Rememberment, Chapter XX: Christmas Quarrels

As a kid I was of course always thrilled about Christmas and couldn't wait what Santa would bring me. To be fair though, I don't think I ever really thought Santa was anything other than one of our neighbours or relatives in a silly costume.

I mean, it was always this same mask which I had already seen being sold in every store.
Kids aren't that stupid.

Our Christmas Eve followed the same routine each year. In the morning, we drove to the graveyard and lit up some candles there. Getting back home, Mom started preparing food while me and my brothers wandered off to the woods to find a suitable spruce that would serve as our Christmas tree. After it had been cut down, brought in and decorated, it was time to eat. Then all the adults wanted to take a nap.

(A goddamn nap. How could they do that to me? There I was, the single person who was awake, anxious to get my hands on my precious presents, just waiting for the rest of the bunch to wake up. It was torture, I tell you.)

After an eternity of waiting, it was time to have some coffee and plum tarts. And then we waited some more, watching tv or whatever, and the day just dragged on and on. And then, just when I was about to burst, there was a heavy knock on the door.

I was basically the only child in the house, so I got the most presents: new Lego blocks, cap guns, games and clothes. And there was always something special - the last and best package, one gift to rule them all, something nice and expensive. By the time all the presents were unwrapped, it was often late in the evening already and I didn't have much time to play with my new toys. 

And then came the Christmas Day. I got up early in the morning to play with all my new stuff. Then, we had Christmas food again after which Mom would tell me the time of my cousins coming to visit.

It was one of Mom's sisters with her husband and two sons, who are around the same age as me. While I did spend a lot of time with them throughout the year, being friends and doing stuff together, they also quite often bullied me. Unlike mine, their family had lots of money and they often mocked my presents. However, every now and then I did get something for Christmas that was actually nice. When that happened they had a habit of breaking said thing as soon as I wasn't watching. I accused them of doing it on purpose, but since it was just my word against theirs, they weren't punished.

However, it was this one Christmas when I got a particularly fun game called Hungry Hungry Hippos. I played it together with my cousins and had lots of fun. But during my bathroom break, one of the levers operating the hippos had magically been broken in two. It was a sturdy piece of plastic, so they must have really had to go for it to make it break.

I was so mad I almost blacked out yelling at them. Again, the adults came to see what was wrong, but this time nobody believed that it had been an accident. The brothers had to apologize to me, and if memory serves, their parents did buy me a new one.

The next year, I got something I had been begging for the whole year.

It was this piece of gaming history.

After playing my Donkey Kong Jr. for hours on end, I went to my mom. "Can we please not have my cousins come here this year? I really don't want them to break my game."

After thinking about it for a while, Mom agreed. She called her sister and told her exactly why they are not welcome this year. It was a bit of an incident in itself - my Mom's sister was offended - but at least I've still got my game in one piece, sitting right here on my shelf as I'm writing this.