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The Saturday Night Thread.

Wow, that's some kickass string of replies you guys put together for the last survey. We usually don't see that kind of holiday jubilation until like, the second week of December. I think you deserve a prize.

This is, of course, the All Day Saturday Thread, which is a lot like the Saturday Night Thread, only posted earlier. Same rules apply. NO fishing.

Survey: Okay, we've heard some of your great holiday traditions in the last thread, and Jesus Christ did they ever fill me with vicarious joy. Now, let's hear the opposite. Let's hear your sucky holiday stories.

Posted by Matt on 11/19/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 242 comments

Holy crap. Exactly 200 comments. Matt you gotta own em up with some more kool-aid reviews.

Chestnuts roasted by Cotter @ 11/22/2005 9:35 PM

In case anyone was interested in the santa pack comment I made, I did some research.
http://www2.coca-cola.com/presscenter/nr_20051115_americas_holiday_packaging.html
You can also click my name to get to the news report.

Apparently Coke WILL have Santa on some of it’s bottles, but the three stores I’ve went to all had polar bears only…

Chestnuts roasted by SuperRecoome @ 11/22/2005 9:49 PM

As previously posted, there IS going to be a parade review. I’d guess we’ll see it this week? I’ve never watched a Macy’s parade in it’s entirety in my life, but they are some of my very fav X-E articles.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 11/22/2005 10:22 PM

Yeah :-( don’t get me started on Lincoln’s birthday.

Chestnuts roasted by Kate Beringer @ 11/22/2005 10:28 PM

Wow, what an incredibly depressing thread. I’m so glad that my stories aren’t as awful as the ones being posted here.

Matt, a comment that Allison made got me thinking. She claimed that most people here are "from the area." I assume she means New Jersey and New York. Now, I am NOT from the area, and I’m intensely curious as to whether Allison is correct. How about for the next thread you ask where people are from and where they plan to spend Christmas? I bet there’s some interesting stories out there.

My own awful holidays really aren’t that awful- but there was the year my parents left me at Grandpa and Grandma’s house for the week after Christmas while they moved. I was 6. I was stuck with old people who think church is the best time ever, with only a remote control car to play with. Of course the batteries died within hours. I think it was the most boring week of my life.

Chestnuts roasted by spaz307 @ 11/22/2005 10:29 PM

I spent Christmas Day 2003 in the emergency room with a kidney stone. You’d be amazed at how busy the emergency room is on Christmas day. By the time I got home, some 5 hours later, all my family had time for was frozen burger patties and french fries. Don’t get me wrong, I like burgers and fries as much as the next chick, but it did put a bit of a damper on everyone’s Christmas spirit. And boy, did I feel bad.

Chestnuts roasted by earthwormgoddess @ 11/22/2005 10:34 PM

Not everyone is from New Jersey or New York. I’m from Slidell, LA.

Chestnuts roasted by earthwormgoddess @ 11/22/2005 10:40 PM

I think we’re actually pretty mixed geographically, though I do believe there are more east coast/midwesterners than left coasters like myself. I know there’s a fair few canucks around as well :)

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 11/22/2005 11:30 PM

I havent posted in a long while.
I think the last time I did was on that Super Mario Bros. the movie review/tie-in blog?

This I could not resist however.

Worst Thanksgiving ever: after a long hiatus from the family, my great aunt showed up for dinner at the usual gathering house. Lots of whispering followed by some outbursts. Details are sketchy since I dont recall a good portion of what led up to her disappearance.

Worst Christmas: I can recall certain pieces since I was infected with some horrid death-flu.

We were having "two" present opening sessions. One at the grandparents in Pennslyvania. One at the grandparents in Illinois.

By the time we got back to Illinois I wasnt feeling so hot. My parents attributed it to: "drinking so many different types of water in so many different places in such a short amount of time."

They gave me Pepto-Bismol. A big flu no-no.

When we arrived back in Illinois, I threw up all over the first two presents I opened: Ninja Gaiden 2 and some action figure play-set. Cant recall what one. I also hit the pile of gifts that had amassed under my legs.

I just kept puking. I couldnt even lift my head. I remember the pain being so great that I passed out.

After going to the emergency room, a few hours passed and I was deemed (why???) "ok enough" to go to Wal-Greens with grandpa. Only about 4 seconds after stepping into the store I had to vomit again. I ran outside and tried to get my head into the trashcan with the holds in the top and bolted down lid. It was too small- so I just threw-up all over a pair of ladies walking into the store, myself, the welcome-mat, and the parking-lot.

I dont remember much else after that. We "re-did" Christmas because of the incidents though and I got to unwrap the presents I hadnt gotten to earlier after they were re-wrapped due to the vomit all over them. :\

Chestnuts roasted by SARs 80k @ 11/22/2005 11:37 PM

This one really doesn’t relate to me or to any particular Christmas, but I find it pretty sad. I work with elementary school children with various disabilities. One little girl is autistic, and autistic children often have unusual fears. This child is terrified of anyone in a costume. Well I didn’t know how bad this fear was (I knew she was afraid of clowns), until I helped walk the kids to the buses on the last day of school before Christmas break. There was a bus driver standing in the door of one of the buses, in a full Santa suit. The girl just completely froze stiff with fear – she is terrified of Santa Claus. This fear probably ruins her Christmas (she is only six or seven), and it definitely ruins her Halloween. She had to be sent home early on Halloween because she couldn’t handle seeing everyone dressed up.

I just cannot imagine being afraid of Santa.

Chestnuts roasted by jazzy @ 11/23/2005 12:51 PM

Has anyone heard of In2TV? It’s on-demand TV for the internet that’s supposed to start in January. Freddy’s Nightmares is on the lineup.

Chestnuts roasted by Carri @ 11/23/2005 1:50 AM

Okay this story is only bad to others. I think it’s one of the best stories I’ve got.

Christmas day, walking around a corner too fast, a stuffed fish with a lure in it’s mouth. Guess where the lure ended up. That’s right my ear.

I got to walk into the emergency room on Christmas day with a fishing luring sticking in my ear. Had to wait for the hospital janitor to bring some wire cutters.

I love that story :D

Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 11/23/2005 1:58 AM

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Me? I’ll be in England, while my Jones Soda will still be in route to Germany. Sigh, Mr. X, why has thou forsaken me?

Semper Fi,
Erik Majorwitz

Chestnuts roasted by Erik Majorwitz @ 11/23/2005 4:39 AM

My worst holiday ever was Thanksgiving ’96. My Grandmother passed away a few days before Thanksgiving.

My worst Christmas took place after my older sister moved to Georgia (I live in Indiana). My mom didn’t want to put up a Christmas tree or anything because "it just wasn’t Christmas without the whole family there."

Chestnuts roasted by Merry @ 11/23/2005 8:58 AM

Lori, I read your story about the lady who stormed out of Best Buy over a penny. Well, I don’t think your math is correct, you see, she would actually have saved two (2) pennies. I hope you can understand her ire a little better and won’t be so quick to judge. Have a nice day.

Chestnuts roasted by Funky Boo Berry the Ghost of Christmas 70's @ 11/23/2005 9:11 AM

Most of these "worst" stories revolve around family issues or problems. Mine does as well – but about my youngest kid. One Christmas my (then) 5 year old broke his arm tripping over a tree root while playing in a friends yard. We spent most of the night before Christmas eve in the ER. That meant that next day we were frantically rushing around finishing Christmas stuff and spending time at the Orthopedist getting his arm in a permanent cast and we started to notice that he was feverish. We then remembered that in the ER children’s waiting room there were a lot of kids who we thought had the flu. (You know- the people who can’t afford a regular doctor and therefore go to the county ER for flu or anything else.) We gave him some medicene and hoped it was just from the arm. The next day (Xmas) we got up and kids were all excited, except him- he just didn’t feel up to it. We went to my mothers for family get together and when it was discovered that he was presenting more flu like symptoms- he was promptly exiled to a spare bedroom by everyone else. Not only was his arm broken, and he felt miserable- he couldn’t even enjoy a little bit of X-mas and was shut out by his family. I promptly called his emergency pediatrician line who called something in to the local Walgreens and I left my wife and kids with my family and took him to Walgreens. We got his meds and I got him a stuffed Xmas bear and we went home and watched cartoons. He slept the rest of the day. He didn’t open or even really see anything til the next day. I know he may have felt it was his worst Christmas – but it was also mine. Thankfully it wasn’t as tragic as these other stories- but watching your kid be so miserable during an exciting and magically time is miserable also. I’m just grateful it wasn’t worse and that he has many more great Christmas Days to come.

Chestnuts roasted by J.C. Loophole @ 11/23/2005 10:01 AM

No, Funky Boo, I was right. Like I said, we only matched, we didn’t beat. If we had the appliance for $139.99 and they had it for $139.98, the best we could do would be to give it to her at the [snicker] lower price of $139.98. But you’re right, I shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

J.C., I had a (kind of) similar experience with my little sister. She got really ill on Christmas Eve one year (I was 14, she was 11.) She was so sick she could barely move. She was camped out on the couch, so we just came in on Christmas morning and did the present thing like usual. She tried to act happy (and we tried to act like we weren’t grossed out by her stopping every few minutes to vomit violently into a bucket), but it was clear she was really miserable. Mom stayed home with her, and Dad and I went on to the holiday caravan of homes (Mom’s Parents/Great-Grandparents – Since the only time we got to see all of our family was Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus, it would have made my sister feel even worse if we’d all had to suffer because she was sick.) It was really sad. It was the first Christmas my whole family wasn’t together, and it just wasn’t the same without my little sister. Plus, I was so sad that she only got one Christmas a year and hers was totally ruined. Poor little thing. Our relatives only lived a couple of hours away, so she felt better by the next weekend and we all went back so she and mom could open their gifts (and, since my dad is an only child, we had skipped his parents altogether, so we got to do that one as a family.)

Luckily, this kind of thing (and the aforementioned dying relative), is the worse that it’s gotten and my good holidays far outnumber the lackluster ones.

Chestnuts roasted by Lori @ 11/23/2005 10:32 AM

true story:
I was one of the poor must-go-to-the-ER poeple. When you are sick and don’t have insurance or $150 to walk into a doctors office with it’s your only option.
I got strep last winter, went to ER, had throat culture, got pennicillian and was out of the Hospital within and hour. My doctor patient time was literally 2 minutes, and mabye another 2 for the blood pressure and temp. So anyways, my ER trip for poor people cost $450. And you don’t get out of paying. When you work, but don’t make enough for insurance and make too much for assistance (and 9.50/hr was my wage at that time) they make you pay the full bill. Really poor people that get assistance go to the doctors office alongside middle-upper class citizens.

Sorry, JC just had to vent that out

Chestnuts roasted by poor bastard @ 11/23/2005 10:34 AM

dohopoki, I know how you feel. My B-day’s the 29th, and I’d always be screwed out of presents. It’s like they’d spend the same amount on me for both days as they did on my siblings, and just splitmy presents in half.

It’s selfish in a way, but VERY upsetting.

My worst Christmas, well. Two of them. One was about five years ago, Qwest had just come up with this Webtv thing. I wanted a computer, but I asked dad for that Webtv. Lo and behold, I got it, and my brother got a $1,000 computers. That wasn’t the issue. The issue WAS that three months later the thing folded, and my dad sent back the WebTV module for that $300 refund. This was my big present of the year.

Yeah, he sent it back for the refund, but I got nothing. My present for the year was taken away from me, and he wouldn’t even just give me part of the money as compensation.

Worst AND best had to be last year though. My mom died years ago, and my dad remarried, to this woman I thought was real nice. After I moved out for my first year of college though, she turned on me, began insulting me. Found out from her that she never loved me, but just pretended to to please dad. Lying to me all those years I had begun to thinkof her as a second mother.

So, summer before this one we just passed, I dropped out of college and now live with my boyfriend, in an apartment above his mom’s house. It was the worst Christmas, because all my ties from my family were cut off, and have been since; all my traditions shattered. But it was also the best, because now I’m celebrating it with my new family. One who seems to care a lot more.

…oops. LONG post.

Chestnuts roasted by RabiesBunny @ 11/23/2005 10:59 AM

A few more of these sad stories, and I’ll start looking at the turkey funny. As for those who are estranged from their loved ones, always remember, we’re all family here at the X. Maybe more like Addams or Munster than Cleaver and Huxtable, but still, just one big festering, strangely vibrating, oozing, and embolistic family. And, you don’t have to clean up after we leave!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 11/23/2005 11:53 AM

Sorry poor bastard (that sounds funny) I didn’t mean it as an insult. I have family who work a these places and there are plenty of people, unlike you, who go (for anything -bruise, cut, sniffles,- not necessarily strep etc.) and do not pay, but they drive off in an Escalade. They also have to make a family and friends affair. Therefore there is nowhere to sit- and when you are carrying a 5 year old with a broken arm and you have to wait all night standing up because someone got a paper cut at work ( and claimed workman’s comp -true story we found out later) and the whole extended family showed up – you get a little testy. I am sorry if I said anything to offend you and you were right to vent. I’m still paying on hospital and doctor’s bills now- even with crappy insurance.

Chestnuts roasted by J.C. Loophole @ 11/23/2005 12:38 PM

Post 222!

And thank you Jeff for sending out the Regional Pack for me, even though I haven’t gotten it yet.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 11/23/2005 1:35 PM

The worst Christmas- When my uncle kept insisting that Teddy Rupskin was a "Party Bear" and poured an old Milwaukee down his mouth!

Chestnuts roasted by Q @ 11/23/2005 1:43 PM

Yes, kingklash, we are some sotra strange family. But where’s our leader? We haven’t heard from Matt in days. Someone’s bound to get whiny.
I’m sure he’s busy with the jobby thing.

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 11/23/2005 3:18 PM

Wow… I have to admit that I can’t remember a really terrible Christmas. I’ve had the ones where I’ve had the flu, the first one with divorced parents (that sucked) etc… Honestly though, to me, the worst was the year my younger brother and sister decided that they were too old to believe in Santa (or pretend to) and didn’t put out cookies and milk for him. I actually cried.

Chestnuts roasted by Meagan @ 11/23/2005 3:30 PM

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 19th, 2005 at 7:51 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.