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(upbeat Christmas music)
- Oh yes. Great.
Those will go in the dining room. Thank you.
(movers chattering)
Hm.
(bells chiming)
- At Upstage we need to accentuate the selling points
of the home to entice the widest array of buyers.
We're the last stage you'll have before selling your home.
This is Grace Ryan, my partner in design
and the other half of Upstaged.
- Nice to meet you.
I hope you're okay we moved the Paola Buffa side table.
It was hidden in that guest room and we really thought it
would bring the dining room that wow-factor.
- The buffa what?
- The walnut side table handmade by one of the premier
European furniture makers of the 20th century.
The brown table with the ridged drawers
and the brass handles.
- Oh that. I mostly keep my workout clothes on it anyway.
- Oh, you keep your workout clothes on a Paola Buffa.
- Well the treadmills in there, ha,
never liked the look of it, to be honest.
- Can you excuse us for just a moment?
Take a look around and let me know how you like the rest
of the house.
Putting the Buffa on the dining room was a bold choice.
Now that is see it, it's a little loud, isn't it?
- I thought it gave the room a pop of style.
- Perhaps it's more like an explosion.
- Right.
- We want people talking about the room,
not the table, right?
- Yes. I will get them over to switch it out.
- And while they're at it,
let's ask them to switch the artwork in the den.
- Oh, really?
I was really digging those old French adverts
that fit in there.
- You don't think it looks a little too nineties?
I almost forgot, the producers called.
- Really? What, what did they say?
- They want to sit with us after the holidays,
talking through our vision for a home staging show.
- That's amazing.
- Said we make a dynamic duo.
This could be huge for us, for our company.
Our own TV show, Grace. Think about it.
Listen, I'll finish up here.
I'm sure your family's eager to have you at home.
- Are you sure?
- Definitely. Go, I got this.
Actually, before you go,
think we can move that back to where it was?
- Yes. Of course. I'm on it.
(sighs)
(gentle music)
(engine revving) (tires spinning)
Looks like someone needs some help.
(engine revving) (tires spinning)
Oh.
Yep, I think you're stuck.
Tony Scotto.
- Grace Ryan.
Wow. It has been-
- It's been a while. - Yeah.
- Yeah. What happened here?
- Oh, this is deer darted out and I did what I could
to avoid it, but here we are.
- Well they probably thought they saw their cousin back here
and got excited.
- (laughs) Good one.
Very good.
- Couldn't help myself. (laughs)
Actually, do you have some rubber mats in there?
- Yeah. Why?
- Hand them over? I'll show you a trick.
Aha. Perfect.
Ready?
Hop in. Get ready to give it some gas.
- Okay. - There we go.
That should give you some traction. Try it now.
(engine revving)
All right. - Hey.
That's a pretty great trick.
Thanks for coming to my rescue.
- Eh. It's the Girl Scout in me.
I can't help myself. Now it's all yours.
You can unstick yourself anytime.
- Any advice if I get a flat?
- Yeah. Call AAA.
(both laughing)
(phone ringing)
Oh.
Um, I'm sorry. I should take this.
- No, that's okay.
I should get going too, but thanks for your help.
And it was a nice to see you again.
- Nice to see you.
- Happy holidays. - You too.
Oh, don't forget your map. - Oh, right.
- Hey Sarah. What's up?
Oh, okay.
So you're not feeling the look of the living room anymore.
Got it. Yeah. Okay. I'll be there in a minute.
- Pop. Come on. Still with the icicles?
- Hey, it's a Christmas classic.
They take time.
You got to give the people what they want.
- You know what the people want?
The people want their Christmas decorations by Christmas,
not Valentine's day.
That's what the people want.
- Your father will be up all night if it's not perfect.
And if he's up all night, I'm up all night.
Just let him do what he needs to do for my sake.
- Where do you want these, Dad?
- Oh, well the lights on the trees are going to pull focus.
So we need to balance out the lawn, frame the house.
Put them right there.
- Here? - Yes. Perfect.
Thank you. - You got it.
- Hey,
whatever happened to that marketing job you applied for?
- Same thing that always happens.
It was a pleasure to meet me,
but they decided to go with somebody else.
- Something will workout.
- Oh. Oh. (groans)
- Oh! Are you okay? Are you okay?
- Ah. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm good. I'm good. - Okay. Just watch it.
- Slow, slow.
You know,
we should start charging by the day instead of the job.
How many houses have we done this year, six?
- Yep. And we did eight last year.
- We used to do 20 houses a year at least.
His numbers have really taken a nose-dive ever since
he stopped competing in the Bright Nights contest.
- Talk to him. See if he's ready to compete again.
The deadline to submit is tonight.
All we have to do is drop the application off
at the Christmas Fest.
- Why do I have to do it? Couldn't we do it together?
- No. You're the oldest.
I gotta pick Dante up at hockey.
You got this. - Mm.
- I'm heading out.
- Oh, I want to go with you.
I got a few things to pick up.
All right. Well we're far enough along.
You two can finish by yourself.
- Sure we can.
- We'll be back in an hour.
- Bye. - Bye.
- Well, guess we'd better get a move on
so we can finish before the family gets back.
(people clapping)
- Thank you. Thank you.
Means a lot.
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas.
(people chattering)
- Looks amazing, Pop.
- I should have brought two more reindeer.
- Let it go, Dad. Just let it go.
- Okay.
- I sanded the whole thing down,
patched up all the dings and nicks and stained it back
to its original color.
- My wife used to nurse her son in this chair.
Now he just had his first and we wanted to pass it down.
- Well, it should hold up for a couple more generations.
- It's beautiful, Bill.
Was glad to see your lights still on.
Heard rumor you might be closing the stores down.
- (laughs) That's a long...
No plans to yet anyway.
- [Customer] I see you're still in the decorating business.
Noticed your yard signs around.
- Yeah, that's right.
Geared up for the Bright Nights contest again, too.
You know, going up against all those professional decorators
in town, mm, keeps on your toes.
- Good luck.
Well, thank you very much.
Now, Larry upfront will ring you out and help you
to the car with it, okay?
There you go.
- Hi, Dad.
- Hey, kiddo!
- Aww.
- So nice to have you home this year.
You know, you've been gone so long
and your nephew Evan's got his license now.
- (laughs) Okay, first of all, you need to let it go
that I went on holiday vacation someplace warm for once.
You should try it some time.
And second, I know how to count.
Evan is only nine.
- Ten.
- Oh right. November 9th, of course.
- (laughs) Come on.
- Your mom and Evan are in the back.
- Oh, I saw a Paolo Buffa side table today.
It was a thing of beauty.
- Really? Tell me all about it.
- Hey! There's my girl.
- Aunt Grace!
- Evan! What's new, kid? Grandpa says you're driving now.
- No, not yet. - Not yet.
- With your sister and her husband working so much overtime
right now,
Evan has offered to help with Bright Nights this year.
- Good man. Speaking of which, here you go.
Yeah.
- What do we got here?
- Photos of the house we decorated this year.
What do you think?
Just narrowing down my submission.
- Right.
Some of these sort of remind me of the designs
from a few years ago,
except you subbed the snowflakes for the candy canes.
What?
- We're getting stale. - No.
- Yep, like January gingerbread.
- Now I wouldn't say that, it just...
It never hurts to push the creative edges, right?
- Well, what we may lack in variety,
we make up for in volume.
I mean, how many houses did we do this season, 30?
30, right?
- Something like that.
- Oh.
- Oh, here you go. These should be your submissions.
- I wanna see. - Okay.
- Ooh. - What do you think?
- Yeah?
Okay. Let's get this application into the committee.
- You know, we really need your spark, dear.
It's what all of our designs are missing.
- Oh.
- I mean, you could be our saving grace.
- Oh. (laughs)
Oh, Bill.
- What? - Talk about stale.
(laughing)
Come on, kiddo.
- I wanted to talk to you about Good Tidings.
- What about it?
- Well, I know how you like to take a lot of time off
from contracting during the holidays to focus on decorating,
but with the number of clients being what they'd been the
last couple of years,
you're losing a lot more than you're making.
- No, stop. Stop here. - What?
- What is this?
- Is that the Inglid's house?
- It is.
- They've been a customer of yours for...
- 10 years.
- Guess they decided to go a different direction this year.
- I guess they did.
What the heck is GlowScapes?
- I think we're looking at it.
- Popular, by the looks of it.
- Looks like it's easy to set up too.
I bet you could do a few of those in one day, no problem.
- Anybody can string up a bunch of lights
and enter a computer code.
Where's the soul in that?
The heart?
Do you see the people's faces
when I flip the light switch on,
that spark of joy in their eyes?
All because of something we've created.
I mean, it's-
- Magical. - It is.
- I know.
And I love how it lights you up.
But without the bump from Bright Nights,
Good Tidings is becoming more of a hobby than a business.
- It's not always about the money.
- I know, but why don't you show the people
of this town what you're capable of?
There's a reason you won the first five Bright Nights contests.
- I don't think so.
- Dad, come on.
- I haven't competed in eight years.
And you remember what happened last time?
- Yeah, sure.
You ran out of time. You got disqualified.
But so what, that's not going to happen this time.
I'm going to be there and Mom's going to be there
and Maria is going to be there.
- Really?
- Yes. Maria said she'd help fill out the application.
We can get it to the committee before registration closes.
You're the best in town, Pop.
I mean, it says it right there on your signs.
- Okay.
- Yeah? - Let's do it.
- Okay. - Okay.
(engine starting)
(bells jingling)
(people chattering)
- So we staged the home of this producer
and they got a kick out of us,
thought that we made a charming team, their words, not mine.
Anyway, they said that we'd make a fun host
for a home staging show.
- Oh. - I know.
Anyway, we're going to talk to them in the new year about it
and we'll see what happens.
- That is incredible, Grace.
- Yeah. Yeah. It is just...
- What?
- Sarah and I have been on different pages lately,
just completely out of sync.
- Being friends and business partners
takes a delicate touch.
Ask your father.
He still avoids every street with a house designed
by the Scottos. (laughs)
- Yeah, well you'd think 20 years would be enough time
for bygones to be bygones.
- Ha ha. Not a chance.
- Did you ask Santa for what you wanted?
- A Secrets of the Great Magicians magic set.
- Oh, so you're into magic these days. That's pretty cool.
- Lean down, Aunt Grace.
- Okay.
What've we got here?
Okay. Oh boy. Starting out good.
Whoa! That is incredible. Nicely done.
Okay, now can you do that with a chicken sandwich
because I am starving.
- I can't, Aunt Grace.
- You let me down, kid.
All right.
Well, I'm going to grab something to eat,
but I'll meet you guys at the Bright Nights booth?
- Yep. Okay, come on you. Good work.
- How did you get Dad to change his mind
about Bright Nights?
- How do you think? I appealed to his ego.
He saw a bunch of people lining up to see a house decorated
by that new company, GlowScapes.
I think that really lit a fire under him.
- Nono can bring it.
- Yes.
- Let's hope that attention to detail that makes him such
a great contractor doesn't freeze him up this year.
- If we get into Bright Night finals,
I'm telling you we can win it.
- If, ifs and buts were candy and nuts,
what a merry Christmas it would be.
- Two pizzelles, please.
- What he said. Thank you.
And a half dozen assorted, please.
- That's a lot, Uncle Tony. Not good for you.
- Well, they're not for me.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
I know it's usually the Girl Scouts giving the cookies,
but I wanted to thank you for the other day.
- It wasn't anything really.
- If you were your dad and I was my dad,
you would have just kept driving, so it's not nothing.
- Well, fortunately, we're not our fathers. (laughs)
And who is this young man? Is this your son?
- No, no, no, no. This is my nephew, Dante.
- What are you talking about, Dad?
- Oh.
- Quit playing, Dante.
He's my sister Maria's kid.
- Who's Maria, Dad?
- All right. Cut it out.
He thinks he's funny.
- Well I'm entertained.
- You want these?
- Yes, Uncle Tony.
- Get.
I think I see Maria over there.
Are you here with your parents?
- Yeah. And my nephew.
- So where do you call home?
- Richmond, actually.
- I just came back about a year ago from Boston.
- Grace will find out about the stores eventually, dear.
- I just don't want to worry her unnecessarily.
I got us into this mess, I can get us out.
- Mm hm.
- Hello.
- Your Wade...
of GlowScapes by Wade?
- Wade Edwards, pleased to meet you.
- (laughs) I'm Wendy Ryerson head of the committee.
My husband and I can't pass by one of your houses
without stopping.
It's like 4th of July in December.
- I'm so glad it brings you joy.
- We'll be reviewing the applications and the committee will
reach out to the four prelim qualifiers sometime
in a day or so.
Be sure to keep your ringer on. (laughs)
Hi!
- Hey. - Hi.
- Can't wait to see what you Ryans have for us
under your Santa caps this year.
It's going to be pretty stiff competition
with GlowScapes in the mix. (laughs)
- You're going to show our work as always Wendy.
- I don't know if you've heard, but this year,
in addition to the municipal contract to decorate every
public building at Ashland Falls next holiday season,
Cardinal Group Energy is sponsoring a cash prize.
- How much?
- $50,000!
- Whoa! - You're kidding me?
- Not a bad stocking stuffer. Right? (laughs)
Well, good luck!
- Well, thank you.
- You're going to need all the luck you can get, Bill,
because those tired designs you're used to,
aren't going to cut it this year.
- Well I didn't see many of your lawn signs out there
this season, Frank.
Seems to me that it's your designs
that people are no longer interested in these days.
- Okay, Bill. That's enough.
- Don't start, Frank.
- There's nothing to worry about.
Probably won't even finish his design,
if he's chosen to compete.
- Excuse me, I don't remember you winning anything
these last couple of years.
- Remind me when the last time you won was.
Can you remember?
- [Wendy] Gentlemen, please!
- Well, I don't need an award to feel good about myself,
like some people I know.
- Oh, oh, you want to settle this old fashioned way?
- Sure, I would like that.
- Huh, you want that? Come on.
No. You heard what he said to me.
- Dad? - Pop?
(Frank and Bill bickering)
- Come on! Cut it out!
What's going on? What's going on?
- Oh, just your father and Bill Ryan going at it again.
- If you two don't knock it off,
the committee will disqualify both of you from the contest.
- But this is Christmas, gentlemen.
This is the season of forgiving.
- Bill, come on, come on.
- What if Dante sees you?
Do you want him to see his Nono making a fool of himself
in front of everyone in the town?
- No-no, who was that man you were arguing with?
- Nobody.
- Mm. They used to be friends.
- Good friends, once upon a time.
- Started a holiday decorating company in college together.
- Yeah and kept it going after they graduated.
They called it Making Spirits Bright,
was a nice little business for them during the holidays.
- We even used to spend Christmases together.
- What happened then?
- Well...
He kept pestering me to decorate faster
so we could get more clients.
And all I really cared about was doing the quality of work.
He cared about the money.
So we got into an argument and he kicked me
out of the company.
- Yes. I broke up the company.
Because Frank told me that I was greedy,
that I put quantity over quality.
Just because I wanted to make a few extra dollars
doing something we both loved,
doesn't make my reasons for doing it any less noble.
- They were a great partnership.
- We brought out the best of each other...
for a time.
You know, he would draw up the designs
and I'd put a plan together and execute them.
But when he insulted me, that was it.
That was the end of our business
and the end of our friendship.
- And that's when grandpa opened up the furniture store
and turned Making Spirits Bright into Deck the Halls.
- Can't you just apologize and make up?
You two were so close.
- Apologize to him after what he said?
He should be apologizing to me.
- It's a shame what happened between you two
is all I'm saying.
- No, the only shame here is that Frank was never admit
he was wrong. Now come on.
(Grace sighs)
- Dad, I am going to take Dante to school.
- Give him a kiss for me. - I will.
- Have a good day. - You too.
- Hey Dad.
I'm not going to be able to help out
with Good Tidings tonight 'cause I got a shift at the bar.
- Well that's all right.
We don't have any customers anyway.
Listen, I know it's not your dream job,
but if you ever want to learn the contracting business
from your old man, my door is always open.
- I will think about it.
Thanks Pop..
- Remember making this?
- No way.
- You made it at the Ryan's house.
Such good memories of those times.
You saw Arlene Ryan's grandson, right?
- Yeah.
- He's the same age as Dante. - Really?
- It's a shame they don't know each other.
Oh, remember who made this one?
- Maria?
- Grace.
That'll be nice to have one from the others on our trees.
They have an ornament that Maria made, found it in this box.
It's been mislabeled.
I think I will sneak this around the back of the tree,
so your father doesn't make a stink.
- Good idea.
- Que bella, huh?.
- Yes. Nice.
- I meant Grace.
- Mom.
- Oh, she's turned into a beautiful woman.
- Ma. - Okay. Okay. Okay.
I'll stop. - All right. I gotta go.
I'll see you later. I love you, okay?
Ciao, Mom. - Ciao.
- Your father works fast.
- I know. He's a machine.
Okay.
Red or green?
- They're both nice.
- What color will be good in the windows?
- Either. They're just wreaths, honey.
There's no wrong choice.
- Been having trouble parsing good taste from bad
these days.
- [Bill] You guys gabbing or working?
- Remind me how much you're paying us again.
- You want to be paid? Huh.
The nerve.
My love and affection should be more than enough.
("Deck the Halls" instrumental)
- Good crowd tonight.
- Yeah, nothing gets people out to the bar
like extended time with their families.
Ya know, there might even be some single women
out here tonight that's looking to meet a nice guy.
Keep your eyes peeled.
- Sure, sure.
- Hey, what about Lisa?
I heard her say you weren't unattractive.
- Nothing says interested like a double negative.
(laughing)
- This seat taken?
- Well, it's not, not taken.
- So someone is sitting here?
- No, it's all yours, Grace.
- Oh, you two know each other?
- Yeah, childhood friends and what now...
decades old family feud.
- Well, in that case, drinks on the house.
Keep the peace between you two.
- Manhattan up. Thanks.
- So what brings you in tonight?
- Oh, I had to get out of the house.
I mean, it's pacing a hole in the floor
waiting to hear about Bright Night.
- Yeah, mine's probably wearing out the carpet right now
as we speak.
- Thank you.
Oh.
Mm.
Well that's not, not delicious.
- See, that's how you do it.
- Whatever. You take your 10. I'll let you two catch up.
And you let me know anything else.
- Been working here long?
- No, he just throws me shifts every once in a while,
when it's really busy.
Truth be told anything more than a vodka soda
and I am way out of my depth.
- (laughs) Well, I'm glad he's making my drink then.
- [Tony] Yeah.
Seems like a good friend.
- Yes. Yeah, he's a good guy.
We played hockey together at Bishop O'Connell.
- And you got a hockey scholarship to that fancy school
in Arlington, right?
Yeah, probably why we never ran into each other.
- Are you keeping tabs on me?
- One hears things.
- Okay.
Well you heard right.
After Arlington, I played hockey at Boston University,
but I blew out my knee sophomore year
and that was kind of the end of my hockey career.
- That must've been hard. - Yeah, it was.
But it was also kind of a blessing in disguise
because it made me focus on school, for like the first time.
I got my MBA.
- And what brought you back home?
- I was working for this marketing company.
I took a big swing on this campaign,
missed completely, landed flat on my face,
got canned and then I moved back here last year
with my tail between my legs.
- Well, there's something to be said about going
with your instincts,
you know, just putting it all out there.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Don't.
(laughing)
So what about you? What have you been up to?
- My college roommate and I started
a home staging business.
"At Upstaged, we're the last stage you will need
before selling your home." (laughs)
- Catchy.
- Did you like that?
It was actually Sarah, my business partner,
who came up with it.
She's the show-woman, charmed for days.
- And what, what's your role?
Are you the creative genius behind the curtain?
- Oh, boy.
Truth be told, I'm feeling about as confident these days
as you making a slow-gin fizz.
- I don't even know what that is.
- You don't know what that is?
- No. Does it mean you make it really slowly?
- Hey you two, a table just opened up in the back.
It's a little quieter.
- Don't you need me to work though?
- Well, I haven't had to remake any drinks tonight,
so the two of you chatting is actually saving me money.
- Wow. (laughing)
- Thanks.
- You like that?
That's my mom.
We officially made it into Bright Nights.
- Congratulations.
(phone buzzing)
So did we.
- Well, guess this feud isn't going away anytime soon,
is it?
- I guess not.
- Game on.
- Congratulations to each of our four teams,
Deck the Halls, Good Tidings, GlowScapes,
and our last year's winner, Mistletoe Design.
Each of you will be randomly assigned
one of these lovely homes around us.
And you'll have three days to transform your deck house
as thoroughly as your imagination allows.
And any house that is not completed by 6:00 PM
on the 21st will be disqualified from the competition.
Though I've been assured that won't be an issue this year.
Our three person committee will judge each deck house
on creativity, technical achievement,
and most importantly,
the ooh and the ah factor.
who will then select two finalists to go head to head
for the grand prize.
A contract from the town of Ashland Falls worth $25,000
to decorate every municipal building next holiday season.
And this year Cardinal Group Energy is sponsoring
an additional $50,000 prize to the winner!
(crowd applauding)
- Hi, just wanted to come introduce myself.
Wade Edwards.
- Bill Ryan. - Hi.
- Nice to meet you. This is my daughter, Grace.
- Oh, hi. - Hi.
- And my wife, Arlene. - Oh, hi.
- So I've seen your work, it's...
colorful,
different.
- Yeah, I think that's why people are responding
the way they are.
Hired two new crews to keep up with demand.
I'm sure you knew what that was like back when you were
at the top of your game.
- I like to think I'm still at the top of my game, Wade.
- Right, yeah, been five years since you last one?
- Six, but who's counting?
- Well every year's a chance turn it all around. Right?
Anyway.
Good luck.
- To you too.
- Your deck house will be that one right over there.
- Oh great.
- We can work with that.
- All right. - Yeah, good.
- And yours will be next to Deck the Halls, okay?
- Okay.
- Right.
So we'll take a bunch of photographs
and then I'll go back to the shop
and start plotting the design.
- Right.
- A lot riding on things this year,
so we can't waste a single moment.
- Yeah.
- [Grace] What was that dad?
- Oh, I was just telling your mother that second place
won't cut it this year.
- Ah, right, because second place is just the first loser.
Yeah. - Exactly right.
Anyway. Come on.
- You always give the best pep talks, Dad.
(laughing)
- Come on. - Yep.
(cheerful music)
- What about this color scheme?
You think that would work again?
Just Dad's really in the zone, huh?
- And he wants to make a strong showing after being
out of the competition for so long.
- You want some hot chocolate?
- Yes, sure. Fuel for the fire.
- Yes, please.
- Do you want something?
- Oh yes. I'll take a hot chocolate please.
It's been an hour since I had some,
my body's going through withdrawal.
(laughing)
- Thank you.
- And here, let me get that for you. Thank you.
And two more, please. Keep the change.
- You don't have-
- After the pizzelles and the free drinks last night,
it's the least I can do.
- Ah, thank you. I appreciate that.
I'm glad we ran into each other.
I wanted to tell you what a nice time I had last night.
- Me too.
I can't remember the last time I stayed out until last call.
- Well, I definitely prefer doing it on that side
of the bar, that's for sure.
- Are you sure Pat wasn't upset?
- Oh yeah, he's fine.
I think he's just happy to see me having a good time.
- Is that so rare?
- Not as frequent as I'd like it to be,
but bumping into you around town definitely helps.
Are you just out enjoying the calm
before the Bright Night's storm.
- Ah, yeah.
My mom and I are taking out my nephew just before
we start helping Dad.
And your dad, is he working on his sketches for the contest?
- Oh, yeah. He's deep in it.
You know, your father better watch out,
substituting candy canes for snowflakes
ain't going to cut it this year.
- Yeah. Well, I think he's got a few tricks in his bag.
- Sure. But I mean, you have to admit,
his designs are kind of looking the same the last couple
of years, so.
- Oh, maybe your dad should spend less time dreaming
up his designs and more time executing them.
- Yeah. Maybe.
Well, thank you for the hot chocolate.
I guess this makes us square now.
- Yeah, I guess it does.
- I'll see you later.
- Oh, thank you, honey.
- Thank you.
- Don't you think that's a little ambitious?
Maybe we should save that for the finals,
go with something a little simpler for the prelims?
- Well, we have to make it to the finals.
- [Bill] Something's missing, isn't there?
- The only thing that's not in there
is a complete re-creation of Santa's workshop.
Keep in mind, we don't want the deck house to collapse.
- It's got to sing, Grace.
I mean the committee has to have its collective breath
taken away.
- Yes, I know. And you will get there.
I just think that you're possibly overstuffing the designs
in hopes that bigger equals better.
- Yeah, but you've always been able to spin my ideas
into gold, so come on, spin away.
- I think once you start editing,
you'll find the story you want to tell.
- Yeah, right,
- Bill. - Hm?
- It's Alonzo, said it was important.
- (sighs) Okay. I'll be right back.
- Yep.
Is it me or does he seem more stressed this year?
- Oh.
I think Frank Scotto being in the contest again
is making him anxious.
- Right.
- You did not hear that from me. (phone ringing)
- Oh, it's Sarah. I should take this.
Sorry.
Hey.
- [Sarah] How goes it go it, lady?
- Uh, fine.
- Try to contain your excitement.
- Yeah. I'm helping Dad with the competition again.
- Pulled you in again, huh?
- Neck deep.
- The reason I called was,
the producers invited us to their annual holiday party
at the Whisper in Carytown.
- Uh, sorry. Sorry, what day?
- 21st.
- Yeah, sure. I'll be there.
Do you think that they'll want us to talk about our ideas
for the show?
Should we prepare something?
- It's a party.
Can't imagine they'd want to discuss business.
- Right?
- [Sarah] See you there.
All right? - See you there.
Everything okay, Dad?
- Yeah, it's all good.
Let's just get back to it, okay?
- Yeah.
- Hey, Ma. When's that lasagna going to be ready?
- Don't rush the artista.
(fans cheering on TV)
- How do they get the puck into the air like that?
- They practice and then they practice some more,
but there are some tricks you can learn.
Juggling is a good place to start.
- Juggling? No way, Uncle T.
- It's good for the hand-eye coordination.
- Your uncle used to practice every night.
He always pushed himself to try to be the best.
Even when things seemed impossible,
he always pushed through.
There was no quit in him.
- I should get going. Pat needs me down at the bar tonight.
Juggle.
- I think I'm going to learn how to juggle.
- Me, too.
- [News Man] At Ashland Falls as the 15th Annual
Bright Nights competition.
- Hey. - Hey.
- Where's your mother?
- She took Evan sledding. She'll meet us at the deck house.
- Oh, okay.
- GlowScapes.
The holiday displays that have been the talk
of Ashland Falls this season are the work of Wade Edwards.
Tell us more Wade.
- Families have been stringing up lights,
putting a snowman on a lawn and lining their walkways
with candy canes since, well, forever.
With GlowScapes, I wanted to show there was another way,
a better way to decorate your home for the holidays.
- An Alexandria native, Wade first saw the LED technology
he adopted online and knew it was the future.
- How does he swing publicity like this?
- Maybe GlowScapes is just that popular.
I mean, people are lining up just to catch a glimpse.
- Wade Edwards and GlowScapes aim to do
to the holiday decorating space,
what streaming did for the video store.
With the crowds flocking to get a gander at his creations,
the future of GlowScapes looks bright indeed.
- All right, well, let's get to work.
We got a lot to do.
- I still don't get how he gets publicity like that.
- And remember you have three days to complete your deck
house and to give everyone equal time,
each team begins work at 9:00 AM,
but it's staple guns down at exactly 6:00 PM.
You may test your design once it gets dark,
but no work can be completed after six.
And you may start your sleighs...
Now!
- Okay.
I think I've come up with a simpler design,
something a little bit more practical.
- I need two cross beams, one light going this way,
one light going this way and it's doing a dance,
it's doing a dance.
- I've got it right here!
- Get the landscape out of the way.
This bush has to go. That Bush has to go.
These bushes have to go.
- Don't forget to have fun. - Yeah. No problem.
- By the way. Who's Alonzo?
- What?
- Whoever Dad was talking to on the call yesterday,
it seemed serious, his whole demeanor changed.
- He's the manager at our store in Midlothian.
- Is everything, okay?
- Things are a little slower than usual.
- I overheard a customer tell dad that he thought
the store was closing.
Mom, if there's something up I want to try and help.
- The expansion last year hasn't gone as well as
we would have hoped.
- Ah. Well, how not well are we talking?
- Your father's sales projections were a little off.
With the lease on the new building
and inventory costs doubling,
the stores are operating at a loss right now.
You know your father,
he's always pushing for bigger, better.
And this time he may have gone too big.
- Why didn't you tell me any of this?
- He thought we could work it out
and you would have dropped everything to help.
- Yeah, but that decision should have been up to me to make.
- Well now you know.
So if he seems more amped about the competition this year,
it's because that extra 50,000 would go a long way.
- Yeah.
- Maria, why don't you start with putting the lights
on the Christmas trees?
Anthony and I, we will start on the roof.
- Okay. - Okay.
- Tony, stop eyeballing the competition.
No matter how attractive she is.
- Whatever. - Come on.
("Oh, Christmas Tree" instrumental)
- Three, two, one.
Everybody's stop for the day!
Hands up! Up, up!
Okay? Over there?
("Silent Night" instrumental)
- You okay?
- Yeah.
I'm looking at these box of ornaments that I found
behind the couch.
- The ones the Ryans made that mom tried to hide?
- She thinks she's sly, but I'm onto her.
- You know, it's okay to admit that you miss those times
with them.
- That well of nostalgia dried up a long time ago.
Bill Ryan made sure of that.
- Okay.
Have you seen Mom?
- She went to meet a friend for dessert.
- All right. Well, I'm going to go see Pat down at the pub.
I'll see you later?
(indistinct chattering)
Hey.
- Hey.
Your deck house is really coming along.
- Oh, thanks.
Yeah, yours too.
Hey look, about what I said at the market.
You know, I think a couple of decades of listening to my dad
complain about your father's work, it kinda creeped in.
So,
I'm sorry.
I think your dad's really upped his game lately, actually.
- Thanks.
And I'm sorry too.
Oh!
Oh, no! What's happening? (laughs)
I guess we're in the middle of a snowball fight.
(crowd yelling and laughing)
- Watch out! Watch out!
Ah!
(laughing)
- Oh, goodness. Are you okay?
- I don't think anything's broken.
- Oh, you've got a little...
- Check it out.
- The grandkids together.
- Oh, yeah.
- It would be so good for them.
?
- Mm. - Mm hm.
- Just because your fathers have held this ridiculous grudge
never meant we had to stop being friends.
- We still take a girls trip to Virginia Beach every summer.
- [Arlene] Mm hm.
- And Dad and Frank have no idea?
- They're just too stubborn to acknowledge it.
They're both right about each other in a lot of ways.
- I think deep down they know we're still close.
- Yeah, I saw Dad looking at those ornaments
you tried to hide behind the tree.
He didn't seem to mind.
- Oh, it's just pigheadedness.
- It's like Bill and the store.
He put money before good sense.
We never should've opened the other location.
Carla knows.
- Oh, wow.
I guess everyone's up to speed on all the family secrets.
- Yeah, with one exception.
What are you two doing out altogether?
- Aah. - Are you a date?
- What? No. - No, no.
We, we just bumped into each other and then we saw...
Not a date.
- Yeah, no.
But we should get out of here.
- Yes. Let's leave you to it.
- Let you finish your...
- And don't worry, your secret's safe with us.
- They came in together and now they're leaving together.
- Seems like a date to me.
- Oh yes it does.
(Carla and Arlene laughing)
- I can't believe it.
They kept their friendship a secret for all these years
without anybody knowing it.
- Yeah.
- I didn't think my mother had it in her.
- Yeah.
- What, you're thinking about your dad and the stores,
aren't you?
You know, maybe I can help.
Put that MBA to use.
Sometimes it's good to have an outside pair of eyes
to take a look.
- That is a very, very nice offer,
but my dad's head would explode if he knew a Scotto
was looking at the company books.
- Well...
maybe we don't tell them.
If our mothers can pull off a little subterfuge,
why can't you and I?
- Meet me at the store in the morning?
- It's a da--
an appointment, an appointment.
- An appointment?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
("Deck the Halls" instrumental)
- Is this all of it?
- What, you want there to be more?
I'll give it to my father, he is well organized.
- Well, let's get through as much of it as we can
before we have to get back to the contest.
(gentle piano music)
Come on, grab the spreadsheet, dig in.
- Right.
(gentle piano music)
(birds chirping)
- What's wrong?
- I think I figured out how to make those icicles look like
they're melting.
But...
- But what?
- Means, we're going to have to take them down
and redo them.
- No. Pop, we don't have time for that.
- No, we can do it.
It'll only takes a couple of hours.
This needs to be perfect. It needs to be my best work.
It's what the people expect. It's what I expect of myself.
Nothing less.
(curious music)
- Don't be too hard on yourself, Dad.
Still got one more day to make it sing.
Plus we only have to be good enough to get in the finals,
right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Well that doesn't look like much.
- Oh! (laughing)
- Well, that's because they haven't turned it on yet.
- And that's it for today, everyone!
We'll be picking the two finalists tomorrow evening.
So make your last day count.
See y'all in the morning!
- Woo!
Haha! Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Yes!
(techno music blaring)
Ha! Woo!
- Okay.
- What'd I tell you about the cross beams?
You didn't want to have them, but I was right again.
Wade wins again!
- Still think it doesn't look like much?
(gentle piano music)
- You're up early.
- Yeah.
A friend just asked me to go through their company's
financials to see if I could diagnose any problems,
coming up with a few ideas.
It's been kind of fun actually.
You know, I feel like I can genuinely help.
It feels good.
- Anthony, that's great.
- Yeah.
- Good to see that glimmer in your eye again.
- Thank you.
- This last year, I've seen how hard you've been on yourself.
I was starting to worry that maybe you were taking
after your old man.
- (laughs) What do you mean by that?
- Nothing. Never mind.
- No. Hey Pop, come on.
You can't just come...
I mean, take a seat. Talk to me. What do you mean?
- Those first Bright Nights contests,
Every time I won, first thought I had was,
"How am I going to top myself again?"
I got so in my head about it,
it's why I couldn't finish that year.
I stopped competing completely because I was embarrassed.
I thought this year was going to be different,
but we are one day away and I can't make heads or tails
of what I want to do or what I'm trying to do.
I'm worried we're not going to finish again.
- Pop.
Come on. We're going to finish, okay?
I promise, whatever it takes we're going to finish.
Okay?
(Bill singing)
- Morning, Dad.
- Oh, hey kiddo.
Everything all right?
- Yeah.
Sarah and I are supposed to go to this party.
It's something that should be good for us,
for our business, but...
- You'd rather not.
- The last few weeks we haven't felt like partners.
It's been the Sarah show.
I can't tell if it's because she's right
and my design sense is way off,
or if she just decided that her opinion matters
more than mine.
- Well, now I understand why you're so hesitant to
give up your creative input.
- I know how much this contest means to you.
I didn't want to lead you astray.
- (laughs) That's the last thing I'd ever worry about,
Grace.
- I guess I'm just nervous to talk with Sarah
about all of this,
because I know there's a chance that this could be the end
of everything we built together, even worse, our friendship.
- All right.
It's your voice, your creativity. (laughs)
That's what makes you so special.
You can't let anyone tap it down or drown it out.
A real partner will value all of your opinions,
even if sometimes it may be wrong.
You know?
Speaking of which,
if you have any miracle fixes for this deck house,
now's the time.
- It looks good, Dad.
- Good's not going to cut it where Wade is concerned.
- Don't lose hope.
- I'm not.
I'm just looking at the reality of the things.
Anyway, I should get ready, it's going to be a long day.
Chin up.
- Thanks.
(cheerful music)
("Deck the Halls" tune)
- All right, load it out.
Easy does it.
- Everyone's acting like we already lost.
- Well, yeah, but I mean...
Step into my office.
(Grace sighs)
Look, based on where both of our houses are at,
neither one of them is going to take us into the finals.
- Yeah, but we just need one of us to get to the finals,
and then we've got a shot.
- True.
- I have an idea of how we could do this, but...
- What?
Wow, that...
That's beautiful. You drew that?
But that's way more than a day's work.
- Yeah, for three people it is,
but with seven, we could pull it off.
- Where you going to get these extra four people?
(mischievous tones)
No.
My family?
- Well, you just said that neither one of our houses
are good enough to make it to the finals.
But if our families work together,
maybe we could bring out the best in each other.
- Or if the last 20 years have been any indication,
maybe we'll bring out the worst.
- Did you bump your head on the ice or something?
I would rather hang up the lights for good
than work with Bill Ryan again.
- You know what?
If partnering up with him is a more painful thought
than letting Wade and his carnival light show
walk away with the title, then fine, don't.
But if decorating means as much as I know it does
to you, then temporarily putting aside your pride,
it's a small price to pay.
Look, I said we'd do whatever it takes to finish,
whatever it takes.
This is what it takes.
- Well, what does Bill say?
- Bill?
He's...
- Open to it.
- Really?
- Well he didn't say no.
- Hm.
The kids are right.
There's no way our two houses are going to make it
to the finals.
- Okay.
So we work together, temporarily,
just so we have a better chance.
- All right.
But if that happens and we win,
we split the contract and the money, 50/50, okay?
- [Frank] Let's go to work.
- [Bill] Let's.
- You and the Scottos want to partner up. Really?
- Yeah, exactly.
We want to join forces and work on just this house together.
- Well, there's nothing in the competition agreement saying
that you can't decorate one house together,
but I do want to run it by the other teams.
- Oh, we asked.
Mistletoe Designs already signed off on it.
- What about Wade?
- They have my full support.
Can't wait to see what rabbit hole
their collective imaginations take them down.
- Since their team now consists of seven people,
I think it only fair that Mistletoe Designs and GlowScapes
add to theirs.
- Mm. I feel good about our current number.
More people would feel unnecessary.
(Wendy and Wade laughing)
- I'll let Mistletoe Designs know where things stand.
You have less than half a day.
If your house isn't finished by 6:00 PM tonight,
you're both disqualified.
- Yep. Understood.
- So?
- We got the sign-off.
- Okay. Let's see those designs.
- She's really good, Frank.
My designs have been uninspired for a long time, but...
Well, she's got a good eye.
- These are all really great.
- Okay. Well where do you want us?
- I want two people on the roof, two on the ground.
Knock this out real quick.
- Yeah, okay. - Okay.
- [Tony] I'll hit the roof. - Come on.
(cheerful music)
- Where do you want this one? - Right over there.
- I think we're pulling it off.
- I had no worries whatsoever.
Okay, fine. It was a Christmas miracle.
- Hopefully it's enough to get us in the finals.
- Let's give another big round of applause
to our four teams!
They all did such incredible work, didn't they?
Woo!
(crowd applauding)
But we all know that only two teams will be moving on
to compete in the finals.
Our first Bright Nights finalist is...
GlowScapes!
- Yes!
Come on! Yeah! Cross beams! Cross beams!
And competing against GlowScapes
in our 15th annual Bright Nights finals is...
the combined team of Good Tidings and Deck the Halls!
(cheering and clapping)
Hope to see you all back for the finals in two nights time.
Good night, everyone! Woo!
(crowd clapping) - All right.
Congratulations!
- We just have to do it one more time.
We got this.
- Another step closer to $50,000.
- See, he's always talking about the money.
- Hey, hey, come on, Dad.
- At least I'm not so self-centered that I have to be
perfect at everything I do.
- Dad. - No, no, no.
Rather confront the fact that you can't stay
out of your own way.
He blew up our partnership, our friendship.
- The work has always come first for me, Bill.
It always has and it always will.
You never understood that.
- What I understood all too well back then
was that your perfectionism was never about the jobs,
it was all about satisfying your own ego.
decorating was never about other people,
it was always about you, making yourself happy.
- Okay, come on. Let's cool it.
- Yeah. It's been a long day.
Let's just all go home before you say something
you can't take back, okay?
- A little late for that.
- [Grace] Dad, come on.
At least they didn't wrestle.
- Well, tomorrow's another day.
- Do we need to re-explain the concept
of naughty nice to them?
- Couldn't hurt.
So do you have any plans for this evening?
- Yeah, I'm heading to Richmond.
My business partner and I got invited to this holiday party
these producers are throwing.
- And what do these producers produce?
- Reality TV.
They approached us about doing a home staging show
and Sarah and I would be the hosts.
- How am I just hearing about this? That's amazing.
Well, hopefully we can keep them on their best behavior
tomorrow.
- (laughs) Yeah, good luck.
- Uh...
Night - Night, yep
(sighs)
- What's wrong?
- My mom has my car keys.
- Really?
- Yeah, she borrowed them to get an extra pair of gloves
and I forgot to get the keys back.
- Jeez. That's too bad.
- Yeah.
- Well. Have a great night.
- Oh, Tony!
- What?
I'm just kidding.
Come on, I'll give you a ride,
but this really does make a square.
- Totally.
(Grace laughs)
("Deck the Halls" instrumental)
- It's a good thing you had that extra key.
- A Girl Scout always has a backup plan.
- You sure you want me to come to this party?
I'm not exactly dressed for it.
- You drove all this way,
let me at least buy you a free drink
and fill you up on canapes for the trouble.
- You've got a nice place.
It's almost like you stage homes for a living.
- Like it?
- Yeah, it's...
It's beautiful.
(gentle piano music)
- I didn't bring any party clothes to my parent's house,
so thanks for the pit stop.
Shall we?
- Let's do it.
- I just love Richmond during the Christmas time.
- Yeah.
It's pretty special.
- Actually, the bar's not too far from here.
Do you want to just walk?
- I'd love to.
Ooh! Ooh! - Aah!
(laughing)
Are you okay?
- Yeah.
- Wow, for a hockey player,
you aren't so graceful on the ice.
- There she is.
- Hi.
- Don't worry about me.
You do your thing and I'll go mingle.
- Okay.
- Hey Henry, how are you guys?
- Our lustrous producer was just asking us what the show
might be like.
- Well, we haven't had time to discuss the direction yet,
but we're-
- But the show should follow us meeting our clients
and seeing their houses for the first time,
how we come up with the design and the layouts,
and you can give them all those little details
about the furniture you love to talk about.
And we can end each episode with the houses being sold
for over asking, of course.
(Henry laughs)
- Yeah, exactly.
- See, whole idea sells itself.
- It's got a perfectly built-in structure.
It's really smart.
Can you excuse me for a minute?
Don't go. I'll be right back.
- Did you hear that? He loved our idea.
The dynamic duo strikes again.
- Okay, about that,
I feel like we haven't been much of a duo lately.
It feels more like I'm your plus one.
- What? How do you mean?
- Oh, you just been...
really dismissive of my ideas the past few months,
like my opinion doesn't seem to matter to you anymore.
- Grace, your opinion matters to me
when you stand behind it.
- What?
- If you really believed in an idea,
then you need to push back.
But when you don't say anything,
I have to assume we're in agreement.
I can't read your mind.
- Yeah, but you just dismissed what I had to say
in front of Henry a second ago.
I'm not even sure you know you're doing it.
- Maybe this isn't the best place for us to be having
this conversation.
- Yeah, you're right.
I should go.
- Excuse me. Sorry.
Hey.
- Can we go?
- Yeah, of course. - Okay, thanks.
- Well, I think it's good that you said something,
got it off your mind before your business relationship
poisoned your friendship.
There you go.
- Thank you so much. Yah!
- I don't know how they do that.
You could not pay me enough money to sing
in front of people.
- Well, you played hockey in front of thousands of people
but you think singing is scary.
- You obviously have not heard me sing.
- (laughing) You're right. You're right.
But...
Come on. It can't be that bad.
- Ooh.
- When was the last time you tried?
- Um.
Well, it wasn't the last time, but...
this one Christmas,
my parents took Maria and I to Tuscany.
Actually it was right after the falling out with your dad.
And my cousins, they have this tradition where they
go through the neighborhood door to door,
just belting out Italian Christmas carols, right?
And then the neighbors come out and they give you candy
and sweets for your trouble.
- That sounds like fun.
- Yeah, it is.
But I think there's something about singing
in a foreign language,
just makes you feel less self-conscious,
because we barely knew any Italian,
and my cousins didn't know any English,
but somehow it just, it brought us closer together.
I think mutual embarrassment kind of tears down walls,
if that makes sense.
- Right. Yes.
- Ya know what? I have an idea.
Come on.
- Okay.
("Deck the Halls" guitar instrumental)
- What is that?
♪ Round yon virgin mother and child ♪
(singing "Silent Night" in Italian)
- Aww.
- Tone, what are you doing?
(Grace laughs) - I'm embarrassing myself, Pop.
(laughing)
- Let's come inside.
We have plenty of vino brulee, mom made struffoli.
Let's get out of the cold.
- No, no, no. Actually, we were hoping that you would join us
for another stop.
(singing "Silent Night" in Italian)
♪ Round yon virgin mother and child ♪
(singing "Silent Night" in Italian)
♪ So tender and mild... ♪
(singing "Silent Night" in Italian)
♪ ...in peace ♪
(singing "Silent Night" in Italian)
♪ ...in peace ♪
- Oh!
That was beautiful!
Come in. Come in.
- Frank?
(gentle piano music)
- You were right, Frank.
I put profit ahead of all the work that we did together.
Instead of asking you how you felt,
I pushed you into a place that made you feel uncomfortable.
- Well, despite all that,
I know that you just wanted to get the most
out of working together.
My stubbornness and my ego kept me from seeing that.
- Yeah.
Remember joking about our kids being together someday?
- Well, if we weren't so wrapped up in holding grudges,
maybe it would have happened sooner.
I'm sorry, Bill.
- Me too, Frank. Me too.
Same rules apply as before.
All we're asking for is your most ambitious displays
of your lives!
You may start your sleighs...
Now!
- Okay.
- Okay. So what's the plan?
- Well, actually your story about Italy got me thinking
about other Italian Christmas traditions.
So I did some research and I found something I think
to be pretty interesting and completely unexpected.
- A ceppo.
My grandparents always had a tree of light at Christmas.
- And it can also mean yule log, right?
- Yes.
The tradition is that you cut a trunk of the tree
and you burn the log in the fireplace on Christmas night.
And then the kids of the family,
they hit the burning embers till the sparks fly up
into the air,
symbolizing the hopes of the family for the coming year.
- Can we do it in two days?
- Well, give it a detailed design,
no one second guessing each other, complete focus
and every available family member lending a hand.
Maybe.
(Grace laughs)
- Okay.
- Where do you want me to start?
- The lights Tony and Grace are laying in,
are going to lead to the second tier of the ceppo.
- Uh huh. It's going to look great.
- I think so. - Yep.
Hey Grace. - Hey.
- I just want to thank you.
- For what?
- For helping me to realize why I got
into the decorating business in the first place.
Doing this with the people you love,
trying to bring a little joy into the world.
That should have always been more than enough, you know?
- Three, two, one, everybody stop!
Tomorrow's the big day.
You'll have a few extra hours to get every light,
bow and bow in its place.
- Let's see how this looks, shall we?
("Jingle Bells" blaring)
Boom.
Yeah.
- Whoa.
That was...
- Stunning.
- Yeah, if their goal is to give people headache
and blurred vision, then mission accomplished,
otherwise I'm not impressed.
- All right. Come on.
(Grace and Tony laugh)
- I think... I think we're coming along.
- Yeah, we might even finish.
- We'd better.
I haven't been this exhausted since two-a-days in college.
- Look, if you want to rest up for tomorrow, I totally get.
- No, it's better to go over things with your dad sooner
rather than later.
I'll see you at the house?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- I don't know what Grace told you exactly,
but any financial issues we have with the store,
I can handle.
- I'm not so sure that's true.
After looking into your records,
it seems like you guys are a little bit behind-
- Whoa, whoa, whoa. You let him look at my records?
- Dad, just listen.
- Look.
The quickest way to ease your monthly cash losses
would be to purchase the building that houses
your Midlothian store.
- Ha! That's your big idea?
You want me to spend more money?
- Actually, yes.
I looked into it and the lease holding companies
are already unloaded a few of their buildings this year
below cost.
They might welcome the opportunity to get another one
off the books.
You'd use your inventory, which you already own obviously,
as collateral for the loan.
Mr. Ryan, you do this, you're going to save
about $2,000 a month.
- Which brings us closer to even.
- Exactly.
And you're putting your money into equity,
which gives you some flexibility,
if business doesn't pick up right away.
Now your marketing,
which at the moment is inventory focused.
It should really be about letting customers know
what separates you from the pack,
your expertise in refurbishing.
- Yeah, the part of the business that you love, Dad.
- Your competition in the area either doesn't offer
that service or they don't have anywhere near the amount
of years of expertise that you do.
It's low overhead. It's high return.
You're a craftsman
and your customers need to know that.
- That's why people came to your business
in the first place.
You're skilled to be able to take a piece of furniture
and breathe new life into it.
- You see that? (laughs)
-Ryan's Furniture, where what's old can we made new again?
I like that.
- Catchy.
- Now I know this is a lot to chew on,
but I think these strategies could really help put you
in a position of success.
- Well, if these numbers are what they appear to be,
then what you're saying is...
Interesting.
- I can send you the files.
You can check the numbers yourself.
Mr. Ryan...
I just wanted to help.
(men laugh)
- This should be enough I think, don't you?
(cheerful Christmas tune)
- Hey, Pop. Be careful, will ya?
- Yes, I will.
- How's it look?
- Great.
Hey, there's somebody here to see you.
- Oh, yeah? Who?
Hey.
- The decorations look amazing.
- Thanks.
We still have a long way to go.
You didn't have to come all the way out here,
you could have just called.
- Somehow a phone call didn't seem right.
Remember how hideous our Mount Kellogg dorm room was?
- Yeah, who could forget those baby blue walls.
- But we made it work,
turned it into a spot they would take applicants by
on the tour.
Show them how comfy dorm life was.
- Our first home staging.
- Where our friendship and our partnership began.
I'm really sorry, Grace.
- Oh, Sarah, you don't-
- As soon as the possibility of a show came around,
I just...
took over.
I got so excited.
And the more excited I got,
the more I wanted to control everything.
It was not cool.
And I completely understand if you want to start
your own thing.
- Whether or not the show becomes a reality,
there is no one else I'd rather be doing this with.
I'd be 50% less dynamic without you.
- Friendship first, business partner second.
- You got it.
Aww.
- I'd stay and help, but I got to get back.
Promised my folks I'd meet them for dinner.
- I'll send them my love. Happy holidays.
- Bye. - Bye.
(sighs)
- I guess that went well.
- It did actually.
(Frank yells)
- Dad! Dad.
(Frank groans)
Don't move him. Don't move him.
- Okay. Okay. Are you all right?
(Frank groaning)
- [911 Operator] 911. What's your emergency?
- Yeah, we need an ambulance right away.
- Okay. Okay.
Yeah. I'll let them know. Okay.
That was Mom. Dad's going to be fine.
He fractured his clavicle and had the wind knocked
out of him, but no broken ribs.
- The Bright Nights committee said that the deadline
still stands.
- We've lost a lot of time.
- Look, we all know what we need to accomplish
and we can only get it done if we work in harmony
as one unit,
as family.
- Yep.
- We have to finish this for Frank.
- Two minutes everyone, two minutes to show time!
- Are we good?
- I think so. I think so.
- Maybe we should just check the connections,
just to be sure.
- Good idea. - One last time, right?
- Yeah. - Why not?
What's going on?
- Come on. It's not working. It's not working!
- We tested everything. It should be fine.
- 30 seconds to show time!
- I'll check. I'll check.
(suspenseful music)
(beep)
- Come on.
Oh my gosh. This can't be happening.
- Okay. Okay. Try it. It should be good.
All right.
- [Bill] I'll test it one more time while we have time.
- Yeah, test it. - That's it everybody!
No more tinkering, testing, or touch ups .
- Oh great.
I guess we won't know if it works until it's our turn.
- Welcome everyone to our Bright Nights finals!
(crowd clapping and cheering)
Let's give a big, warm round of applause
to our first finalist...
GlowScapes!
(crowd clapping and cheering)
("Joy to the World" syncing to lights)
- Yeah!
Yeah!
(techno music blaring)
- [Wendy] That was incredible, wasn't it?
(crowd cheering)
And now get ready for our other finalist,
what name are they going with?
- Making Spirits Bright.
- Making Spirits Bright! Woo!
- Nice of you to join us, Frank.
- Well, better late than never.
(laughing)
- Do the honors?
- Let's do it together, like it always should have been.
- Ready?
- One, two, three.
- [Tony] Guys, hit the thing.
(boys tapping switch)
- Good job.
(Christmas melody starts)
- Whoa!
(Christmas melody continues)
- Just about perfect, isn't it?
(crowd cheering)
- On behalf of Cardinal Group Energy
and the Bright Nights Committee,
I am pleased to announce the winner
of the 15th Annual Bright Nights contest...
Making Spirits Bright!
(crowd cheering and clapping)
- You know, I just realized something. -
- Oh, what's that?
- Well, remember when I gave you a ride
and I said we were square?
We weren't.
- Oh?
No, 'cause I took that snowball in the back for you.
- That's right.
(cheerful music)
- What about now? Are we square?
- Um.
- We're getting there.
(Grace laughs)
- Frank, will you get a move on?
You move like a snail.
- Bill, you don't want me to fall off the ladder again,
do you?
- No, I just don't want us to miss the show, that's all.
- [Frank] We won't.
- I'll get the car.
- Hey, we should have our own show.
- Hey Pat.
Yeah, look man, I just wanted to thank you for hooking me up
with that restaurant group in Bonaire.
No, I think I'm going to be able to turn things around
for them.
Hey, can I call you back? My sister's calling.
Hey Maria.
Yeah, I'm gonna be home in 10.
Tell Grace not to worry,
I'm going to be there before the show starts.
Okay, bye.
- Cheese, cheese. I got cheese just for you.
- [Arlene] Oh, yum.
- Have we started yet?
- [Arlene] No, no. Everybody find a seat though.
- Hey, where's Tony?
- Here I am! - Oh, here he is.
- Oh, you inherited your father's flair for the dramatic.
I thought you might miss the start.
- Not for the world.
- Aww.
I made your favorite.
- Oh, thank you.
- Okay, okay. Sit, sit, sit.
You guys ready? - Yeah!
- Okay, here we go.
- I'm Sarah Wolf.
- And I'm Grace Ryan.
Welcome to a very special holiday edition of...
- Upstate.
(cheering and clapping)
(gentle piano music)