Tales of family Christmas from hell?

[HTH1]

Following on from the guests from hell thread, please tell me about your worst family Christmas from hell. Hopefully that will make me happier about it just being a v small Christmas this year (all family away or dead) and would love to hear your experiences

About 13 years ago my sister decided that she was going to host Christmas dinner. She had just set up home with her now ex, and had obviously come over all domesticated😂.

She served undercooked pigeons; each one had had a sausage shoved up its bum🤣. The vegetables were rock hard and the gravy like water.

We still joke about the poor posthumously defiled pigeons😂

@PrincessNutNutRoast

Father sat at the head of the table like Lord Muck, ordering my mother in and out of the kitchen and snapping at everyone. Eventually started screaming at my mother over something, I shouted back, massive screaming match ensued, guests made hasty excuses and left beforr main was finished. Father disappeared upstairs, refusing to come down until we had all gone up to apologise to him, mother was wibbling all over the place enabling and encouraging his shit while siblings and I said we were quite happy for him to stay up there and brother made a point of finishing Dad's meal since he was saying he was never going to rejoin us. Siblings and I had dessert together while my mother continued wibbling around and enabling Dad rather than telling him to go fuck himself like she should have. Siblings and I cleared everything away and proceeded to get drunk on all the wine that parents and guests weren't going to drink while Dad screamed at Mum upstairs about how shit she was, how shit we were (especially me) and why he was the only righteous person in the family. Boxing Day rolled around, father was stalking around the house refusing to speak to anyone and I was wondering whether it was possible to wire up the fairy lights to just burn our whole fucking dysfunctional toxic house to the ground.

Fa la la la la la la la la.

I think you may be my sister, I can remember loads of Christmasses like this sadly. In hindsight Dad had a serious undiagnosed mental illness and maim was just trying to keep the peace. Very sad really

Christmas afternoon I had prepared a huge buffet for my grown up children and partners, before started my daughter and son had a massive horrible argument, which started because of a disagreement over the Queens speech, they all left, buffet not touched and I went to bed. Families !

MIL from hell arriving the week before Christmas and staying two weeks after. That was the year she bought me a pair of American Tan tights. From a charity shop. Bless her.

Christmas, 2015.
I walked in the kitchen door of my not-DS’s home to her & 9 nieces & nephews slamming their mouths shut - surprised that many teeth were not broken.
They were obviously discussing me, about what I’ve no idea, but it gutted me.
I should’ve turned & walked straight back out, but my 90-yr-old mum was there, sitting by herself in the other room - that broke my heart.
I’ve not spent another Christmas with them. I’ve been included with my real family, my friends who treat me like a sister, an auntie, a granny.
I never found out what was so bloody personal that they discussed - I barely know most of them and some I’ve never had a conversation with.
Ashamed to call them “family” - so I don’t.
Merry effing Christmas.

Sounds like a fricking night mare.
One thing I would say though is that if your Mum had been subjected to his coercive control throughout their marriage, she’s not deliberately enabling him.
Feeling she must placate an abusive partner is all she knows. 😢
I speak from experience. X

Went to Amsterdam many years ago imagining a festive holiday, only to discover they don’t really celebrate Christmas over there on the same day as us. Nothing was open except the Van Gogh museum and Burger King. Had no presents and the TV in our hotel room had no English programmes apart from Tellytubbies. My husband kept looking in the windows of jewellery shops but couldn’t get the courage up to propose until we got back home!

Too many to go into haha!
There was one Christmas XP refused to let anyone do anything because he wanted to cook dinner, I told him to prepare as much as possible on Christmas Eve, he thought he knew best! Then cooked a massive turkey, a gammon joint and beef all separately Christmas morning! Refused to let the children eat as dinner would be 'soon' and we ended up eating at 7pm!!
We were all starving, children were hungry and grumpy! Absolutely horrendous!
Another Christmas we went to exPIL (same XP). ExFIL ended up blind drunk and threatened to take my 15 year old DS outside to 'do him over'. Teen at the time was a bit wayward but I was flipping fuming after that! Didn't speak to them again and me an XP split up soon after!

I could go on and on with the list (mainly to do with XP haha)

Another les traumatic one. Dm had come to us for Christmas, about two hours away. Then Boxing Day we went to hers to see dhs family. Mum always had central heating on full and as we opened the door, (it had snowed a fair bit too) an unimaginable stench greeted us. Her fridge freezer had died and the house reeked of rotting food. Kids, looking green, dh similar, mum in tears. Took a while to empty the thing, but filled the bin and it stank too. We had to sit with windows open in the freezing cold to clear it out. Luckily the milk and and fresh stuff we put in lidded box in the snow. John Lewis came to the rescue and delivered a new fridge in 24 hours.

This starts awfully but I promise gets better.

My ex beat me that badly on Christmas Eve that I had two black eyes and handprints around my neck well into January, on Christmas Day morning my then 3 year old tripped over the remote control car my dad was driving and split his eyebrow open, cue children's A&E with a smashed up face and a child with a considerable gash. 6pm my 8 year old sibling runs into the wall with a blow pipe dart thing in his mouth, cue children's A&E with a smashed up face, a child with a stitched eyebrow and another child with his lip detached from his upper gum. 10am Boxing Day morning I had to take myself to A&E with both small kids because my nose had bled for 6 solid hours, so there's me, black and blue, one kid with a black eye and stitches and one with the equivalent of 3ml of filler in his upper lip and the whole lip black, consultant I saw slowly looked from one to the next and said "well, this Christmas has been an adventure for you guys"

Just an FYI
The consultant asked questions, he didn't just allow me to walk out with two small kids looking like that!

Last year. Our LG died last March , she was 3 days old.
On Xmas eve we put the presents out for the other 2 DC and both burst into tears.
I got pregnant this October and we planned on telling people at Xmas as would have been around 12 weeks. Our other DC didn’t know I was pregnant. I had a miscarriage 3 weeks ago, around the same time DD gave me her Xmas list with “little sister” on it. Not really sure how this year is going to pan out!

Heartbreaks 💐💐💐💐💐

@lemonsorbetinthesun
So v sorry to hear that . Life can be v cruel at times. Sending best wishes for better times ahead x

I’m sorry you feel awful about Christmas. For me nothing will be as awful as the years that my dad had recently had surgery for cancer. We thought he was going to get better and come home, but instead we spent the entirety of Christmas day at his bedside until he died in the evening . That was 30 years ago. The Year after my dad died , my grandmother died on Boxing Day. Last year I lost my nephew he was 37 and had brain cancer , He left his wife who he had only just married and a baby boy. My beloved mum died earlier this year .......... i’ve tried really really hard to not let what’s happened colour my judgement of Christmas , But this year I’m so glad I i don have to pretend- - we can just eat Marks & Spencer food, Watch films and chill. . i’m going to say to everyone who reads this post, treasure what matters most- not your gifts ,not the amount that was spent on them but those you love. you never know what the next Christmas in front of you will bring. Enjoy what you have - nothing else matters

My dm usually has a rant at some point about relatives we've not seen in years because she doesn't want to see them, hence a lot of lonely Xmas as she wouldn't mix with them at Xmas for years before going nc (no one knows reason for the nc) so was just me dm and df. Was great when I first met dh and could enjoy a large family Xmas.

@mimosaadorna
That’s a truly horrific tale of several Xmas’s.
you’ve hit the nail right on the head though!
You really don’t know what’s around the corner.
My DH keeps asking me what I want and I don’t want anything. That’s not because I’m being ungrateful or scrouge like, I honestly can’t think of anything I want. As long as my children are happy and healthy is the most important thing!

@Nichola2310 this happened to us one year when dc were small. We were invited to relatives house a few days before Christmas at 4pm. We assumed there would be food. When they started handing out mince pies at 5:30pm we realised we were wrong! Ended up making our excuses at 6:30pm and driving through a KFC on the way home because dc were ravenous and it was the quickest thing we could think of. We laugh about it now, and dh always asks before we go anywhere "have you checked if there will be food?"

It was my first Christmas back at my parents in my mid 20s after breaking up with my then fiancé. Sadly the neighbour who lived over the road was terminally ill. DM was constantly at the widow lifting the net curtains to see their family members arriving to say farewell and announcing each arrival and departure. In the end I dragged the curtains closed and insisted we spent the rest of the day in semi darkness (and tears).

Six consecutive Christmases.
Christmas no 1 my DM had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer so had organised Christmas lunch at a local hotel as a treat. She had a fall a week before and ended up in hospital. Unable to get a refund we all went for the meal without her before going to visit her in hospital.

Christmas no 2 my (now ex) H had just announced he wanted a divorce and refused to come with us to visit her so I spent the that Christmas alone with her (telling her that one of the children was too ill to travel as I didn't want her to know about the impending divorce and worry) So ex H had Christmas Day with our DC.
Christmas no 3 she almost, but not quite made it, dying on 20th December. Ex H came swooping home, "for the children's sake" and jollied them along while I cried into cushions in corners.
Christmas no 4 was, "his turn" to have the DC so I spent it alone.
Christmas no 5 ex H chose to tell our 2 DDs about his new woman when they rang to wish him Merry Christmas on Christmas Day. (DS already knew and had been asked to keep it a secret for several months)
Christmas no 6 ex H chose to announce his impending nuptials to the DDs on their Christmas phone call (the DC had decided to spend Christmas with me as their DF had company but I'd have been alone).
I don't look forward to Christmas much any more.

Not me but here goes. So I was working one Xmas day (retired cop). About 8pm in the evening get called to a domestic. Tip up and basically the daughters boyfriend, who is well loved by her family, announces at the dinner table that it’s her brother he is in love with not her! Apparently he broke down and said for all to hear “ ever since we slept together I can’t hide it anymore”. Cue major family blow up. We took him to his mum’s with the advice of “ I,d give it a day or two before you make contact”.

Omg I know too well hoe your felt we had a missed miscarriage on 15.12.17 it was so upsetting I was 10 weeks ans had no idea till the private scan we wanted done so we could tell everyone Christmas day then we had another miscarriage 17.11.19 at 11+5 that was worse cos we had 3 scans and all looked perfect then thr bleeding started and that was it another heartbreak now we have a 5 week old

@Jenasaurus

I have a few to choose from.

The one that is more light hearted I will share as the others are a little depressing.

When I was 6 I was Mary in the nativity play at school and also Mary in sunday school play. I had a little belly and was panic stricken that I was going to give birth to Jesus on Christmas day, I went to bed on christmas eve with several pairs of knickers on (had an older sister so knew how babies are born) and was so scared I was going to give birth I thought the baby wouldnt be able to get out with the extra knickers.

The next day my parents noticed I wasnt my normal happy self on this special day. I finally told them what I thought was about to happen and they reassured me I wasnt the real Mary and mother of Jesus.

This is, by far, the funniest thing I've ever read on Mumsnet, absolutely crying here!!

About 12 years ago, I spent Christmas with my very middleclass in-laws for the first time. I grew up in a poor and working class family where we often ate food from a plate on our knees so there was a lot of pressure to come across as prim and proper. At my in-laws every meal was a big deal with cutlery, dinner ware and glasses matched to the food choices. My step children, BIL, SIL and niece /nephew were also there. Having never been a big drinker, I ended up getting pissed as my FIL continually topped up my glass with champagne, port and desert wine. SIL, who had refused to speak to me as she classed me as the ow (I wasn't!) , pulled out a camera to regale us all with photos and stories of my DH and his EW (who had been continually texting SIL to find out what I was like and what I was doing) . She then tried to fight me and DH, and it resembled a scene from shameless. I ended up phoning DHs ew in a drunken stupor. We laugh about it now, but I've never drank port since.

Found out my husband was having an affair with a close family friend who was so invited round for dinner.

That made for an interesting day. He knew that I knew but know one else did as I made him swear to keep it quiet for a couple of days for everyones sake especially the kids.

He cold shouldered her and kept attempting to be over loving towards me, which got him a swift whispered rebuke and a sickly smile.

Thank god for good make up to hide the worst of the tears.

The one where we went to stay with my PILs for a week before the day itself. The weather had been crap and we all had horrible colds. PILs were running themselves ragged hosting various family members and wouldn't do anything with us like come out for a walk etc. DS2 who was 1 at the time was sleeping so badly, so we were grumpy, tired and ill with two excitable kids who were stuck inside because of the rain. On Christmas Day DH and FIL got into an argument leading to DH leaving the house to go for a walk on his own, DS2 had a meltdown at the table because lunch was so late that he was overtired, DS1 was misbehaving and got a massive telling off and then I burst into tears and fled the table during pudding. The whole atmosphere was enormously awkward and PILs clearly wanted us to go home, which we did, gladly, the following day.

However a couple of years before that, DH's 90-year-old grandmother drove into our car while arriving for lunch. A car we had just spent a considerable amount of money on repairs for. And she got in her car, drove home and refused to speak of the matter!