Ubermas 06: Cruel Yule (434 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.91 on 14 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by ghola (View user info) at 2006-12-15 17:38:27 EST
Christmas was her favorite time of year. She didn't get too jazzed over the gifts, the colorful strings of lights or the pounds of pumpkin she knew she'd consume. Every year was pretty much the same. On December 10th, they put up the Christmas tree.
"Any earlier and it'd be tacky," her mother would say.
They ate fudge and chips and a cheese ball while stringing homemade decorations around the tree's flopping branches. They'd had the same tree for as long as she could remember and each year it got a little sadder. The branches drooped a little more, the stand got more wobbly and in recent years the tree had turned a grayish-green hue.
Her mom's semi-ancient tape deck would warble out Little Drummer Boy and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer while Casey stood on her tiptoes to hang a candy cane on one of the higher branches.
Years passed and Casey didn't have to stand on her toes to reach the higher branches anymore. In fact, she put the star on each year. She'd sprouted to almost six feet and towered over her little crone of a mother.
The tape deck had long since broken and Casey bought her mother a CD player. They didn't have any of the old songs, but 98.7 played Christmas music around the clock.
The house seemed smaller over the years, but it was still warm. The stockings, though faded to a pale pink, still hung over the kitchen table. Casey and her mother sat at the table drinking hot cider and munching on sugar cookies. Casey never really developed a tasted for hot cider, but her mother liked it, so she stomached it too.
"What do you want for Christmas this year?" she asked Casey.
"Doesn't matter," she replied.
It was a game they played every year. Casey didn't care what her mother bought, but her mother wanted to feel like it was the right thing. There was the year her mother bought her a set of crystalline picture frames. Casey hadn't even known what crystalline meant. She also didn't own a camera. One year her mother bought her a set of cheese graters in all different sizes. She hadn't been sure what to make of the gift, but she had developed a taste for fine cheeses.
"You know it does," her mother chided.
"I love everything you get me."
They sat and ate and rehashed the year's events. Casey didn't make it home very often. The drive back East was expensive and she was rarely able to take off work. If she took off too much, they would replace her. She'd seen it happen.
The rest of the Holiday plodded along like any other. They went shopping and didn't buy much. They decorated the house with hand-me-downs and a few new things from the Dollar General. It was nice, just like every other year.
On Christmas Eve they each went to bed at 10:00 P.M. Neither of them was tired, but they'd gone to bed at that hour every year. Casey's mom used to tell her that if she didn't go to bed early, Santa wouldn't come.
Casey crawled into her twin sized bed with the blue striped comforter and the wooden posts at the end. Her feet rested comfortably against the cool wood and she bent her head slightly to avoid bumping the wall.
The glare of a street light illuminated the room and she watched shadows dance across her bedroom wall each time a car drove by. It used to terrify her when she was a kid. She'd drape blankets over the windows to prevent those awful shadows or she'd burrow underneath the covers and count backwards from a 1000 until she fell asleep. Now, she just watched.
Pieces of notebook paper were strung across her walls, held there by masking tape and Elmer's glue and a few stray thumbtacks. Pictures of Santa and landscapes and fish were beginning to fade into colorful blobs that only she could recognize.
Casey tossed in her bed and pulled the covers over her head. Old habits are hard break.
The next morning her mother was awake before she was and the house smelled of cinnamon.
She plodded down the hallway and stood silently watching her mother cook. Her mom looked so at home there. She deserved better. She deserved a man to share the house with. Or maybe Casey shouldn't have left. Or maybe her mother should have traveled across the country with her. She deserved nice things and rest and someone to take care of her.
Casey sighed and her mother turned around.
She smiled and brushed bread crumbs off her apron. "Dinner will be ready in a few hours. Why don't you come help?"
"Sure mom," she answered.
And they stood there, with their backs to the door, mother and daughter, cooking the same meal they'd cooked all of Casey's life. It was enough and it was never quite enough. They were happy and never quite happy. It was Christmas the same as it'd always been.
User Reviews
Submitted by carbon (user info) at 2007-07-28 08:41:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ikari_shinji (user info) at 2007-07-26 16:36:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
-2DIE FUCKING BITCH
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2006-12-18 09:06:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
heh heh, you said 'sprouting'.
Nice.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-12-18 08:57:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-12-16 13:57:30 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-12-15 18:21:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post made me feel bad for my mother
Submitted by ripple (user info) at 2006-12-17 15:40:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i love descriptions of monotony.
i think TheUniter is going for the firefly approach. except with even less speech.
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-12-16 13:57:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-12-15 18:21:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
This post made me feel bad for my mother
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2006-12-16 07:23:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The best part of this story is that they didn't get murdered or anything in the end. Your lack of outlandishness makes you a rebel.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-12-15 22:43:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Traditions at family gatherings often become a boring rut, be the family
large or small.
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2006-12-15 21:03:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ho
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-12-15 20:26:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Sad.
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-12-15 20:26:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2006-12-15 18:55:26 (#)
Ranking: 1
_
This guy is either an alter or some loser who reads NEARLY EVERY post.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2006-12-15 18:55:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-12-15 18:21:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This post made me feel bad for my mother
i hate you
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-12-15 17:53:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I guess this is about right a lot of the time, huh?