MIL took down all my Halloween decorations 😒😒

[Orchid90]

Just that .
We went out, invited her to come out too , she refused .
Got home and she took down all
the decorations, which I wanted to keep up a bit longer as it’s my house and I like them!
I know , there are bigger problems in the world , but I’m annoyed and had to tell someone .
I would never clear up anyone’s house without their permission .
she made it clear she didn’t like them and I guess they triggered her OCD .
I am gonna have a very very dark gothic Xmas this year, I always wanted a black tree anyway.

Put up your gorgeous Goth Christmas bits and leave them there until Easter.

Is she a hardcore Christian btw and trying to educate your kids in becoming such also?

Same.

Make sure you have lots of clutter up at Christmas OP. If it makes her go home early then so be it.

I’m with MIL as well. Halloween is one night only. She probably had good intentions.

I'm pretty old and I know quite a number of old people and I can safely say that none of them view Halloween decorations, or the idea of Halloween, as being in the least satanic. Unless these older people you're referring to were alive during the period of the witch trials in the UK.

When I was a child it wasn't something that we did much about.

The way it's celebrated now in UK has been imported from USA, which I've never thought of as being particularly satanic, at least it wasn't before Trump was in the White House.

I think it would have been reasonable to stay calm but act surprised and say “you just took my decorations down in my house?”

Who are all these mothers of sons who are re-arranging their son and DIL's home? And why are they being allowed? How are they getting into the house for example? Why are they being allowed in? Bizarre behaviour. There are multiple posts on here from women saying their MIL has done similar things.

That skeleton with the Santa hat on isn't something I would want in my house at Christmas. Each to their own.

🙄🙄

🤣🤣well known thise satanic little pumpkins 🎃

God I wish people understood that!

Yep, I don't know anyone who throws their birthday cards in the bin the day after their birthday. Very odd!

I keep mine up for a week. I DO have a birthday-week. I see my 2 BFFs a few days before, and my family the day before, and then DH and I go out for a meal, or have a couple of days at the beach, or at a cabin in the Snowdonia. I also have a meal with family sometimes. Can't do all that in one day! It's OK if it's just you and you have no-one else to celebrate it with, you CAN do it all in one day then! My cards stay up a week!

The bin-the-birthday-cards-the-next-day people, are very likely the same ones who accept Christmas cards off people, and throw them in the bin when they get them! And put the Christmas tree and decorations up on 20th December, and take them down on Boxing Day, because they 'don't like clutter.' 🙄

But it's not a visitors decision whether they stay up or not.

my Autumn ' Halloween bits are somewhat intermingled & will stay out until I want to put them away. Admittedly mine are mostly cars. Pumpkins. Small decorations. Not to scale skeletons etc. but they're mine, in my house, no one else has the right to remove them. Other people have deco I don't like, I don't go around removing if.

I would immediately think the Nightmare before Christmas so up my alley.

Touch my bathroom & you dice with death....

my kitchen on the other hand...

Good intentions is actually knowing if one wants their decorations taken down and surely you wouldn’t do it while people are still celebrating.

Would you call it good intentions if someone did that with Christmas decorations? Highly doubt it.

Do the same to her for Christmas and say you thought it was a new thing the family was doing and see what she says. Surely it goes both ways.

Why do people insist things like this

Noone keeps their Halloween decs up past Halloween

on this thread alone many DO.

'put them up again' why should she have to spend the time & energy doing this, because the MIL can't leave things that aren't hers, in a house that's not hers. The fuck alone??

OCD is a crippling, horrendous disability that can make basic functioning almost impossible. I think it would be VERY hard to have it and think it was fine. It's very, very difficult to live with and extremely distressing! I think you might be thinking of Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), rather than OCD.

When I was young 'a bit OCD' was a common way to 'make light' of someone being irritatingly fussy.

when someone explained that it is actually a disorder/mental illness & how bad it can actually be, I never used it like that again. It makes me wince when people do, & I'm not sure how many people don't know about it these days, but I try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

It really is awful. I was suicidal at one point. I think that's why when people chuckle and say oh, I'm a bit OCD about tidiness or putting my clothes away or whatever, it grates.
I know it's not meant to be offensive at all, so I never think badly of the people saying it, it's just short sighted and ignorant of the seriousness of the condition.

Oh so people say 'she's a bit OCD' because her house is spotless and she has a need to control everything.
There is a difference between that and real OCD.
Taking your decorations down was weird.

Absolutely! I'm on disability and have an aide due largely to OCD. It's so debilitating. I'm so sorry you were suicidal. :(

wtf

No they don’t. My parents’ generation (80s) just thought it was an excuse to do some fun games with the kids - apple bobbing, carving swedes (Northern England, no pumpkins). @

They do, they just pick and choose on what.

Why can’t people just stand up for themselves. I made my visiting ex FIL leave my house and stay the night in a hotel as he was a rude and condescending twit. Partner at the time did nothing but it’s not behaviour I would tolerate.

Change the locks, and don't visit in either direction during the Christmas holidays. If she hasn't come up with an apology and behaviour adjustment by 2026, discuss long-term next steps with your husband. People treat us as we let them.