One year for Christmas the fam went to Dauphin Island, Florida to "go somewhere" and celebrate Christmas.
If memory serves, it was our first Christmas "away from home" in Alabama and we were all probably feeling a little lonely. I'm thinking it would have been around 1998. Possibly Christmas of 1999, but I really can't remember. Either way, I was about seventeen.
We stayed at a cabin on the Air Force base down there, where Lauren, McClain and I stayed in one room together with a set of three bunk beds.
Mom and dad were INCREDIBLY sick that Christmas and spent most of the long weekend laying in their own twin beds (in the Master Suite, obviously), and the three of us played Tony Hawk (the first and best one!) for about 72 hours straight on McClain's Playstation.
It was at this time that The Blair Witch Project came out on video and I had recently watched it with a group of friends. Frankly, it scared the sh*t out of me. (Yes, I knew it wasn't real. I'm a HUGE wimp. The last horror movie I watched was the Ring.) I just don't do well with fear--a reaction to some of my spiritual gifts, I think, but that's a different conversation, and not really blog fodder.
Anyhow, I think at this point, it's time to describe the cabin. Please don't imagine a cozy little Northern Minnesota-esque cabin. Imagine a barracks, complete with pleather waiting-room style couches and a 17-inch television. I think there was a kitchen, but I don't remember it at ALL. The kitchen was NOT the highlight of the weekend, as it usually is for most holidays (for me, anyhow!).
Our first night there, all I could think about was the Blair Witch coming to get me. I thought for sure she would steal me away and make me stand facing the corner while she did whatever it was that she did.
I got myself so worked up that I woke my siblings and forced them to move two sets of beds to the middle of the room. Then I made them both sleep with me in our makeshift king-sized bed, with me in the middle, of course.
They were surprisingly compliant with my requests and slept with me all weekend.
Looking back now, of course, it's all pretty foolish, but a very fond memory.
I can't remember anything I got for Christmas that year or which restaurants we ate at. Go figure. : )
8 comments:
Wonder what your sibs memories are of that weekend. Would be fun to ask them.
Ha! What a great memory, Erin - thanks for sharing it! This, coming from an 'oldest child' who insisted on getting the basement bedroom (seniority rules) and then continued to run upstairs to sleep next to her younger siblings till the age of 17.
You didn't have to be afraid of the Blair Witch way down in FL; she lived in my parents' MN basement! And I know what you mean about a 'spiritual gifts reaction' and 'blog fodder'... ;-)
I was at an army-school when 'Blair Witch' came out in the theater; we went to see it with a bunch of classmates. One of the guys was incredibly freaked out by the movie so I spent the next few days fashioning little men out of twigs and surreptitiously placing them near him and his stuff.
Imagine his reaction and my amusement.
I told all that I'm not a nice man.
...I wondered who had the 'Swampy voodoo Doll'...
SWAMPY!!
I missed you!
Do you think the Blare Witch Voodoo has anything to do with Baby Voodoo?
How could it not? Let's all do brunch.
Here is what the mother remembers. The bathroom in this cabin was gross. We were in Alabama not Florida. We let Erin drive home in the rain because we were still too sick. I don't know how the kids got fed or where anyone slept. Not our best Christmas, but certainly one of the more memorable.
Great story. Cornerstone was '99, if that helps you figure out the time at all. Yeah, C-stone!!!
Post a Comment