I'm giving away JuJu

[Dancing Lotus]

I have 7,000 JuJu's to give to the person who has the best Worst Christmas ever story.

Tell us about your worst Christmas ever, There are only 24 hrs to make your entry.

As you read these stories Vote for your favorite one by submitting a thank you reply. The person who has the most Thank you's for their post gets 7,000 of my very own JuJu's.

Good Luck

[itsahumanzoo]

I don't really have anything to share but I wanted to say that that's very nice of you.

[tbs727]

I don't have a good story, but so far this has been the worst family wise. I sent my step-mom an email asking if they wanted to spend Christmas eve together and her very short response was that we could come over if we want but she will be cooking and she doesn't know what the rest of the family is doing. (that's a nice version of the message I got back)

Gee, thanks for the warm welcome. No thanks, we'll spend Christmas eve at home rather than deal with that attitude. Grrrr! FAMILY MAKES ME CRAZY.

I'm sure others have much better stories.

[Momto2Boyz]

I think I was 19, and lived on my own. I had really wanted to spend the holidays with my boyfriends family, but my parents talked me into driving (stuffed into a car with them and my brother) 6 hours away to visit my Dad's parents. My grandpa was terminally ill (and had been for 10 years) with emphysema, and my grandma was worried that it was his last Christmas, so we all had decided we'd better go visit (Happy to say, he did have a few more Christmases in him ).

Anyhoo, we drove through a snowstorm to get there. I had a mild case of the sniffles, not even a cold, just a runny nose. My grandma (bless her heart) was worried about my grandpa's health, turned us away at the door on Christmas day. Wouldn't let me come into the house. Then she got upset becuase my parents wouldn't stay for dinner. What was I suppose to do, sit in the car???? The worst part was, that my mom had mentioned to her on the phone the day before that I was possibly starting to get a cold, and my grandma never said a word about it. It wasn't until I showed up at the door that she had an issue with it.

So anyway, we ended up eating dinner at a truck stop somewhere in Indiana! Probably not the worst Christmas story out there...but that is the worst Christmas I can remember! Gotta love crazy families...and I wonder why my parents are so nutso! I swear though, that my brother and I turned out pretty normal...at least so far!

[ladytoysdream]

The worst one, I can think of.......

Hubby was on unemployment and wanted to go see his son in Alabama before the army shipped him overseas for another year assignment. The lady at UE gave him all kinds of grief because we would be gone for about a week, and he would not be job looking that week. He basically told her , he was going , and no one there was going to stop him.
My manager where I worked gave me all kinds of grief when I asked for the week off . She told me I had no paid time coming, and I knew that. I just wanted to take the week off, without pay. I finally got it, but what a hassle.
We left the week before Xmas, drove from NY to Alabama, and I made him pull over just before we got there at a rest stop, and we tried to get a few hours sleep in the truck. We had the 2 cocker spaniels with us, and had to take turns running in the restrooms, and anywhere we tried to get something to eat. Dogs were not allowed in the bldgs of course. Had a heck of a time with the directions, and only thing that saved us, was the yahoo map, that I had with me.
On way home, hubby decided not to wait for sunday, but we left a day early, which was on Xmas day, and headed back home. Now try to find something to eat on Xmas day. And when we did, hubby got grumpy and would not eat at the one place, so we went without. Sigh.
Then in Pennsylvania, we tried to get gas, and ended up going the wrong way on a one way street.......did not go quite a block,
and off all things, hubby got pulled over, in the closest parking lot we could find to turn around in. The cop let us go, after he realized we were just temporarily lost and when he saw me and the 2 dogs in the truck, he decided our story was true...he told us how to get back to the gas station, and then back on the the highway north......what a way to spend Xmas......getting lost and hungary

[reginaastralis]

Hopefully someone gets some laughs out of this ... I do now.

Two years ago, five days before Christmas I was in line with my daughter to see Santa. It was an hour and a half line. Don't get me wrong, I had planned ahead and gone before, but my darling daughter threw a huge fit about taking a picture with Santa, so we left. We finally got back a couple of weeks later, and were stuck in this completely horrid line when I started feeling awful. The next day, I realized I was miscarrying.

Even though the pregnancy wasn't planned, and we had NO IDEA how we were going to support this baby, I was completely heartbroken. I hadn't even broken the news to my family, and I ended up realizing I was miscarrying that morning at work. We're now four days before Christmas, and I just lost it. My manager at the office wasn't a pleasant woman, and had a miscarriage a couple of years before. I'm a very private person, and didn't want her drama during this time, so I went to her boss and told him what was happening. He promised to explain to my crazy boss, and to just go. He was completely caring about the whole thing, making sure I was able to drive before I left his office. I went back to my desk, and grabbed my purse. My boss followed me out to the breakroom where I had stopped to grab my things, and started yelling at me about leaving. I was so close to loosing it, but I just tried to keep everything together.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve, and I am working my serving job. I offered to stay late so I could have an excuse to get to my step grandmother's a little late (lol, family drama, but the woman hasn't spoken to me since I had my nearly four year old). I just wasn't in the mood to get there, if you know what I mean. As we finished up, I walked out to my car and caught this complete jerk in the process of breaking into my car. UGH! It was just not a good week! I'd had one present in the car that I had picked up the night before after work, my daughter's make up Santa gift since the one I had ordered online was caught in a blizzard in Colorado, which was on the passenger seat, and the only thing the complete moron could grab.

I went running for the moron, but he was faster than I was. A complete gentleman ended up chasing the man in his car and calling police. He was able to get most of the man's license plate number, I still don't think they ever caught the jerk. The nice man came back after trying to chase him to make sure I was ok. I still remembered he had a Jared's box in the passenger seat, so I really hope he has a great wife.

So, now I was REALLY late to my step grandmother's while I waited for the police to come. They were great, trying to make jokes with me. I was just loosing it at this point, and honestly not over the car, just over the whole week in general.

My mom came and picked me up from work and I drove my car home. We ended up going to KMart (if you ever need toys on Christmas Eve, they were STOCKED) and picking up way more than the one gift that was stolen. My mom wouldn't let me pay for anything. I never told her about the baby or miscarriage, so I know she has no idea why I was such a wreck that day, but she truly made my Christmas.

Of course, going to my grandmother's house and getting to listen to her berate me for having my car broken into was not the highlight of the week. But, the next day, watching Juliette's eyes get so full of happiness was well worth everything.

I doubt it's the worst Christmas ever, and thanks to a complete stranger and my momma, it worked out to be one of my favorite ever.

[Jeanna]

My worst Christmas happened about 18 years ago. It is kind of a combination birthday/Christmas story. I was in the Christmas play at church. We had found out I was expecting ( I was about 8 weeks along) the 21st of December is my birthday and on that day I was at Church for dress rehearsal and I miscarried.l Needless to say that was not a good bd/Christmas for us.

[frugalbabe]

Ok I'm a freshman in college going to an out-of-state school. A friend of mine who was from the same hometown as me and attending the same college decided it would be great to buy some Greyhound bus tickets and surprise our family with our arrival. What a great adventure right? I even managed to scrimp some dollars together and bought my mom a crystal nativity set from Hallmark that I carefully packed in my suitcase wrapped in layers of my clothes. Well, not long after we depart we get caught in a horrific blizzard so what should have been a 24 hour trip total drags to 30 hours and then 36. Our driver finally decides to stop for an all night layover at a depot in this tiny town. We get off the bus starving, filthy, and exhausted but of course we're still young (read stupid) and decide we are going to make the best out of spending Christmas day in a smelly little bus depot. All of us passengers pooled our money together and had a mini Holiday feast on whatever we could scavenge from the vending machines, and then my friend takes her little walkman tape player and her copy of a Garth Brooks tape and we taught everybody how to line dance. So there we were twenty or so people from all walks of life, young to old, the only thing we had in common was that none of us were where we thought we would be on Christmas day. We spent the day talking and dancing. It was surreal, and kind of incredible to bond with people like that and then know you will never see any of them again. The very last part of this story is when we had a new bus sent to us I watched our driver throw all of our bags out of the old bus to put in the new one. So there is all of our luggage laying in a snowbank and the driver of the new bus lost control while backing up and he ran over our luggage and then rolled over it while he went forward and then slid back and ran over it again...I think the exhaustion had gotten the better of me and I just broke into hysterical laughter! We finally made it home safe and sound...all except my mom's nativity set that was smashed to tiny pieces. Oh well, that was still probably the most memorable holiday I've ever had!

[FrugalMomof3]

No story but I will also donate 5000 JuJu to the winner as well.

Ann keep me posted!

[SixxOfDiamonds]

My worst Christmas isn't funny or humorous or anything of that sort. It was just rather lonely. DH was deployed to Iraq and I spent Christmas with family, but it still felt as if I were alone. I went without even a phone call. I'm sure his Christmas was worse, considering he was front lines out there. I got a call the next day, though, when he finally had access to the phone lines.

It was really hard because all of my family had their SOs and there I was, sitting on the couch by myself trying not to cry. Nonetheless, I went to bed early because I couldn't sit around and pretend to be happy.

[Monner 1]

I will never forget my worst Christmas and I warn you it is sad. I was past due to have my second son and my parents lived 6 hours away from me and my husband. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had been slowly getting worse to the point of being bedridden. This was before they had hospices. On Christmas day we were at my sister in laws and the phone rang and it was the message that my mother had died. I couldn't go to the funeral because of being past my due date. I had my son on December 27th in the morning and my husband and first son left for the airport after I came out of recovery so they could attend the funeral. I was kept in the hospital a few extra days by the doctor so she could see how I was reacting to the death of my Mom. My husband and son got back by the time I was to go home from the hospital. My youngest son will turn 30 this December 27th and it still bothers me that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my Mom. I have a hard time enjoying Christmas every year but it has improved since my grandchildren have been born. Merry Christmas to all of the village and may you have a good 2009.

Monner

[prftstrngr]

I think my worst Christmas was 1991. My son was due to be born on January 1st and I was hugely pregnant. My blood sugars were high and I was supposed to be off my feet. I was so dang cranky I wasnt fit to be around! I wanted all the things I couldnt have like chocolate and cookies. My feet were swelled up double the size and I could hardly walk. Christmas day we were all at my moms. I opened my gifts and cried at everything. My husband(now ex) and I had gotten each other a new video camera so we would have it for when the baby was born. Well all day he was playing with it and trying it out so every time I turned around he had the dang thing in my face. Needless to say after awhile it wore thin....I was ready to smash it and asked him to stop a few times. Keep in mind I had gained 70 pounds and my big baby belly was so low it was almost on my legs. Well he starts laughing and tells everyone....hey come look at this. So of course everyone is laughing and looking.....its me....he had filmed me and I was rubbing the bottom of my tummy and since it was so low...it didnt look at ALL like it was my tummy I was rubbing! I of course started to cry cause they were all laughing at me and screamed at him to erase it. Everyone got mad at me because I was *over reacting*! I was so miserable and fat and he hurt my feelings so bad I dont think I spoke to him for days!! How can men be so insensitive at times....dont they know pregnant women are emotional??? So thats kind of a silly worst Christmas story.... Hey I never forgot it and we have been divorced 11 years now!!

[Dancing Lotus]

No story but I will also donate 5000 JuJu to the winner as well.

Ann keep me posted!

Thank you Tracy!

[McD]

My worst Christmas really wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. Last year, Wesley had been sick a lot over the winter and he was on his nebulizer a lot, as well as being in and out of the hospital. DH was in Iraq.

Well, Christmas Eve came, Wesley was in bed and I was wrapping Santa Claus presents just bawling my eyes out. DH and I have always exchanged our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve when it's just us so that we don't lose out on the excitement in the midst of travelling, family, everything, ya know? I was so upset that he wasn't there with me and that the post office had lost his Christmas present. He was in Iraq, away from him family, on Christmas, with a piddly little tree made out of the base of a mortar, and NO PRESENTS.

Finally, I stopped crying and reminded myself that as bad as I was feeling it could be a lot worse. DH could be injured or worse, Wesley could still be in the hospital, we could have been struggling for money. Yet here I sat, in my warm house, with more than enough food for the two of us, wrapping presents and blubbering. I got up, I washed my face and prettied myself all up, got myself dressed in clothes that made me feel great about myself and sat on the couch and opened my presents from Zac. I knew that he wouldn't want me sitting there blubbering and feeling sorry for myself, so I made the best of it.

And the next morning, as Wesley opened his Santa presents, we were blessed and Zac was able to get on the webcam and watch the whole thing.

At the time, it seemed to be awful, but looking back now, I know it was a very special Christmas to us and one that we will never forget.

[YankeeMom]

I don't need the Jujus (donate them to someone who does ) but I'm pretty sure I probably have the worst Christmas story.

Ten years ago this Christmas eve, my first dh died. He was driving home from work (at midnight on 12/23) and had a cardiac arrest at the wheel & died, wrecking our only car. I was at home with our three babies, ages 6, 4, and 7 months. He was 27 and I was 23.

A couple of the worse things... dh & I worked opposite shifts. I worked days & he worked nights. I had to wrangle to get out of work early enough so that he wouldn't be late for work. When I got home (after wrangling to get home in time) he was being slow-poky (in retrospect, probably because he was in congestive heart failure and we didn't know it) and I got angry with him. He left in a huff, forgetting to kiss our girls goodbye. Youngest dd was worked up about it, so I told her he would kiss her when he got home, while she was sleeping.


Yup. It sucked.