My Heart Warming Christmas Story. Part One

Two years ago times were tough for my family. I was on more medication then I care to remember for the various aliments that seem to grow every time I went to the doctor. The only good news on the health front was that my sadistic eye doctor had not poked me in the eye with a needle in quite some time. I had gained some weight already in my life, but the massive doses of Prednisone (a truly vile drug) had caused me to gain so much weight I didn't even want to go outside to get the mail or take out the trash.
My wife was working at the time as an independent contractor. She would travel as far as the east coast to put decals on truck and cars. Sometimes she would be gone as long as two or three weeks. It was rough having her gone, but the money was too good. Especially with me not working. Plus Angie really enjoyed what she did, if not the long hours on the road.
However 9-11 ended all that. Like someone had thrown a switch work dried up almost immediately after the attacks. No one it seemed wanted to spend any money until they knew what was going on. By October things were getting rough for us. She did one last job for the company that would call her up in late October, but after that Angie got a job she hated in order to get money coming in.
With the money from the new job, (did I mention how much Angie hated it?) we started to pay our current bills but were behind on many others. She still had the one last check coming in from her last job , but it seemed to be taking forever for it to get here.
November stretched into December and the check still hadn't come. The check we were waiting for was going to pay some back bills and help us get back on our feet. But most importantly it was going to be our Christmas money. As more days dragged by and no check came the tension rose. We both were on edge. (Plus it didn't help that Angie was working a job she loathed.)
I would have gone to Mom and Dad to ask help for Christmas gifts, but Mom and Dad's business was going though a equally hard time as we were. In desperation I even went to my old job to ask for my job back. I did my best to convince my old boss that I was feeling fine now.
He didn't buy my act.
Finally on December 20th with days to spare, Angie's last check came in. $2,450 some odd dollars. Christmas was saved. Relieve washed over us. That night Ethan and I went to see The Fellowship Of The Ring. It was the first time I was able to relax in weeks. The next night I went to the Quad Cities and bought Angie and Mine's gift to ourselves . A TiVo that was on sale at Best Buy.
(TiVo for those of you still living in the dark ages is the single most greatest invention since the television. I could write about my love for TiVo all night. I could write love sonnets about TiVo if I had the ability. If you don't have a TiVo I suggest,....No I urge you to buy one. You won't regret it.)
The next night I bought the children's Christmas gifts. I was so happy. I probably spent more then I should, but I couldn't help it. While they were sleeping I snuck the gifts into the basement. When I came upstairs I watched Angie play the game Everquest for a little bit (dreadfully addictive game. I suggest you avoid it.) then went upstairs to go to bed.
I slept late the next day. When I woke up on Sunday December 23rd 2001, Angie was gone, dropping Ethan off at her mothers. We had a Christmas dinner at her Uncle's house that day and Ethan was going to ride over there in Angie's mother's car. I rolled out of bed feeling surprisingly good. My only concern was that the Bears were playing and I wanted to watch to see if they were going to make the playoffs that year. Angie's Uncle Gary had some wierd thing about not watching television.
Angie came back and I got ready to go. It was chilly that day, but otherwise it was beautifull out. I was going to dress warm but didn't when I thought I wouldn't be spending that much time outdoors. I left my heavier winter coat behind.
Around 11 in the morning we pulled out of the driveway and headed to her Uncle's house. During the 50 minute ride to her Uncle Gary's we had a nice time. We both felt a lot better since the check came. It wasn't going to be easy but we thought the worst was now behind us. In fact the biggest thing on our mind was that Angie had an Aunt there that hated the Simpsons, and video games. So of course we had Ethan take his Game Boy and the Simpsons game that went with it. We talked a little about Angie finding a different job after Christmas if her contracting job didn't pick up. ( Did I mention she was working a job she hated to support her lazy oaf of a husband?)
Once there I would slip out to my truck occasionally to listen to the Bears game. But for the most part I stayed in the living room watching Angie's Aunt scowl at Ethan as he "corrupted" her kids with that evil video game. Now that the worst was behind us I could do the things I enjoyed the most, being cruel to people that annoy me.
We had been there about an hour or so when the phone rang. Angie's Uncle Gary came into the living room with the cordless phone.
"It's for you." Gary looked a little nervous.
For me? Who the hell knew I was even at Gary's house? I took the phone from Gary.
"Hello?"
Angie's brothers voice came over the phone. He had stayed home because he was ill. His voice was fuzzy and hard to understand.
"Tom? Your house is in frame", I thought I heard him him say.
"Frame ? What the heck are you talking about?"
"Flame!", came his voice much clearer now.
"Your house is on fire!"
My next blog; THE WORST WASN'T OVER