I wrote this story years ago, maybe when I was in high school, maybe when I was in college. It's hard to tell, because I write stories and leave them in poorly marked, unspecified files for myself to try to find years later. (Don't ask me how my photos are stored, ugh). But this story has to be at least six or seven years old. Some things have changed since then, some haven't. The sentiment of the holidays both as an intensely painful time and as a time of joy sticks with me to this day.
I leave you with this story, but I hope that if it rings too close to home and too true, that you find something about the holidays that you love, and keep it close by for comfort. We all get to write the stories of our lives, for better or worse, and I hope to keep writing better futures.
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I believed in Santa Claus until I was thirteen. That was
the year my father left, and winter came colder than I ever remembered. I don’t
know if I hugged him goodbye. Years later that night is all a blur. He had a
late flight, and my last vague memory was him standing in our dimly-lit kitchen
with his suitcase. He probably tried to force me to hug him. I don’t know when
he decided to leave, just that one day he was there and the next day he wasn’t.
My mom didn’t drive him to the airport – he called a taxi, probably the only
one in our little Mississippi
When he left, there were no eggshells or rooms to avoid. We
could be too quiet or too loud, we could play on the computer late, we didn’t
worry about food disappearing from the fridge.
But there was no one lying next to my mom in the big king
size bed. The dog took to sleeping there, and now, years later, no one can say
it isn’t her spot. I remember being small, teacake-size, and snuggling in
between my parents in the morning before school. The alarm would go off a few
times then they would shove me out, toward my room to get dressed.
The psychiatrist asked me once if Christmas made me miss
him. I don’t remember much of my father around Christmas, except maybe once or
twice he lifted me on his shoulders to put the angel on top of the tree. But we
always decorated with my mom and shopped with her. I don’t remember that much
of him during the rest of the year; I don’t know why she would think Christmas
was so special.
The year he left was different, because I decided if I was
old enough to manage without a father then I was old enough to not believe in
Santa Claus. It wasn’t really a rite of passage – not like my first kiss, or my
first period, or the first time I stayed home alone in the dark. Those had
already passed. Funny how they meant so little.
Now I lie in bed, wishing I could sleep as soundly as my
girlfriend next to me. The lights go out, and she’s down faster than a kid on a
snowboard. It’s Christmas Eve, and we’ll spend tomorrow with our separate
families and hopefully shove an hour together near the end. They’ve never met,
which is ok, because I doubt I could handle them all together. Christmas, and
all the alcohol that comes with it, would make it even more interesting.
We’ll go through the day tomorrow, thinking of each other
every moment, but in reality forgetting she exists. It’s the game we play with
our families, because they would so much rather believe we were single and
straight. Or married and straight. Just straight. It’s Christmas so they won’t
hassle us, unlike normal days. We’ll all gather around the tree and exchange
presents and drink until we’re smashed; the lesbian thing will disappear faster
than the turkey burns in the oven. Everyone will be nice, super nice, asking
how work is and telling me all the uber-exciting things they have done lately.
I’ll talk about how the pipe in the bathroom under the sink leaks sometimes and
how boring the Christmas party at work was. I won’t mention how we had great
sex last night or how she woke me up with mistletoe and hot chocolate. I’ll
forget how she lit all the candles in the house to remind me of Christmas Eve
church services when I was a kid.
I wonder what my father would do if he met her. What would
he think of the whole lesbian thing? (as if it were a phase, a sidebar from
life) When I was younger, and angrier, it would stir in me to call him and
yell: “Guess what? I’m gay.” It’s just too hypocritical though. I swore it
wasn’t about him, my life didn’t wrap around his goings and comings – or lack
of them. My sexuality wouldn’t depend on it either.
Even at Christmas I can’t forgive him. I’m not sure it’s
about forgiveness anymore. Is that Easter or Christmas? Christian holidays,
dear me, I can’t seem to keep track. All these people running around, saying,
“Think of the Baaabbby Jessssus,” as if he would open his eyes in some stroller
and ask, “So how are you really doing?”
No, Christmas is about little boys who count if they have
more presents than their sisters. It’s emptying your bank account for people
you haven’t seen in years. It’s cards from relatives you thought were dead,
roasted turkeys and hams and every animal possible, the Rockefeller tree with
some Rockettes in mini skirts doing high kicks.
This year the big thing is the debate between “Merry
Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” because the latter is more politically correct.
The truth is, no saying will make up the injustice of all the non-Christians
who are bombarded by gospel music on the radio, the television, in stores, and
seeping out of the very air. We haven’t named Hanukkah as a national holiday
(nor any other Jewish religious holiday), but for some reason we recognize
Valentine’s Day. Schools, workplaces, and décor are not based on some sort of
“Holiday Season” but rather Christmas – Santa Claus, Jesus, and red and green
stuff. I even know Jewish and Islamic people who give presents on Christmas.
Not that I think any day is a bad day for presents – if we gave more, maybe we
would need to take less. Or hate less. But it seems so… dominate-culture-ish.
My girlfriend hates Christmas, mostly because of the hype.
And she hates wrapping presents. Hates it more than getting out of bed at 4
a.m. or doing the dishes. Then there’s the money thing, how even when we pull
the rent out a month early, we get dangerously close to the hole come January.
We’re barely out in time to pay taxes in April. I miss being young – kids
usually get back more than they spend on others. Adults… not so much.
I’m going to try to go to sleep now. I won’t think of
tomorrow (and our silences) or my father or Santa Claus. I’ll dream of sugar
fairies and plums, or was it the other way around? It will all be over by
tomorrow night, when we’ll be back in bed – money spent and gifts unwrapped and
tummy full. I’ll let her lay her head on my chest, while I wrap my arms around
her. We’ll give each other the crummy things we need (and maybe a few we
don’t). But it will be just us. And life will begin again, for another 364 days
at least, the way it is every day – work, rent, friends, food, illnesses,
birthdays, the rest. My father and Santa Claus will go back to the places they
belong – the history of a child’s memory.
At the end it is not the imaginary, a fat man with a
sleigh, some reindeer, and the world full of children to deliver presents to,
that carries us along through the Season and the year. It is the problems of
our society, the delights and downfalls of family, and the banality of everyday
life.
But in the morning, I will awake and whisper, “Merry Christmas, beautiful, I love you.” I will push myself to be positive, to remember why it is worth waking up. The forced silence and the pain of remembering will go to the bottom of the closet for a little while. And she will be there. She’ll be there, and we will both be ok.
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