Christmas Inheritance

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(jazzy music)

We wish you

a merry Christmas

We wish you

a Merry Christmas

We wish you

a Merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Glad tidings we bring

To you and your kin

Glad tidings at Christmas

And a happy New Year

Oh we wish you

a swingin' Christmas

We wish you

a crazy Christmas

We wish you

a naughty Christmas

And a frantic New Year

(jazz)

(all):
Cheers!

Mazel tov!

(feedback)

- Hello!

- Welcome.

Have you seen Miss Langford?

No?

No.

I'm looking for Miss Langford.

Have you seen her?

No. No. Sorry.

- (laughter)

- Hi! Uh, Miss Langford?

- No.

- Sorry.

Sorry.

Mr. Pittman!

Excuse me. Mr. Pittman?

- Yeah, just give me one second?

- Uh, uh...

I'm Mrs. Worthington.

Chair of the Toys for Tots

committee?

- Yeah, just... just... let me just finish this up here.

- Uh, uh...

Miss Langford is representing

the Home & Hearth Gifts company

at this event, is she not?

She certainly is.

Almost done here.

Well, she was supposed to do

her presentation 20 minutes ago!

I-I-I can't find her anywhere.

Yes!

Now that's how we close it!

I'm sorry. Hi.

What was it you wanted?

Mr. Pittman,

where is your fiance?

(cheering)

(man):
Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

(lively music)

(cheering)

Alright! Ten out of ten

from the Russian judge.

Thank you. Thank you.

Years of gymnastics.

Not easily forgotten.

Oh, thank you.

For my favourite charity. (shutters

clicking) (gasping softly)

Toys For Tots thanks you

for your generosity.

(bells jingling)

(shutter clicking)

I'll double it

if you can vault that.

- Oh, forget it.

- Chicken?

I'll quadruple it.

That's a lotta toys

for a lotta tots.

(girl):
Come on, Ellen!

(man):
She's gonna do it!

(all cheering)

Fine. But I want that check

immediately.

I'll write it now.

Ooh!

Uh!

- Miss Langford!

- Oh! Ah! Ah!!

- (murmurings)

- What...?

(groaning)

(shutters clicking)

(chuckling)

(man sighing):

"Party Heiress..."

(phone ringing)

(sighing)

(scoffing)

(groaning)

(phone ringing)

..."where socialite

Ellen Langford,

heiress to the Home & Hearth

Gifts retail fortune,

was up to the very same hijinks

that gained her the "Party

Heiress" nickname to begin with...

Alice, is my daughter in yet?

No, she's in the boardroom.

Sir, shall I get her...

No, I will get her.

Hey.

Now, I have been thinking.

I think it's time

for a snappier tag line.

"The Home of Heartfelt Gifts"?

It's a little old-school.

Right now,

this is the only tag line

I'm interested in.

- Oh.

- Yeah.

Oh. I just spent an hour

on the phone

with Mrs. Worthington...

talking her off a ledge!

It was for charity.

Someone dared me.

Someone "dared" you?!

How old are you, 12?!

Ellen,

when you are out in public,

you are an ambassador

for this company.

And once you are CEO,

you will be the face

of this company.

So...

you've made up your mind...

about retiring?

I thought that I had.

Now I'm not certain that I dare!

I need to leave this place

in the hands

of someone I can trust.

I'm sorry.

You can do better than this.

Please. For all of our sakes.

(horns honking)

(Jim):
I don't know, Alice.

Maybe it's my fault.

(sighing)

You know, after Nora died, I...

let Ellie get away

with too much.

You know, to make up for it.

You think

I... spoiled her a bit?

No. Doesn't every kid

get a Ferrari for Christmas?

(laughter)

Funny.

I almost forgot...

...the most important thing.

It's your turn

to write the Christmas letter.

Oh.

(chuckling)

Have you given any thought to what you're

going to write in your letter this year?

Hey, Dad.

Sorry, Alice. I was wondering

if you wanted to grab lunch.

Sweetie, I-I'm sorry, but I've got

a conference call at one o'clock.

I'll move that to 3:00.

He's all yours.

Really? Great!

(soft music playing)

Dad, I'm really sorry.

No.

Look... Oh, thank you.

Ellie, it's not just you.

It-it's on me too.

Look.

I want to do more

than just apologize.

I want to... do something...

to... to make this right.

Honey, you don't have to.

I do, though. For you,

for the company... for Mom.

And for me.

I want to prove to you

that I'm not...

just a party girl,

that I can take charge.

Okay. Great.

- Cool.

- What did you have in mind?

Well, I'm...

(stammering)

I haven't really...

figured anything out yet,

but...

uh... Oh! What if I did another

fundraiser for Toys for Tots?

Maybe, like, uh... uh...

I don't know.

Oh, Valentine's Day!

We could do a big, flashy party

and...

and I could get the press

involved...

Ellie, sweetie... uh...

(sighing)

See, the thing is, you're

worrying about our public image.

- Yep.

- Which is great. You know, I mean I do too.

But... the thing that I think

you need to learn

a little something about is...

is the spirit of the company,

which is really all about

the people who buy our gifts.

- Right.

- Ordinary people who lead

very different lives

than you or I.

Mm-hmm. I hear you.

Most of our buyers,

they're small-town folks.

You know, they...

Oh, wait a second.

I think I just figured it out.

What you can do.

- Really? - Yeah.

- What?

I need you to take a trip

for me.

A business trip.

Okay.

I need you to deliver the

Christmas letters to Uncle Zeke.

- (chuckling)

- You... you want me

- to go to Snow Falls?

- Mm-hmm.

It's my turn to deliver

the letters this year,

but... I think

you should go instead.

You know,

see where it all began.

Okay... When?

(Pittman):
Tonight? Really?

- You're kidding.

- It's not a big deal, babe.

Yeah, but what about Maui? I mean,

those tickets are non-refundable.

We don't leave until Christmas Eve.

I'll be back in plenty of time.

And you gotta do this whole trip on

100 bucks and a roundtrip ticket?

I can do it. I've already got

somewhere to stay.

Uncle Zeke owns

this beautiful inn up there.

- It's really cool.

- Yeah, but why just 100 bucks?

Because that's all Uncle Zeke and

Dad had when they started out.

- Ugh.

- Come on.

I think this is a cute idea.

Okay, and if you do this,

uh... "challenge,"

you get to run the whole outfit?

Okay, don't make this sound

like a gangster movie.

But yes.

A hundred bucks

is not a lot of money.

You better bring

your credit cards.

I can't.

It's part of the rules.

(laughing)

That's insane.

Besides, all my cards

have my name on them.

- Yeah. So what?

- Oh...

That's another part of the deal.

See, people treat you

a little bit differently

when they know

that you're inheriting

a multimillion dollar company,

so I have to go incognito.

Baby...

why are you doing this

to yourself?

Because...

I'm tired of people seeing me

as some dumb rich kid.

I want to prove

to my father...

and to myself... that...

that I can take care of things

on my own.

And not I'm not just

the "Party Heiress."

Uh... Oh, yeah, that's...

So... what's all this about,

anyway?

- The Christmas Letters?

- Yeah.

Have a look at that greeting card.

On the back.

It's the original business plan

for Home & Hearth Gifts.

When my Uncle Zeke and Dad

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