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

This one. My brother committed suicide last week

I had my boyfriend stay at parent's delightful 400 yr old absolutely freezing very rural farm house. He had literally never been so cold. The bathroom had no heating and huge enamel bath took about 4inches of hot water before turning cold again.
My mum put a lovely stocking out for him. He lived it but the next night slightly less enthusiastic that all the chocolate coins had little teeth marks where the mice had been overnight.It was literally like being in a Dickens novel. I was used to it but must of been misery for him.

@SheldonesqueIsUnwell

Went to his parents house for about the 10th year in a row.

I was pretty skint so we agreed no big presents between us. Everyone opens the presents together so I asked him to let his folks know what we’d decided.

I bought him a cd he wanted and something else quite little.

He bought me a very expensive electrical item and a very expensive piece of jewellery. Probably about a grand all in. I was too shocked to be grateful and I think I looked upset. I know I felt it as I knew what was coming.

I will never forget the look of horror on everyone’s faces when he opened his little gift. No one really spoke to me for the rest of the day and people went quiet when I walked in the room.

This was about 20 years ago. Between that and another awful Christmas experience with my then best friend, I hate Christmas and birthdays.

I’m anxious about being a disappointment. I am alone but I cook for everyone. And there is always something that isn’t right.

I would quite cheerfully curl up, sleep and miss it all.

That was a bliddy horrible thing to do to you.

When I was 18, my dad and his partner split up (again) on Xmas eve. I had gone to work as did he.
Came home that evening and she had emptied the entire house of everything. All the food, furniture, even the light bulbs. She had chopped the tree into pieces on the front lawn along with smashed up Xmas presents.

I didn't know what to do, dad wouldn't talk, he went out and left me there to "clean it up" and didn't come home before I went to bed. I woke up on Xmas day having slept in my room on the floor with a blanket and some cushions. When my dad finally woke up he ordered me to find him food, so I trawled all of the local corner shops and managed to find some chicken breasts and one of those tins of white wine sauce, and borrowed some saucepans from next door.

It was all a bit shit really. Looking back that should've been the catalyst to go NC with him.

He got back with her (several times) and it culminated in police cells and emergency surgeries.

Glad the SOB is out of my life now.

When I was 20 my grandad died very suddenly in mid December, he was only in his late 60s and wasn’t poorly. He wasn’t my genetic grandfather but had been with with my gran since I was 5, so to me he was my grandad. When I came home from uni for Christmas my gran was staying with us with her dogs so she wasn’t alone and of course was utterly devastated, understandably.

On top of that my parents were at the end of their marriage. They weren’t fighting but there was an awful tension in the house on top of the grief. They actually ended up separating the following February.

And finally my relationship with my long term boyfriend was also breaking down and I’d fallen out of love with him. I’d actually planned to end things just before my grandad died but didn’t have the strength to do it on top of my grief and stress of my parents. He was also very supportive and kind and came with me to the funeral (on New Year’s Eve) so I felt intense guilt for wanting to end it and being too cowardly to do it.

And finally to add insult to injury...my gran’s dog was very stressed at staying in a different house and obviously didn’t understand where grandad had gone. I didn’t realise until I went to bed late on the 25th but he had pissed all over my sheets!! So I had to change the bedding and clean the mattress in the early hours.

Not really a bad family Christmas as much as a series of unfortunate events, but truly the worst one I’ve ever had!

We had a ‘labradors ate the turkey’ situation one year...

One of my dozy relations (still not 100% on who but I have my suspicions) left the turkey within truffling reach of two perma-hungry labradors. We walked into the kitchen to find the pair of them passed out with very fat tummies, surrounded by turkey carcass and both guffing terribly 🙈

Sausages and all the trimmings for Christmas dinner anyone!?

Candy- I am so sorry.

Oooh. I was very overdue with DD and had my first gynaecologist sweep on Christmas morning. That was fun.

There were a LOT of jokes about chimneys.

We were staying at BIL's abroad. SIL cooked a poultry roast but it was underdone and we all ended up with the worst food poisoning I've ever experienced. To make matters worse, as DH and I were vomming into black bags, to the point we could barely lift our heads off the pillow, there was a terrible storm and part of the roof of the loft room we were staying in was ripped off. Everyone in the house was ill and it was the early hours so we just had to lie there.

The first Christmas after my father died.

I had just started uni and came home with a cold which turned into bronchitis, my sister had split up with her boyfriend and spent 20 out of 24 hours crying, and we were all still shot to bits with grief.

We ate Chinese in our pyjamas on Christmas Day, then went back to bed.

My worst Christmas was as an (older) teen, when I came down with chickenpox a few days before Christmas! 🤢 I’d never felt so ill at that time, I was literally covered in spots from my waist up. Had them all over my scalp, in my mouth, everywhere! 🤮 It was horrible. I remember having to sleep on the sofa downstairs for the duration because it was the only place I felt comfortable due to my back being absolutely covered. My Mum would regularly dowse me in calamine lotion. I also remember feeling so ill that I couldn’t eat and begging my Dad to get me some lucozade for energy and he wouldn’t as he didn’t believe I felt that bad! 😮😫 Awful.

He was always treat like a second class citizen by his younger sister and his parents didn't challenge it - but Christmas dinner was something else.

In the dining room, his sister had set, a glorious Christmas table, large central decoration, matching table ware, crystal glasses ...all set for four people, her mum and dad, her boyfriend and herself...

Understood that for whatever bizarre reason, this is the way the family functioned - but what on earth did the boyfriend of the sister think?

When I was a teen, the whole family went down with a sickness bug on Christmas Eve. Mum had forgotten to defrost the turkey and even if she had, none of us felt like eating it. My Christmas lunch was boiled egg and soldiers. Mind you, it might

Sorry - fat finger! What I was going to say was that it might have been rubbish at the time, but I have dined out on that story over the years!

We had a huge storm on Christmas Eve many years ago, and the local electricity substation was hit by lightning, so our power went off mid evening Christmas Eve. Add in that there were trees down all over the place blocking roads.

We were hosting in laws, and SiL and Bil, who were home for Christmas from the very hot country they usually lived in, with their children and nanny (who spoke little English). They were coming for the day, my parents staying with us. In laws offered to host, but we couldn’t travel as had to be available to work if needed. So Christmas morning I managed to get hold of a previous neighbour who lived in another village. They offered their oven as they were off out for the day. So the turkey went there. Other neighbour lent his gas barbecue. Fortunately we had candles and a real fire. So veg on the bbq, turkey cooked nicely elsewhere and it all went ok, I suspect sis in law felt the cold but was polite enough not to comment. It all felt a bit war time spirit.

We had no power till the 27th that year.

@CandyLeBonBon I’m so sorry. Look after yourself.

I was seven years old. Mum said she knew something was wrong as s he had to wake me Christmas morning. I'd gotten a huge silver Cross coach built pram but felt so poorly I didn't take much interest.
By lunchtime I was in an ambulance and by 2pm I was in isolation with a life threatening lung infection. For two weeks I could only see my parents through the glass window in the room. I remember it so clearly I was so so sad.

Two weeks later I happily went home and my parents did Christmas for me again with the gifts I'd been too ill to open, the tree still up and lunch.

I kind of appreciated Christmas a bit more after that.

@Wearywithteens

Bluntasduck - I hope that isn’t as dark as it sounds

It really, really is. But I'm ok, I've had a lot of excellent therapy and I mostly have a healthy, happy life now.

My grandpa was killed in a car accident the week of Christmas, he was passenger in a taxi that was driven into by a dangerous driver. We usually went to my uncles but due to this he decided Christmas was cancelled and literally binned all his decorations. My mum decided we would just stay home and try to do something as it was the first year my now dh was coming for dinner. My mum doesn't drink and is on loads of meds.... she decided to have 2 glasses of wine, before the main was served she was spewing her guts out and had to be put to bed. At the same time I got a horrendous chest infection and my dissertation adviser decided that I couldn't do my dissertation on my chosen subject even although I had months of research done for it. That was a pretty awful end and beginning to the yearS

the year ex punched the kitchen light switch and the electricians were closed for Christmas. Thankfully a neighbour fixed it for 20 quid

Arrived at my parents house at about 6pm on Christmas Eve. My father was in one of his moods. By 7pm he’d deliberately picked a fight because I wasn’t paying him as much attention as he wanted. I was speechless with rage but my mother emotionally blackmailed me into being nice to him. I promised myself I’d never spend Christmas with the two of them again, and I never did.

I have managed to avoid christmas gatherings for years because I don't celebrate the birth of baby Jesus being pagan and just cannot wait to get a day off work and just veg out in my pyjamas eating and watching crap tv rather than driving all over the country on my day off.
My family are used to me and my DS and DIL like to do the same. We (DS and DIL) meet up in the new year when it's all long over and exchange gifts and catch up.
However the last time it was inescapable and I had to do it my cat made sure nobody would come to my house for christmas ever again.
Not only did he drag the turkey onto the floor while I was out of the room making it inedible (I would have eaten it but parents are germ freaks) but he also came in proudly half way through lunch with a beautiful robin in his mouth which he proceeded to devour loudly.