Not everyone gets to spend Christmas with their loved ones, whether it’s because they’re living hundreds of miles away or working throughout the festive period. Or both.
That’s the case with mother-daughter duo, Ella Gonzales, 33, a carer in London, and her mum, Dolores, 64, who lives in Bristol. When Ella was growing up, Christmas was always just the two of them, but for the past several years work and life have meant the mum and daughter are apart at Christmas – Ella spends it with the family of the child she’s looking after, and Dolores is usually alone on Christmas day.
For Ella, this Christmas Eve will be spent with the 10-year-old boy in her care, who suffers from cerebral palsy and has additional, complex care needs.
“I have started a bit of a tradition where if I work the night of Christmas Eve, I’ll get home and have some cava for breakfast on Christmas Day with my toast,” says Ella.
Dolores often worked during the Christmas period as well, helping those in residential care due to mental health or addiction issues.
“Christmas is an exceptionally stressful time for a lot of families. If you’ve got additional difficulties, it’s mega tough, and it’s a trigger point for lots of people.”
Because they’re often separated over the Christmas period, the pair have has gotten used to celebrating the holiday in early January instead, something they have done for the past several years.
This year however, they had a wonderful treat courtesy of Coca-Cola. The big red Coca-Cola van arrived in Bristol and brought Dolores a gift she couldn’t have imagined: a surprise Christmas dinner reunion with her daughter, before the New Year.
“It’s really nice to be able to spend time with someone that you love, that you feel really relaxed with,” says Ella. “It can be quite stressful, especially if you’ve got a big family, but with us, it’s no stress at all.”
While neither Ella nor Dolores is a big gift-giver – they tend to give each other one present each these days - Ella really looks forward to these exchanges with her mum.
“We’ll say what we want for presents, and we usually don’t get each other that. We’ll give each other those things on a separate occasion,” she laughs. “We always get each other a little surprise. It’s quite fun to see what I get. She can be quite inventive,” says Ella of her mum.
Coca-Cola is on a mission to bring families like Ella and Dolores together this Christmas, reuniting those who are busy working over the festive period and live far away from their loved ones. This year, why not celebrate the season by sharing a limited-edition Coca-Cola zero sugar Cinnamon or Diet Coke Clementine with someone you love? Merry Christmas everybody!