Remember When

[11]

holidays

Your family still hates me with a burning passion by the way. I didn't expect anything would change, though. I've only seen them once, and they tried to stay as far away from me as possible, similarly to every Thanksgiving I was forced to spend with them.

We didn't go to your parents' house for many holidays, usually because they were traveling type and went on more cruises than I could ever imagine. They invited you to a couple of them, but you would almost always turn them down, saying that you would rather spend your holidays with me. That's probably one reason they disliked me so much. There was the constant nagging about how your family had so much more money than mine and that made me 'unworthy' of you.

The two Thanksgivings I spent with your parents and three sisters were somehow both the best and worst holidays I had. Your parents were extremely passive aggressive towards me, and your poor sisters just spent the entire time looking super embarrassed, not sure if they were allowed to stick up for me. They were actually willing to hang out at our apartment, so I obviously knew them better than your parents. You usually ended up in a fight with your parents over me, which I kind of hated but you always did it regardless.

We still went to both my dad and my mom's respected houses for Thanksgiving but never on the actual holiday. We usually went to one for lunch and one for dinner on Black Friday because none of us believed in shopping on that day. Both of them immediately swept you under their wings which only made you feel worse about my poor relationship with your parents.

Christmas is not going to be any easier either. Sure, I won't have to visit your parents, but I feel like I need to. I feel like I need to take them something. They're going to dislike it and me regardless, but I just thought. Just like Thanksgiving, they never actually wanted me there, but I remember making your dad smile when I gifted him something signed by his favorite football player. I never managed to get the same from your mom, but I don't think there's anything I could've got her to make her like me.

We loved celebrating on our own, though. It meant everything to me when you first dragged a tree up the stairs to our apartment for Christmas. We bought the cheapest ornaments and garlands and spent a whole day decorating the house and drinking hot chocolate.

We used to try to hide each other's Christmas presents because we were both too nosy to not attempt to figure out what it was. I still have every gift you've ever given me, they're all shoved in a box in the back of my closet because it still hurts a little to see them. Even now, I'm wearing the ring you gave me as a promise ring. When you gave it to me, you said, "I can't promise you a marriage or kids or anything, but I can promise you that I will never stop loving you." I kissed you a hundred times, regretting that I literally only got you a leather jacket you had wanted for awhile. It was too big for any of my fingers, so I've worn it around my neck since then. I'm going to hate having to spend my favorite holiday without you.

Speaking of favorite holidays, how in the world am I going to celebrate Halloween anymore? It made you so incredibly happy every year. For the past years, we've done couples costumes. They're cheesy, but that's exactly why we loved them so much. Some of your friends from college would throw Halloween parties, and we would get so excited when you'd get the text about it. Even though we loved couples costumes, they were never really made for couples. Mario and Luigi was more our speed, and the first we ever did. The next year was Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, followed by a taco and salsa the year after - I'm still kind of proud of that one. And last year's, our final one, was Mermaidman and Barnacle Boy.

We loved most holidays but the one that neither of us really liked was Valentine's Day. It's not like we had something against love or anything, we just found it incredibly stupid. Why celebrate love once a year? That's why we took it upon ourselves to throw pranks on each other for Valentine's. Nothing major, just a few practical jokes that included never-ending singing cards, air horns behind doors, and balloons filling rooms. It was just something else that was just for us.