An UnMerry Christmas? | Life

IT WAS AN INTERESTING Christmas Eve and Christmas. It was small and intimate to put it lightly, I guess. I did mention how I was blessed because I wanted to put some positivity out there. And then? Well, I’ll mention the bad first and end with the good.

CHRISTMAS EVE

CHRISTMAS EVE WAS UPSETTING. I mean, I woke up in a mood to begin with. I was already tired and annoyed. Then, my wife got a phone call at 8 am (she had been on call). Work wanted her to come in at 2:30 pm to 10 pm. That was kind of upsetting.

So we dropped her off at the train station and she set out to start her day. My 3 kids and I decided to walk to Walmart to get some food for dinner for Christmas Day since everything would be closed for the holidays.

It was overcast and foggy, and it felt a bit wet but it wasn’t raining. It had been gloomy the last few days so I wasn’t worried if it was going to rain or not.

IT RAINED. We went shopping, grabbed some Burger King for lunch, carried what we needed and headed out. And it was drizzling. It hadn’t rained in weeks! It was always just gloomy. I was like really?

We needed to walk about a block to get home, so we were hurrying. By the time we got back, we were wet. We got inside the RV, took our jackets off and got comfortable.

I turned on Journey to Bethlehem for the babies and they started snacking. I asked if they wanted some Strawberry Fanta and as I proceeded to open it, it exploded and got all over my shirt, my pants, and the floor. I was pissed. We must have shaken it up when we were running home.

THEN THE POWER TURNED OFF. My PC shut down, the lights went off, and everything was quiet. My kids were like what happened? I thought that the spilled soda might have shorted something out in the RV.

My wife’s dad walked by the RV and spoke into the screen door, “Uh oh, the power went out.”

It was raining, so it made sense. I spoke out, “Oh, is that what happened? Ai yi yi.”

And he replied, “Yeah. On man.” He sounded genuinely disappointed. I figured it was raining so the power must have gone out. Makes sense.

UNTIL MY WIFE TEXTED ME. From work. Her sister (who was in her room here at the house) texted and told her that their dad turned off the power. He had seen the electricity bill was high and decided to turn off the power for a bit.

Oh. I was like really, what the fu**? So we sat in the dark for a while. My car is in bad shape so we couldn’t drive anywhere, and it was raining so we couldn’t walk or hang out outside.

So we sat in the dark. I was pissed. I was like really? And my wife mentioned and had mentioned countless times before, that her dad would do that when she was growing up. As a way of control. If you didn’t listen or cross him, he would turn off the power, shut off the internet, lock you out of the house, or disconnect their cell phones.

IT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS she didn’t want to move back because she knew how he was.

THE POWER EVENTUALLY TURNED ON. I decided to let my kids open 3 gifts that my parents got for them, early. They each got a tablet, so they were able to watch videos and play games without wasting electricity.

It was electronics off all day. I browsed and worked on projects off my phone. My kids played games and watched movies on their tablets.

I WAS LIVID THOUGH! It was Christmas Eve. I was already upset, we got rained on, the soda exploded, and the power was turned off on us. I kept to myself and worked on things on my phone to pass the time till my wife got home.

WE OPENED PRESENTS

MY WIFE GOT HOME AROUND 11:30ish so there was still time to spend the last moments of Christmas Eve together. And per our tradition, at midnight on Christmas Morning, we opened our presents.

We couldn’t afford presents this year because of all the craziness and my wife starting her job only a few weeks prior. But thankfully my parents got us something.

My kids each got their own tablet, which is nice cause they have been sharing an old one with a broken screen and my wife’s pen tablet. My boys also got boxing gloves, and a basketball, and my daughter got a set of markers for her artwork.

My wife got a tumbler cup she had been eyeballing for a while, and a carrier for the cup. I got an Artist 12 pen tablet, a new speaker, an HD webcam, and screen protectors for my phone.

My wife’s sister and husband also bought Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Harry Potter robes for each of our kids, which was cool!

So despite not having the means for presents this year, the Lord blessed us with enough. And it was a good night.

CHRISTMAS

MY WIFE WORKED CHRISTMAS DAY from 2:30 pm to 10 pm again. So we woke up around 10 am and got ready to head to the train station at 11 am.

My wife went in to brush her teeth and came in saying that her dad had gotten gifts for the babies. So we got dressed and then went inside. The dad and the stepmom said hello and merry Christmas to my wife and kids, and ignored me. Cool okay. As I think I mentioned before, the stepmom doesn’t like me very much. I headed to the bathroom while they opened presents.

By the time I was done, my wife and the babies were already outside waiting for me. I guess her dad said they could open the gifts in the RV. So we headed out and dropped off my wife at work.

I ASKED HER HOW IT WENT. She said it was kind of awkward, so the dad said the kids could open their presents in the RV. My kids’ cousin was there too, and the dad asked him to wish everyone a merry Christmas. He said Merry Christmas to my wife, but looked at my kids and said no, with a smirk on his face. I do not like that kid. He’s rude and disrespectful, and he started treating my youngest son badly.

I WAS ANNOYED TO HEAR THAT. We told my son not to play with their cousin anymore if he was going to act that way. Anyway, we dropped off my wife, and we headed back.

Their cousin came to the RV and gave a gift, said it was for all of my kids and left. We went inside and opened their gifts. My wife got a new winter jacket, and my kids got new jackets, pants, and Crocs. The gift their cousin gave them was a set of big wooden dominos. Of course, I didn’t get anything from them. It was disappointing, but I had already expected as much.

THE REST OF THE DAY WAS QUIET. We did our thing just like the day before. No electronics, just my phone and the tablets. I did what I could project-wise off my phone and the kids watched movies in an attempt to save electricity.

My wife got out and 10 pm and headed home, and we walked to pick her up at the bus station at 11:50ish. She was exhausted and ready to call it a night. And she sat down to check her computer and unwind…

THE INTERNET WAS SHUT OFF. I don’t think it was an outage cause I checked and the network was up in our area. It shut off as soon as we got back from picking my wife up.

I think he also shut the internet down on us. This guy dude! So here I am, it’s 6 am and the internet is still down. It doesn’t even show up as something to connect to like we were kicked off or blocked from the network.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

SO HE TURNED OFF THE POWER AND THE NET. That’s insane dude. I have a lot of projects that I need to work on, and I was planning to start streaming on TikTok and Twitch with Bmore Studios. Looks like that is going to be a problem if the net and power can and will be shut off at any moment. That’s so childish and toxic.

WE WANT TO FIND A PLACE OF OUR OWN. We want to get out of here. We have too much to do, and wasting it here with such toxic people is not good. Our only option is to get out. And I pray that the Lord blesses us with the finances, the opportunity, and the moment to move out into our own place. It’s in the Lord’s hands.

THE END OF 2024 is here. And I plan to push my work, projects, and life forward. As my man Gary Vee says, document, don’t create. And I’mma document this journey. Thank you for coming along! I hope you’re doing well, take care, and God bless. You Rock!