Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is it reasonable to expect a Christmas dinner?

307 replies

BuckleBuckaroo · 17/12/2020 13:20

Is it reasonable to invite yourself over for christmas, not telling the person what day you intend to visit until a week before the day (will be the 23rd) and then expect more than a cup of tea, mincepies, biscuits, crisps and dip - basically expecting a christmas roast dinner (most likely 3 course). And feel put out and say you are been made to feel unwelcome if you dont get it?

OP posts:
ancientgran · 18/12/2020 09:21

Why do people keep saying they demanded a full Christmas dinner? I have a roast dinner every week, some weeks twice. Do people only have a roast once a year?

MrsJBaptiste · 18/12/2020 09:32

Do people only have a roast once a year?

And not even then if we can help it!

BuckleBuckaroo · 18/12/2020 09:34

MrsMiaWallis Its to look after the children. I do all the cooking and cleaning for my husband and kids and I cook christmas dinner and do all the washing up when my parents visit (my dad insists on doing half the cooking and prep work so that helps). But that means I should cook another one and be a skivvy to my inlaws aswell? When they invited themselves and picked the time and day?
Surely thats my hubands responsibility? He is a combination of can't/ won't cook. He can cook an omelete and boil pasta and tinned food and that is the limit of his cooking.

OP posts:
ancientgran · 18/12/2020 09:36

Well let him do it then rather than telling them they can have a mince pie. If he won't why are you worried, it isn't your problem is it.

BuckleBuckaroo · 18/12/2020 09:37

THisbackwithavengeance Why is it my responsibility to cook for them? Just because I am the wife/ sahm does not mean I am a skivvy to everyone including my inlaws surely?

OP posts:
CheltenhamLady · 18/12/2020 09:38

It really never ceases to amaze me the fuss that is made over cooking a meal.

MN has also really opened my eyes as to how lucky we are with our children's partners. Some of the vitriol on here is vile.

CheltenhamLady · 18/12/2020 09:41

@BuckleBuckaroo

THisbackwithavengeance Why is it my responsibility to cook for them? Just because I am the wife/ sahm does not mean I am a skivvy to everyone including my inlaws surely?
It surely means that you would want to create a welcoming home for all relatives though? It is the mindset of that being seen as being ' a skivvy' that needs to change.
motherxmas · 18/12/2020 09:42

you seem to just resent them.honestly, picking time and day of you are family is normal.i never wait for an invite from my parents and or DHs parents...i just send them a message (with my parents about half hr before cos we live ten mins away) and ask if we can come over.Do you really issue formal.invitations to your own parents?

re.food either DH can cook or but something in.Sorry if people are coming over for lunch then tou give people foos. And maybe get DH to learn how to cook....you seem to have a DH not an in laws problem i.e.why cant he cook, he's not a child.What do tou do when his friends come over?

lottiegarbanzo · 18/12/2020 09:43

So don't then!

Buy a nice supermarket quiche, salads and pudding, or get something from Cook and be done with it.

You sound like you're trying to martyr yourself, getting all worked up about something that no-one has actually asked you to do.

BuckleBuckaroo · 18/12/2020 09:43

Ginfordinner That would be the case if Dh helped cook when my family visited at Christmas but me and my dad do all the cooking and prep work. Then I do all the cleaning. I also buy all the food and presents in and do all the wrapping for my family and his. I refuse to be a further skivvy and cook a meal on demand for my inlaws too.
Dh is off next week. But he isn't a good cook (bit of can't and won't). Unless its heating something from a tin or putting something in the oven or emptying something from a bag.

OP posts:
SkylightAndChandelier · 18/12/2020 09:43

I wouldn't be doing a roast, but I'd feed them a nice lunch, after all, I have to eat too! Although not if DP expected to sit there and do nothing, I would expect involvement if not him cooking the lunch (he's perfectly capable of cooking)

Mind you, my MIL (FIL not with us any more) would be asking what she could bring, and pitching into the kitchen to help, so I wouldn't be feeling put upon by it anyway

motherxmas · 18/12/2020 09:44

sorry on phone so horrible typos

SkylightAndChandelier · 18/12/2020 09:44

Unless its heating something from a tin or putting something in the oven or emptying something from a bag.

I mean - this is the secret - if he's involved in the pressure to provide something more than a weekday lunch, then he can pop off to tescos and get pre-prepared everything and just zap it. It'll be fine.

motherxmas · 18/12/2020 09:46

so it's your DH who expects it all not your in-laws but you resent them.Frankly take it out on him not them

Commonwasher · 18/12/2020 09:51

Various of my relatives and in laws have form for inviting themselves either just before or just after Christmas, at lunch or dinner time, and expecting either a roast or a spread of food for their ‘Christmas visit’. And they never say ‘would you like me to bring anything’. It’s just expected that I will produce a big meal with crackers.

While I don’t think serving something disgusting is the answer I do have sympathy for the OP who is busy, and can do without the additional shopping, cleaning, cooking and washing up.

If this is their Christmas visit to their son then I think you have to be hospitable. Your husband cannot cook but he can go and buy sliced meat and/or a pie an en croute-y thing to shove in the oven. He can buy a bag of new potatoes and some veg and he can dust/hoover while you cook it, set the table and wash up after. Mince pie and cream for pud, and either coffee and a Lindt ball or some cheese.

Next year get in first and invite them at 4pm-6pm on xmas eve for mulled wine & mince pies.

BuckleBuckaroo · 18/12/2020 09:53

If it did not turn out well because Dh cooked then Mil and Fil would ask why I did not cook. Because they have the attitude that I am the house skivvy because I am a sahm.

OP posts:
TonMoulin · 18/12/2020 09:53

@Ginfordinner

I was on my phone earlier, but will try and make a better job of my thought process now. Why do some mumsnetters think that anything to do with the husband's family is the sole responsibility of the husband? They are family, not total strangers.

As the OP hasn't come back to update we don't actually know the background or what was said, but if anyone was driving far enough to visit us that they required a midday meal, regardless of whether they were DH's family, just DH's friends or even my friends or family, we would both make sure that we could offer more than a mince pie and a cup of tea.

The offer of biscuits, mince pies and tea at lunchtime does come across as a bit passive aggressive TBH. I wouldn't go as far as a roast dinner, but it would more likely be a nice home made soup and some nice fresh bread. If the husband is supposed to be working on the day they are coming I don't think it is unreasonable for him to ask if his wife could provide some food. And if he isn't working then he can either cook, help cook, do childcare or whatever is required. After all they are a partnership.

Preparing lunch and cooking a Christmas dinner don’t require the same of time, energy and preparation though.

I think the request for a Christmas dinner is just the last straw that has broken the camel’s back and that the OP is feeeling deeply unappreciated despite all the effort she is putting in taking care of everyone.
See the comments about the fact her DH is basically refusing to cook ever....

TonMoulin · 18/12/2020 09:56

@BuckleBuckaroo, your issue isn’t the meal.

It’s the fact your DH and PIL expect you. To be at their beck and call ‘because you are a SAHM’.

I have to say this would make look for a full time job and a clear message ‘either you pull your weight or I’m off’

MrsMiaWallis · 18/12/2020 09:58

@BuckleBuckaroo

Ginfordinner That would be the case if Dh helped cook when my family visited at Christmas but me and my dad do all the cooking and prep work. Then I do all the cleaning. I also buy all the food and presents in and do all the wrapping for my family and his. I refuse to be a further skivvy and cook a meal on demand for my inlaws too. Dh is off next week. But he isn't a good cook (bit of can't and won't). Unless its heating something from a tin or putting something in the oven or emptying something from a bag.
Diddums! You have to cook two meals over three days?!

I hope your kids don't realise how much you resent their gps.

MrsMiaWallis · 18/12/2020 10:00

Oh and if your dh can't or won't cook (what a prize he must be Hmm ) then get him to clean and wrap presents unless he is physically disabled in some way.

iguanadonna · 18/12/2020 10:02

Sounds like you're going to be out for the day on 23rd, since DH is off work and there'll be plenty of adults to look after the children. So good to have a quiet break occasionally, especially before all that Christmas cooking. Have a lovely time!

ekidmxcl · 18/12/2020 10:06

Why don’t you just get a ready made chicken pie
(20-30 mins chucked in oven) and a small bag of new potatoes (again 20-30 mins on hob) and serve with frozen peas (3 mins on hob). Gravy granules and then you have something close to a roast dinner, a decent meal with almost no time input. Serving mince pies and tea at lunch is a bit weird. Won’t you have a proper meal even if your pils don’t?

MrsMiaWallis · 18/12/2020 10:13

@ekidmxcl

Why don’t you just get a ready made chicken pie (20-30 mins chucked in oven) and a small bag of new potatoes (again 20-30 mins on hob) and serve with frozen peas (3 mins on hob). Gravy granules and then you have something close to a roast dinner, a decent meal with almost no time input. Serving mince pies and tea at lunch is a bit weird. Won’t you have a proper meal even if your pils don’t?
There are lots of quick easy things the OP could do but she doesn't want to because she has huge resentment towards her PILS, possibly as their son is useless.
caperplips · 18/12/2020 10:14

These threads are always so bizzare to me! I was a SAHM for over 6 years and I am also the main cook even now that I work full time. I like cooking and I love making our home welcoming to family and friends and dh pulls his weight in other ways - for instance he would go to the market / supermarket for all the food, tidy up, hoover, clean the bathroom, dust and mop floors while I cooked so I certainly never felt / feel like a skivvy.

Why can't you have a conversation with your husband as imo this is your main issue really and spell it out how you don't appreciate the expectation that all hosting duties are yours alone.

As for the inlaws - they are your husbands parents and your children's grandparents and I don't think it's unreasonable that they would come to visit over the holidays. I think it is unbelievably inhospitable not to offer lunch if that is when they're coming.

If I were you I would suck it up, thankful that they are not coming for Christmas Day (though it seems you have reserved that day for your own parents!) and buy in food if needs be.

Ask your dh to go to M&S and get a prepared ham that you just stick in the oven and shove in some baked potatoes and an M&S cauliflower cheese. Mince pies, cream, tea & coffee after - job done with NO fuss.

You just come across like you absolutely hate them and I wonder how you might feel if your dh acted like this about your parents visits?

We are not all born into ideal families but we cannot control that and barring abuse we just have to learn to get on with things. My parents are very testing in their own way and seem to want to suck up a lot of my / our energy and my dh has always welcomed them (more than me at times!) and he does it because he loves me and for that I am always grateful.

lottiegarbanzo · 18/12/2020 10:19

For people you detest, you care a lot about what they think of you.

You need to find a way to let it goooooo!!!

Swipe left for the next trending thread