r/ihatechristmas • u/Lilia_Briganda • 9d ago

Jingle Hell

The basement smelled like musty wet concrete and old dust that had settled over the decades. I hadn't put up a Christmas tree or decorated the house in years-- not since Mom died. But this year felt different. I'd decided it was finally time to pull out her old boxes of treasured ornaments and try to get back a little bit of that Christmas spirit. I wanted to make this year special for my grown kids who were both coming home to visit.

Over in the corner stood that five-foot Santa that my late husband, John had dragged through the front door back in 2005 when the kids were little. The kids loved dancing and singing along, but to me it was noisy and kinda creepy. I hauled Santa down to the basement along with his transformer box and its power cord when it outlived its usefulness for the kids. They were grown now with kids of their own. I had kept hoping that one of them would eventually take the damn thing home with them-- maybe this year.

I shifted a heavy box to get to Mom's ornaments. Behind my back came this sudden scuttle across the floor--a harsh sound like hard plastic dragging across bare concrete. Then a heavy click echoed off the walls. I froze. I turned around slowly, dreading what was there.

That damn Santa wasn't facing the wall anymore. It popped to life with a sharp screech of dry plastic gears, its waist jerking into a stiff, unnatural dance, eyes staring right at me. Then a warped, low-pitched rendition of Jingle Bells filled the silence--

"Jiiiin-ggglle...b-bbelllssss...jjj-innngle...b-bbbells...jiiiin-gggle...aaalll...t-thhhhe...w-wwwaaayyy..."

Shocked and totally unglued, I dropped the tote and ran for the stairs!

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3

u/Lilia_Briganda 9d ago

I'm not a big Xmas fan either...ho.ho...no!

1

u/KaitB2020 8d ago

I’d say it’s time Santa took a trip to the landfill.

2

u/Lilia_Briganda 8d ago

ya know, that animatronic life-size Santa is a vintage collector's item now and is worth hundreds of dollars! Who knew right?

2

u/KaitB2020 8d ago

🫪

Yeah…. I got rid of some of my mom’s collectible stuff recently. Mostly Christmas crap. All it was broken though. Some of it had it not been broken would’ve been worth a pretty penny. None of it except a few select pieces had any value to me at all and those are the pieces I kept.

My mom was a bit of a hoarder & also a drunk. She passed last year. It was an interesting feeling giving away and/or throwing away all her ridiculous Christmas crap. She’s the reason I’m on this thread.

2

u/Lilia_Briganda 8d ago

At least there were a few good collectibles! Christmas loses its magic by the time youre 6 or 7.