I USED TO HATE CHRISTMAS

or How I Got Money And Got Happy

The panic would set in around November 25th.

The day after my birthday.

I’d usually get a few hundred bucks in cash from my parents, grandmother and in-laws. That money would usually immediately go to the most outstanding bill in the pile.

Not ‘outstanding’ as in flashy but rather ‘outstanding’ as in there were two guys out standing in the driveway wai…