If you’ve been watching the noise and paying attention to California, you’ve heard about the Camp Fire.
In a matter of hours, the fire jumped to 20,000 acres. This morning it reached 70,000. My town of Paradise, where I’ve lived my entire life, was consumed entirely. Very little containment has been reached and the situation is absolute hell.
My house was one of the first to go.
My mom and my sisters and I barely got out, in separate cars, and we got separated for 10 hours. My mom and little sister were stuck in Paradise with all my pets in the flames until my stepdad was able to get gas to them so they could get out. My cat was lost, and I personally was only able to grab an extremely small amount of my own belongings because I was helping my mom to grab important documents and photos and to get the pets situated.
We are now homeless, with no clue where to go from here, and desperately in need of help to get food, clothes, supplies, anything. My mom has been disabled for 3 years and we survive on a single income from my stepdad, who is a firefighter. His friends have been hurt trying to fight this. We have a dog with us, and two guinea pigs, and a bearded dragon.
My mom set up a fundraiser, even though we are not at all the type to ask for so much help.
i spent christmas alone while my family got together and fought, and honestly i feel so good about this
i bought myself presents, cooked a big meal, drank wine and watched Home Alone 3 w/ my dog. I don’t feel sorry for myself at all.
meanwhile my sister threatened to disown my dad so he threatened to disown her, while my mom enabled and my other sister downed a bottle of wine to deal.
on the other side of the country, i was busy discovering, to my delight, that the that the 3rd installment of the Home Alone franchise not only stood up to the test of time, but contains some of the best oneliners and comedic timing I have ever seen.
honestly, keep toxic people out of your life. family isn’t everything, and bad family is often worse than no family. don’t be afraid to put in some distance, especially during high stress times like the holidays. you don’t actually owe them anything.
being alone for the holidays is so much better than being with people who make you unhappy.
Sunshine and Shit Jokes 