Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 14:56:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Dan R Subject: Me & Justin 22 Over the weeks, me and Chris became really close. We were really like brothers. We didn't have sex together or anything like that, although, sometimes we would sleep together. Chris really liked living with us I think. He told me several times how much fun he was having with our family. I guess I found that odd because I thought that our lives were pretty boring, but looking back on it, our evening dinners were always fun and happy. We joked around with my folks and stuff. Maybe he didn't have that kindoff relationship with his parents. Our hockey team was having a great year. We were ranked in the top 5 the whole year long. The playoffs were a ways off though. Christmas break was upon us, and we were all relieved. We didn't have any tournaments or games and we had a whole week off. Though coach mixed in a couple of practices. We were burnt out on hockey a little bit, and the break was welcome. Christmas was always a big deal in our house. Our parents always hosted the big family party. Our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins always came over. It was a big deal. The house always seemed to have a different smell around Christmas time for some reason. Seemed like it always smelled like cinnamon. On Christmas Eve, we had all our close friends over and the parents played cards and talked. I really enjoyed that time of year. Chris, on the other hand did not seem to have the same excitement that I had. Of course, he wasn't near his family during Christmas. He did seem a little happier when my brother arrived from college and kicked him out of his room, so Chris and I had to sleep together. But I knew he was hurting something fierce. On Christmas morning that year, Chris and I woke up in bed. I was super excited. I was hoping that my dad would finally have relented and got me some of the new style hockey sticks. Chris kindoff moped around and was reluctant to get out of bed. I pushed him out and up the stairs. I yapped at my brother to get upstairs. Then we all saw the Christmas tree. It was loaded with presents. A lot more than usual, that is for sure. My folks were sitting on the couch watching us as we looked in amazement over the amount of gifts under the tree. They had big smiles on their face. I went over to the tree, and noticed that almost every package was a gift for Chris from a different member of my family. My aunts and uncles and grandparents had all conspired together and had sent Chris a present. How cool was that? To this day, I still think that is one of the coolest things ever. Chris sat down next to the tree and was looking at packages from people he had never met before. He looked over at my parents with big tears in his eyes and leapt up and started crying and sat between them, hugging them. That went on for like 5 minutes. We were all sniffling too. (In my life, I continue to be amazed at how great my parents are. I would never want any two other people in the world to be my folks. Never ever. They were and are the best!) Chris started opening his gifts. He got a lot of cloths and other things, but I don't think he cared what he got, he was just happy that these people who didn't know him gave him these presents. My brother and I were sitting on the love seat. For every 5 of Chris' gifts, we would get one. We got matching hideous sweaters from our grandparents. My mom made us hold them up so she could take a picture of them. We both looked at each other from behind the sweaters and made a gagging face at each other. We usually got one good gift from our parents. We knew that they weren't rich, so our expectations were always tempered. It was cool though. Some families had a lot of money, others didn't. I just liked the surprise of opening a gift up wondering what it was, even if it was a pair of socks. My Dad got up and grabbed a gift from behind the tree and handed it to my brother. He knew that this was his big gift for the year. He tore through the wrapping paper and it was a brand new Intellavision video game system with a few games. (Intellavision is equivalent to an Xbox or Wii). He was in heaven. The best gift he probably wished for, he got. What a perfect give for a college freshman too! Then my dad grabbed another present and gave it to Chris. Chris was already overwhelmed by the day as it was and he started to lose it again. My dad put his hand on his shoulder and told him to smile, and he did. When Chris opened up the package, my dad had a grin on his face. The box was pretty big, but it was filled with newspaper and all kinds of packaging stuff. Chris was digging around the box trying to find out what was inside of it. Finally, my dad grabbed the box and turned it upside down and a keychain with keys fell out. The keychain had a small rubber hockey puck on it and it was imprinted with a saying "World's Best Goalie". Christ thought that it was keys to the house, but my dad stood him up and had him look outside and there was a unfamiliar car in the driveway. Chris looked at my parents and they gave him a nod. They bought him a car! It wasn't a new car or anything like that, but it was a car. It turned out to be a `84 Mustang. Had some rust and stuff, but that didn't matter to Chris. He ran outside in the snow in only a t-shirt and sweats right to the car. He unlocked it and jumped in. Then he ran back into the house and hugged my dad for a long time. I don't think he knew what to say. I looked at my brother and we both were probably thinking the same thing. `has dad gone crazy?' As our dad was a very frugal person with money. Then came my gift. My dad pulled me aside while Chris was outside with his car. "Brian, I don't know how to tell you this, but after we bought Chris his car, we found out that we were out of money for more gifts. I am really sad, but I guess this is your year to suffer." He said. I looked up at my dad and told him that was cool. I didn't need anything. Chris was thrown out of his house and he needed to cheer up. With that, my dad started laughing and pushed me towards the garage. In the garage, there was a barrel that was filled with wrapped hockey sticks and a box at the bottom. I gave him a shove and a hug and proceeded to start to unwrap the sticks. There were 3 brand new aluminum sticks and 20 wood blades. Top of the line for sure. I looked back at my dad and ran to him and gave him a big hug. "Brian, you haven't opened all of your gifts yet!" he said. So I went back to the barrel and grabbed the wrapped box. It wasn't from my dad. It was from Sean's mom. I felt the outside of the box with my hands and I was already choked up. When I opened up the package there was a nice letter from Sean's mom and a picture of me and him together. Underneath that was a brand new pair of Bauer hockey skates. The most expensive skates that any company made. I think they cost at least $500. When I reached inside the skates, there was a little note. "Do it for Sean!" it read. ( I still have that note by the way) I ran over and grabbed my dad and hugged him forever. I cried so hard and he just kept rubbing my back and told me everything would work out. The rest of the family finally came down to the garage to see what was going on. Obviously my Mom knew, but my brother and Chris didn't. I didn't release my dad from our hug. I couldn't. He knew how bad I had been hurting. I didn't really know why I was crying, but I knew that I was determined to do it for Sean that year. Later that Christmas day, all of my relatives started showing up. Chris made it a point to talk to every one of them and thank them for their gift. I was really close to my relatives, especially my grandparents. My grandpa would always sit down next to me and put his arm around me. He was an older guy, but I always felt really close to him. We never really needed to talk that much to each other. He told me that he heard about my gifts, especially the one from Sean's mom. "Don't you waste your talent Brian" He whispered in my ear. I nodded and leaned into him and he held me close. That was the best Christmas EVER! To be continued... All comments appreciated.