Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Most boring family Christmas conversation competition

289 replies

GinNsnowmen · 26/12/2019 16:48

So far this Christmas break we have had how the woman across the road keeps her bins to the SIDE of her path at the driveway and a long extended discussion about the pros and cons of bin positioning. Apparently "we just don't know what she gets up to" is a comment that was appropriate in that conversation. I'm not sure what my neighbours think about my bin position?!!

High drama of the day has been when an unknown car parked perfectly legally near the house. This prompted lots of walking back and forwards at windows and some fake retrieval of stuff from our cars to nosey. Can anyone compete with that level of drama? A friend suggested we log it with 101.

(And as it seems necessary to say this these days this is lighthearted. I love my family but in large doses they are exhausting and this is just some light relief to keep me smiling politely.)

OP posts:
MrsFrostyTheSnowman · 27/12/2019 10:43

"Did you lock the back door?"
"Are you sure the back door is locked?"
Because once years ago the back door wasn't locked.

^ This 😂 I usually get a reference to losing my purse 25 years ago, every time I get have you got your purse, you know what you are like. I lost it once, ONCE

parrotfashionista · 27/12/2019 11:04

We had a comprehensive run down of motorway routes travelled, a review of the latest harpsichord recital and all recent recitals by said harpsichordist.

And a running commentary of what wines were bought for lunch and previous wines on past dinners that were drunk 😵

And a review of marjories apple and plum chutney. Where she lives, how said chutney was gifted etc. I don't know marjory.

edwinbear · 27/12/2019 11:13

Bell ringing. How many bells each local church has, who is the best 'ringer', how long each ringer can last. Just shoot me now. I've volunteered to go into work today to get away from it.

TDogsInHats · 27/12/2019 12:12

@YesIReallyDoLikeRootBeer
Ooh butter, I love the butter that is served in Patisserie Valerie.
Do you know what brand of delicious butter you were eating?
And yes, I really do want to know 😂

TDogsInHats · 27/12/2019 12:13

Ah the M4 service stations, very interesting. Well it is to me who regularly drives to Wales!

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 27/12/2019 13:31

I’ve never been to Wales but I do traverse up to the M1 from Suffolk occasionally and I always stop at the Extra near Cambridge. Mainly cos it’s the only one I know but I’m getting quite fond of it now. Xmas Grin

Freyanna · 27/12/2019 14:47

We had chat about the price of brussel sprouts.

Lidl 15 p per bag very big brussel sprouts

Asda 20 p per bag some were mouldy

M & S 40 p not bought too expensive.

Also, conversation about hearing aids through the decades and how they have changed.

TwigTheWonderKid · 27/12/2019 15:58

An actual conversation, however banal, would be a treat here. I am currently being subjected to a running commentary on the movements of my cat. I am very close to screaming " Yes I know! I have got bloody eyes you know!".

Oh well, only another 6 days of it...

nicknamehelp · 27/12/2019 16:19

fil getting very excited over a mug and describing how its the perfect mug from size to shape to handle.

birdsarecute45 · 27/12/2019 16:28

we sat through a conversation that went on for 45 minutes between DH and DS1 (aged 9). Eventually MIL leaned over and whispered 'what are they talking about?'

They were talking about the various merits of various Windows Operating systems.

(Vista and Windows 8 were both utter travesties if anyone is interested....)

On an additional note.... i just asked DH 'what was the other travesty that was not Vista'

His response... written verbatim in real time is... 'Windows 98 was dreadful, then Windows Vista then Windows 8 and after Vista I went to Widnows 2003, um- yes i think it was Windows 2003, but just check that because there was also an Office 2003 but i never got into that i went straight from Office 7 to Office 10.... pause 'is there parsley in that sauce? [we are watching the Food Networkl as I speak].

Liverpool52 · 27/12/2019 16:30

My ILs are obsessed with the weather to the point that they've told us that we are in fact wrong about what the weather is where we are (150 miles away from them) because the Met Office says it's something different e.g. ILs: is it raining with you? Us: no it's actually blue skies. ILs: no you're mistaken because the Met Office says it's raining.

Clearly my eyes were deceiving me.

StainlessSteelCat · 27/12/2019 16:48

Currently discussing what socks they got for Christmas. Also, in depth comparison of Xmas market near PIL to Xmas market near us. 20 minutes in MIL revealed she hadn't actually been and was basing her knowledge on a visit their friends made to a third market three years ago.

Any wonder I'm reading this thread ...

swimlyn · 27/12/2019 17:10

Clearly, a lot of it is down to the endless repetition that occurs. Someone new appearing on the scene is fatal isn’t it? Cue to make a cup of tea or whatever for new visitor…

It’s strange that I had a conversation going with friends once, where we were discussing this very problem of insanely boring conversation topics, and I mentioned what to me was one of the worst, ie: the best route from A to B. In this case it was Hemel Hempstead to Cambridge avoiding the A10. I plucked the town names out of the air for the purposes of an example. There was immediate general agreement, but guess what happened next?

Two eavesdropping guests (with glasses in hand) homed in as if magnetised, and immediately waded in with their very complicated recommendations for that route.

I backed away slowly, wide-eyed and astonished. I’d obviously hit on their favourite boring- topic.

andannabegins · 27/12/2019 17:27

@nicknamehelp I remember a thread on MN about perfect mugs that went on for a long time with photos and everything!

Uptheshard · 27/12/2019 17:42

Oh my god this is a brilliant thread ! We had... bin positioning... why the pil neighbours dont take their bins in the next day... and long description from grandparent no.2 ..who is 91..about how he got drafted in 1953 and all of his career history since fuck me it was mind bending dull. Apart from that fact I've heard it at least 18 times.
When the drove off ..taking all the leftovers...even the kids whooped and put the ps4 on!!!!

Dementedmagpie · 27/12/2019 17:43

Every year from at least 2014 we have had a discussion monologue over the best place to buy cornflakes, which shops has it on offer, what the offer is, and how Kellogg's are superior .this year as a bonus topic, we got a report of said relatives constipation!! At breakfast time.

Dementedmagpie · 27/12/2019 17:49

MIL has no hobbies and barely goes out,seems to have no interest or knowledge of news or current affairs so she just recycles everyone else's news /comments and markets it as her own.i had my hair done once and wasn't happy with it, this became her topic of conversation with any of the other relatives. "Well, magpie had her hair done last week but she wasn't v happy with it because....blah blah blah."

DickDewy · 27/12/2019 17:55

My sil held court on such enthralling matters as her tweaks to her blood pressure and thyroid medications. She also argued about how many millilitres are in a pint.

Yes, it was dull.

BananaBooBoo · 27/12/2019 17:56

@MrsFrostyTheSnowman. Love your one!

DustyMaiden · 27/12/2019 18:02

We had, if you could choose a superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it?

Our crackers had conversation starters in.

lilgreen · 27/12/2019 19:30

MIL last year:
MIL: I don’t want to embarrass you but that scented candle you gave me, I didn’t want it so i tried to return it at Next but the receipt was over 12 months old.
Me: Yes, I bought it last year but we ended up getting you something else so thought I’d give it to you as an extra gift this year.
MIL: I just wondered if you’d regifted it to me.
What if I had? How would her telling me change it? How come I feel bad when she was the one exchanging my gift? FFS!!!!!!

TulipCat · 27/12/2019 19:37

I had BIL blathering on about getting a letter from the council about the position of his wheelie bins, followed by his usual piece about why he doesn't use online supermarket deliveries when dinner was served....

Patroclus · 27/12/2019 19:41

My grandparents told me about their dealings with the Triads, which was unexpected

Thornhill58 · 27/12/2019 19:53

Today we were waiting for our son and went to Costa. It was sweaty and grim but we had no choice.
This child about 3-4 spits on a near buy table. I reported the incident to the woman clearing the tables. She rolls her eyes and comes round to clean the spit. Then with the same cloth she starts to wipe the trays. We felt very nauseous after. Then people wonder why others get 🤢

WheresMyChocolate · 27/12/2019 19:57

My MIL's iron 'blew up' ie there was a popping sound and now it doesn't work. Everyone gets a nano second by nano second account of how she plugged it in, switched it on and it exploded. Those unfortunate enough to have her staying, ie me, have heard it over and over again. I'm so done with the feckin iron story.

(My MIL is normally great. I think she may have been at the sherry or something.)