CHRISTMAS ’09: BDB! (Booze, Depression, Bowling)
Now, this title probably throws most for a loop. How can booze, bowling, and depression be linked together? I’ll answer that with a simply put, concise response: they all coincided on Christmas Day this year. As we all know, the recession has put most families in a slight (to say the least) financial crunch. Whether it be cutting back on traveling, eating out, or buying gifts; most families have had to make specific cuts in order to put together the best Christmas a family can put together. Of course, my family needed to take this particular route for xmas 2009. I knew that there would be limited to no gifts this year and that not the whole family would be able to make it to Powhatan to spend it with the parents, but it wasn’t until the morning of Christmas that it began to sink in. The depression overwhelmingly took me over as my brother handed me the first gift which consisted of the toiletries I had left at my brothers house the previous time I had seen him. OH BOY, I said to myself. The joke was eminent but it was a sobering reality that I wasn’t getting much of anything this Christmas. The mood just wasn’t quite right around our slightly smaller xmas tree this morning (my mom was taller than the tree). Pictures were taken at a minimum and the excitement was left behind at Penny Lane Pub still drinking away its sorrows. After the toiletry shenanigans, my gift(s) basically consisted of an outfit. Before I knew it, that was it. I looked around and the thoughts of getting a cell phone or even a video game were long gone. The first signs of financial distraught were made clear this Christmas morning. The joys of being a twelve year old on Christmas morning were long gone! Oy Vey. Enough of me bitching about gifts, though. It was the question posed by my father 30 to 40 minutes after the frail gift opening that brought on the true depression that is known as BDB. Loosely paraphrased, my father asked us “how about we go out for a game of bowling?” ‘Are you fucken serious?’ I asked myself. Who in anyone’s right mind would consider bowling on Christmas fucking morning? Well, apparently my father did and, unbeknownst to me, my mother and my brother and his fiancée were all on board. I was in utter shock. I made a feeble attempt to back out of the BDB trip by saying I didn’t like bowling, but who really hates bowling? They could smell my lie. But in all honesty I did not want to go AT ALL! Anyway, I was defeated and in the car. I was on a one way ticket to Christmas day ’09 disaster. I arrived to what seemed to be a ghost town. If it wasn’t for the toothless hicks sitting inside, I would’ve probably been able to convince my parents that the place was closed. Unfortunately the hicks got to my parents first. I couldn’t drive myself to talk at this point. I WAS IN A FUCKEN BOWLING ALLEY ON CHRISTMAS DAY. The only thing left to do at this point was suck it up, get a 12 sized ball, and get a pitcher. We could’ve bowled in any lane, but they chose to place us conveniently at the farthest lane from the bar which, to no ones surprise, did not hinder me from going to and fro. It was the worst beginning I could’ve asked for on a day that most people dread to be over. At this point, I wanted this day over and done with. But, I swallowed my pride and finished the game and luckily with a bit of a buzz. As the game wrapped up it dawned on me, with the help of my brother, that at some point or another, this day is simply just another day just with a fancy title. I’m an adult and the days of hoping for a new cell phone or a video game are long gone and I must accept that and if I don’t get that, then I musn’t be upset. I am 23 for Christ’s Sake! Now, there really isn’t any climactic ending to this story (very much so like my xmas day!) but I can say that I can take this day and make a joke of it. A good joke that is. At the time, I was furious, but now that I think about it I can shrug it off as just another weird but true story that I have in my ‘santa bag’ of tales. Atleast my ‘santa bag’ of tales won’t disappoint people! I’m sure most people had a wonderful final Christmas of the decade, but I can assuredly say that none had as interesting a day as I did and if so, please do tell!
- Joel_Jameson_jm
