Sparkling I am sure they do. They are agog at us saying things like what would you like for dinner to each other (dp and I) as they would have their meals planned a week in advance and carefully measured amounts of ingredients at the standby :o
We love winding them up with "dunno check the fridge and see what we can throw together"

my parents are obsessed with brands.
if a shop runs out of one thing in their brand a sustitute will not be bought even if it would mean roast dinner without gravy
and they are afraid to go hungry having grown up after the war when going hungry was normal. the tables a so full of stuff it is hard to stick to a normal size meal.

MIL always cooks the joint the day before, lets in go cold in the kitchen overnight then re-heats it the following day. I've no idea why!

I love this thread! My contribution is itineraries. My DP's father sends us a fully-detailed plan of any trip they make:

Depart home via taxi: 0600 hours (due to 0900 hours flight departure and necessity of 2hrs attendance prior)
Arrive LHR airport: circa 0630 hours. Proceed to baggage drop due to having checked-in via the internet. Our allocated seats are currently 21E and 21F (subject to change; attached is a photocopy of our check-in confirmation)
DEPART LHR 0900 on FLIGHT NUMBER xxxx, PLANE MODEL xxxx. ARRIVE PARIS CDG 1021 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE).
Our passport numbers: xxxxx
CRUCIAL: AIRLINE CONTACT INFO: xxxxx

Our insurance company telephone number: xxxxx
Our insurance policy details: xxxxx

Our hotel address, telephone number, email: xxxx (attached is a copy of our reservation email, a map of Paris, and key French phrases should you require to contact hotel). We will be collected by the owners, Claude and Jeanne, who have a dog.
CRUCIAL: THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN PARIS CONTACT INFO: xxxxxx

Depart hotel: 0800 hours via hotel transfer (at a cost of circa 15Euros, GBP12.17 subject to exchange rate fluctuation)

Arrive CDG airport: circa 0830 hours. Proceed to check-in. NOTA BENE: AT PRESENT WE HAVE NO SEAT NUMBERS TO PROVIDE YOU WITH.
DEPART CDG 1100. ARRIVE LHR 1221 (SUBJECT TO CHANGE).

On disembarking: to passport control and on to baggage claim. Please note, this can take some time due to volume of both baggage and passengers.
Arrival home: TBC upon sourcing a taxi.

We will never, ever, ever, go on holiday together... with ils. The least relaxing experience of my life. Food and drink had to be taken at specific times and from the same four approved places for designated sustenance event - meals at hotel, 11ses, coffee and cake at 3pm, drink in an English bar . Obviously playing around the pool and on the beach were disprupted by frequent costume/outfit changes. They had never had drinks on the beautiful harbour front; despite going twice a year for more than 20 years. For 15 of those years, they stayed at the same hotel and even in the same room, despite not liking the food, location, pool, how run down it had become, etc.

Staying at their home is like entering a different space time continuum; one where Christmas dinner is cooked in October and frozen. This is cooked 'fresh' on Christmas eve, plated up and reheated in the microwave on CD. Plates are cleared IMMEDIATLY and then MIL must say 'there that doesn't take long, so much easy to do it right away' every time and you must agree woleheartedly. Don't say 'it would take the same time to clear away if you waited a little while'.

Now XH has moved back in with his parents all spontaneity has gone from his life. He used to get so wound up by me and my maverick ways but not any more!

If we ever decided to go out he would always need to ask when, where and how mealtimes would be catered to. Each and every time I would say "can we not just decide that when we get hungry?". He would then do a run down of all the potential options available just to re-assure himself that panic wouldn't arise

His days now revolve around meals and the planning thereof. If he's here visiting DS he gets a phone call at about 2 o'clock asking if he'll be home for tea. If he says no, one is still made for him but plated up and left in the oven to be re-heated. He's 42!

The suggestion of him making his own is met with baffled silence.

Do they think you are very wasteful Farely? We have a food waste caddy for the recycling and it gets filled up, my parents never have anything in theirs.

My DGM Weighs her peas. She weighs out a precise amount, then weights the bag and writes on it how much is left.

They did the above for xmas dinner one year. No leftovers!!! We have had xmas dinner at ours ever since

I am heartened to hear about the food counting thing TBH. Maybe it will come to us all.

When going for dinner at my parents house one must give ones arrival time to the second. one must then sit and have exactly one drink before dinner is served.
Dinner is carefully measured out portions such as exactly two roast potatoes per person (no extras made if anyone wanted more) and one piece of brocolli etc.
Drives me bananas!!

My DGM is like this.

She buys brands - if that brand and size is not available she wont but an alternative, she will go without.

Oh and we have just had a disagreement as I wouldn't feel her knickers....she was wearing them at the time

I'm laughing at this thread as I have my parents visiting at the moment. They have just returned from a three week holiday and I am getting ALL the details of ALL the conversations they had, ALL the food they had, what ALL the staff said and friends. If I hear Alvin did/said etc I will scream. Alvin served the tomatoes at breakfast

I think we have only got to the end of week one

My Granny used to air every single item of clothing, bedding etc in the airing cupboard. This included shrouds for the corpses at her funeral home, I kid you not!!

DF doesn't like to drive on the Motorway on Mondays and Fridays as he says there are more lorries then.

DM likes those little food bags with the wire and paper ties-everything is put into one.

When my children were small and needed spoon feeding my mum would sit next to me with one dry cloth, one wet. Every time they inevitably grabbed at the gloopy spoon she would immediately leap into action cleaning each grubby paw with the wet and then drying them before another spoonful could be offered. Now they are bigger she is even worse, DS1 has been told off for getting the bath dirty and one time when I jokingly mentioned they were less than pristine she made them sit on the floor not the furniture! My dad and his obsession with the dustpan and brush is a sight to behold.

This thread is great, like the therapy I think I really need but can't afford

My ILs faff forever like recharge's, so getting a cooked roast dinner from kitchen to table takes up to an hour (seriously!), as they debate which plates to use, which glasses for wine, extra water glasses, plates must be warmed and then discussed whether they are warm enough, and all.veg etc must go on serving platters. By the time it's dished up it's all cold so then they can debate who uses the microwave first... Also they 'save' money by buying reduced food. Daily. Enough for 20. So you get to argue over whether pork pie from Waitrose needs to be eaten before or after the pork and ham one from the butcher or should they first eat the French green cheese, no not that one, that one shouldn't be green, the other green one...
I just ignore them, fill up on fruit and snacks before the meal and go along with FIL who insists I have to try 4 different red wines, pronounce which goes best with the meal (I choose at random. The overcooked gammon won't go with anything.), insist I have more wine, coffee, then tea, then liqueur after.dinner...

Meanwhile MIL will complain they don't have all 50 condiments on the table, buy she can't walk much so FIL has to then fetch the right sauce, no not the Tesco redcurrant jelly, the Lidl one we got on holiday that's in the cupboard with the postcard from Jane, you know Jane, she used to be married to Nigel who worked at the garage round the corner from the house we lived in 20 years ago...

Despite the food, the wine is excellent and they really are lovely if you can ignore the faffing. And mouldy food.

This thread is making me smile!

DH's family are faffers. Drives me bonkers! Organising anything takes forever, especially anything involving the possibility of car sharing i.e. weddings etc.

Us: 'Would you like a lift?'.

Them: '...well I could go with Lindsey but she might go straight from work...Sue could collect us but she has the carseats in so it might be a squash...why don't I see if Andrew will do two journeys...or you and I could get a taxi and DH could drive Amy and the kids....' AARGH! Followed by weeks of phonecalls and changes of plan!

My mother is obsessed with airing clothes. She is horrified that I use a dryer and will wear clothes straight out of it or put the bedding back on fresh from the dryer.
My dad won't let anyone turn on the tv or use the DVD player. Even now I'm 43 I'm not allowed.
My mum makes a pot of tea at night and in the morning, she heats up the leftovers on the hob so as not to waste it She also washes up the breakfast dishes, then saves the water to wash up for the rest of the day!
She announced that we clearly didn't know how to take a shower and proceeded to explain that the correct way is to wet yourself a bit, turn off the water, use shampoo/soap and then finally rinse off. Under no circumstance should you stand under running water. Even though there is ice on the window because "it's not cold enough to have the heating on"
We haven't visited them for 2 years now, wonder why?!

Dave and Jean sound lovely

My DM is forever telling me health facts she 'read in the paper'. Except she only reads the Daily Mail.