Holidays are supposed to be a time of celebration and good cheer, but for these Redditors, they were absolute nightmares. From near-fatal mishaps to bizarre family feuds, these stories prove why the holidays can be such a terrifying time.
1. Suffering From Exhaust-ion
My grandparents were out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping and got hit by a transport in an intersection. My grandparents survived, surprisingly, but were in ICU. So, on Christmas morning, my family opened their presents and then rushed two hours to the city hospital my grandparents were at. We stayed in a hotel for the next three days until another family member came to relieve us—but that was just the start of our nightmare.
While at the hotel, we had a ground-level room that was absurdly hot, so the AC unit was on. Someone in a diesel truck backed up next to the AC and left his truck idling. His exhaust was sucked into the room while we were sleeping. My dad happened to wake up just as I had stopped breathing and saved me.
2. Mom Was The Real Life Saver
When I was very young, for Christmas, I got a package of LifeSavers in my stocking along with lots of other candy. I had a thing for mint back then, so I was munching on those in my room as I put away my new stuff. I got overzealous with a LifeSaver and swallowed it whole. It lodged completely in my throat, and I was breathing through the tiny hole in it, but barely.
I kept trying to swallow, but it was incredibly painful, and I couldn't yell. I remember not being able to get the door open for some reason, and it felt like the LifeSaver was twisting in my throat, cutting off my air supply. I couldn't cough or anything. My vision started dimming when suddenly my mother came into the room to see why I wasn't coming back downstairs.
Thinking like a ninja, she brought a fist down on my back without asking any questions, and the candy popped out of my throat and into my mouth. I lay on the ground gasping for air—but she wasn’t done yet. She snapped a picture, said she was glad I didn't lose my life, then went downstairs to tell the family that I almost bit it on a mint. Every year my mom gives me a pack of LifeSavers and tells me, “Try not to die this time”.
3. The Bearer Of Bad News
I pretty much ruined my parents’ Christmas when I arrived home. My dad saw some news article about a car accident and commented about how too many young people are hurting themselves in accidents.
My dad is a retired high school sports coach and I casually mentioned that one of his former athletes perished a month ago in an accident, assuming he already knew. He did not. The kid was also only 24.
4. The More The Un-Merrier
We're hosting this Thanksgiving, and my wife has been cooking since yesterday. This morning my sister-in-law called and said our niece (her daughter) is sick and they won't be coming. Then later that day, she decided that her daughter is "only a little bit sick" so maybe they were going to come after all.
We told her that being "a little bit sick" is not a thing, you're either contagious or you're not. It took a big turn here. She then accused us of not wanting to spend time with her, and her and my wife got into a shouting match over the phone.
Now about a half hour ago, we found out that my father-in-law isn't coming, mostly because his girlfriend didn't come over to his place last night and he’s angry with her. So now the only people eating with us are my wife's other sister and her boyfriend, who had a Thanksgiving earlier today that apparently didn't go well and they just want to get home.
So they'll probably leave shortly after we eat. We have a whole turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, two pies, a banana cream dessert and plenty of drinks...for only four people.
5. Creepy Crawly Christmas
When I was young, I lived in Iowa. Every year we would go out and cut down a tree to use as our Christmas tree. One year, we put our tree up, and a few days after, all these brown specks kept appearing on the ground. My mom continuously swept them away, but they would always reappear. That’s when we made a disturbing discovery.
One of my mom's friends came over to our house and told her that the brown specks were baby spiders. The tree we had cut down had a spider nest in it, but luckily the spiders wouldn’t survive after they hatched out of the eggs. We quickly got rid of the spider-infested tree and had our house cleaned.
Ever since then, we have been using a fake Christmas tree.
6. Kelly’s Christmas Was Crushed
My older sister Kelly was an utter snob in high school. The year she was 16, and I was 13, she was giving my broke mom a hard time about never ever EVER getting a decent Xmas gift, how our mom's taste was terrible, etc. Kelly was the oldest of six kids in a poor family, but she just didn’t get it.
Somehow my mom convinced herself that Kelly was right and she was going to make that year perfect for her. So they went to a department store, and Kelly pointed out seven or so things that she wanted for Xmas; she said any of those seven things would make her happy.
My mom went back and bought all seven to really surprise her and then let it slip that Kelly was going to be so happy because she was getting everything she wanted. On Christmas Eve, Mom was wrapping all of the presents and realized that she only bought me one thing.
She figured that six perfect gifts were still good and put my name on one of Kelly’s. On Christmas morning, Kelly unwrapped her presents, and I was on my second one. I unwrapped some board game, and Kelly just flipped out.
Since she had been expecting all of the presents, not getting one, and especially to be subjected to the horror of seeing someone else unwrap it, was just too much tragedy, and she threw a truly epic fit. I tried to give her her stupid board game; I didn't want it. But apparently, the damage was done.
7. Mother Doesn’t Know Best
My mom started crying and causing drama on Christmas. Why? Because my sisters didn’t stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas early. Her retaliation was mind-blowing. She decided not to show up for breakfast and gift exchanges this morning and instead messaged us all morning saying no one loves her or cares about her. I love being guilt-tripped.
8. If Only We Could Choose Our Family
I have given my father so many chances and forgiven him so many times. The last time something happened, I had to cut him off for my peace of mind. My twin sister is fully aware of this. He didn't want us growing up, so our grandparents adopted us.
He would come to see us occasionally and once or twice we stayed with him. When our grandparents passed prematurely he still didn't step in to comfort or help us, and because of that my twin and I were split up when we were 12.
When we got older he tried to connect, and I forgave his past decisions. Still, he would try to make me feel bad for being adopted by my grandparents and called our (mostly absent) mom all kinds of nasty things but thought that didn't apply to him.
He told me I was brainwashed because I didn't believe the conspiracies he did. He is crazy manipulative. Then came the last straw. He got upset with me and said passive-aggressively saying over text, “Well I wish you the best in life". He had done this several times before, and we talked about it.
He did it as a way of saying he was done with me again. After the third time he pulled that, I was done with him. How dare he have the audacity to threaten to abandon me again after the many chances I gave him.
I couldn't handle how much chaos having him in my life caused in my soul, so I told him "thanks, you too" this time and blocked him. Which brings me to this Christmas. I traveled two hours to see my sister.
I bought her favorite Chinese food for her and her husband, plus have presents ready for her and him. I get there. She walks out and is like SURPRISE guess who's here...Daddy. She knows that he and I don't get along, and she didn’t even give me a heads-up.
So I give her the food and presents and turn around and drive two hours back home. I cried most of the way back from being mad and sad. She only talks to him because she is in a situation where she needs money, and he will give it to her. He is just as rude and manipulative with her. She just won't officially cut him off.
9. Not A Moment To Breathe
I spent the night with my boyfriend at his parents' house. I woke up around 2 AM and felt really, really sick. I was sick enough that I woke up my boyfriend and told him I wanted to go home, which was 30 minutes away. He got up to take me and immediately felt ill, too. His parents woke up at that point, and they, too, felt sick. It turned out that the wood stove vent had slipped and was filling the house with carbon monoxide. What a tragic Christmas morning that could have been.
10. Ashes To Ashes
My father, who had a severe drinking problem for a long time, had finally lost his life to the stuff at the end of November, right before Thanksgiving. For an entire month, all of our Christmas money was put into a fund to pay for the cremation of his remains.
If we did not come up with the $2,000, then his body would have been turned over to the county, and he would have been turned to ash with a dozen other unclaimed bodies. We made the cut and got his cremation paid for. Our entire Christmas was spent paying for his ashes. At least he looked nice under the tree.
11. Back On The Chain Gang
I was a sophomore in college and had the opportunity to get a ride most of the way home with my friend and her boyfriend. She was taking him home to meet her parents, so they were all lovey-dovey, and I was definitely the third wheel. The trip was from Utah to Washington, and my parents were going to meet us in Pendleton, OR, so I could go home and the other two could get up to Seattle.
The more treacherous parts of Idaho were scary. Those flat straight stretches had strong winds and patches of ice. But when we hit La Grande, the pass was closed. We were stuck parked at a gas station when I realized I had an aunt and uncle who lived in La Grande. I used a cell phone to call my dad to get their number.
They were already taking care of a bunch of college students stuck in town, but my uncle was the manager of the Walmart and held on to the last set of chains that would fit our car. Despite repeated efforts on the part of my aunt and myself, my friend and her boyfriend decided it was "best" to forge onward. We figured we had chains, so we would be fine.
When the pass opened, we drove up the mountain in our little sedan, and Mr. Boyfriend only stopped to put on chains after being passed by semi-trucks going 50 mph on packed snow. We realized later we had just driven through "Deadman's Pass". Meanwhile, none of us knew how to put the chains on. We all knew in theory, but it hadn't occurred to any of us to say it out loud until the moment arrived; we had no clue.
After about 45 minutes of trial and error and almost getting stuck in the snow, we had our chains on too loosely. Then, the genius boyfriend tried going 30 mph, which ended up digging holes into the wheel wells. We made it into Pendleton around 4 AM, and my parents had gotten a hotel room which they checked out of and drove me back home immediately.
It was a horrible trip, but I wish that had been the end of our problems. On the way back, we had no weather issues at all. It was smooth sailing until we hit the Utah state line. We were nearing the end of the 40-mile-no-stops-or-gas-stations stretch of road, and my friend was at the wheel. As we came around a bend in the highway, she let out a little yelp, and there was this huge BANG, followed by the sound of metal scraping on asphalt.
A chunk of concrete about as big as a printer was just lying in the middle of the lane. Due to the dark conditions—no moon, no highway lights—and the fact it was around a bend, it seemed to just appear. As we pulled off to the side of the road, we saw eight other vehicles lined up with hazards flashing away. Mr. Boyfriend went to talk to them and found that they all had popped a tire trying to avoid the concrete.
We, however, had ripped some of the undercarriage loose, and it was dragging on the ground.
We tried calling the state patrol, who said, "We know there's a problem, and we're sending someone out there". After waiting about 40 minutes, we decided to try driving on the shoulder, dragging our car through the gravel. It worked and got us three miles into bustling Snowville.
My friend's sister-in-law drove 30 minutes to pick us up from the gas station and we spent the night at her house. Mr. Boyfriend made plans with the tow company and freaked out because he couldn't call his dad, who was in China. He was sure he'd be in trouble because of the car. When I finally got into my apartment the next day and called my mom, she said, "You are never driving home during the winter ever again. We will fly you here, or you can stay at school".
12. Pulling Double Duty
My sister-in-law exploded today when she saw we brought mac and cheese. Apparently, she stayed up all night also making mac and cheese so ours was a direct insult to her? When we called her out that her attitude was inappropriate, she got even madder that we would say that in front of her kids, so we left.
We even left them all the food we brought. She’s always had anger issues, but this was just the last straw.
13. Thanks, Grandma
My grandma fed my dog, who has serious digestion and other health problems, five Christmas cookies. He’s okay, but the consequences were horrifying. He not only pooped and vomited all over the house, but had to go to the vet for a nice hefty bill.
14. The Black Sheep Of The Family
My family called me selfish for having a migraine and "ruining the festivities". Then I got socks, underwear, some pillows, and random chocolate my mom and sister "split the cost of because money was tight"…all while seeing my sister get Bluetooth headphones, a speaker, and another clip-on speaker my mom single-handedly bought her.
But most of all, a migraine. Those ruin any day.
15. Go For Broke
My brother was doing some tricks on his rollerblade, which was his Christmas present, and he figured out how to grind. He told me to watch him do it, but I got distracted by something. That caused me to miss the stunt.
My brother tried to show me again and broke his arm. We spent the rest of the day plus one more in the hospital. My family blamed it on me.
16. Merry Mono Christmas
In early December, I had a pretty bad case of mono. I got it from my ex-girlfriend, who thought it was okay to kiss me when she had just had it, and I didn't even know. I had to take all kinds of meds to get better. Apparently, my body didn't take so kindly to at least one of them and developed some kind of rash. It was on my arms first, then on my legs—and then it got worse.
Then it spread to my chest, my behind, my schlong, and just everywhere. It was on the palms of my hands, the soles of my feet, my eyelids, and my lips. It was red, and it got denser every day to the point there were only little white spots left in a sea of red. I was at least 95% covered in a red rash by the time it was Christmas—and it hurt bad.
When I stood straight, my feet hurt. When I sat down, my rear hurt. When I lay down, everything hurt. No one wanted to visit me because they thought I had a weird contagious disease. Mono is only contagious via saliva, and the rash was from the meds. It was the loneliest of holidays ever. It also messed up my exam period pretty badly.
When the rash was gone, my friends came over, and they all brought booze, but I couldn't drink for another couple of weeks due to the whole mono and rash thing. Not only that, but the mono was contagious for another six months, so I couldn't kiss anyone without the risk of making 'em sick.
17. Holiday Heartache
My grandmother passed at about 2 AM on Christmas morning. She had been In the hospital for about three months with a broken hip and was in and out of surgery; it was her time. My mother was there when she passed, and she went as peacefully as we could have hoped. My mom got home at about 3 AM, and I heard her come in. I gave her a big hug as she was bawling.
The rest of my family was asleep and had no idea. We both went to bed. I woke up early the next morning, and my little brother, who was 9–10, was downstairs, giddy as ever because it was Christmas morning, and he had no idea what had happened. When my mother eventually got up, he was even more excited because that meant it was present-opening time.
My mother had to sit my little brother down and tell him that grandma had passed last night. To see his face go from an ecstatic, happy, giddy, not-a-care-in-the-world-Christmas-morning-joy of a little kid to just an utterly devastated and sad person was the saddest thing I have ever witnessed. It still makes me tear up.
18. In A Jam
When I was 15, my family and I were traveling several hundred miles to visit relatives over the holidays. About halfway there, I managed to somehow get my elbow jammed into this cubby-type compartment where the passenger-side airbag would be in today's cars. I had lodged it in there so well that we had to go to the nearest emergency room, where the terrified nurse had to lube up my arm in order to get it out.
19. Grin And Bear It
My Thanksgiving isn’t ruined, exactly, but my pumpkin pie sure is. You’ll never believe what I did. I mistakenly used pancake mix instead of flour to make the crust. I KNOW. What is wrong with me? In my defense, the containers look exactly the same unless you actually read the lettering.
So far everyone is just being really polite about how strangely chewy the crust is.
20. The Dog Did It
We went out to eat dinner a few days before Christmas and returned home after our meal. I opened the outer door and saw a small pool of water in the entryway. I thought that was a bit odd, but it could have been some melted snow, so I didn't think too much of it. I started to open the inner door, and that's when I heard an odd noise.
I stepped in and saw water running down the walls, and the floor was covered in about a half inch of water. I ran/waded through the house, trying to find the source. We eventually found that it was the upstairs bathroom and shut the pipe off. Our dachshund decided to try to get into the trash and tipped the trash can. It fell perfectly, severing the input hose to the toilet.
We figured it was spraying water for around a half hour before we got home. Surprisingly there wasn't too much damage as the water mainly went through to the linoleum parts of the house, but it wasn't very fun having to clean half the house days before Christmas.
21. One Messed-Up Christmas
We ended up having one messed-up Christmas. We were going to my aunt’s for dinner and took multiple cars. I’m in the house with most of my family, other than my mom. She parks across the street and starts to cross the road to the house.
A guy comes flying down and nearly hits her. She gets angry, swears at him, and kicks at his car as he passes by. What happened next was terrifying. He stops in the middle of the street, chases her down, and shoves her to the ground.
She’s 75 and on blood thinners, so the small gash on the back of her head was gushing blood. My dad and wife saw this go down, so they go flying out of the house yelling at the guy. Dad is standing in front of this guy’s car yelling and trying to get his plates.
The guy gets back in the car and guns it. Dad goes rolling over the hood of the car and smashes onto the ground as the guy speeds off. He’s also in his 70s, but is somehow okay. Multiple paramedics and sheriffs come.
My mom had to get a couple of staples in her head, but all things considered, everyone is fine. But you know what, we did not let this ruin our Christmas. Mom made it home just in time for an amazing dinner.
I was on edge for a long time. I watched my dad get hit and fly in the air, but I couldn’t see the result because of parked cars. There was a split second where I thought I had watched my dad perish while I stood there with my two-year-old. Fortunately, he’s fine.
This was across from a very famous surf spot, so there are surf cams EVERYWHERE and the authorities already have video of the suspect’s car.
22. Merry Christmas, Let’s Break Up
A lot of years ago, I traveled a long way with my fiancée and her two kids. One was calling me daddy at that point because she never knew her father, at all. We go to my grandparents and meet my parents and spend two nights.
My folks go home, and we drive to her parents’ place. Then everything changes for the worst. Out of the blue, her personality changes and when she isn't biting my head off, she is giving me the silent treatment. After two days of this, I corner her and ask what is up.
She tells me that she no longer loves me and wants to break up. Next day, we drive 12 hours without a word spoken between us, though I tried a few times to get her to talk. We get back to her place and I get ignored again. I go to a separate room and make reservations back to my parents’ because I have nowhere else to go.
I spent the rest of my vacation licking my wounds and hating the world.
23. Relax, It’s All Under Control
I had horrible cramps one Christmas Eve and was unable to move or get out of bed. So, to avoid my having to miss our Christmas, my mother gave me a couple of her muscle relaxers— her really strong muscle relaxers. I tried to help carry in presents but ended up falling in the snow, where I proceeded to roll around like an idiot and smash the presents I was carrying.
Then I got inside and enjoyed a few glasses of vino and made sure I talked to every single relative I could about everything and anything inappropriate. Finally, my uncle was able to figure out what was wrong with me and made sure my crazy talk was contained. I was babysat for the remainder of the night.
24. Go With The Flow
When I was about 8 or so, my mom brought home the Christmas tree, left me with my sister, and said, "Honey, I'm going to get the decorations, be nice to your sister". So I went to the bathroom. That’s when I came up with what I thought was a fantastic plan.
I found a box of these white things on the toilet. Not knowing what they were, I assumed the strings on the end were for decorating a tree. I took every tampon from the box and decorated the tree. Needless to say, Mom came home and was shocked.
Freepik, cookie_studio
25. Holiday Heist
Our house was broken into and looted while we were out. Everything, including presents, furniture, TVs, jewelry, and family memories, were taken. We went without any place to sit, any presents, or a tree. I was only 10 at the time, so it was pretty distressing. I hated Christmas for a while after that.
26. Left Gutted For Christmas
One Christmas Eve when I was really young, my dad went out of town for business, so it was just my mom, my brother and sister, and me at home. I was playing with a half-dollar my uncle got for me that year, and my mom went to change my diaper. She lifted my legs up, and the coin slipped out of my hands and made a beeline for my mouth. I tried to swallow it, and it got stuck.
My brother who was about 7 or 8 at the time, was on the phone with emergency services while my mom did the Heimlich on me. Luckily, out came the coin, along with most of my dinner. With that crisis over, my mom put us to bed. But the nightmare wasn’t over yet.
Shortly after, she went to bed herself. She then woke up hearing what sounded like thunder. She saw nothing out her window, so she went back to sleep. About an hour later, she woke up only to see and hear fire ripping through the window above her bed. At that point, no smoke alarms had gone off. She rushed and woke us kids up, gathered me up in an afghan, and ran for the door. We lived in the back half of a duplex, so she made sure to get the other residents out as well.
We ran down the street to a friend's house. We got to the friend's house and called for help. While we huddled there my mom waited for the firefighters to come. They asked for her keys so they could move her car away from the house, which was now fully on fire. She told them that the dog was left in the kitchen, and fortunately, they were able to get him out.
The fire was put out, but the house was gutted. We were left with the clothes on our backs, the bears the firemen gave us on an early Saturday morning, and almost no cash since banks were not open on the weekends back then. My dad got back, and my siblings went to school that Monday. I went to my babysitter's. When my mom came to pick me up, my sitter handed her an envelope that said, "Merry Christmas". Inside were ten brand new $100 bills. That gave us enough to get a hotel and everything we needed until we could get to the bank and sort everything out.
Flickr, Los Angeles Fire Department
27. Your House, My Rules
My mom’s anger issues ruin everything. One day, we’re talking plans for next year’s Christmas at that year’s holidays. My mom doesn’t want my girlfriend and I to share a room. I am in my late 20s, so I asked why the ridiculous rule—my parents are not really religious, or at least they weren’t when I was growing up.
This ended with my mom screaming I am what is wrong with this world and that no one believes in God anymore. She then started to pack to leave early. Dad talked her into staying, but then she just gave us an enormous silent treatment over honestly nothing.
By the way, Christmas next year will take place at MY house. As in, my mom doesn’t want us sleeping in the same bed even when it’s under my own roof.
28. Dine And Dash
My family has a horrible habit of eating and running back home. They do this for practically every holiday, and have been doing it for as long as I can remember. This year for Christmas, I begged them to not do it, as it makes me feel like a sous chef or something. They agreed.
Well, my husband and I spent all day cooking…just for them to show up, eat, and then leave within an hour. It hurts.
29. The Sound Of Silence
It’s Christmas. There's a really weird, low-pitched nose going on that I can hear in most of my house. It's not coming from anything we own, but we live in a terraced house, and that kind of noise from anywhere on the terrace travels through all of them.
It's like a fan running. I'm pretty sure it's an E-note. But there’s one big issue. The thing is, everyone else in my house claims they can't hear it. If I put my fingers in my ears, I can't, so I know I'm not imagining it. Do I own earplugs? No. Am I terrified this noise is going to be something permanent? Yes.
This noise started at 12pm on Christmas Day. I live in a 1950s brick and cinder block on minimal foundations on clay soil construction house. Internal walls are made of cinder block, downstairs floors are cement, upstairs are wood on heavy joists.
The UK doesn't tend to use HVAC in old, domestic, single-dwelling buildings. Air conditioning isn't a common thing here, especially not in December. Bathroom fans are common but again, I'd hear that outside and can't. And it wouldn't be constant.
We just open a window if there's steam or smells. Our boiler isn't on overnight, nor is the hot water circulation system that we use for heating. Plus, that's not on all the time. When it is, it's barely audible. We have double redundancy CO monitors and both are reading normal.
The last boiler service was eight months ago. The last gas intake check was at the same time. It's not electrical and it's not (I'm certain) within my own house. But because of how the row is built, a noise in the loft space or upper floor in any one of 5-8 buildings could be causing my upset.
It's not a fridge compressor. It's constant. But it's similar. Lower. Louder. It's not highways, the main roads you can hear here are nothing even remotely close to a US highway. We only notice them when they're silent.
All windows and external doors are fairly new. I do have tinnitus, but this noise is very, very low pitched, and sticking my fingers in my ears to only hear my tinnitus was actually a relief at 3 am. This app that detects sound has told me it's not in my head though, so that's a bonus. It's not a hallucination, it really exists. But what IS it?
30. I Took A Bite Out Of Christmas
When I was 9 years old, I ran into my mom and dad's room excited to open presents on Christmas. Unfortunately, as I was running in, I tripped over a rug and smashed my teeth against my parents’ bedpost. There was blood everywhere. I lost one tooth and fractured my adult incisor. I had to wait six hours in the hospital for a specialist to arrive. I didn't get to open any of my presents, and had to drink my Christmas dinner through a straw! We still have the bedpost, with three clear distinct teeth marks in it.
31. He Got His Rocks Off
When I was younger, my family had a tradition of putting all of our Christmas gifts under the tree at the beginning of December. One Christmas, my brother placed a rather small gift box under the tree with my name on it. I waited all of December to open this thing thinking that it had to be something amazing. I even shook it a few times and heard something knocking around in there, and assumed it was something small and valuable.
When Christmas Day rolled around, I ran to that gift first. I ripped open the gift wrap, pulled off the lid, and it was full of rocks. I've never seen my brother laugh as hard as he did at that particular moment. My parents were so mad at him that he ended up going out and buying me a huge bag of candy to make up for it.
32. A Nightmare For Christmas
When I was 7, my dad got me the board game The Nightmare Before Christmas as my big finale gift. My dad, who typically only gifted things he would want, was extremely excited for this present to be opened so that we could play it. I had never seen or heard of this game before, and the look of the game scared me. I told him I did not want to play.
He became extremely upset at this, mostly because he spent a lot on the game and demanded I play. That’s when things got so much worse. He popped the VCR in to show us how awesome it was, and the first lightning bolt sent me running to the bathroom, terrified. I spent the whole Christmas in the bathroom room crying because I did not want to play this stupid game, and my dad taunted me and made fun of me, yelling through the door.
33. The Invisible Child
I came home from the military all excited to see my family. I was bitterly disappointed. It seemed like my family had forgotten about me. Not that I needed presents or really even wanted them, but the fact that nobody even thought about something as simple as a card kind of hurts when I’m sitting here for an hour watching them pass presents around to each other and I got one for each of them as well. Just feels bad.
34. Christmas Fighting For Her Life
My partner, who is 28, entered a critical condition in the ICU on Christmas and is on a ventilator and dialysis in a medically induced coma. She has come down with two strains of malaria, which is very rare, and she fought it so effectively in the early stages that her symptoms only reflected the severity of the infection at a late stage.
There have been some positive signs. Her lungs are still strong, as she needs minimal respiratory support. Her heart appears to remain strong too. Early signs are that the treatments being administered are having their desired impact in bringing down the infection and inflammation. But she is very unwell. She is fighting for her life.
We're in the UK currently. Her family has flown in from the US to support her, which is wonderful. Our families love each other and we haven’t been together in a long time. We had just set ourselves up to live in Ghana, as I'd just landed a job with UNICEF there four months ago.
I don't think there's any chance we're going back. I'll probably have to quit the role unless they'll let me work remotely full-time. We've paid for a year of accommodation. Just bought a car that is still with a mechanic out there.
And darn, we freaking loved the set-up we had and the traveling we were gonna do around Ghana. But none of that matters. I just need her to make it. It is so painful not to be with her at this time. Christmas didn't really happen for us.
My mom cooked up a wonderful Christmas meal, my grandma came to join us, and we laughed without crying (at first). But no gifts were exchanged. I didn't even wrap mine, now that I think about it.
No Christmas songs played. It basically didn't happen despite the reunion. We're all still just worried sick and trying to stay strong for her.
35. A Lonely Christmas
I work at the fire department. This year my shift works Christmas, and we were having a family dinner at the station. All the crew has their families over for a large meal. So it's my son's first official Christmas and I couldn't get the day off, but my wife was going to come to the dinner with him, which would make it a little better. And then it all went wrong.
My wife got all ready along with my son, then lost her car keys. She couldn't find them for about three hours. So my wife (who just lost her father) was alone with my one-year-old at home with no way to leave and with no one we knew in town.
Meanwhile, I felt trapped at the fire station unable to do anything about it. I saw everyone arriving with their kids and families, and then there's me. Wishing I had my family with me too...
36. Soup’s On!
Years ago, my family was sitting down to Christmas dinner. My 85-year-old grandma was in the early stages of senility and insisted that she needed to sit in the seat that I normally sit in. Not wanting to cause a scene at Christmas dinner, I moved down to a chair next to my sister. While we were eating some soup, my sister, who saw the entire exchange with my grandmother, leaned over to me and jokingly said, "I never get to sit next to you, this is so nice".
The way she said it struck me as hilarious. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a bite of soup. I had two choices—try and swallow or give the family a shower. I opted for choice number one. I didn’t know that you can get intense pain in your chest from swallowing wrong. The pain was so bad things started to go dark. The next thing I knew, I heard panicked voices around me and came to with my face in a bowl of soup.
My mom was trying to give me the Heimlich, my wife was crying, my sister was yelling if she should call an ambulance, and everyone else sat in a daze and watched. Everyone, that is, except for my grandma, who kept eating her soup, oblivious to the proceedings.
37. Sister Scrooge
After a few all nighters and a week of finals, I came home to work at my retail job. I worked a few more all nighters, then came down with a BAD flu on Christmas Eve. I spent the next 24 hours throwing up in the shower and lying in bed and on the floor—but that wasn’t the worst part.
At the same time, my mean older sister complained about how I didn't deserve a nice dinner, presents, etc. She picked arguments with me all day, while I couldn't even swallow food or walk.
38. No More Night Driving
I had flown home from California on leave and had spent the two days before Christmas baking like crazy for my family. On Christmas Eve, I headed out to pick up an online buddy who was a Japanese student studying music recording here in Alabama. I picked him up as planned, and we were headed back on this four-lane road out in the middle of nowhere with no median.
The next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance. I was hit head-on by an inebriated driver going 85 mph who passed at the scene. I was lucky in that I was alive, but I had broken my hip and elbow in a really terrible way, broke eight ribs, had a punctured and collapsed lung, destroyed the top of my knee, and had a severe tongue injury, so I couldn’t eat for a month.
I spent two weeks in the hospital and a week in rehabilitation. It took me five months to be well enough to go back to California. I really don't remember much from that Christmas, and I still hate driving after dark during that time of year.
39. Putting The “Ex” In X-Mas
My wife of seven years stole my vehicle at Christmas. But the reason why she did it is even more ridiculous. It was to go on holiday with another guy. I had no idea…until she texted me to break up with me, that is. She wasn’t even done. She later threw away my mother's wedding ring and then got pregnant. Really just a nice human overall.
40. Me-Ow
My parents’ cat ruined Christmas, or rather we ruined hers. So my sister and I got my parents a television for Christmas. They wanted to know what the giant package under the tree was, and I had to think quick to put them off the scent.
I told them it was a cat tree that had to be assembled. It backfired on me big time. I swear the cat heard and understood me. I know it sounds crazy, but she then watched as my parents unwrapped their gift and let out a sad meow when she saw it was a television, not a cat tree.
She then angrily watched us set it up and was definitely in a mood the rest of the day.
41. A Dog-Eat-Dog World
My sister's rescue dog went after my English Setter in my house. Not happy about it, but also, okay, they are dogs. Stuff happens. Only she refused to put him in the back room and insisted he was just playing.
While I was asserting the "my house my rules," he tries to attack my dog again. Pretty much ended the evening. My sister cried and left. I told her she didn’t have to leave, but her dog cannot roam free in the home anymore. Also, he’s not welcome back again.
She could not understand that I will not allow my dog to feel unsafe in his own home and that her dog could bite one of us given his aggressive behavior.
42. Cut Loose On Christmas
We were housing my aunt and her boyfriend since she had come out of prison. She was pretty unstable. My aunt and her boyfriend had an argument, and he left. Something else happened, and she erupted at my mom, saying she was going to hurt her while we slept. My dad had to grab every piece of cutlery and hide it in their room, even the spoons. The authorities were called. My aunt begged not to leave, but my mom had it.
43. Yuletide Tragedy
A couple of years ago, my mom's fiance was coming over for Christmas Eve by car. It was snowy, and we had heard about an accident on TV but didn't think about it. They never showed up. Later, we learned the chilling truth. We got a phone call two hours afterward with the news.
His son and daughter, who were 26 and 18, were in the car as well, and his son was driving. They got hit by an old couple who were on the wrong side of the road. The daughter and father didn’t make it, but the son survived. That was a pretty tough Christmas.
44. Midnight Miracles
When I was 4, after we had all gone to bed on Christmas Eve, my one-month-old sister began having issues breathing and had to go to the hospital. My parents rushed there, but they had not wrapped any of the presents yet. So, my aunt and uncle came over and wrapped all of the gifts in the middle of the night. By morning, my sister was stable enough that my dad came over to help us unwrap presents while my mom stayed at the hospital.
45. Daddy Issues
Last year my parents were separated and getting divorced. Me and my little sister had to spend Christmas with my dad, his girlfriend, and her family. We were starving half the day since my dad told me and my little sister not to eat anything to fit Christmas dinner.
This, by the way, was the worst feeling ever since they were cooking food right in front of us. It was also super awkward spending it with my dad’s girlfriend’s family, who really I don’t know anything about since at the time they’d barely been dating for a year.
Basically, me and my little sister were alone for pretty much most of it, sitting on the couch, while my dad, his girlfriend, and her family were talking and having fun. The only thing we were fed before we ate dinner was crackers and jam. My dad, who is my family, barely hung out with us.
Literally the worst Christmas I had in my whole life.
46. In-Law Trouble
We went to my in-laws’ house this morning after morning present opening with my family. I helped my mother-in-law cook the food, then when it was time to go down the hill to grandma's house, I was hit with a sudden feeling. Everyone was starting to gather there, and I just decided I just...didn't want to go.
I hate Christmas. I'm not religious. But that wasn’t all. It started to hit me that that morning at present opening, I sat there and watched my wife get roughly 700 dollars worth of gift cards, while I got absolutely nothing. It kinda just takes it out of you.
Sao, I went home. My wife was angry. I just don't care anymore.
47. The Bar Was Low, But He Managed To Fail Anyway
I’m seven months pregnant and yet I planned the entire Christmas day. I stuffed every stocking, bought and wrapped every present, and cooked three holiday meals (Christmas breakfast, Christmas lunch, Christmas dinner).
My husband didn’t get me a single thing. Not even a candy or snack. His stocking was all his favorite treats from me. Not a card. My family opened gifts around me while I sat there, watching. I had honestly nothing. It was only later that he said, “You don’t have anything to unwrap?”
See, three months ago I bought myself a coffee cup for him to wrap, knowing he wouldn’t get me anything else on his own. I also bought the bag and tissue and asked him to put it under the tree….Well, he lost the cup.
After dinner when I asked, he said he didn’t know where he put it. And that’s that, I guess. Merry Christmas to me.
48. A Near Miss
It was Christmas Eve, and I was going 50 mph on a curvy road. A sloshed driver came around the bend going 50 mph but in my lane. I somehow managed to swerve onto the shoulder, which was just barely wide enough for my car. I barely missed that jerk, fitting exactly between the guard rail and his SUV. I came home and told my mother that I just barely avoided biting it. We hugged it out and cried a little, as I was extremely shaken by it. Thankfully, that's the worst thing that's ever happened on Christmas.
Freepik, valuavitaly
49. Big Brother To The Rescue
When I was around 10, my mom decided to do her monthly binge later than usual, which left her MIA four days before Christmas. At that point, I had already known what was up with Santa and tried to calm my younger brothers down. I told them I was sure that she wasn’t going to miss Christmas. Two days before Christmas, she was still gone—and I had one big problem to face. I couldn't find where she hid the Christmas presents.
I figured she didn't get any, and I scraped all the money I had so that I could get my brothers a few things at the dollar store. The night before Christmas, my mom DID show up, got the presents out, and immediately passed out on the couch. When my brothers woke up the next night, they saw mom "sleeping" and their presents under the tree.
They soon noticed that I wasn't opening anything. My second youngest brother asked, "Where are your presents”? I told them, "Well, I guess I was too bad this year to get any". He replied, "Maybe you'll get double presents this year for your birthday", which was the same day. It didn't happen.
50. That M&Ms Feeling
When I was around 10, my grandmother came over to our house for a couple of months to help out my parents. My brother, who was seven at the time, and I had to share the couch in the living room. It was around Christmas Eve, and since we were young, we didn't get to stay up. My grandma had bought us some Christmas M&M's, so he and I started telling each other stupid jokes and laughing.
We were both lying down, eating the M&M’s, and laughing. One lodged up my throat, and I couldn't breathe. My brother, thinking it was a joke, just laughed some more. When I started turning purple he yelled, "DAD, MOM”!!! My dad came and did the Heimlich on me and out popped the M&M. I then got a 15-minute lecture on my stupid actions.
51. To The Land Of Ice And Snow
I had come back to the States from Iraq. I was in Georgia for a couple of weeks before going home to Iowa for Christmas. I landed at the Moline airport in the afternoon. The temperature was in the 20s or so. It was quite a contrast from Iraq, obviously. There was a thick layer of snow in Iowa as my mom drove us home. Then, a funny thing happened.
The air started to heat up—by a lot. It went up to above 40℉ by 8 PM. Then to 50℉ by 10 PM. By midnight, it hit 60℉. Obviously, the snow melted almost completely. Then things took a turn. The temperature dropped back down to where it was when I landed. The entire eastern half of the state decided it wanted a coat of ice instead of snow.
Then, it started to sleet which added to the ice from the melted snow, and then it snowed. I swore I'd never fly to Iowa ever again anywhere near Christmas time.
52. Turning It Around
I went on a vacation with my parents. The last couple of years were hard on us. I lost my grandma, had three surgeries, and my health is at an all-time low. So I wanted a break from everything. We all did. It began as a nightmare. The hotel we reserved turned out to be a disaster.
Rooms were dingy, damp, dirty. There was no food at the restaurant. The washroom was not cleaned. To add to it, there was construction work going on on the same floor where we were put up and there was a lot of noise throughout the day.
We searched for other hotels nearby but all of them were booked because of the Christmas season. Thankfully, we decided not to stay there and booked another hotel in a nearby city. It's a bit on the expensive side but it's worth the extra cash.
We booked a suite, and we can view the hills from the private balcony at a distance. The food is good. We went out for a little sightseeing at a nearby lake. Attended Christmas mass in the morning at a Church near the hotel. Overall, the trip that was ruined by the hotel now looks promising.
53. Family Secret
My Christmas was almost ruined because I heard through the grapevine that my mother was planning to tell me about having a child with her new boyfriend. This is a horrible idea.
The reason why I don't like the idea at all is because a month ago, I got a call from my younger sister at like 12 am screaming and crying. She couldn't even say a single word, she was in shock. Turned out, mom’s boyfriend had gotten into an intense argument with my mother, and then when my brother tried to intervene, he ended up in a full-blown fight with him.
Long story short, my brother called the authorities before I arrived there, and they took him away just when I pulled into the driveway. He's behind bars now. Now, I knew that my mom had started writing letters to him and that they plan on getting back together.
I did NOT know about the pregnancy. She hasn't told me, but she has told our cousin, who told me.
54. The Hero Dad We Need, Not The One We Want
Christmas made me realize that one of my kids is a spoiled brat. He complained about every single gift he got—as he opened them, no less. I gave him a few chances to control his outbursts. Nope, he couldn’t do it. But I had the perfect plan. I made him pack all his gifts up and we drove them to the Toys for Tots drop-off near our house.
I also made him carry the bag inside. Call me mean, but when someone takes the time and thought to think of you, only for you to complain about, then you don’t deserve a single thing. Other kids literally have nothing. Not even parents. Or clean clothes. Or a warm house. And you’re complaining that your Transformer isn’t the “right one”.
I’d much rather kids who appreciate things get them. I hope he learned a lesson today.
55. Christmas Was In The Bag
When I was young, my nuclear family moved to Georgia while my extended family still lived in Nebraska. So, we would load up the family vehicle and drive 17 miserable hours filled with “holiday cheer”. One year, we were driving in a Jeep with three kids and two adults shoved into it and the luggage strapped on top. My siblings and my non-driving parent had all fallen asleep, but I managed to stay awake and watch the scenery.
I soon noticed it started raining luggage. I thought it was odd but must have justified it as Santa dropping presents or something like that. The family kept driving until we needed gas and my parents caught on that the luggage was gone. For some reason, they decided to drive back, asking at all the rest stops if anyone had seen the missing luggage.
Eventually, early Christmas Eve morning, a trucker took us to the luggage on the side of the road. It was situated on a frozen ice puddle in an embankment. We strapped it on, and when we finally arrived in Nebraska at eight or so in the morning. My parents spent the next few hours drying it off.
56. The Gift That Kept On Giving
One Christmas, we had what we now refer to as the "pooping flu". It was 36 hours of vomiting and diarrhea. Our 1-year-old was the first to get it, which was the night after our company holiday party, so we were exhausted when it all started. After the little one recovered, my wife got it. She had such a gray complexion we were thinking of bringing her to the hospital, so we called my parents so they could watch the baby while I tended to my wife.
I was actually throwing up in the bathroom when they showed up an hour later, which was pretty good timing. At that point, my wife was able to keep food down. But the ordeal wasn’t over yet. After that, both my parents got it, and so did my wife's friend, who ended up infecting the entire pew at church. My mother-in-law spent all of Christmas either on our couch or in the bathroom.
My sister-in-law and her boyfriend, who just moved in together, got it too. She was in the only bathroom in their new apartment when he puked in the garbage can while simultaneously pooping his pants.
57. A Holiday Horror Movie Classic
One time, my brother, dad, and I went to the grocery store on Christmas Eve to get a turkey for the next day. We rode in my dad's Lexus that he had bought just weeks before. As we were driving home, a deer leaped from the ditch and landed smack in the middle of the windshield. Since the windshield took all of the force from hitting the deer, parts of it, like the antler and a leg, broke through and were now stuck in the windshield.
No one was hurt, but we were faced with a thrashing wild animal that was freaking out and slicing itself open every time it moved. Since there was nothing we could really do, we sat and waited for it to stop moving. Eventually, it did, and my brother and dad dislodged it from the window. Inside the car, every single surface, nook, and cranny on the dash was painted with a dark layer of blood —it was everywhere. All of us were covered in it too. It looked like a horror scene from a movie, and my mom was not impressed.
58. Don’t Stay Together For The Kid
On Christmas, my husband found the money I was hiding to leave him. This was after throwing a tantrum because I couldn't wipe our son’s face straight away and I told him not to make Christmas day horrible like he does every day.
When he found the money, he caused an argument about it, telling me I was taking his son away. You know, the child he sees for around an hour a day—we both work from home, but he sleeps all day and ignores our son when he’s actually up.
He then threw the watch I had got him at the wall and called it a piece of cheap trash. It wasn't cheap. He broke the back off it, so I put it back on and am taking it to a pawn shop later to get some of the money I spent back.
He does nothing at all except pay most of the rent. I pay for everything else including clothes for our kid, his toys, etc. I'm the one who cooks and cleans, I'm the one who is up at 5 am every morning with our son, and I'm the one who does absolutely everything.
Yet he thinks he can act like that on Christmas day? Screw him. I won’t be around much longer.
59. Bad Boy
My dog had diarrhea in my girlfriend's parents’ house at 6 am on Christmas morning. My girlfriend and I worked to clean it up silently to avoid waking her parents. We failed miserably. They woke up, and the dog went in four more different places while we were cleaning up the first spot.
Later, my dog knocked over the Christmas tree. It's been a little rough.
60. Playing Favorites
This Christmas, my kids told me my presents were bad. They didn’t stop there. They also said they were embarrassed of me and couldn’t wait to go to their dad’s house. I’m having surgery on Tuesday and won’t see them for three weeks. I know they’re just kids, but it broke my heart.
I got them everything that was on their carefully curated Amazon wish lists. However, their dad tipped them off ahead of time that their paternal grandmother had gotten them an Oculus Rift and AirPods.
They're usually really good kids and my ex and I co-parent wonderfully along with my husband, so I don't think it was malicious on his part to tell them about the fancy presents, but ill-advised for sure. It just really kicked me in the gut.
61. The Last Straw
I wrapped all the gifts for my husband and son, which took hours because the boy gets so many wrestling figures. I had no help wrapping because my husband says he sucks at it. I cleaned the kitchen yesterday, too.
Did dishes twice, cooked Christmas Eve dinner and did all the cleanup. I asked my husband to vacuum because I did all the other cleaning. That means I got attitude for the rest of the night (and he did a bad job vacuuming).
Today, Christmas Day, I made the traditional big breakfast. Did the "big dishes" as the food finished so it wouldn't be overwhelming then asked him to do dishes. "Let me enjoy my presents for a while”. Fine, okay.
We leave hours later for dinner and left a full sink of dishes. I come home, still relatively early, and they are still there. His reply boiled my blood. Now he won't do the dishes "because I work tomorrow and I just want to relax”. Well, you have been off the entire last week and did nothing.
Tomorrow we are having a come-to-Jesus talk.
62. The Dog Ate Our Dinner
My mom chased our happy dog around the garden for ten minutes after he nabbed the turkey from the kitchen bench. We watched from the window and saw her finally out-fox the dog and get most of it back from him. I’ll never forget what she did next. She came inside and put it under the tap. Dad and I just said no way. We had stuffing, veggies, and puddings, and our meat was chipolata sausages. The dog got the turkey in the end.
63. One Last Time Together
Christmas 2001 was the last time I saw my mom. I was 16 and had a 3-month-old baby. She was on edge the whole morning and looked awful. We opened gifts with my younger siblings, grandma, and her ex-husband. It was awkward since my mom was tired and not into it. She went to bed on the upstairs couch directly after. I left to go see my dad’s side of the family, and that was the last time I saw her in person.
She called me a few days later on New Year’s Eve and gave me this really out-of-character pep talk about how I needed to start standing my ground and be a strong person. I didn't think much of it and went on with my New Year’s Eve plans, which was sitting at home nursing a baby. The next day she, unfortunately, took her own life.
When I went to the house after I got the call, I walked in, and the Christmas tree and decorations were still up. The gift wrapping was still on the floor, and the turkey carcass was still left on the counter, as well as all of our dirty dishes. Her body was upstairs on the couch, which was the last place I saw her.
64. Season Of Sadness
It was mid-December and I was 8 years old. I was drowsy from having the family's favorite dinner of homemade chicken chalupas. I passed out excited for the next day of school because it was another day closer to Christmas! I dozed off peacefully, dreaming of all the Pokémon cards and memorabilia I was going to get in less than two weeks.
I was asleep for about two hours when I was suddenly woken up. A firefighter was in my room and it was illuminated by red and white flashing lights. I panicked and thought our apartment was on fire. He picked me up out of bed, threw me over his shoulder as I clung to my precious bear-bear, and kept telling me everything was going to be OK.
Outside, our apartment was crawling with uniformed officers, firefighters, and what I now know as special investigators, being that my dad was in the service. I was led to my neighbors’ apartment, who happened to be my best friend. He greeted me with enthusiasm, and we went off to play some Super Smash Bros on his N64. Staying up late playing video games on a school night? I was down.
We played for an hour or so, then his mom popped in and grabbed my friend and told me that my mom had to talk to me. He was led out of the room and the light was turned off. I sat on the bottom bunk of a room that was only illuminated by moonlight through the window. I remember it being a cold, clear Arizona night. My mom came in, quietly and somberly.
That’s when I learned the devastating truth. She sat next to me; her eyes were puffy, and her nose red. She said, "Daddy's gone". I didn’t say a thing. I didn’t understand. Where did he go? I saw him just a few hours earlier. I knew he had a stressful job, he seemed down when he got back, but he ate dinner and watched TV with us. His usual custom after dinner was a stogie and a glass of vino on the back porch.
I had hugged him goodnight, and he told me we would go rollerblading the next day, but now he was gone? My mother said, "Daddy was very sad, and he hurt himself. He passed an hour ago". She reached out to hold my hand and I saw blood on her sleeve—it was my dad’s blood. He passed that night of a self-inflicted wound behind his right ear. We had just decorated the Christmas tree that night. I have not celebrated since then until this year.
Freepik, Drazen Zigic
65. When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go
My partner’s mother had to run errands Christmas Eve and didn't feel like making dinner. As a result, she wanted to know if we wanted to get a pizza with her from the takeaway instead of making dinner for ourselves too. We said yes, all was good. Until…it wasn’t.
Roll on Christmas Day: My partner’s mom seems OK but my partner himself has been on and off the toilet all day. We were making jokes about it and I thought I was alright, but halfway through Christmas Day it was like my stomach had a storm and I had to bolt for the bathroom too.
We didn't let it ruin Christmas, but darn was it not nice. There was no casual way to walk to the bathroom either, it was full-on bolting for it.
66. Hospitals Are Never Fun
My dad went into the hospital nearly a month ago, and we had mostly accepted that he wouldn't be home for Christmas. They finally discharged him to in-patient rehab on Thursday night. I visited him Friday morning and spoke with the care coordinator. Decent place, more comfortable and closer to home than the hospital.
We visited him again this morning, Christmas Day. We couldn't really bring a lot of Christmas to him, but we tried. We went back home and less than two hours later, a nurse called to tell us dad "had a 'difficulty breathing episode'" and the in-house doctor was recommending that he go back to the hospital.
I’ve been calling the ER every hour or so since they moved him back. On the fifth try, someone finally picked up but told me to call back an hour later while they verified they were allowed to speak to me.
I haven't gotten anyone to pick up the phone since. I’m going to head over to the ER tomorrow, wave around my Power of Attorney, and find out what happened to dad. Merry Crapmas!
67. The Missing Grandpa
My grandpa is an old and vaguely arrogant man. He’s also a 63-year-old who has Parkinson’s, cataracts in both eyes, and bad legs. Anyway, this man couldn’t understand why we were worried when he just up and left the movie theater we were all at for Christmas.
He then had the audacity to act like we were in the wrong when we came home upset with him. Like no joke, he left the movie halfway through, smoked a cig outside, and then just walked all the home without telling anyone. It doesn’t end there.
He refuses to carry a phone with him because he considers it to be a leash, so we had no way to get a hold of him to figure out where the heck he was. I mean for crying out loud, we even had the movie theater staff helping us look for him and were about two minutes away from calling the sheriff's department and reporting him missing when he called from home and told us he was at the house.
68. Christmas Was A Smash
My father's wife had left him in November. I hated her, so it was no skin off my back, but my dad and younger brother loved her beyond reason. They were devastated, but we set up a tree anyway the day after Thanksgiving. We got out the ornaments and tried to overcome the somber mood. My dad took out the first ornament and threw it at the wall.
It was one of those colored glass balls, and it shattered. My brother and I froze and watched as he threw the ornaments one by one—glass ones, homemade ones, all of them. He walked over to the couch, sat down, and threw the rest while crying. We left the room. Not a word was said. He would not let us clean it up, and it stayed that way until sometime in January when he quietly cleaned it up while we were at our grandparent's house. I've pretty much hated Xmas since then.
69. A Half-Baked Idea
I really wanted a Nintendo as a kid, and so did all my friends. The whole time running up to Christmas, that’s all I could talk about and how I was going to beat select levels and so forth. I had no idea what kind of levels there were, but I was already planning my quest in my head. In the middle of the night, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to scope out the Christmas tree.
Behind the couch, I found this big box covered with a trash bag. In my head, I was thinking, “This is it. I finally get to play Nintendo”. Five hours later, my family was all around the Christmas tree, and we had already opened all our gifts. My mom and dad always saved one big gift towards the end. My dad came around the corner and had this cool-looking bike for my brother.
During that time, all I could hear in my head was “Nintendo, come on Nintendo OMG”! My mom left and said, “Here you go. I hope you like it”. It was the big box I saw earlier. I quickly ripped open the packaging and trash bag that was covering the box, hoping to see that lovely Mario face, only to make a disturbing discovery. The box had the color pink everywhere. In my head I was like “What is this”?
I finally got rid of the packing to see an Easy Bake Oven. I just remember doing the “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” and the horror on my face. They still get a laugh of it, but at the time it was devastating. I guess my mom wanted to teach me how to cook and thought this would be a great gift. The worst part about the whole ordeal was for the next three months all I could do was hear all my friends talk about the levels and games they were playing on their Nintendos.
70. Oy, Vey!
As a child, my grandfather’s mother and her family escaped Hungary during the pogroms and came to Philadelphia. Then my great-great-grandfather married my great-grandmother's BEST FRIEND, who was 15 at the time. Horrified at the thought of calling her best friend mom, their daughter (my grandfather’s mother) ran away to New York and changed her last name from Friedkin to Fredericks.
Being a 14-year-old girl alone, she felt being Jewish was too dangerous. She eventually married a man who was Anglican. But, she wanted to raise her kids as Americans, and to her, the most American religion she could think of was Baptist. So the kids were raised as Baptists. She made one huge error, however, she named her daughter Sadie.
When Sadie was around 14, she decided her name was "too Jewy", so she changed her name to Sarah and swore her brother, my grandfather, to secrecy. Years later, after Sadie/Sarah passed, my grandfather, who had a very dry sense of humor, decided to break the news to us at Christmas that we were actually Jewish.
71. Plain Bad Luck
My flight home from work was scheduled for Christmas Eve during the day. The infamous mechanical difficulties caused a series of delays until nighttime, when the flight crew had maxed out their hours, so the flight was canceled.
I "slept" at the airport for the flight the next day. I have a medical condition that makes standing for long very painful, and I wound up standing in line for over an hour to get reticketed. I flew home Christmas day, exhausted and in lots of pain.
72. Oh, Brother
At Christmas, my mother and brother started yelling at each other over who gets the last glass of red. My mom literally orchestrated the entire cooking process all day. Meanwhile, my brother played games. Everyone else told him to shut up. So then this 35-year-old man-child temper tantrum ensues.
Multiple people, myself included, were about to get involved. However, my mother is always the bigger person, and she gives in, saying she didn’t want this to ruin our Christmas. I feel her pain for all she has to deal with.
73. Oopsie Daisie
My mom slipped on a patch of ice on her way into my house for breakfast and gifts this morning. She insisted she was fine, but after a few hours she could barely walk.
Her foot is broken and may require surgery. But that’s not all: Tomorrow is my birthday, so it looks like we'll be spending my birthday tomorrow in their hotel room.
My Christmas wasn't ruined, but I feel awful that hers and my dad's basically were. It is my 30th birthday coming up, and it was already giving me feelings even without all this extra stuff. I'm just glad I was there to fall with her and protect her head from hitting the concrete.
74. I Was A Mega Blokhead
Christmas came, and I had asked for a City LEGO set, but instead, Santa delivered a space Mega Bloks set. I hated Mega Bloks, and I completely hated space stuff. I wish that my tale ended there, but unfortunately, there was more disappointment on the agenda. I tried to open the box, but the packaging was shoddy and every time I tried to peel the tape off, it splintered.
After becoming frustrated, I acquired a steak blade from the kitchen to cut the tape. Being an 8-year-old who at the time was lacking some coordination and common sense, I started to cut the tape with the blade facing up. As it started cutting, it was building up tension. The blade broke free and found a path straight into my left eye.
To add more pain to the situation, my parents didn't believe me because there was no blood.
Finally, my old man took a look and just said, "Something’s not right", and drove us all to the ER. There I was, an 8-year-old who jabbed himself in the eye while trying to open a Mega Bloks space set.
75. Ice, Ice, Baby
Years ago, I decided to drive home for Christmas from Ohio to Kansas with my two dogs. Along the way, I stopped for a snack and, trying to get out of my car, cracked my nose on the car door after slipping on black ice. We ended up sitting on the highway for five hours due to black ice shutting the road down. I decided to get off on a county highway and take a detour down to another highway.
About 15 minutes into the detour, I was following a car going around a bend when they suddenly turned around. When I got up there, I saw why. We were at the top of a hill that was covered in black ice, and there were about ten different cars scattered on both sides of the hill and ditch. I couldn't stop. An hour later, I made it up to the other side. A younger guy and I decided to team up to go the other 20 miles through the country since we couldn't turn back.
There were tow trucks in ditches, and we were going to be stuck sleeping in our cars overnight in the country. My tank was also on empty. The dogs were so shocked they were silent. We took the front license plates off and used them along with our bare hands to shovel the gravel/ice mix and throw it on the road for traction. We used our phones for flashlights, in the freezing rain.
Four hours later, we made it to the highway and said goodbye. Once I got to a clean highway, I had to keep driving without any rest, or I would miss Christmas, which turned out to be my grandpa's last. Once I got to my parents, we had to immediately get in the car to drive another two hours to get to my grandparents, only to leave three hours later. In total, I spent 36 hours driving that weekend, and I had a cracked nose, but I made it!
Freepik, wayhomestudio
76. A Time To Remember
My father passed from a massive and unexpected heart attack three days after Christmas. I spent 15 minutes performing CPR before paramedics arrived and pronounced him gone. It was my worst Christmas—and it still affects me to this day. This year, I tried doing everything I could to make it perfect for my two small children, but trying to control my emotions while doing all the Christmas lights that my dad always helped with, and remembering that year was giving me nightmares. It sucks because I love Christmas, but this one was going to be rough for me.
77. Not The Most Magical Day
I’ve been planning a surprise Disney trip since March of this year for my kids. I built it up and got them luggage, and I was so excited to tell them. Their response? “I’m gonna go color”. Then my wife got me incredibly lazy gifts that had no thought put into them.
I’m typically the kind of person who prefers nothing and frankly it would have been better to have received nothing than what I did get. The lack of thought hurt. But I’m the jerk.
78. I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying
My dog Woody who I had for 15 years passed a couple of months ago, and this was my first Christmas without him. I just missed him a lot today. Christmas was his favorite, as he loved to be dressed up in silly Christmas outfits and was a champ at unwrapping presents.
79. A Snap Decision
I had to leave Christmas dinner at my parents' early because my aunt and uncle brought their horrible and yappy dogs, one of which growled and snapped at my three-year-old. They are a known risk.
I asked weeks ago if the dogs would be there and was assured they wouldn't be. Turns out, my mother didn't bother to check and my aunt and uncle assumed it would be fine. If I'd known, I would have just stayed at home and done our own thing.
The only reason I went is that my dad is terminally ill and we don't know which Christmas will be his last.
80. Sister Acting Up
My older sister is 25. Now, she’s expecting her first child so she’s already hormonal and moody. But that’s not the big problem. She’s also extremely bossy naturally, always telling me what to do (mostly what not to do) even when our mother is present and doesn’t have a problem with my actions.
I’ve been patient with her all day since it’s Christmas and it’s the first day I’ve been off since we’ve been home for the holidays. An hour ago, I was playing around with her dog and she kept telling me how not to play with him even though I’ve known him for four years and he’s had absolutely no problem with how we were playing.
Eventually, I stormed out and called her insufferable. Her reaction stunned me. Now she’s decided to head home (an hour away) tomorrow instead of a couple of days from now, and my mother is afraid she won’t see the new baby much and is insinuating that it’s my fault.
I’m absolutely sick of having to tiptoe around her. I had to before the pregnancy as well and I’m over it. if my sister wants to be immature and hold a child over anyone’s head to get her way, she can suck it.
81. A Croupy Christmas
Five days before Christmas, I started feeling a sore throat coming on. I didn't think too much about it because I used to get strep very often before I had my tonsils removed. It continuously got worse, and I began losing my voice, yet I still thought nothing of it. On Christmas morning, I got up, barely able to breathe. I couldn't eat or drink anything because of the severe pain in my throat.
By that time, my parents told me, "You're going to the hospital", so we did. It turned out I had the croup virus, and my airway was closing in on me. They gave me a breathing treatment to no avail. It wasn't until steroids were added that it began to do the trick. So, there I sat in a hospital bed, breathing through a steamy tube on Christmas morning. The doctor said I wouldn't have woken up the next morning if I hadn't gotten the treatment. It’s scary to think my own ignorance almost did me in.
Wikimedia Commons, Flickr: Inauguración de nuevo edificio del Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna
82. Off To Grandma’s House We Go
For Christmas, I received a Sega Genesis. I had only played it for about half of an hour before we had to start getting ready to go to Grandma’s house. There is not one 10-year-old kid who would rather go to Grandma’s, instead of playing a brand-new video game console. We went to her house all day. Time slowly ticked by, but eventually, it was time to go.
By the time we left, the snow was coming down pretty hard. We lived about 20 mins away, so I would be back to the Genesis in no time. We were about halfway home when my dad started having trouble driving. We had just moved to the area and did not have the skills or equipment to drive in the snow. We got stuck at the bottom of a hill.
We had to walk almost a mile to a person's house who we barely knew. They let us stay there that night, but I could not sleep. I could not get my mind off of my Sega Genesis which was just sitting there, not being played. It was awful.
83. He Put The “X” In Xmas
My mother passed in late August of 2006. That Christmas, I knew that everyone would have a hard time as Xmas was mom's favorite holiday. So, I bought everyone racy adult items and wrapped them in boxes of all shapes and sizes. Once Christmas morning came around, everyone found gifts filled with "Black Tail" and "Barely Legal".
It was weird at the time, but now everyone refers to it as "the time Ryan bought everyone naughty movies", which was what I was hoping for.
84. This Is Not A Game
I had to go over to my in-laws’ house for Christmas. This wouldn't have been too bad, except that my toddler wanted to play in the Christmas tree so badly that he could barely stand it. I spent the majority of the time trying to keep my kid from tearing all the decorations down. And then it got more annoying.
See, my son's great-grandmother was there, and she doesn't have a clue how to interact with children. He was gifted some new toy trucks. While he was playing with them, she kept pretending that she was going to take his toys away from him, making him cry. Yeah, GREAT IDEA.
He was ALREADY upset about not being allowed to play in the tree, and when he finally finds an acceptable source of entertainment, he has to worry about some lady taking his toys. At one point she even actually took his truck out of his hands, causing him to cry. I was so irritated.
Then, she didn't understand why he didn't want anything to do with her. I was like, "Well, now he is afraid that you are going to take his toys”.
85. A Family Affair
My dad gave his girlfriend so many expensive gifts. Like a Moncler coat another diamond ring and so, so much more. Meanwhile, he obviously put no effort into shopping for my sister and I. Just kind of hurts to see he cares more about spoiling his young model girlfriend than his two daughters.
86. One Moment Can Ruin Everything
Some jerk reversed into my downstairs living room at 10 am on Christmas morning. He then drove into my neighbor’s kitchen. Eventually the authorities detained him, and the fire brigade came and inspected my house to see if it was still structurally sound.
Because of that, we had to evacuate for a time. Now we will have to get insurance involved and find builders, but everything is closed for now so big headache.
87. What In The Ham Happened?
It was Christmas morning, and I was around six years old, while my older sister and brother were 16 and 14. For the next three hours, while we were making cookies, we were in charge of watching the oven with the ham in it to make sure there wouldn't be a fire because our parents had to go pick up a few things. Being young and having my first session baking, I made a gigantic mess.
My older sister had to sit me on the bathroom counter and clean me up because I had cookie dough all over my face and in my hair. My older brother had to finish the baking on his own. After I got cleaned up, my sister and brother went to play Final Fantasy 7 on the PlayStation while I sat on the couch and watched. I smelled a strong scent of cinnamon and nutmeg and fell asleep. Big mistake.
I don't know how long I was asleep, but I woke up to fire alarms, my siblings yelling at each other, and scrambling to figure out how to use the fire extinguisher. I jumped off the couch, grabbed my pail, and tried to fill it up with water from the bathroom, but I couldn't reach it. After a loud hissing noise, my sister grabbed me and ran outside of the house.
I asked her what was happening, and my brother just said that we were in trouble. I started crying. It wasn't long after that our parents got home, and the entire mess was discovered. I was happy that I didn't get punished and that the house didn't burn down.
88. Touched By An Angel
One Christmas, my brother, sister and I were enjoying opening presents on Christmas morning. Mom was watching on the couch while Dad was filming it. We had a wood-burning stove in the center of our living room to keep us warm. It was quite hot, and there was nothing resembling a fence or gate or any sort of protection from touching it.
Everything was so cozy—but that’s when disaster struck. My little sister had been walking for a bit, but still had to grab onto objects for support. As we were opening presents, there was suddenly a scream as my sister placed her hands on the stove for support. I still remember the large blisters on the palms of her hands as they were healing.
89. Uh-Oh
Nothing has gone wrong YET with my Christmas. But my husband did say something along the lines of “I hope you don’t get me a coat for Christmas” and it’s exactly what I got him soooooo….
43. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
This Christmas, my mom brought up the diary I kept as a teenager years ago. Its contents were heartbreaking and should never have been discussed. I was in a really bad place at the time, and had all kinds of plans for ending it. Even worse, she brought it up in front of everyone.
I have spent the last two hours in my room crying and feeling all sorts of emotions. I’m 25 now but darn, I feel all the feelings I left at that time and I don’t know how to feel.
90. A No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day
My parents are both gone now. I am only 41, but I lost my last parent a few years ago. My boyfriend doesn’t celebrate Christmas, or really care about it. His grandma—more like mom as she raised him—passed a couple years back as well. We are now in a new place with no friends or family.
I don’t have kids (twice widowed, it’s complicated). He never had kids either. My only real living relative is my sister. She lives two states away. The present she bought me (the only present I was getting) got pilfered by porch pirates.
I ordered Chinese food. My order was canceled five minutes before arrival.
91. Going It Alone
It was the first Christmas I’ve been separated. I was able to spend a few hours with my kids and my parents, siblings, etc. But when the kids became bored and were tearing up asking to go home, I broke down. I got them back with their mom, safe and sound, and cried for the next hour and a half.
I was honestly surprised at how much heartache I felt today.
92. He Got His Rocks Off
When I was younger, my family had a tradition of putting all of our Christmas gifts under the tree at the beginning of December. One Christmas, my brother placed a rather small gift box under the tree with my name on it. I waited all of December to open this thing thinking that it had to be something amazing. I even shook it a few times and heard something knocking around in there, and assumed it was something small and valuable.
When Christmas Day rolled around, I ran to that gift first. I ripped open the gift wrap, pulled off the lid, and it was full of rocks. I've never seen my brother laugh as hard as he did at that particular moment. My parents were so mad at him that he ended up going out and buying me a huge bag of candy to make up for it.
93. Time Was Ticking
My grandma had gotten married on Thanksgiving a few years prior, so my entire family took a trip out to Arizona to celebrate. Part of the celebration was a family horse ride. My horse had a tick that burrowed into my jeans and eventually into my leg. On the evening of December 23, I had a "cardiac event" and smashed my head on a painting and the wall and spent the night in the ER full of needles.
It turned out the tick gave me Lyme disease, but no one even considered that since there were no ticks where I lived during the winter.
94. A Holiday Escape Plan
On Christmas Eve, my husband got extremely sloshed and was crying and yelling in the basement. I was sitting on the couch upstairs watching Christmas movies with my kids, trying to distract them from the sad sounds coming from below. Our marriage was basically over because of his drinking. I was trying to leave him but had kids, no money, and my family was across the country.
Suddenly, we heard a large crash. He had fallen down the stairs and hit his head. I helped him up two flights of stairs to our room while the kids sat and watched their mom deal with their trashed dad again. The next morning, he woke up early, still tipsy, and started picking arguments with me. That was when I realized what a jerk he really was because he picked up the phone and called emergency services, saying I threw a shoe at him.
Meanwhile, he was banged up from falling down the stairs. I freaked out, afraid of what would happen because I hadn't thrown anything at him. The authorities came and realized he was still inebriated. They talked to the kids and could see I hadn't done anything. The reason he gave for calling them and lying was that I had called the authorities on him one night when he was scaring me, so it was payback.
They didn't make him get out, and I held it together for my kids so they could have a nice Christmas while planning how I was going to finally leave. I left within a few months back to my family and friends who loved me.
95. The Chosen One
I was dared to break a gingerbread house with my head, and no one thought I would do it. I slammed my head full throttle into the corner of it, and it was so stale that it left a gash in my forehead. My mother was yelling that I needed stitches, though I never got them because I was too scared.
Meanwhile, my dad was videotaping, and my grandma screamed. Now I’m walking around like an uncool Harry Potter.
96. Dump The Whole Woman
My girlfriend shamed me for taking a half day off work on Christmas Eve to see my family. I woke up to her making snide comments about how it “must be nice” to sleep in a bit, then she told me to “run home to mommy”. This was all unprovoked while I was lying in bed. Needless to say, it’s put a damper on the whole holidays.
97. Meet The Monsters-In-Law
My in-laws. You hear tales of people with terrible in-laws, but I have been living it for 18 years now. This year above all others, they were at their absolute worst behavior. Aside from complaining about every single restaurant, store, park, or place where we took them, they also ruined my daughter’s 17th birthday.
They felt that they would take her around to places they wanted to go, all while telling my daughter that her hair looks like garbage because she's dyed it too many times, and that she is too skinny and in need of a hearty meal.
My daughter tried to show them places, things, and eateries that were special to her, and the in-laws told her how awful all of those things were, that the service was bad, the food terrible, the location awful, and that they would never go back to those places.
My daughter told me that they would complain about me and my wife as well, saying how they saw us both as failures and that they were hoping that they could “rescue” my daughter by paying for her to go to a college of their choosing.
It was the worst possible week, ruined the entire holiday, and the only good present that they gave was that they left and went home on the 26th.
98. Spoiled Brat Much?
On Christmas, my daughter told me she "grew up poor". We gave her a car for her 16th birthday, paid for countless summer sports, and paid at least half of her college. We also paid for her wedding. Really bums me out to know I have raised this kind of adult.
99. I Am What I Am
My wife just started to breastfeed our baby. It’s Christmas, and my mom and my wife’s mom are talking about the whole situation of having a baby. Then my mom makes a jaw-dropping statement. She said when she had kids, she had my father “work” on her chest to keep the milk flowing and not be clogged. I KNOW.
I was so embarrassed I didn’t know where to hide. My mom just has no filter, no brakes. I always tell her that she should consider that some people don’t want to hear some personal details but she’s like “I won’t change, if people don’t accept me for who I am, I don’t care”. It’s good advice…to a point.
100. Sick Day
While we were on our way to my sister's, my son who is four complained about a headache. We get to my sister's, he plops on the couch, he cries about his head some more. I pick him up and he pukes all over me, the floor, and on the dinner table.
Luckily the food wasn't out so no-one else's Thanksgiving took a big hit, but mine definitely did. He's up running around now at home...toddlers are wild.
101. Family Doesn’t Always Make It Better
I just got done with an introductory, probationary period at a new job. It’s a traveling job. For the last while, there’s been no travel for two weeks and it’s all work from home. My family knew I was home and were just relentless in getting to me.
My ex is so terribly negative, it was the last straw at Thanksgiving. She complained that the car I gifted my daughter, that she uses free of charge, had bad tires on it and she had to walk partly up a driveway. The tires were replaced over the summer and again—free. I pay for the car and the insurance.
I lied about having work just to get away from all this. On the “way” just driving around, I had a full-blown panic attack. It was a mixture of work and family stress. I pulled over needed about two full hours just to collect myself.
It was the worst I ever had. Thought I was going to pass out or worse. I recovered and spent a glorious day at a zoo and just doing what I wanted to. I read. I watched a great documentary on Ralph Lauren. The podcasts on the way home were amazing. It was an empty highway. I’m now loving life. But not for long.
I come home to my mother complaining to me about me not working on my yard enough. I wasn’t thinking and placed a turkey in the oven, only it had been in the fridge too long because I skipped town. It tasted horrible and very off, and I think I might be sick.
I’m hoping it’s just for 24 hours because my daughters come over tomorrow for a late Thanksgiving meal I do just for them. Takeaway: I need to manage stress better. Hit the gym harder. I don’t know. But that panic attack was a two-hour nightmare.
Never ever again. As soon as I recover from this stomach bug, I’ll research some ideas. Thanksgiving isn’t over yet though. Like they always do, my daughters will make it better.
102. What A Turkey
My brother, who is staying with his girlfriend and her family for Thanksgiving, sent me a text saying he was going to get laid for the first time. Now, I’m a good brother and I’m “proud” of him, I guess you could say. But, well, I also wanted to ruin it for him a bit.
So I decided to send him a deluge of facts about US Presidents. Now I can’t stop laughing at the thought of him being like, “Hey babe hold up, I gotta check this thing out about Zachary Taylor”.
103. Ruined Forever?
My uncle invited my wife and I to his place to have dinner with his long-time girlfriend's family.
I had a really great time. Multigenerational classic Thanksgiving. I brought pies I made from scratch and everything. And then the illusion shattered. I had a complete implosion and had to disappear to the deck to cry my butt off.
This will be the third year since my mom suddenly passed on Christmas Eve. This amazing and warm family welcoming us in with open arms made me remember holidays past, before mom was gone, and it just broke me.
I've been in a horrible mood ever since. I cheered up when I was able to go back in and my pies were VERY well received, but I've just been sulking since we left. I miss enjoying the Holidays.
104. Not Kidding Around
In October, my little one and I were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s. We’re new in this city and far from family, so it was nice to get invited and I was excited for kiddo and I to not spend Thanksgiving alone.
The host and I kept in contact throughout the week and even coordinated what I would bring to dinner. I woke up this morning to a text that said she’s changed her mind and decided she wants an adults-only Thanksgiving dinner.
I completely understand since my little one would’ve been the only child there, but I wish she didn’t wait until the morning of to tell me. If I had more notice, I might’ve been able to plan something different for me and the child.
105. Home Is Where the Inheritance Is
What ruined Christmas for me this year? Easy. It was watching my dad and his siblings fighting over my recently deceased grandmother’s house. I really miss my grandma and really hope my family can work this out, especially because it turned out that neither my dad nor his siblings got the house. Instead, she did something that shocked everyone.
The attorney just called to let us know that Grandma randomly left the house to...me. And the rest of her assets are to be divided between me, my brother, and my two cousins. Even though I'm pre-law, I really don’t know what I am going to do.
106. Morphin' Time
When I was a kid, we went to a farm for Thanksgiving and they slaughtered our turkey. They cut the feet off, so I took them, put them inside my sweater, and grabbed them as if they were my hands. I was small enough that the ratio was such that it looked like I really did have scaly, reptilian hands. My mom was laying on the couch taking a nap, so I went up to her quietly and touched her cheek with one of my new hands.
When she started to stir, I screamed: "I'M CHANGING! I'M CHANGING! IT HURTS SO BAD!!!" She freaked the heck out and started screaming like crazy. She tried to back up against the back of the couch and ended up going over the edge of it. It took several members of my family to calm her down. Still, nobody took my new hands away.
107. Left Out In The Cold
When I was about 13, like many other teenage girls, I worried about my weight. One dish my family always had for Thanksgiving was candied yams with big marshmallows on top. I opted out of eating the marshmallows. My family's "punishment" was so disturbing I'll never forgive them. They locked me outside on the porch, while I was only in light PJs, standing in the snow.
They enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner in front of me because the table was right in front of the glass porch door. I was very lucky to somehow not get frostbite, but I learned that day that frostnip can be quite painful. The most crushing thing however is that my grandmother was visiting for that holiday, and she sided with my parents and saw no wrong in this.
She even joined in their later berating. This kind of punishment wasn't abnormal but having someone witness and not care was one of the worst experiences of my life. I don't talk to any of them anymore.
108. Caught Red-Handed
My then-boyfriend had let me use his iPad to watch a movie on Netflix. He had his messenger account linked to both his tablet and his phone, and messages kept popping up on it while I was watching without him realizing I could see. I got to watch in real-time as he got his best friend's wife to agree to sleep with him over the coming holiday weekend; with the promise that he'd get rid of me for that weekend so they could get intimate in our bed.
