Always stay true to yourself!

Synopsis

Working for a department store where Christmas arrives in August, Eve prefers her own festivities to be low key with nothing more complicated than an oven ready turkey and frozen peas while she spends the day in her pyjamas. Unfortunately, this year her husband has invited his best friend to visit, the glamorous and sophisticated Abby, and Eve reluctantly decides that she needs to inject a little sparkle into their laid back and slightly shabby Christmas.  So the celebrations are upgraded to include champagne and canapes along with homemade gravy and organic turkey and plans are made for a Christmas that looks as though it has emerged from the pages of a glossy magazine. 

But even the best laid plans can go wrong and as Eve struggles with her mini Yorkshire puddings and an interfering cat, she is suddenly faced with an unexpected guest and an explosive secret that threatens to put her vision of a perfect Christmas in jeopardy.

My review

Eve loves celebrating Christmas low – key, not a too fancy cuisine, staying in her pajamas and enjoying the company of her family.
But when her husband invites his best friend Abby to spend the holidays with them, Eve changes all her plans to make Christmas celebrations more fancier / snobbier, to fulfill Abby’s standards.
But during her preparations, she is faced with Murphy’s Law: everything that can go wrong, will go wrong…

Eve is a woman who enjoys of the simple things of life. She doesn’t fancy champagne, or I don’t know what for Christmas dinner.
Just being together with her husband and kids is all she truly desires.
But as often in life, when someone else appears, she wants to show that she too is able of creating a perfect Christmas.

But what is a perfect Christmas anyway? Trying to live up to expectations isn’t as easy as it seems and will that make you happy?

Julie manages again wonderfully to write a funny story, but also showing the pressure of society…
Jealousy, misunderstandings and mischievous actions all add to the stress Eve is facing, and nothing goes how she planned.

The true message for me was: don’t care about expectations of other people, do whatever makes you and your family happy, even if it means PJ – day.

What an amazing funny story with a subtle but important message in it! A real recommendation!