A Morbid Christmas

     As I sit and reminisce about the times of Christmas past I recall one memory that wasn't so merry.  Most families, when it comes time to trimming the Christmas tree, will play holiday music or have a holiday show playing on the TV in the background.  That was certainly not the case at our household one Christmas. 

     The year was probably 1987 or 1988.  I must of been 10 or 11 years old.  My sister and brother rented movies from American Video to watch while we helped our mother decorate the tree.  My mom popped us up some popcorn and fixed kool-aid to drink.  Afterwards she hauled out box after box of Christmas lights, tinsel and ornaments out of the basement.  During this time we were already engrossed with what was on tv.  Our mom unraveled the lights and started to string them around the tree.  She pulled out the different colored tinsel and wound that around our artificial tree happily humming to herself and not really paying attention to what was on the television set. 

     A loud torturous scream caught our mother's attention.  "This is NOT a Christmas show!"  she bellowed. 

     My sibilings and I would quickly shush our mom not taking our glance away from the TV.  We sat there   numbingly dishing popcorn into our mouths in anticipation of what was going to happen next.  We were watching the horror/slasher movie Truth or Dare.  It wasn't a huge hit of a movie but it was certainly odd to say the least.

     In a nutshell, the main character catches his wife cheating and he mentally loses it.  He starts playing Truth or Dare with people he comes in contact with, and some people were just from his imagination.  Some of the dares were cutting his chest open, taking his eyeball out with a nail, cutting off his tongue.  Another guy was dared to put a grenade in his mouth and blow his head off.  I don't remember exactly how it ended but it was just a gory movie.  It wasn't even that scary, just bloody.

     My mom was appalled that we were watching a movie like that.  She tried to get us to put something else on but we didn't listen.  We eventually pulled ourselves away from watching the movie to help put on the ornaments but our ears were still in tune with the television.  My mom couldn't believe that here we were, decorating the Christmas tree, with a slasher movie going on.

     For the next couple years it turned into a tradition of having a horror movie on in the background while we decorate the tree.  After moving out of the house and having a family of my own I have put that tradition to rest.  A part of me still wants to see a horror movie while I decorate our tree but I know it isn't best for my children to see.  I don't know if it was the movie I liked so much or the bonding moments I had with my sibilings and our mom.  I do know that the memory of it still puts a smile on my face.