Emily Artruc – L

My first year participating in LDBC, dashed by my own mother.

Susan Beachy – L

Libraries suck.

Deb Campbell – L

Taken down while waiting for my annual mammogram. ‘Cause I was already having such a great day.

Sue Carkner – L

Last Christmas, my brother, developmentally delayed and very ill, found out that I did not have copies of many of the Christmas songs he loved. He insisted—insisted—on giving me copies of his entire collection. Hundreds of songs, many of them horrible. We laughed for hours, as he kept scrolling through his music files on the computer and finding more. He’d triumphantly announce each new addition to my collection. The more I complained, the more he was spurred on to find every last sentimental piece of schmaltz lurking in the dusty corners of his collection.

A few months later, he died, and this is our first Christmas without him. Every song I complained about when he added it to the collection is my new favourite, because it reminds me of him. He didn’t have much, but he had his music, and he just couldn’t resist sharing it with me.

It took less than 24 hours for my brother’s Christmas mix to slay me with the Johnny Cash version of “The Little Drummer Boy.” He would have laughed himself stupid to see my reaction to being taken out of the LDB Challenge in my own home. I can hear his laughter in my head right now. I lost the Challenge, but it was totally worth it.

David Christian – L

A two year streak ended by NPR! I want my pledge money back.

Nora Debenedetto – L

Pa rum pum pum fail.

Molly H – L

I yelled, “Crap!” in a room of 150 under-10s.

Holly Melton – L

I heard it while going through a box of vintage postcards, one of my favorite pastimes. I was gazing at a colorized postcard from the early 1900s. On the front was a girl in a sailor dress in front of a huge pink hydrangea bush. On the back someone had hand-written one sentence: “Isn’t this great?” No, unknown now-dead person. No, it isn’t. I just heard “The Little Drummer Boy.”

Evelyn Peck (Mother LDBC) – L

My son forced me to do this even though I was not registered in this contest!!!!!!!

Linda Renzulli – L

Here I was being an angel of mercy, flying from Idaho to San Francisco to babysit my grandchildren because my son-in-law has just had his fifth heart attack in a year. Here comes Grandma to the rescue, and I get taken out by that rotten little bastard. Fuck it—I need a drink.

Deb Roby – L

From that point forward, the night was cursed. The sprinkles turned to hard rain as I walk to my car. My team was embarrassed in its basketball game. I had both indigestion and insomnia.

Laura Sigman – L

I got taken out while buying meatballs. I am a vegetarian. I got what I deserved.

Eileen Siple – L

I’ve been encouraging my daughter to find a job—and then, on the way to a job interview, the song comes on the radio. That’s what I get for encouraging my daughter to grow up and become a productive member of society.

Julia Skochko – L

Even eggnog rice pudding and zesty Cuban flatbread taste like ashes in one’s mouth after such a horror. [Full version here.]

Jack Taylor – L

I almost drove into a freeway abutment. That song is as dangerous to drivers as texting.

George Timms – L

Everything is fucking terrible and Christmas is ruined.

Pieter Van Noordennen – L

Like so many New York gubernatorial candidates, I, too, was a victim of social media.