On December 5th, 2016, a few days before my birthday, my Xbox 360 broke. My parents, quick on their feet, fixed it, and planned to surprise me with it. A couple of days later, we went to an event.

It was a cold, winter night in December of 2016. It was humid, yet dry at the same time. I stood in front of the YMCA, ready for anything. Being a little thirteen year-old, I couldn’t wait for the night/morning awaiting me, unlike last year when I felt stuck. I practically jumped all over the walls, and I had a smile wider than the moon. My smile almost ripped my cheeks due to my large smile. I would partake in my second Boy Scout lock-in, and this time I had come prepared, like a bear preparing for winter. I packed several bottles of water, some snacks (chips, beef jerky, cookies, trail mix, etc.), and my Pokemon cards. Then, I had to wait for an entire hour just to get into the main room.

“Steve, why are we waiting?” I asked my Scout master. 

“I don’t know. It looks like registration’s just busy,” he replied. 

I honestly don’t know for certain if registration became clogged or something, but I do know that sitting in that hot, musty room for minutes on end ruined my enthusiasm. Thankfully, once we finally went into the main room, it went really well. 

“Welcome to the 2016 YMCA Lock-in!” the event manager exclaimed. 

They explained some ground rules: don’t sprint in the halls, don’t scream in the sleeping areas, no brawls, the usual rules for a group of twelve to seventeen year olds. Some of the people there played board games, others hung out, but someone I met the previous year and I competed in the Pokemon trading card game for the majority of the lock-in. The lock-in ran from 10 p.m. until two a.m. and we played for about three hours. For the last two hours, some others and I wandered around the YMCA, just doing whatever.

Then, once we spotted the game room, we knew where to spend the last couple of hours. Swamp green pool tables, a blaringly white air hockey table, computers with sticky keyboards, even a sleak, black Xbox 360 all existed in that room. It looked glorious -- so glorious. It felt like kid heaven. 

‘Wish I knew this was here last year,’ I thought.

We played some pool and almost knocked the lights out with the white ball, we played some air hockey and crushed each other’s hands with the velvet-colored puck, and finally we played… card games. We didn’t get to use the computers, since they didn’t have any games other than that chrome dinosaur game, and scouts had already swamped the Xbox 360.

We pulled out a deck of cards and played until we heard the intercom click and a voice yelled “Attention all Boy Scouts; please return to the gymnasium, and line the walls.”

Of course, we followed the instructions and sat in front of a door, and then the staff wheeled out an Xbox One and some prize baskets. 

“We’ll be drawing your names from this hat,” the event manager explained, lifting up a fuzzy black tophat, “to see if you win any of these prizes! A few gift baskets with several types of candies, and this brand-new, unopened Xbox One!”

I didn’t believe I would win it. In fact, I almost vouched against myself due to my horrid luck with winning anything in the past. When I didn’t win any of the baskets, I didn’t even look surprised.

“Guess I’m not even lucky enough to earn a little bit of chocolate,” I stated with a tinge of sadness.

“And the winner of this Xbox One is………”

“Not me,” I muttered sadly.

“Talon !” the event manager announced.

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know what to say-- I became so shocked; in fact, my heart stopped for a bit. Of all people, I won this modern-day piece of tech for free. 

I walked up to the podium, stunned. I simply stared in awe and amazement at the unopened Xbox One box in front of me.

“It’s a Christmas miracle!” I exclaimed with a bit of a slur, because I had just been up until 2 a.m.

My mom, my dad and I all slowly and tiredly crawled into the car. My mom and dad were there for the whole thing, and I noticed that there was still a bit of shock and disbelief on their faces. They almost looked nervous, honestly.

Once we arrived at our house from the YMCA, my parents pulled out the Xbox 360, fully fixed and operational, and my mom just simply stated “I guess it’s a bit too late now, huh?”