The Christmas Table By: Donna VanLiere Series: Christmas Hope Book Number: 10 Star Rating: Sensuality Rating:

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Synopsis

In 1972, John and Joan Creighton live a simple life with their two young children. John gets a sudden inspiration to replace their old formica kitchen table with a hand-crafted new wooden one, even though he's never made any furniture before in his life, and he plans to have it ready in time for the holidays. Wanting to make meals worthy of this new table, Joan teaches herself how to cook, using hand-written recipe cards given to her by her mother. But before either of them can complete their projects, Joan receives a devastating breast cancer diagnosis that leaves her fighting for her life.

In 2012, Lauren Mabrey discovers that she's pregnant, but after being brought up in foster care and never having a mother of her own to look up to, she worries that she might not be able to be the kind of mother her child needs. As she and her husband, Travis, set about trying to make their home into a cozy place for a family, Lauren finds an old table that would be perfect for their kitchen. In a drawer underneath, she discovers hand-written recipe cards with notes included on them from a mother to her daughter. With the cards guiding her and giving her inspiration, Lauren learns how to cook. But the cards bear so much sentimentality, she can't help feeling that someone out there must be missing them, so she sets herself the task of trying to find their original owner, something that may prove difficult if not impossible.

As Christmas draws closer and closer, the recipe cards that both Joan and Lauren follow connect them to one another despite the forty year span, as they each learn the importance of families gathering to share a home-cooked meal.

Review

The Christmas Table is the tenth and latest book in Donna VanLiere's perennial favorite Christmas Hope holiday-themed novella series. This one takes place in two different time lines with different characters that are connected by a shared kitchen table. In 1972, John and Joan Creighton are a loving couple who are living their best lives and raising their two young children, until Joan receives a devastating medical diagnosis. In 2012, Lauren and Travis Mabrey are preparing for the addition of a new little one to their lives, while Lauren worries that she may not be a very good mother, since she spent a large part of her life in foster care. In 1972, John is building a new kitchen table, which Lauren purchases from a furniture refurbisher in 2012. Inside she finds a stack of old, hand-written recipe cards that speak to her. Thinking that these cards are a family heirloom that someone must be missing, she sets out to find their owner.

In 1972, the Creightons are a loving couple who are simply enjoying life, while raising their five-year-old daughter, Gigi, and one-year-old son, Christopher. John hasn't done much woodworking or carpentry in his life, but he commits to building a new kitchen table for his wife and family to enjoy over the holidays. Inspired by this anticipated gift, Joan decides to figure out how to cook, using recipe cards that her mother handed down to her. It's a learning curve for both of them, but going well, until a routine doctor visit ends with Joan receiving a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer that's metastasized to her lungs. For the next several months, she battles the disease, while her husband discovers a faith in God that he's never had before, something that he draws upon to encourage his wife to keep fighting. Even though the timeline gets pushed back, he keeps working on the table little by little, hoping to finish it by Christmas and that Joan will still be alive to enjoy it. I really liked this little family and how John supports and encourages Joan even when things are looking bleak. Some days, it's difficult for them to carry on, but with God's help they find the strength to keep going.

In the 2012 timeline, we have Lauren who was first introduced in the eighth book, The Christmas Town, where she was a lonely young woman, searching for a family for the holidays. In that book, she was warmly welcomed into the close-knit, little town of Grandon, where she met Travis. The two of them married in the previous book, The Christmas Star, and as we quickly discover are now expecting a new little one. However, because her own mother never modeled good parenting and she spent a large part of her childhood in foster homes, Lauren worries whether she can be a good mother herself. She hasn't even done much with her new home, but knows it's time to start decorating and getting things in order, a task she sets about doing when she isn't working or volunteering at Glory's Place. With a little help, she finds a refurbished kitchen table, which she quickly discovers has a drawer full of recipes that were lovingly hand-written from a mother to her daughter. The cards inspire Lauren to take up cooking, and they also drive her to start searching for their original owner, somehow knowing in her heart that whoever that person is must be missing them. When no one in town seems to be able to help, though, it appears to be an impossible task until a little good fortune comes her way. I've always liked Lauren and Travis and enjoyed this new chapter in their story together. As usual, all the generous townspeople come together to help them out in whatever way they can.

While The Christmas Table was a pleasant, heartwarming story with the serendipitous ending I've come to expect from this series, it still wasn't as good as many of the earlier books. About halfway through the series, Donna VanLiere switched up her style and started writing these books in third person, present tense. Ever since, each time I read one, I've mentioned what an unusual style this is. I'd never read a book written this way until she made this choice, and IMHO it wasn't a good one. It has led to far too much passive narration, as well as over-simplistic sentence structure. I simply don't feel as emotionally connected to or invested in the characters as I did in the beginning, because she doesn't dig as deep with the characterizations. Unlike other books of the series, this is also a very food-driven story with detailed descriptions of both Joan and Lauren cooking and baking. I'm sure genuine foodies who love these activities will be in heaven reading this, but this is not something that I particularly enjoy. Also for those foodie readers, several of the recipes are included at the end of the book. All this said, I did still like the story for what it was. As I mentioned it has the feel-good aspect I've come to expect from this author, so in that respect it was still a pretty good read, just not quite up to the same level as the first five books of the series.

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