The Unusual Christmas

I was definitely not what Mia's brothers would have picked out husbandwise. Let me discribe my brothers-in-law and you will understand.

Chris, the oldest is an Army MP. Spend 18 months in Iraq. The first time we met he had hand-cuffs out and wanted to "cuff me" and "talk" to me about my intentions with his sister (He did not like that a guy older than he was was dating his little sister).

Justin, is the second-oldest and was a Marine. He manned a 50calibur machine gun on a hum-vee in Operation Iraqui Freedom. Justin likes to make hand-made knives and has dreams of becoming a gun-smith.

Brandon, is Mia's younger brother. Brandon works for a company which fixes up cars for some of the local auctions.

Between the three brothers and my father-in-law the family owns enough firearms to support a small-medium sized militia.

Now there's me. When I met Mia I didn't know how to change my own oil (I do now). I had never gone hunting. I did not own any fire-arms. I weighed about 140 and liked reading, drawing, and video-games.

Fast forward to our second Christmas after we got married. Chris and his new wife Angel were visiting from Kentucky and on Christmas Eve Mia got a call. Chris wanted to know if I wanted to go hunting with her brothers on Christmas day. Mia had to work all day Christmas so she didn't mind me being gone, but she was worried. She felt like her brothers could be a little careless, but she decided that since her had was going I'd be okay. I figured I'd better go so that I could improve my reputation with her brothers.

At 5 am Mia and I got up and had a quick Christmas morning together. I was at her parent's house at 6:30 in my camo and boots(recent presents from Chris and my father-in-law) and most of the cold weather gear I owned. We loaded up into Chris' Ford Explorer and drove to the northern border of Utah listening to Johnny Cash. We finally stopped in a little driveway next to an old abandoned barn. It was probably 25 degrees outside but thankfully there was plenty of sunshine and no wind.

We got out and moved to the back of the Explorer to "lock and load." My eyes got wider and wider as I realized the arsenal that we had been carrying. There were two AR15's (the AR15 is essentially the civilian issue M16), an AR4, 3 shotguns, one .22 rifle, one .357 Magnum revolver (Chris' Christmas present), one .45 automatic pistol (Chris' sidearm), and one .22 semi-auto pistol (Justin's sidearm). There may have been more, but those are what I remember. I also distinctly remember Chris remarking that we could hold of local law enforcement for "awhile" with the amount of ammo they had brought.

My father-in-law pulled me aside and asked me, "What do you want to shoot with?" I blinked at him for a while not knowing how to answer. We where going "bunny blasting" aka hunting jack rabbits in the sagebrush. Somewhat selfishly I opted to shoot my father-in-law's new AR15. He handed me a few 30 round bannanna clips and showed me how to aim with the holographic laser sight. Next thing I knew we were in a line trudging through the brush and snow, shooting at anything that moved.

I don't know that we made that much of a dent in the local rabbit population, but we made a lot of noise and had a good time. After lunch we did some skeet shooting and I was able to hold my own with several far more experience shooters.

I don't know that the trip was all that memorable for anyone else, but for me it was a turning point in my relationship with my in-laws. Something of a right of passage. I'm still a bit of an odd-duck around that family, but since Mia is their vegetarian little sister who always told them their guns were stupid, the brothers have taken me in as an ally.

About a week after the hunt Mia and I went up to see Chris and Angel before they went back to Kentucky. As we were leaving Chris walked out and handed me the shotgun he had been shooting with. I was stunned.

It now sits in my very own gun safe in my garage.