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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not want to spend Christmas Day with my Dad

50 replies

veeeee · 21/06/2012 15:25

This requires a bit of background information so here goes. My dad was a terrible father. He never lived with us for longer than 6 months at a time, would often disappear for a year or so and then turn up and live with us again. When he was living with us he quite often would get up one morning and tell my mum he didn't want us there anymore and so we would pack up and go and live with my nan and grandad for anywhere between a few days to months. My mum has plenty of issues of her own and so I view my nan and grandad (grandad died 7 years ago) as my parents.

My dad was never interested in Christmas with us when we were children. We would go to Nan and Grandads (we don't know my dads family at all because he never wanted us to) and actually bring him home a plate of dinner for him to microwave because he didn't like all the "family togetherness" stuff.

Anyway, fast forward to now. My sister and I are both in our 30s, both of us had a baby last year.

My dad lives with my 4 year old brother, he has custody of him because his mother is an alcoholic. My brother is undisciplined and is unpleasant to be around. My dad has only 1 topic of conversation; my brother. He thinks he is an expert in parenting now and is very patronising to my sister and I. When he visits he will say "look what brother can do now", "oh look, brother is doing this", "brother, why don't you tell everyone what you did today", "brother do you remember when you went to Asda, tell everyone about it" etc etc. Or we here what ailments brother has had, or that he is allowed out to play with 11 yr olds until 10 in the evening.

Now we get to Christmas day. My husbands parents are also divorced. This means we have to do 4 Christmas Days at somepoint during that week between Christmas and New Year's. We usually alternate my lot/his lot but this has to be somewhat flexible because it depends when the others in the family and make it.

My dad has this year decided that he wants my sister and I to spend Christmas Day at his. We don't want to. When we spend Christmas Day with my mum, for example, we also see my cousins, aunts and uncles etc and this is the same for when we see my husbands parents. With my dad, because he doesn't see his family, it will just be him and my brother.

My sister and I love Christmas Day and don't want it ruined by having to go to his. We have said that we will go there for the morning and have a nice brunch but he says this isn't good enough and that it's unfair because we have spent the day with the other parts of our family and that it's his turn. Am I unreasonable for not wanting to go? If not, what do I do? My sister and I have discussed all sorts of reasons we could tell him but actually I'm thinking I just tell him outright that I don't want to do it.

Thanks if you got this far!

OP posts:
DamselInTornDress · 21/06/2012 15:31

Tell him that he never made Christmas special for you as a child and you have found that having Christmas with your mum makes it a special day for your children and that's how you prefer to keep things because, after all that has now become your Christmas tradition and you don't feel you want to break it at his whim.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 21/06/2012 15:33

YANBU - tell him you would prefer to spend christmas day with people who you are closer to.

We reap what we sow in this life. Anyone can father a child, it takes someone special to be a dad....sadly for you and your sister it doesnt sound like he was much of one to you.

avivabeaver · 21/06/2012 15:35

just say no

you owe him nowt

i can understand people getting in a state when they have parents that they love and cherish and dont want them to be lonely on Christmas Day.

You are not in that situation

veeeee · 21/06/2012 15:35

He says we have to stop dwelling on the past which is an infuriatingly true statement!

OP posts:
lisaro · 21/06/2012 15:36

One word - no. That's all you need to say - you're an adult, your choice.

DamselInTornDress · 21/06/2012 15:37

Of course he would say that, because he was a shitty father in the past and now he needs you to validate that as untrue and to play happy families with him. He messed up with you and your sister and now he wants you and your sister to help him make it all better for him because he's now playing super dad to your younger sibling.

HumphreyCobbler · 21/06/2012 15:40

you are not dwelling on the past, in not wanting to spend christmas with him you are deciding where you are going to spend christmas.

You owe him nothing at all by the sound of it.

peeriebear · 21/06/2012 15:42

I would loathe being pressured to spend Christmas somewhere I didn't want to be (spending one Christmas day at my Dad's ex fiancee's sterile, tidy-beyond-belief house was enough for me). Stand up to him; he spoilt so much of your childhood, don't let him continue it into your children's childhoods!
Once again, it's all about him and what HE wants and anybody who dissents is being selfish and living in the past. Fuck that.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 21/06/2012 15:46

By telling you not to dwell on the past he is just showing what a selfish arse he is!! You're not dwelling on the past, you are just not close enough to him to spend the day with him rather than the people that are you past, your present and your future!

He is trying to justify being a shit parent..dont be fooled into thinking you owe it to him to give him another chance...you dont!

RabidAnchovy · 21/06/2012 15:49

Try telling him he is a rubbish parent and your half brother is a brat and you do not want to spend your Christmas day with such unpleasant people

DuelingFanjo · 21/06/2012 15:52

tell him you are thinking of the present and at this present time you would much rather spend christmas somewhere else.

MissTapestry · 21/06/2012 15:52

Print out a copy of your OP and send it to him in a his Christmas card.
Yanbu

CherryBlossom27 · 21/06/2012 15:55

IMO he's lucky you even speak to him, so expecting you to revolve you and your families Christmas around him is taking the piss! Just be blunt and say no, you don't need to justify yourself!

LineRunner · 21/06/2012 15:56

You're not 'dwelling on the past', you've set up some nice traditions for the future of your own family that understandably don't include your largely absent father.

I suppose he wants to make the day special for your 4 year old brother (or wants you to help entertain him) but you made a nice offer to go for the morning and brunch, and that seems fair to me. Your father needs to work a bit harder on making amends and making family connections and friends for the long term.

fuzzywuzzy · 21/06/2012 16:02

I expect my children will feel just the way you do about spending time with their father in the dim and distant future.

Tell your father nope thanks. You have your Christmas traditions they don't include being in enforced solitude with him and your brother for the whole day. If he wants to see you on christmas it's brunch or nothing.

Don't feel guilty don't feel bad. He didn't when he had the time, you reap what you sow.

Dawndonna · 21/06/2012 16:06

So, it was all about what he wanted and felt he needed when you were a kid, and 30 years later, it's still about what he wants.
I'd tell him to bog off, but I'm a hard old bat!

Paiviaso · 21/06/2012 16:16

Agree that in this situation you should just say "no" and not feel bad about it at all.

Frikadellen · 21/06/2012 16:19

if he says that you have to stop living in the past tell him yes and I have and now you have to rep what you sowed in the past and that = no Christmas with us.

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 21/06/2012 16:20

It's June Hmm if this is bugging you so much now, you'll be so stressed your brain will explode sometime round about Hallowe'en..
Just tell him to fuck off. Or the old MN favourite "no is a complete sentence" - just say No. Then don't go to his house. Problem solved.

veeeee · 21/06/2012 16:33

PomBear I've posted in June because he is bugging us about it now, saying he's asking early so that we can't say we've already arranged to go elsewhere!

OP posts:
Dawndonna · 21/06/2012 16:37

So, Veeee, he's manipulating the situation to his advantage, just as he did when you were young.

DamselInTornDress · 21/06/2012 16:39

Veeee, tell him you have a Christmas tradition, which means plans are already made to spend it with your mum, every year.

veeeee · 21/06/2012 16:44

Abolutely Dawndonna is it any wonder I'm in an EA relationship now?

OP posts:
OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 21/06/2012 16:45

So tell him the truth. You want to be able to spend the day with extended family too, instead of just him and his child who you find unpleasant to be around.

peeriebear · 21/06/2012 16:46

"I don't want to spend Christmas day at your house. Whether you ask me in June or in December the answer will still be the same. We can come for brunch and that is my only offer- you can have some of our time or none of it."

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