It’s that time of year again when we all gather to be with loved ones, but sometimes on our journey to be together things don’t always go as planned. You might burn a Christmas present, throw one away, end up on the side of the road, or in my case you might end up with a fully decorated Christmas tree on top of you in the middle of the living room. All of these stories are from DCHS students who have some very memorable Christmas mishaps. 

Evan Toby

My cousins live about 3 and a half hours away, and we were going there for a holiday party. By the time we got to Lebanon, the tires started making a weird noise, and we pulled over. It was already dark and we were on a country road in the middle of nowhere. There was a rod broken and the tires wouldn’t turn, so we were stranded. No one could come pick us up, so a police officer took us to a nearby hotel. We were able to get the car towed and we ended up not getting home until late the next night.

Emma Douglas 

One time my parents gave a super expensive necklace to my cousin for Christmas, but when she went to throw away the wrapping paper it got twisted up in the wrapping paper. Fast forward an hour and everyone is searching for this necklace until my dad figures it out. He ends up digging through the trash and unballing all the balled up wrapping paper. He spent a solid 20 minutes doing that until he found that necklace.

Grace O’neil 

One year on Christmas my family and I were opening presents in front of our tree. It was a cozy atmosphere: presents under the tree, Christmas music playing, a fire in the fireplace, and laughter all around. We went to have breakfast when we noticed a weird smell. I was making cinnamon rolls, so we decided it was the oven. Eventually, the smell got stronger. The smell was definitely not the oven. Instead it was coming from the fireplace. When my sister Abby put another log on the fire she forgot to close the mess curtain that kept the logs in. A small log had fallen out of the fireplace and had landed in my youngest sister’s box of presents. Luckily for us, it had only made contact with a synthetic vest. Another piece of the log had also fallen onto the carpet. My sister’s vest was unable to unzip all the way and was a bit charred. We also had a hole burned in the carpet, but luckily that was the only damage. 

After hearing these stories, it gave me a new idea of what Christmas is about. Christmas is not about the fancy presents, the expensive presents, the big Christmas tree, or getting to the family gathering on time. Christmas to me means making new memories with your family, making memories you can laugh at and remember long into the future. So, for this year’s Christmas remember to make it a memorable one with your loved ones even if they can’t be there beside you. Make a phone call to those you love, make them laugh, and send them air hugs so this Christmas can be filled with more joyous memories.