DH and I have been together for 25 years now. 16 years ago we moved 200 miles from his family and to be honest we'd probably be divorced now if we hadn't. His mother is a very difficult woman.
Traditionally she'd come to us on alternate years for Christmas. She was here last year which was an utter nightmare (I had a thread about it) and as a result I have gone VLC with her.
I was looking forward to this Christmas when the bombshell was dropped that she's coming again. MiL does nothing but sit on the couch while she's here. She has to sleep in the living room and so she's around 24/7. She's rude, passive aggressive and torments our poor dog. She's a dementor and sucks the joy out of any occasion. She doesn't interact with our DC either and they tend to hide in their rooms as much as possible.
I don't know how I'm going to survive it again!! Last year she told us she'd be here a week but told everyone else she'd be here for two weeks. For me 5 days is the maximum I could stand.
DH is expected to go and get her and take her home again. Last year it worked out she arrived the day schools closed (I'm a teacher) and planned on leaving the day before school restarted - no break for me! DH took her home after a week.
How do I get through this?