While dreaming of tearing wrapping paper off of long awaited presents, freshman Ciara Rozen could not wait for Christmas in 2006. It would be hours before she could taste the sweet Hershey chocolates that were poured in her stocking and play with her new Cinderella Princess Time Barbie.

As her parents opened her door to wake her, she jumped out of bed, pushed past them and sprinted down the staircase. As she turned the corner into her living room, she lost all of her excitement. There was her brother, lying on the floor, with her Cinderella Barbie and all the other toys she had asked for. He did not look up. He simply continued to finish off the last of her presents, along with his own.

“I was so mad,” Rozen said. “He liked opening presents, so he stayed up all night just so he could open mine, too. He didn’t leave one of my
presents unopened. He was in the living room at least three hours before my parents and I were up.”

Rozen isn’t the only one with a terrible holiday experience. Others have their own tragic stories of holiday gatherings.

“When I was 11, my family came to my house for the holidays,” freshman Chloe Billings said. “My grandma dropped the toothpick she was using. When my mom stood up she stepped on it and it went inside her foot. No one could get it out so my mom took me with her to the ER. They couldn’t get it out, so she soaked her foot in hot water for a week and it fell out by itself.”

Billings’ Christmas wasn’t ruined because of her mother’s injury, but some people weren’t as lucky.

“When I was eight, my younger sister and I were fighting over a stocking,” junior Maddie Janowak said. “We were pulling on it and the stocking holder fell, and it scratched her face. We ended up in the hospital and now she has a scar. I felt bad but it didn’t ruin my Christmas, and she has gotten used to the scar.”

Even dog pee cannot ruin the Christmas spirit.

“When my family bought our first real tree, we had three dogs,” sophomore Edward Farrell said. “We trusted them because they were well trained. We were mistaken. Two of the dogs peed on it, thankfully it didn’t ruin the tree.”

No matter how bad the events that lead up to this Christmas season are, it is important to remember that these are the stories that create lasting memories in people’s lives. The holidays are about your presence, not your presents.