Member-only story
Happy Barfmas
The one where everyone puked
How is it at your house?
Shit. Yours?
Same.
My best friend and I had met in the frosty December air for a quick walk and to exchange Christmas gifts. It was a December 24th in the mid 90s. Christmas Eve. The day most Germans celebrate Christmas was fraught at both our houses for different reasons. But what we had in common was that the much anticipated day usually sucked ass.
Presently my mother was at home cooking, which she hated. The years we just went to our grandparents instead were better. We just ate potato salad and sausages. The grandparents knew that no kid would sit quietly for a fancy dinner that had taken the whole day to prepare. All we wanted were presents!!! But that year, for some reason I didn’t understand, my mother was hosting Christmas. She couldn’t cook and hated cooking so the food would be bad. We had no Christmas tree because my mother was a hippie and didn’t want to murder trees for this special occasion. (I see her point on this one, sorry trees!) One year, she got a Christmas tree with roots still attached so she could later plant it in the yard.
My mother hated Christmas and told me so many times. Every year I hoped Christmas would be magical. It rarely was. Now that I’m a parent I understand why. Holidays are so…
