message of the ornament. Although Kathy wants to take a chance on Tim, she struggles to find the balance between preserving the memory of her husband and moving on with her own future. Is the Christmas ornament a sign that she can have a hopeful future?”

The Christmas Ornament is tender movie about grieving a devastating loss and trying to move forward during the holiday season.  The first time I saw it, it pulled at my heartstrings and I remember feeling it was very well done.  I have watched it a few times since losing my mom the day after Christmas in 2015, and I relate to it in a different way now and find it even more moving.  What can I say? Loss is loss, and I felt it throughout the movie. The film delivered a number of emotional lines that hit straight to the heart.  Here are my some of my faves:

“Leave the porch light on”

“Christmas ornaments are memories on branches”

“The tree is still living even though it’s been cut down”

“It’s not what the decorations look like, it’s what they mean”

The Christmas Ornament premiered in November, 2013.   Kellie Martin and Cameron Mathison had tremendous chemistry and the supporting cast just tied it all together!  I thought the writing was strong and really felt like this was a slow-moving storyline, not forced, even though it was a 2-hour movie.  It just felt natural to me. 

Ok, let’s take a look at the locations!  I found Kathy’s home in the Murrayville area of Langley, just around the corner from Porters.  In real life, Kathy’s house has 5 bedrooms and 4.25 baths, in a whopping 4147 square feet!  The home was built in 2000 and still looks the same as it did on screen, minus the hanging porch light that was shown several times throughout the movie.

The house across the street showed up a couple of times in the movie so I thought I would include it.  As you can see, it still looks about the same as it did during filming back in 2013.

I located the buildings where Tim and Kathy make tree deliveries to, and both were effortless to find as the address was clearly printed on a sign in the movie.  I figured if I found one, I would find the other close by, and I was correct. 

In real life, one is an apartment building and the other is senior housing, almost like in the movie! Both buildings are located on 222^nd Street in Maple Ridge.  When you look at the photos of these 2 buildings, please send a silent word of thanks to my good friend Janelle, as she snapped these photos for me.  Thanks girlfriend!  Thankfully, I had taken photos of the house a while ago on one of my trips north. 

For those of you that don’t know, due to Covid, the border crossing is currently closed to get into Canada so I am unable to see my daughter…or any film locations…until it re-opens.  And my gut tells me that is a (very) long way off.  FYI: actors coming into Canada to film movies must quarantine for 14 days and from what I have heard, it is very strictly enforced.

Next up is the home of Jenna and Ben, Kathy’s best friends. 

Although they never actually showed us the front of their house in the movie, I was able to recognize it by looking out the big picture window they showed in the movie.  (I know, its a sickness!) Sometimes, its just that simple and guess what?  We’ve scene this house before, in the Cedar Cove series.  This is where Jack lived in seasons 2 & 3.  And in A Ring By Spring, Rachel Boston’s parents lived here as well. 

In real life, the bike shop from the movie is also called Dream Cycle, which made searching for it extremely easy. 

Dream Cycle is located just a block away from the restaurant I wrote about from Hallmark’s In My Dreams.  I wish I was able to see this location in person because I really wanted to see that ‘Cyclist Dismount’ sign above the front door.  I love seeing these little treasures that were in a movie. But for now, I utilized Google Street View for a photo.  There was no way I was going to ask Janelle to go to the city to photograph this one.  Dream Cycle is located at 1010 Commercial Drive in Vancouver, BC.

I really wanted to find the location of Tim’s Christmas tree lot but there just wasn’t anything solid to go on.  But then again, has that ever stopped me?  (Yeah…I think we all know the answer to that one!)   I grabbed some screen shots of the scenes involving the tree lot.  Using the zoom-in feature on my computer, I studied the screen shots and discovered there was a partial sign in one of the them.  I was able to make out the letters THE DIS, followed by what looked to be a T.  I figured the place had to be called either The District or The Distillery and got to work on Google.   But I came up empty.    

Fast forward a week.  Once Janelle sent me the photos she took of the Christmas tree delivery buildings, I decided to channel my inner-kindergartener and “try, try again”.  I even emailed the screen shots to Janelle, in the hopes that she just might recognize the 2 large structures in the background.  But literally, within minutes of emailing her, I jumped back on Google and found what I was looking for.  I cannot describe to you the excitement and satisfaction I feel when I yell those three little words I love so much…I FOUND IT!!! 

The Christmas tree lot scenes were filmed in the city of North Vancouver, quite a way from Maple Ridge, Langley, and Commercial Drive in Vancouver.  I speculate, as I tend to do, that wherever the Christmas tree farm is that Tim buys in the movie, it is not too far away from the North Van back alley that tree lot was filmed at.  But again, I have no clue…just guessing here. 

I was right, The District Brasserie was a restaurant back in 2013, located at 13 Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver, but the place closed its doors in 2019.  After studying my screen shots, I could tell that this film location was not on a main drag and my gut told me it was on or part of an alley…and I was correct.  Using Google Street View and toggling the year back to 2014, I checked the area in back of The District and there it was, the tree lot!!! 

No, that feeling never gets old and this one was even more special as its been awhile since I’ve been on the hunt.  And gosh it felt good!!! This showed me that no, I haven’t lost my knack. I had really wanted to include this location in this post, so I am thrilled to be able to share it with you. Photos are via Google Street View.  I look forward to seeing this one in person once the border is open again.  Hubs and I went to Lonsdale Quay Market about 10 years ago on one of our weekend trips to Van and now I must go back. This location is just a block away.

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A PERSONAL UPDATE:

As I mentioned way back in February, I became the Personal Representative for the estate of someone I knew from my days working at the Cancer Care Center.  And for 10 months, I worked tirelessly on the estate; before work, after work, on my lunch break, and nearly every single weekend, for reals. For those not familiar, it is a very lengthy, detailed process under the best of circumstances. The arrival of Covid complicated things and continues to. I had only been on my new job a month when I got the call so I was trying to learn a new field as well. This was far from easy. And while I am not done with the estate just yet, I have finished the majority of the tasks, at least of the heavy lifting sort.  (BIG shoutout to my hubs, who was with me every step of the way…could not have done this without him!) I am still working on paperwork and other things and I hope to have it all wrapped up in the next few months.  Estate work takes a lot of time and that is why I haven’t been posting at all. Over the spring and summer, I was able to watch a few Hallmark movies and research some locations, but it was very hit and miss.  I did some writing here and there, (and I will publish it later) but a big part of the fun is seeing my photos next to a screen shot from the movie.  Unfortunately, the photos alone take several hours to prepare, which I simply did not have.  I do not regret the work I have accomplished this year, nor the promise I made several years ago.  I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from.

Once again, I would like to thank my sweet friend Janelle, for snapping some of the photos for this post. As always, I thank you for your comments and emails, many of which I have yet to reply. But I am working on it. This is my hobby, which is a fun outlet for me. And I have missed watching the movies and being on the prowl for a location that has caught my eye. I have more holiday themed locations to post and look forward to sharing them with you all. And up next is a Hallmark lovers giveaway!!! Stay tuned…

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