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

Definitley nothing in comparison to others, but I had a horrible boyfriend at the time who was very manipulative. He had banged on and on about Christmas and how much he loved it (we’d been together a few years at this point) and had provided me with a list of what he wanted. I had just turned 20, working full time in a well paid job so stupidly got him all he had asked for. I spent around £350 in total. He fully expected he would get everything and said he would do the same but I never explicitly said “I want XY and Z.”

He was in the first well paid reliable employment of our entire relationship (working for the company I did!) however he was required to work xmas day. So he popped to my house in his break handed me 3 gifts, got his car boot full of gifts and left.

I was with my family and friends when I opened mine and I will never forget to this day getting a photo album from t k maxx that had the £4 price sticker on, a cheap handbag from t k maxx £13 price tag on and what I thought was my favourite perfume.....when I opened it it was the body lotion and also a knock off. I knew he had bought it from a market stall as he had pointed it out a couple of weeks earlier when we passed by...

My sister got me some lovely gifts which highlighted how utterly poor his were. I wouldn’t have been as bothered but he clearly just bought any cheap shit he could find and he hadn’t even spent £20 on me. I was really embarrassed which my friends and family could tell.

To top it off, I found out he was cheating on me the same day! By an accidental email!! I wish I could say I ended it then, but I dragged that shit out another 10 months!

Luckily I’m now happily married to someone who never ever takes the mick out of me financially or otherwise.

@Jenasaurus I'm crying, that's hilarious, I bet your parents were laughing.

I was working as a veterinary nurse on Xmas day when a Great Dane was admitted to the hospital as an emergency case after eating the owners Xmas Dinner. He had eaten practically the whole turkey, including bones, sprouts, gravy, Xmas chocolate etc This caused a gastric torsion which can be fatal so he had to be operated on immediately.
"GET THE WELLIES OUT! " cried the vet just before a tidal wave of Xmas delights emerged. We even found bits of crackers and party hats!
Happily dog survived but I've been a bit wary of crackers ever since

Candy so sorry take care / Bluntasaduck that’s horrendous, !
💕 to both of you, and anyone else who has sadness in their life

"GET THE WELLIES OUT! " cried the vet

2017 most recently.
Had been with XP for just over 2 years, we would spend alternate weekends at each others houses as lived 150 miles apart. So Christmas comes and he says he'll come to me cos it's easier with my DC etc. Ok great.
So, he arrived on 21st Dec or thereabouts, plonked himself on the sofa, commandeered the remote and stuck Sky Sports on, then basically stayed there expecting to be waited on hand and foot, while I was rushing around trying to get presents wrapped, food cooked, keep the kids happy etc. He refused to help wrap the kids stocking presents because 'I'm crap at wrapping'.
He moaned that the kids kept walking in front of the tv, moaned they didn't go to bed early enough, they were too noisy, he moaned that there weren't any roast potatoes (my kids won't eat them) or Yorkshires, he didn't lift a finger to help in any way, he moaned about coming to the table to eat instead of eating on his lap in front of the football, and to top it all, he had several lovely gifts from my kids, my parents and me, but didn't get anyone anything. Didn't even offer to contribute financially towards the food or drink.
9 days he stayed for, 3 meals a day plus drinks and snacks. I was bloody knackered and furious. Never again. It was like having an extra child worse behaved than mine. We split up in 2019. I was so relieved.

Oh loads!

Aged about 10 and my dad got roaring drunk and screamed at me and my mum all Christmas Day evening. I recently got in touch with my estranged uncle and cousins and they remember him turning up at their place later in the evening and screaming in the street, terrifying my young cousins (brother had gone NC with him about 6 years earlier).

Aged 16 and we had had an awful year of DV from my dad including many incidents involving police. Christmas came and my mum went on holiday leaving me alone with him and didn’t tell me where she went! I was petrified and walking on eggshells. Plus feeling Fear Obligation and Guilt towards my dad.

Aged 23 pregnant and overdue with my first DC and having to attend an incident where my dad was beating his new partner (not my mum). The partner had called me but was refusing to call the police on him. My DH and I attended (idiots really) but by the the time we got there he had knocked himself out. Gave birth to DC in the early hours of 29th Dec, my mum didn’t bother coming to the hospital and my dad briefly turned up drunk with a huge lump on his head.

Two years ago we were at my mothers for Christmas and her DP (not my dad) gets angry because my young son aged 11 is winning a kids board game. The man spends the whole game getting increasing sullen and monosyllabic and then when DS wins and moderately celebrates/cheers/smiles, the man then grabs him round the neck and tells him if he’s a show off he will get beaten up in future.

We are NC/LC with them all and I feel horrendous guilt that my DC don’t have nice extended family but I remind myself that no Christmas can ever be as bad as those christmases! The worst thing is that I’m seen as the bad guy for putting up boundaries! At least we have relative peace now.

We have a tradition with our kids where on Christmas Eve we go into London, see an early panto, then go to a carol service, then drive down Oxford Street and Regent Street to look at the lights.

Two years ago, we got halfway to the panto when husband remembered he had forgotten to pick up the Christmas turkey. Then at the Carol service a toddler's long hair caught fire from a candle. Whooshed right up out of nowhere. Toddler was ok but mum burned her hands putting it out. Smell of burnt hair and no one really in a joyful mood after that harrowing few seconds.

Then we got hassled by the police for letting the kids stand up in the sun roof to look at the lights on Regent Street. (The street is a car park on Christmas Eve - you can't ever go faster than 5mph on it. The one who was standing up when they caught us was 15.). I got into it with the cop, who was very rude, and the kids were furious with me for being bolshy with him. They have still not forgiven me.

Funny how everything went wrong in the same year.

Hosting IL’s here, 11 people, sleeping over for 5 days...
MIL decides to “surprise us’ and turn up days early “to help” while we are working full time and long hours.
FIL adamant his contribution would be to bring the turkey - as he worked in the trade.
...turned up empty handed, they had run out.
Day 5......9 guests finally depart and we wave them cheerily on their way, determined to have 24 hours relaxing respite before our long commute and back to work.
....except MIL returned to roasting her feet in front of the fire with a glass of sherry....staying on (probably “to help” 😂) while FIL with packed car looked at her in exasperation.
It was all I could do not to go and drive off in my car and just sit weeping in a lay-by on the nearest A road.

And today, MIL rings to me ask “did I remember all those lovely Christmases they spent here?” (We are now 20 years later)....and she is worried that I am (now widowed) “spending Christmas all alone”

(Planning a lovely walk outdoors, with a borrowed dog, a paddle in the river, a hot bath, some naice warm leisure wear, Reeve’s peanut butter chocolate for breakfast if I want, and ownership of the tv remote control)

@CandyLeBonBon ❤
@Bluntasduck ❤

My first Christmas at uni, so I was 18. I had planned to drive home Christmas eve after finishing my shift at a spar shop. On the 22nd I developed a nasty chest infection, Christmas Eve I was admitted to hospital with pretty bad pneumonia. My family were 150 miles away. I couldn't eat not that I wanted to, because I was on oxygen and back to back atropine and Ventolin nebuliser. No cards, no presents, no family no food and I was pretty scared as I was so ill in high dependency unit.

The second my dh and I separated. We had a blazing row Christmas evening. Dd was 10 weeks prem, bout of hospital, but still not at her due date so very tiny. Doing really well breastfeeding and topping up with breastmilk in a bottle. So I was pumping every two hours and feeding her every two hours. We were at my mom's 130 miles from home. He had been drinking and begins shouting and threatening to take dd away from me and various other untrue vile things. He punched the wall and the bathroom door and was becoming increasingly violent and vile mouthed. He clearly wasn't coping well being a dad and all the responsibility and pressure that comes with having a prem baby. In the end, my mom told him to leave as his behaviour was just so horrendous. He stormed off, not knowing the area at all. No way home as he's been drinking plus my mons house is located n the middle of nowhere. I'm worried sick he will fall into a ditch drunk and hurt himself or be run over etc.
I woke up boxing day to find him asleep in the car covered in mud. He had little recollection of the previous day. Our marriage was definitely over though after that performance and various incidents similar prior to that day.

Sorry to everyone who has lost family, suffered illness or unduly at the hands if others, in what us supposed to be a fun festive family period.

Merry Christmas one and all 🍾 🥂

@ByersRd what happened? Did your bf ever stick up for himself? Why did his sister do that? I would have tore her a new one. Shitty bitch. Just outrageous. His parents were also the worst for not challenging that. Awful awful people. I hope he’s ok now and happy

@CandyLeBonBon

This one. My brother committed suicide last week

So sorry for your loss. 💐 please look after yourself.

@Calmandmeasured1

I don't think it's a Christmas from hell but this one will go down as the worst. Not seeing family in order to protect each other, so only 3 of us. My DM died this year and my DF no longer here too. Heartbroken.

I'm so sorry, Darlin' Girl. The first year without a parent is the worst. It never gets "good," but it does get better. At least it is the three of you, so let the day be bright! I shall celebrate with just my little cat, as one DS is 725 km away, and the other is closer to 1290 km away (yay for miles to KMs converters online!), and each only gets Christmas day itself off. But we will ZOOM.

My worst Christmas would have been the one after I divorced my sons' father. One kept crying that he wanted his daddy, and the other kept bopping him on the head, saying, "NO WE DO NOT!"

When I was 11 the first thing my mum said to me on Christmas Day (when she finally rose at 10am) was "me & your dad are splitting up". Merry Christmas to you too mother! They did split up and got back together and now 30 years later are still unhappily married.

Christmas Day when I was 7 months pregnant my now ex read a text from an ex (male) colleague that simply said " Merry Xmas" and I replied, "You too , have a great day". He then proceeded to threaten me. We had plans to go to his mums for Christmas dinner, they picked us up and he was like Jekyll and Hyde, nice as pie to his mum and step dad while ignoring me when they were in the room and threatening me whilst they were out of the room with what he was going to do to me when we got home.
Before we had even had the starter I had called a cab , traveled 7 miles to my brothers flat knowing he was away for |Christmas I had spare key) and I spent the week sat on my own crying, not telling anyone where I was . I gave birth 10 days later and he even threatened me in the special care baby unit. Thankfully he's been someone elses problem for many years and my little 3lb baby is a strapping 18 year old :)

@Flibbitygibbit

My mum had MS. Her birthday was also on Christmas Day. Christmas was always a sad state of affairs. I wish I had had those christmasses you see on the adverts ☹️

Same in our house- always fights, parents drunk, tears, the dog hiding behind the settee then coming out to cuddle me, dog shaking like a leaf, me sobbing . . .

I still dread Christmas. I just want the day over and done.

As a Christian Iwant to celebrate the birth of our Lord; as a survivor of a very unhappy childhood - no - just no.

@CandyLeBonBon

This one. My brother committed suicide last week

I am so sorry. That's dreadful.

And today, MIL rings to me ask “did I remember all those lovely Christmases they spent here?” (We are now 20 years later)....and she is worried that I am (now widowed) “spending Christmas all alone”
She's angling for an invitation!

@PrincessNutNutRoast
This sounds so much like my parents! I've NC with my father this year and I've feel so much relief.

Christmas 2019 passed in a blur as did New Year 2020 as I had what is now known as Covid-19 but was then described by NHS111 as a winter virus
Warned not to go to GP as might pass it on and 'drink plenty of fluids'.
I could barely stand and had to crawl on hands and knees backwards down the stairs. Slept between bouts of coughing with no respite.
Lost a lot of weight as not eating, no strength. Took it's toll from early Dec and it was March this year when the last effects meant I could face the world...then lockdown...lol.
All that plus events since then, means I haven't seen any family since November 2019 as they all live more than 120 miles away and been working full time but not from home.
On the plus side, there has been WhatsApp. 👍😁

I

Oh @Jenasaurus bless you, that is sweet.

I was 8 and it was the year my parents separated. We all got back together to spend Christmas as a family. The inevitable bickering between my parents ensued as Christmas dinner was being cooked. By the time we sat down to eat we were all feeling tense. Mum had some final dig at Dad and my older brother threw a sprout at her. We all sat and ate dinner in silence.

Like many others we also brought the gift of norovirus to our family. Eldest DS and I came down with it on 22/12... it was so bad we moved into the bathroom with pillows and duvets... and wow, the cool tiled floor was so amazing to rest your forehead against....we staggered out 2 days later on Christmas eve like mere sweaty shadows of ourselves and vowing never to speak of the moment he had actually shit on my head while I was vomiting down the toilet.... think "Bridesmaids, Wedding Shop scene"... anyways... we had survived and we were ready for Christmas!

We informed my parents that it was obviously just a 24 hr bug and we were over it so they arrived on Christmas day... and promptly caught it.

My mum and I are thankfully wonderfully close but I'm not sure she ever forgave me for the gift of Christmas shitting.

Another one which is more about me feeling ashamed of myself for being a bit bratty. My mum (single parent) had saved all year to buy my sister and I a computer.

This was back in the days when it came with a cassette deck and you had to spend eleventybillion hours typing code to get it to do something rather unimpressive... anyways we were both excited and overwhelmed.

Fortunately my mum's uncle and cousin had come to stay for Christmas and within moments of the computer being unwrapped the cousin (a grown arse man by the way, not a child), had commandeered the computer and spent the next three days completely monopolising it while my sister and I just sat on the sofa watching him... (and hating him).

No one could put the telly on either because he was concentrating.... so my mum was definitely regretting her choices when granny missed out on the Queens Speech.

Sis and I never really touched the computer after that. Cousin had demonstrated that it was an utterly boring gift....

Looking back, while I still think the cousin was a total nob, I feel ashamed that my mum had invested hugely in something she couldn't afford with a clear hope of inspiring us, she saw it as an educational opportunity for sure, and as a result of not getting first dibs on it we basically ignored it...

I mentioned it to her recently and she had thankfully forgotten us being ungrateful but remembered what an awful house guest the cousin was.... so maybe more him than us.

I've got LOADS, but the 2 that stand out.......

Shopping done, £50 fresh Turkey bought, time to start cooking ready for the hordes to eat. 'Can you go and get me the Turkey', I asked of hubby. Turkey duly arrives, all 16lb of it FROZEN SOLID. The idiot he had only gone and stuck it in the spare freezer.

After hunting high and low, we found a poultry shop a Halal shop which sold us the best Turkey we had ever eaten.

The other disaster was the one I was hosting a week before my daughter was due to fly out to USA where my SIL had been posted with RAF. DD was staying along with SIL family, and various waits and strays.

Unfortunately DH, DD, SIL, DS, all in bed with flu. I felt crap as did other DD, but DGD (9 months), was happily wheeling along on her walker, whilst I propped up side , very slowly chopped carrots and other veg.

By the time guests had arrived. We were all collapsed in heaps, couldn't eat anything and very anti social!

@Bluntasduck if you mean what I think you mean about your Dad then I'm so so sorry. I hope you have had support since to help you work through this.