Boy am I ready for this year to be over.
2016 has been lame. Real lame. Everyone I know agrees that this year has been a PDC* year.
*PDC = Pretty Darn Crummy
G’bye, stupid year.
For me, I lost my job which is fine but I also lost my sister, which was not fine.
(Last week I was visiting a friend, and her husband mentioned):
And I was like:
Poor guy.
Frankly I don’t know how old people do it. Everybody they know is dying all the time. That has to be the worst. How do you do it, old people???!?!?
I think it’s because old people have had really hard lives. They essentially grew up selling matches in alleyways like this:
And that gives you GRIT.
If you don’t believe me…ask your grandma or grandpa what their Christmas was like. They’ll tell you. Oh, they will tell you, and suddenly you’ll feel like a PBW*.
*Pretty Big Whiner
All I had to do was ask my coworkers about their grandparents’ Christmas. Bryan told me his.
So Bryan’s grandpa grew up in New York, poor. Real poor. They were in fact so poor, they couldn’t afford a Christmas tree one year.
But they did have a green chair.
So they put the chair in a corner and decorated it.
Merry Christmas.
(This kind of puts the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to shame, right? Not even a little love is going to make this less pathetic.)
My other coworker (also named Bryan, we call him “Other Bryan”) had a story about his grandpa, too.
This isn’t even a joke.
Bryan’s great-grandfather worked in East Tennessee, in the coal railyards. In the late ’30s/early ’40s, work was pretty scarce because a lot of the coal miners were on strike, so money was super tight for their family.
But then the war happened and coal was in high demand, and his great-grandfather worked extra shifts and overtime, getting the coal moving.
Now his great-grandfather had been a warm, kind man until his 12-year-old daughter had died of meningitis, and that kind of changed him. He was cranky and mean for the rest of his life. His kids used to climb trees to avoid him.
But that year, 1942, Bryan’s grandpa wouldn’t let his dad’s crabbiness get to him because he knew that his dad had been working extra, and had $50 dollars. A fortune back then! He knew this Christmas was going to be…swell.
…Until he discovered that his father spent the entire $50 dollars on garden fertilizer from a man named B.S. Bradley.
(I’ll let you guess what the B.S. stands for. Heh heh.)
For the rest of his life, Bryan’s grandpa would tell everyone how he only got a giant pile of poo for Christmas.
Sad.
(Kinda.)
That’s not exactly the whole story.
After asking other relatives, and even looking up the East Tennessee census, Bryan discovered that B.S. Bradley had been unemployed for a while. He and his five little kids lived in a tiny home with broken windows, which they boarded up every winter to keep the freezing wind out. His great-grandfather was adamant about getting the fertilizer before Christmas.
So I guess his great-grandfather still did have a warm heart.
(Apparently their garden that next year was pretty awesome, too.)
Here’s one from my own family.
My mom grew up PDP*. Her dad had type I diabetes and was often sick. Her mom–who had never graduated high school–raised 9 kids while working any job she could to support a family.
*Pretty Darn Poor
(And my grandma is a HARD WORKER. She does not slow down…I want to be like her one day.)
My mom said it would get so cold in the house, she would sometimes lie in bed and blow out to see her breath.
She also remembered how my grandma would cry, after collectors called. (And they were always calling.)
They had it rough.
But there was a family who lived up Spanish Fork canyon, the Pratt’s, who had it even rougher than my mom’s family.
They had thirteen kids and the dad had been out of work for a while, and they had nothing. There was no way they’d be able to have Christmas that year.
Until…
My mom’s family, the Boekweg’s, showed up at their door. Each of their kids had a small wrapped present for every one of the Pratt kids.
Somehow my grandma had manage to scrape together enough money to give a Christmas to the Pratt’s. It probably meant her own family would be without Christmas. But they gave it anyway.
I only know this story because when I lived in Orem, I ended up in the same ward as Sister Pratt! She told me–with tears in her eyes–how much that meant to her, even years later.
I guess that explains why my mom is the most selfless person I know!
We’re pretty spoiled.
I guess I can’t be too down on 2016. I sit in my warm house and look at my tree, think about my cupboards full of food, the clothes I have, my friends and family, and I feel PDG.
(Pretty Darn Grateful)
Congratulations to the Nutcracker winners! (And thank you, everyone, for your kind comments! I know I’m lame at responding, but I read every single one of them and feel honored :)
The winners are: Charissa, Bill Giles, and Janet! WOOOO!! Congratulations, guys! I’ll be sending you your Nutcracker prints right away!
GDY* Heather! I read this blog to laugh, not weep!
(It was cathartic anyway)
*Gosh Darn You
Hahaha. WTY.
*Why Thank You!
It’s always amazing to hear about other’s Christmas stories and how we all pull through. There was one when my hubby and I were struggling…I was working, he was not, and it was a bleak winter. We came home one night to someone doing the 12 days of Christmas for us. Each night was something we looked forward to, and they also made these darling little ornaments for each day that we still have. It was a wonderful light in the midst of the gray. I try so hard to be that for someone else when I can. I’m not in the circle of the world that hears about such things until after, dang it. But I try.
We are all very blessed.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Oh how sweet! This story made me tear up :’)
Well done, Sis❤
I love you :-* :-*
I’m sorry to hear 2016 wasn’t that great for you, but at least it’s almost over! Hoping you get a much better 2017 – I don’t know what Christmas was like for my grandparents (actually, I don’t think they even celebrated Christmas, since it probably didn’t exist in Asia back then), but I do know my grandparents grew up extremely poor as well =/ But! Now grandma can enjoy Christmas with the family and get a year’s worth of tea each time, so I guess it’s all good :)
I love that <3 <3
I think the #LIGHTtheWORLD theme for today was gratitude, and I’m grateful that even PDC years can still have PGT* in them. Thanks for your example of positivity, and for shining your light into the crumminess of this year. You’ve surely helped me smile this year! ;)
*Pretty Good Things
Chrissy! After we talked today I decided to catch up on this blog, I needed a good laugh :) It turns out I grew up with the family in this story, the Pratt’s. Small world!
No way!! What a small world! (I love the Pratt’s ^_^)
Embarrassing, I’m only catching up on these comments just now. Eek.
Merry Christmas. I love reading about the old christmasses and reflecting how spoiled we are now!
Is your mothers maiden name really Boekweg? This made me smile, because it seems so appropriate for you. In Dutch ‘Boek’ means book and ‘weg’ is ‘street’ (or ‘gone’ depending on the sentence). Soooooo you finally know where your bookishnish comes from: you have ‘Bookstreet’ blood in your veins ;-)
My word, I love this!
So with all the bad things in 2016, my personal life has been wonderful. I got engaged on memorial day, I eloped in July, and I finally got to go to Disney! Even with good things I can sometimes get down and stressed about the world around me. One of the best things in my life is my job. I work for a non profit that works on ending homelessness in our county. We have the most AMAZING volunteers and donors. It’s so cool to see how kind and generous people can be. Anytime I start to doubt the world I think about how my community is filled with folks who want to make a difference. We had a beautiful response this year on giving Tuesday when we tried our first ever matching campaign for our food pantry. Not only did we get the full match, but we went beyond that as well! I may have differences and there may be bad and sad things in this world, but when you see so many people working to make the world better, it’s hard not to have hope. *happy* I truly believe that the world will be a better place for my children if such great people are in it.
This is so sweet <3 Congratulations (Well--a very late congratulations!) on the wedding!
Heather, thank you for always being such a good person. I know this year’s been really hard for you, and that fact that you still manage to keep making these wonderful blog posts, finding the good in situations is really inspirational for me. Like really, some times when I have a bad day, I’ll randomly think of you and say “If Heather Dixon can keep making people smile and doing what she loves even when she has every right to feel all sorts of crummy, then I can get through this too.” So thank you, for being an awesome example.
I don’t know if you remember me, but you answered an email of mine some time ago when I asked you how I could “get your life”, the fact that you took the time to answer really made my day, and then I was super lucky again because I got to meet you in real life when you came to my writers class. I was the girl who knew all your internet names, and looking back, that totally made it look like I was stalking you, which I promise I’m not, I just have a good memory! :s But you were so nice and kind and funny, and it was awesome to see that you’re the same person in real life that you are in your blogs. It made me admire you even more.
Anyway, all that to tell you that your inspiring me has paid off, and I’m actually heading down to BYU to study animation this semester! I guess I just wanted to let you know, because you really have been a huge example to me, and I appreciate it more then I’m adequatly able to fit in this typebox.
I hope that this coming year is a much happier one for you and your family, thanks for brightening mine.
Your Friend,
Hailey.
P.S. Your mother’s family is named Boekweg? Any chance there’s a relation to a Darrin and Sheena Boekweg? Best family ever :)
This is the sweetest comment ever! I can’t believe I never responded (actually I can…I’m so scatterbrained, I’m only just responding to this blog post now! I’m the worst!) I have to say though…this comment totally made my year :) :)
PS Darrin and Sheena don’t sound familiar, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were related! Boekweg isn’t a super common name.
Guess what- I know the Pratt’s too! AND, I grew up in their ward :) I read your blog and I love your stories and when I read this I thought “no way, its Sister Pratt!” She is going straight to heaven, by the way. I am the same age as her youngest daughter. I wonder if we know each other?? My parents are the Shaw’s.
This is so crazy!! (Might we have been in the same ward? Sharon 8th? Possibly not. Shaw’s doesn’t sound familiar. But still…small world!)
I’m only just catching up on these comments just now. I think that shows how behind I am O____O