Christmas
Nightmares
By: Brian
Cotnoir
One of my favorite
Christmas specials that I like to watch every year is “A Christmas Story”. Every year I get so excited when it comes on
TV. The one reason why I like it so much
is because I think that everyone has had that one Christmas in their life time
where there was one Toy that they wanted more than anything in the world. That one special toy that you saw and you
didn’t just want, but you saw it a vital necessity in your life. You would do anything in your power to ensure
that you would get that toy for Christmas; Ask Santa, beg your parents, go out
of your way to be exceptionally good and ensure that you would be put on a
“Nice List”. There wasn’t anything you
weren’t willing to do to get this toy for Christmas.
Then
the big day comes. It’s Christmas morning
and you rush into your living room with excitement with your sibling(s) and you
begin to scope out the massive pile of presents underneath the tree and see
which ones are marked for you, and you sit there and wonder if that big present
underneath the tree is the one thing you’ve hoping for that Christmas. You begin to frantically rip open your gifts
with anticipation that the next one you open will be your ultimate toy, and
then it comes down to just one box left open the tree, it has your name on it, and
you have yet to receive the toy you’ve wanted the most. It all comes down to this: Will Santa have delivered the goods and
answered your pleas or will your Christmas day end with a somber disappointment
and the dread of having to wait until next year to receive that present.
With
zero hesitation you tear through the wrapping paper wishing and praying to God
that it’s the Greatest Toy Ever, and when that last piece of the paper is torn
off you sit there in astonishment and can’t believe your eyes. That one toy that you did extra chores all
month for, that one toy that consumed your dreams at night, that one toy that
was going to make or break your Christmas was finally all yours! You jumped to the ceiling in astonishment and
praised Santa as your parents looked upon you with loving gazes at how happy
you were to have received your final present, and without any hesitation you
took that Ultimate Toy and you played with it, and it was the best Christmas
ever...or perhaps the start of the most nightmarish Christmas of your entire
life???
You
had reached the highest of highs, but then your parents introduce an idea to
you that seems worst than anything you could have ever imagined...Sharing your
gift with others. And I’m not talking
having to share the gift with your sibling(s).
Sharing a gift with a sibling(s) is easy. They live with you and they
know how you like them to play with your toys, so as long as they’re careful
enough you don’t mind as much sharing with them, but it’s when your other
relatives come over that you start to get nervous.
Cousins. Is there any worst group of people you can
think of to share your toys with?
Especially younger cousins. I
have this theory that in almost every family you always have that one cousin;
the one whose parents may have gotten separated or the one whose parents didn’t
make a lot of money at their jobs so they couldn’t afford really to give their
own kids a nice Christmas. The cousin
who may have had a “rough life” and couldn’t always establish right from
wrong. The same cousin who every time
he’d come over your house would take out all of your toys and play with them
and then would leave with his family without helping you clean up the mess. Forcing you to clean up after them, and your
parents always made you be extremely nice to them whenever they came over. It was this cousin we always dreaded the most
especially at Christmas time. The second
they came in through the door and they saw you playing with your new toy they
seemed to have this look of pure evil upon their face. Then they would walk up to you and without
even so much as a “hello”, would look at you and say “Can I play with
that?” And the same thought went through
all of our minds; “No. You can’t play
with this. It’s mine. I went through hell to get this toy, I’ve
only had it for two hours and I’m not going to let you play with it because you
might break it”. Then your cousin would
always turn on the water works and run to his parents (or worst your parents)
and say that you weren’t sharing with them.
Your parents would pull you aside and sharply tell you that you needed
to share your gift with cousin because it was Christmas; a time of caring and
sharing, and that you were acting a spoiled
brat. Then you pleaded your argument
to your parents that your cousin should not be allowed anywhere near your new
and favorite toy, not because of the fear that they might break it, but for the fear that they would most certainly break it if they were to play
with it. Your parents would most
definitely ignore your pleas at this point and then submit you to the worst
punishment imaginable as a child.
For failure to share your new
toy with your cousin you were sentenced to sit between your parents and watch
your cousin play with your new favorite toy until you could “learn to share”. It was madness, it was unbearable, it was the
worst form of torture you could ever think of for a child. Watching your cousin play with your new
favorite toy was like watching the one you love get tortured to death. “Stop it!” you would say in your head “you’re
playing too rough with it. You’re going
to break it. Please stop being so rough
with my new toy”, but your parents didn’t care.
They ignored the look of anguish upon your face. In their eyes they were teaching you an important life lesson. As for your cousin, they could care less
about how they were playing with your toy.
They played with it and treated it as if it were their own toy, but it
wasn’t; it was yours.
The came the moment of fate:
your cousin in a horrific brain lapse tossed your new favorite toy way up into
the air as you looked on with horror, praying, praying that he would catch
it. As they most assuredly missed
catching the toy on it’s way down, your heart exploded as you watched that new
toy hit the floor and break in two. Your
cries of anguish were ignored by your parents as you fell to your knees,
heartbroken. Your aunt & uncle told
your cousin to apologize to you for breaking your toy and your cousin just
looked down at the ground as they delivered the most insincere “I’m sorry” ever. And what started out as the Best Christmas
Ever ended as one of the worst days of your childhood.
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