I spent the next few days sleeping. I really didn’t do much else. I was trying to catch up on all the sleep I missed out on. By the time I had caught up enough sleep that I could stay awake for most of the day, it was Christmas. As usual, Grammy and Grampy came over for Christmas Eve, and were going to stay the week. Gran and Gramps were only coming on Christmas like they usually did. Only this time, our uncles were coming with them. Mum had 6 brothers, half of which I had met. The other half I didn’t know much about except that one was a huge drug addict and was always in trouble with the law. For that reason, Mum or Dad never let us meet him. As for her brothers that we did know, they were pretty cool. They were a bit wacky, but still fun to be around. However, there was one who was so rude that even Mum couldn’t stand him. She would constantly complain about him when his name was brought up. Of course, he was the one coming down, along with another uncle who wasn’t an issue.
Mum was not happy to hear that her brother was coming down. She argued with Gran about it for almost an hour straight. She didn’t want him near us, especially Daisy. He was known for being extremely sexist, racist, homophobic and so on. But Gran was stubborn and refused to change her mind about him coming. I knew the whole situation would be a shit storm and I wasn’t about to get involved. My plan was to lay low for as long as I could. I didn’t need Gran getting mad at me, nor did I need my uncle picking on me for being feminine.
Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. With Grammy and Grampy over, we had plenty of fun. Even Mum seemed to be in a good mood. We all played card games as a family, and watched a couple Christmas movies as well. Despite having loads of fun that day, deep down we were all dreading the next day. Nobody wanted to be around that one uncle. He was just one of those people you dreaded meeting.
Christmas day hit, and we went through our usual routine. We had a big Christmas breakfast, opened gifts under the tree, and then all hung around to chat. I got to add to my small stash of chocolate because Gran and Gramps gave me more chocolate like usual. They were slowly converting me into a chocoholic. Mum got a headstart on dinner. She wasn’t about to deal with her brothers while she was cooking. If they pissed her off, the chances of there being a very crispy turkey would be likely. Like usual, Grammy and I were helping her out too. We were just finishing up with dinner when Gran, Gramps, and our two uncles Jim and Dan arrived.
“Oh boy, let the shitstorm begin.” Grammy muttered to herself when she saw them come in.
“Ugh, yes.” Mum grumbled and she pulled out the turkey and then went to go say hi to everyone. Gran and Gramps were super happy to see Daisy, but gave me the cold shoulder. I brushed it off. I didn’t expect for them to ever change their views on me. However, Uncle Dan was happy to say hi to everyone. He was the cool uncle. He was this scrawny little guy who had some of the most fabulous jet black hair I had ever seen. He was chill, loved to pull a prank here and there, and was always down for some fun. Uncle Jim on the other hand was not so nice. He was this muscular guy who constantly wore a hard look on his face. He didn’t bother to say hi to anyone, and simply went and sat down in the living room with a large scowl on his face.
Daisy was in the living room playing around with her new gift. Daisy was able to get my money Mum took from me back to me, and since I knew I wouldn’t be able to go to Toronto with it, I used a portion of it to get gifts for everyone. The biggest gift being Daisy’s. She seemed to be showing interest in music, so I got her a violin. It wasn’t a super fancy one by any means, but it was one that seemed to be good for learning. She was trying to play it, but it was making a lot of squeals and high pitched screeches. Everyone thought it was funny and cute. Everyone but Uncle Jim.
“Can you STOP with the noise??” Uncle Jim scoffed. “What are you? 10? You obviously can’t play violin.”
“Oh, shut it.” Dad defended Daisy. “She just got it. She’s learning. Right Daisy?”
Daisy nodded. “I got it as a Christmas present, so I haven’t really had much practice.”
“Who in their right mind would buy you that now?” Jim said with a slightly amused, but also pissed off look on his face. He thought it was amusing someone even thought she could play the violin. “You obviously have no musical talent whatsoever.”
“Um, Kevin got it for me.” Daisy looked hurt. “I’ve been wanting to learn a musical instrument so he got it for me.”
“Was quite thoughtful, really.” Dad added. I smiled a bit to myself after hearing that. I was still in the kitchen with Mum and Grammy. Even though we all weren’t part of the conversation, it wasn’t hard to tell we were all listening. Mum was keeping an eye out for Daisy. I knew if Jim said anything more about Daisy, she would lose her shit.
“Thoughtful? More like idiotic.” Jim rolled his eyes. “She can’t, and will probably never learn how to play that stupid thing. That’s for talented musicians-”
“JIM!” Mum dropped everything she was doing and stormed out to the living room. “You shut your mouth about Daisy!”
“Yes, I do agree.” Gran gave him a glare. “Daisy is very talented. I’m sure one day she’ll play the violin like a pro.”
“As if she could learn such a complex instrument.” Jim rolled his eyes once more. His rudeness was even getting to me at this point. I couldn’t stand to see someone picking on Daisy.
“Oh, and what instrument can you play Mr Musical?” Dan joked. “Last I checked you can’t even play the recorder!”
“I could if I tried.” Jim said. “I’ve no interest in doing so however. Look. I was just asking for the noise of that awful thing to stop.”
“Fine.” Mum growled. “Daisy, dear? Could you put the violin away? Just for now?”
“Yea sure.” Daisy said. She didn’t seem bothered. She knew better than to let jerks like Jim get under her skin. She put the violin away in her room and then joined us in the kitchen.
“Need any help with anything?” She asked.
“Nope. We’re just finishing up.” Mum smiled. “Could you tell everyone it’s dinner?”
“Yep.” Daisy went to the living room and let everyone know it was dinner. Everyone was excited to finally eat. Mum made a huge turkey dinner with almost everything anyone could ask for in a meal. But of course, Jim had a problem with it.
“Turkey? I’m vegetarian.” He announced when he saw everything.
“There’s plenty to take from.” Gramps said. He was getting annoyed with Jim’s complaining. “If you don’t want turkey, then don't take any.”
“Emilia knows I’m vegetarian.” He said. “She should’ve made an alternative.”
“And if you wanted an alternative, you should’ve brought your own.” Mum hissed back. “I’m not making tofu just for you when nobody else eats it.”
“Rude.” Jim scoffed before filling his plate with food that was vegetarian. The complaining didn’t end there though. He complained that the mashed potatoes were too dry, the carrots tasted funny, the mint jelly tasted expired, and so on. Everyone was getting tired of his complaining that we were all just starting to ignore him. It was hard to believe he was the oldest of Mum’s siblings. He was acting like a spoiled brat.
After dinner, it was dessert. This was the part everyone looked forward to the most. Mum may not have been great at cooking, but she could bake one mean mincemeat pie. She baked a pie and also made some lemon squares. Gran and Gramps had also brought some sugar cookies with them. We also had some boxes of chocolates in the cupboards. There was plenty to choose from to say the least.
Like everyone else, Daisy and I were excited for dessert.
“Oh man, I don’t know what I want!” Daisy said excitedly to me. We were looking at the options for dessert whilst everyone was grabbing what they wanted.
“I know what I want.” I laughed.
“Lemme guess. Chocolate.”
“Duh.”
“You and your chocolate.” Daisy giggled. “A true addict.”
“Oh shush, it’s good.”
We grabbed what we wanted and sat back down at the table with everyone else. We were sitting next to each other, and Jim was right in front of us. Jim was already complaining about his lemon square. Apparently it was too many carbs. From what I knew, he was part of the fitness community, and would often complain about pointless stuff like that. I honestly have no idea how that man kept a job. All he did was complain. Once he said all he could about the square, he had to find something new to complain about. Quickly, he found the new thing to complain about that would surely get someone’s attention.
“Dessert too Daisy?” He stated fairly loudly. “After that huge dinner?”
Daisy gave him a funny look. I looked up and shot him a glare. I hated it when people bugged Daisy for her eating habits or weight. I always remembered that time in elementary school when she got called fat and got really upset. Daisy was more confident in herself now, but like any young girl, she still got pretty insecure if people bugged her about it. Immediately, everyone went silent after hearing that comment. Mum almost spat out her food in shock. All eyes were on Jim. Just what he wanted.
“No wonder you’re the size you are.” Jim smirked. “You’re gonna end up just like your mother. Over 300lbs with diabetes.”
Daisy sat there in shock. I could see her face go bright red from embarrassment as she put her head down. Mum was about to say something, but I got to it before she did. I wasn’t one to raise my voice, or yell for that matter, but I wasn’t about to let this grown ass man pick on my little sister.
“Leave Daisy alone!” I raised my voice. “You have no right to pick on her like that! Keep your nose in your own fucking business and shut your godamn mouth for once!!”
Everyone looked completely taken aback. Even Jim. Daisy gave me a stunned look. I kept glaring at Jim to make sure he was going to back off. I didn't expect him to give up on complaining, but he could at least leave Daisy alone. I just feared raising my voice at him would put a target on my back.
To my surprise, Jim gave me a glare, and then shut up. He went to eat his lemon square that contained too many carbs in peace. Everyone was still giving me a stunned look. Especially Mum. I don’t think she saw that coming at all. Daisy gave me a small nudge and mouthed a thank you.
Comments (2)
See all