One More For Christmas – Sarah Morgan

Published By: Harper Collins
Pages: 416
Date Released: 06/10/2020

For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year – a time for togetherness, love and celebration. Most of all, it’s about making up for everything their childhood Christmases lacked. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all – their estranged mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mum calls out of the blue and promises that this Christmas will be different, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend it all together.

Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price – her relationship with her daughters. She never seemed to say or do the right things. Her tough-love approach was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away…until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart.

*****

This book sat on my to-be-read pile for a couple of months before I picked it up, but once I had, I couldn’t put it down. And with my collection of festive books taking up an entire bookshelf, I have lots to choose from. But this one was special.

It follows a mother trying to rebuild her relationship with her two grown-up daughters, through trial, suffering, pain, loss and love, during the Christmas period. These are feelings I’m sure ever family goes through at one point or another, especially during the heightened festive period.

I loved everything about this book, but there was one part in particular that stuck with me:

“Part of me will always be sad, and there are days where I’m crushed by it. But the truth is that sometimes life sends you change that you wouldn’t have chosen, and this was one of those times. I do have a choice about what I do with my life from now on. I intend to get out of bed and keep living, no matter how hard that feels. And all the memories can come along with me.”

I lost my dad 10 days before Christmas 2017, so the festivities are always a difficult time for my family. And since then, we have lost many loved ones, far too many than I thought I could cope with. But here I am. Here we all are. Carrying on with life.