Long Lost Christmas Movie Review

Taylor Cole stars in Long Lost Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. When a daughter learns that she has an Uncle, she sets out to find him and surprise her mother. Will she find the extended family that she has always craved. Here's a full review to help you decide if this movie should be on the naughty or nice list this holiday.

Long Lost Christmas Storyline

Hayley (Taylor Cole) is an interior designer from Denver. She loves Christmas and has made a name for herself as an up and coming designer. Her father passed away six months ago, so this Christmas is hard for her. But it's even harder for her mother Patricia. Curled up at home and not going outside, Hayley urges her mother to decorate the house and to make a goal of going outside at least once per day. As Hayley goes to the attic to pull out the decorations for her, she comes across an old box with a picture in it. When she asks her mother about it, she learns that it is her brother Gordon.

Gordon and Patricia grew up together in a group home, but when Gordon aged out of the system at 18 the two lost touch. Patricia was later adopted. She longed to see her brother, but he never came back for her so she never talked about him. Hayley decides to see if she can track down Gordon and surprise her mother by re-uniting them. Luckily Gordon lives in a small town by Aspen, so Hayley heads over for a visit.

While Hayley gets up the nerve to ask Gordon if Patricia is his sister, she meets Jake (Benjamin Ayres) who is Gordon's business partner. Jake shows Hayley around town and the two have an immediate connection. Hayley also has a connection with Gordon's daughter Breanna. She is a furniture designer who Hayley collaborates with on a special Christmas project. Hayley can only imagine what it would be like to have her in her life as family.

My Review

The Verdict: Touching and Moving. A Long Lost Christmas has a lot of layers to it. First, there's the underlying story of a mother and daughter coping with the first Christmas without a loved one. It's so hard to go through the first Christmas after losing someone, especially a spouse or a parent.

It's an emotion that many of us have gone through, so it was very relatable in the movie. It was nice to see the movie tackle the topic, but to show hope while doing it. For instance, Patricia starts the movie totally lost. Her grief is preventing her from living. But by the end of the movie she has moved through the grief to try to find something to fulfill her time and give her purpose.

A second layer to the story is the foster children. While it doesn't go into a lot of details, it does shed a light on how children age out of the system the moment they turn 18. This is such a flaw in the system and one that tears families apart. It's why Gordon and Patricia lost contact.

Woven throughout the story is hope. Hayley hopes that she can find family. She has craved family her entire life and the idea of having a long lost Uncle and cousin is something very appealing to her. It gives her hope and she wants to be able to share that with her mother too.

Of course it wouldn't be a Hallmark Christmas movie without a little romance. The romance between Hayley and Jake is very natural and beautiful. The two have great chemistry and an ease between them. No drama between them, just a good old fashioned attraction that grows as the movie goes along.

Long Lost Christmas Recap

Long Lost Christmas is the first movie of the season that really tugged at my heart. I think it's because the movie allows us to root for more than just a romance. We're cheering for Hayley and Jake to find love, for Gordon and Patricia to be re-united. And, for them all to be together as family. Christmas is all about family, and Long Lost Christmas captures that beautifully.

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