Short Stories

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When Joyce and I get married, we brought our personal problems and attitudes into the marriage. Our separate childhood Christmas experiences affected our first Christmas.

I originally published this story on Yahoo Voices under the pen name John Mario. I did not receive an upfront payment and I retained all rights to this story.




I remember when I was a child. I was so excited on each Christmas Eve that I rarely finished my meal. That was the only day of the year when my mom and dad didn't insist on my finishing my meal. All I could think about was the Christmas presents sitting under the Christmas tree. No, Santa Claus had not come yet. But my mom and dad always had some gifts for us to open on Christmas Eve. Those were the gifts from mom and dad. Our gifts (my brothers and I) from Santa Claus would arrive sometime during the night.

As I grew older, I became more and more aware of family problems that sometimes could not be set aside on any day, not even Christmas. My dad had suffered a nervous and mental breakdown at the end of his duties in the US Army during the Second World War the problems due to his experiences during the war and his breakdown were almost always present. He did his best for all of us and did exceptionally well bringing in an income when I consider how difficult it was for him to work and how easy it would have been for him to sit back and collect disability.

When my wife was a child, she always had a joyful Christmas. Her mom and dad would not talk about problems during Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. About a week before Christmas, her dad and mom would take her to a local Christmas Tree Farm to pick the perfect Christmas tree for cutting. They would tie the tree to the top of the car. Joyce was so excited she could hardly hold it in. She would assist her dad cutting the trunk of the tree to the right size to fit in the family tree stand. Then the family would settle down and decorate the tree. The family tree was not just a decoration for a few days. In fact, the tree almost became a family pet that was watered and fussed over sometimes for more than a month and mourned when taken down.

So the Christmas season difficulties that arose when we got first were married were almost unavoidable. Joyce was extremely enthusiastic about Christmas. She truly enjoyed decorating, wrapping gifts and Christmas shopping. Christmas was often not a happy occasion for me. I was far less enthusiastic then Joyce. This Joyce could not understand not knowing my background. We got through Christmas, but I had disappointed Joyce. My lack of enthusiasm was a downer for her.

Joyce would put a Christmas reed on the front door. She would set up a Dickens Christmas village on a table in the dinette. She would set up the Christmas tree and the Nativity scene on a folding table in the living room and have various Christmas decorations on the walls. I had never seen this during my younger years and thought it was a bit overdone. It wasn't. At least, it wasn't for Joyce.

I remember the year we had seen Jurassic Park. I had bought a toy T-Rex. It was just the right height for the Dickens Christmas village. So, while she was not looking, I placed it in the Christmas village. We also had a toy hippopotamus. I placed that in the line waiting to see the baby Jesus in the nativity scene. The expression on Joyce's face when she saw them made the whole joke worthed. When she protested, I said, "Well, they're God's creatures too!"

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