Pure Holiday Nightmares
The holiday season is supposed to be a time of joy and good cheer—but this is the real world, and it doesn't always work out that way.
Whether by the worst luck imaginable or a miserable grinch, for these people, the holiday season turned into a pure nightmare.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 tool 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.
