Question of the Day, Friday, Christmas Day! 2020

[Winchester]

Good afternoon! And Merry, Merry Christmas!

Rick and I were talking about this this morning, so I thought I'd ask you this question: What was your most interesting Christmas? It could be a really nice day, it could be a disaster, it could just be that something really interesting happened. What was it?

Ours was about 15 or so years ago. The kids didn't make it up for Christmas because of a major snowstorm. It was our first Christmas without our son ever and I was rather depressed; it's difficult going through that first one. So we were going to have filled pork chops, mashed potatoes, etc. And just as I started cooking, the power went out. And stayed out. No flickering lights, just gone. Well, crap. I looked at Rick. He started getting dressed in boots, coat, hat and gloves. Went outside, shoveled the deck, cleared the grill off, and lit it. We did our Christmas dinner on the gas grill. And it was so good! While we were eating our dinner, Rick was heating water in kettles on the grill, so that we could get the dishes done. We did the dishes and not long after, we went to bed. The electricity came back on sometime early the next morning. It was an interesting holiday, but we managed. And the kids came up that weekend.

What was one of your most interesting Christmases?

 

[denice]

Maybe fifteen years ago we had an ice storm the day before Christmas and power went out. It then got super cold. It took 5 days for my area to get power back, it was one of those deals where they brought in crews from out of state.

 

[Mia6]

The first one with my in-laws.with them, you eat twice, the men cheat at cards, and the women do all the work, ha!!

 

[neely]

When my in-laws were living I was always nervous to have them over at this time of year. I swear my M-I-L did the white glove test and my S-I-L critiqued the food. Maybe not the most interesting but the best holiday spent was with my husband, daughters and the animals.

 

[BellaGooch]

This year. We can't see any family or friends, and we're sick at home with Covid.
That to say, under these circumstances, it's not necessarily a bad Christmas, just an interesting one

 

[Whenallhellbreakslose]

I had a few of them, but since this is TCS, I will share an incident from years ago. I had a big male tabby who was really addicted to cat nip. We stopped giving it to him because of his crazy behavior. Well, on one fine Christmas morning we notice all the bows were taken off the presents. Our cat was laying in the corner of the room with a bow in his mouth. He seriously looked stoned out of his mind. He was getting a high off licking the glue at the back of the bows. We rushed our cat to the vet hospital. Thankful he was okay in the end.

I never forget that Christmas. I always warn other cat parents about the dangers of tinsel and other Christmas decorations. I also share this story as a cautionary tale. It made me a more conscientious pet parent. Always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[MoonstoneWolf]

I was 10 years old. We were down in the country at my Grandparents for Christmas. We heard there may be snow so Dad took the car 1/4 mile up the gravel road before we ate. We didn't want to leave our stuff in the car though. Dad had to be at work the following day. When we finished it was an actual blizzard, so we had to make 5 trips from our cabin which was another 1/4 mile making it an actual 1/2 mile one way, and 1/2 mile back. Trudging up and down the hill. Of course I was 10 years old at the time so the cold didn't bother me that much and I thought it was fun. Mom and Dad didn't think so much though.

 

[debbila]

There were no invitations from my nieces who were my only living relatives, for Christmas dinner the year my husband passed away. My best friend, who I had known since we were kids, told me her parents wanted me to come to their house. Second only to Christmases with my parents, it was the best ever. Being with friends I'd known all my life, their children and grandchildren is a treasured memory.

 

[strider rose]

well the only thing that i can say is that i had fun this year at my in laws for christmas

 

[klunick]

The Christmas Santa brought me chicken pox. I was so mad at Santa!!

 

[BellaGooch]

well the only thing that i can say is that i had fun this year at my in laws for christmas

So glad, hon!

 

[strider rose]

So glad, hon!

i got some really cool gifts this year

 

[NY cat man]

It was 1967, I was home on leave after completing basic training, and I had to fly out to my first duty station the day after Christmas- in a snowstorm, no less. It was- different, somehow; like I was a stranger in my own home, like I didn't really belong there any more. It was another 4 years before I spent Christmas at home, after my discharge.

 

[klunick]

It was 1967, I was home on leave after completing basic training, and I had to fly out to my first duty station the day after Christmas- in a snowstorm, no less. It was- different, somehow; like I was a stranger in my own home, like I didn't really belong there any more. It was another 4 years before I spent Christmas at home, after my discharge.

I felt that way everytime I came back home from college on breaks. My room felt so foreign to me.

 

[Lari]

Last year! We were on a cruise ship between Eden and Melbourne, Australia for our honeymoon. So there wasn't a lot to do that was interesting (we'd dressed up for the fancy dinner Christmas Eve and did a couple things on the ship), but having a summer Christmas in and of itself was different and interesting to anything I'd ever done before.

 

[maggiedemi]

Probably the last Xmas we celebrated when I was around 5 or 6 years old. My mother told us that it would be our last Xmas and that we had to tell my dad that we didn't want Xmas anymore, because of her new religion. My dad was really sad. He went all out, had us write letters to Santa, leave cookies for him, circle all the toys we wanted in the toy catalog. We had the tree, tinsel, ornaments, everything.

 

[DreamerRose]

The most surprising Christmas I had was about 8 years ago. A friend of mine from work invited me for Christmas dinner, and I didn't know what to expect because she is Jewish. But I went and there must have been 40 people from her family there, Christmas trees everywhere, and a big turkey and ham. I enjoyed talking with her mother, who fled the Nazis on foot across two countries to freedom when she was a small girl. There was so much love and warmth; it was a very special Christmas.

 

[Maria Bayote]

When I found out that Santa Claus was actually my mother.

I was 8.

 

[Norachan]

2005 I spent Christmas on Easter Island. Mr H and I were about half way through a one year back packing trip and had timed it so we could travel through spring and summer in Asia, then go to the Southern hemisphere for summer there.

Easter Island is such an incredible place. We spent the day driving around the island in a jeep with two other travelers. I remember seeing a couple of dramatic volcanic craters and a 360 degree view of island and ocean from one high point.

In the evening everyone who was staying at the site we were camped at got together for dinner on picnic tables around a bonfire. There were Brits, Germans, Swiss, South Americans, South Africans and Japanese and we all learnt to say Feliz Navidad.

 

[jcat]

It's a toss between my very first Christmas abroad, spent with a German exchange family, and my former brother-in-law's first Christmas. Being Jewish, he'd never celebrated, so he didn't want to miss a single tradition, carol, dish, etc.. I'd never seen an adult so excited about Christmas.