CONTEST ENTRY: Oh it's sad that we would have such a story. - Kym M.

Scrooge on Christmas...perhaps it can turn into a good thing?

About three years ago, we went to NY for a family Christmas with all of the children (my husband and his three siblings), seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren at my mother-in-laws (Nana's) house. The cousins were all happy to see each other, since the family lives in different parts of the east coast.

The siblings have had a rift in the past, but we truly thought this was going to be a real family holiday, with over a dozen of us sleeping in Nana's cape cod style house. Following a dinner and great conversation, the kids started to settle in to open their presents. Nothing good can come when hot-headedness and misunderstanding abound...in the tiny living room, our daughter was poked in the eye during the present unwrapping (not a big deal, but she tended overreact loudly over little things). Sibling #1 commented how we couldn't control our child's crying; we tried to ignore it, although we had under-our-breath reactions to Sibling #1's comments. Sibling #2 thought the under-our-breath comments were directed at his child, who we didn't know until later was the poke-r. He marched angrily into the kitchen (we didn't know where he went or why). We could all sense things were falling apart quickly.

A few minutes later, my husband went into the kitchen, and *BAM!* - Sibling #2 gave him a right hook into the eye, which knocked him into the stove (nearly knocking the stove over). Sibling #3 and Adult Grandson had to pull #2 off my husband. Meanwhile, the rest of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren could see the kitchen from where they were sitting in the living room. Sibling #2's four children were looking at the floor during the melee. The other children in the room looked stunned. It was sadly evident to the rest of the adults in the room, that those four children had seen this behavior before.

Christmases need to be happy occasions, and from this incident at Nana Square Garden (as Adult Grandson termed it), we have devoted our immediate family to living a life and surrounding ourselves with people who are NVBSF - Non-Violent and "Drama"-free! Except for theatre-drama, that is!