The True Meaning of Christmas

The True Meaning of Christmas is a 2008 holiday-comedy film directed by Jonathan Peel. It is the first movie in the True Meaning of Christmas Trilogy, and preceeds two other Holiday Films, The Ice Queen Returns and Midnight in Holiday Town, all following the adventures of protagonist Tony Crochet and his trusty friends, the Snow Angel and Teddy Bear.

Film Summary
The True Meaning of Christmas is a heartfelt holiday-comedy about a teddy bear that ventures on a wild journey throughout the magical and mysterious mountains of Holiday Town, in order to learn theTtrue Meaning of Christmas.

Synopsis
In a small mountain town during Christmas Eve, busy typist Tony Crochet (Dylan Foster), who hasn't celebrated Christmas in 13 years, works in his office. Suddenly the Ice Queen (Avery Taylor) appears and tells him that they can ruin Christmas. Tony says he would never ruin Christmas. She tells him that he will pay for it. As part of the payment, she steals the soul of Christmas: The Teddy Bear (Sam Aposhian) and The Snow Angel (Mia Foster). Tony's mission is to get them back.

Plot
It was a crisp new morning in the Valley. The fog had risen and new frost glistened on the pine trees. Tony Crochet was hard at work on a new article about chimney soot, which he found quite invigorating. He had recently experienced something strange, in which a simple teddy bear turned into a fully living boy, who said his name was Theodore. The package with the teddy bear was delivered to him just the night before. The boy who proclaimed himself to be called Theodore kept himself busy playing in the snow. In a clearing of trees near where the town met the forest, a girl stumbled out, running into Theodore. She looked about his age, maybe a year older, and had chestnut brown hair. Upon meeting each other, Theodore’s chest began to glow again, as did the girl’s. She was Samantha the Snow Angel. And when noticing their similar conditions, she leaned in and whispered in his ear that she has a secret. That same morning, Tony also found himself with a visitor. The Ice Queen Stood before him. She was not there for ill-will, but for a proposition. Very coy, she said that she and him can work together to ruin Christmas. Tony Crochet hadn’t celebrated Christmas in over a decade. When Tony was six, it was the very last year that he celebrated Christmas. The wizard Sinter would not come that year, nor any year since then. That was the year Tony stopped celebrating. It was also the year Tony stopped believing. But he would never forget the year Christmas didn’t come. So Tony told her that he would never ruin Christmas. Though Tony was bitter, he still had a good heart and knew the Ice Queen’s plan was wrong. Although Tony didn’t let his bitterness control his actions, the Ice Queen didn’t have any objections to it. The Ice Queen left, irritated and unsatisfied. And it was to the her pleasure, that she found the two children with glowing hearts playing in the snow. That night, upon returning home, Tony sensed something amiss and ventured into the mountains to find something he had lost. Tony felt the Snow Angel’s magic guiding him as he went deeper into the woods. As he passed a cluster of pine trees, he smelled something delicious; Gingerbread. Being practically frostbitten and oh, so hungry, Tony plucked a warm cookie off a close-by branch, and proceeded onward. Tony began to lose consciousness, due to on setting hypothermia, when suddenly, in the dense frozen blackness of night, he saw a pillar of white light in the distance. Tony burst through the cave opening with plans to save his friends, but soon found himself to be another prisoner of the Ice Queen. But Tony was cunning, he remember the half-eaten gingerbread in his pocket. He offered it to the queen as a token of his servitude. The Ice Queen took a bite, unknowingly sealing her fate. The Ice Queen collapsed on the cave floor, wrenching in pain. A burst of light engulfed her body. Tony kneeled down, and picked up a porcelain china doll. It was, in fact, complete reverse biological metamorphosis. A theory that hadn’t even been conceived. After the group was done, they went home to celebrate. The film ends with a shot of the cast singing Jingle Bell Rock, by Bobby Helms.

Cast
Dylan Foster as Tony Crochet

Avery Taylor as The Ice Queen

Sam Aposhian as The Teddy Bear

Mia Foster as The Snow Angel

Jonathan Peel as The Narrator, Ted the Christmas Tree, and The Bartender

Mason Taylor as Benjamin D'over

Production
The True Meaning of Christmas was filmed entirely in the suburb of Gem Heights in Puyallup, Washington. Filmed entirely in one day, the cast and crew used props and costumes available at the location of production. The camera used to film was a Panasonic Omnimovie High-Quality VHS, owned by the Foster family at that time. The film was shot by Jonathan Peel and Mason Taylor who manned the camera during production. The True Meaning of Christmas was officially released onto the internet in September 2010, after nearly two years of digital video processing and editing.