Make me feel better with tales of terrible in-laws

[Bellabelloo]

Another Christmas spent with the in-laws. I hate it. My FIL is a complete chauvinist. He also doesn't believe in women drinking, and believe you me, I need wine to get through spending time with them. My MIL is a complete stresshead who can't sit still and is always flapping around listing of drinks she could make for us - tea, coffee, squash, juice, coke, Diet Coke, beer, wine, prosecco etc etc over and over despite our protests of us not being thirsty or assurances that we will help ourselves. And there are always family feuds going on between my DH's siblings akin to Eastenders or Jeremy Kyle, and this year 2 of them aren't talking. I have come to bed as early as I could escape.

So, make me feel better with tales of your family woes! (Lighthearted - I lost my parents when I was little so know a dysfunctional family is better than no family at all).

Why are you releatedly going back and why is your husband not in support of you??

Don't go there again! Your FIL's shite would be enough to ensure that any reasonable man wouldn't want his loved ones there!

Mine weren't too bad this year but usually my mother in law gifts me the free gift she got with some expensive clinique or clarins purchases that she's made for herself. Also one year she said she couldn't afford to get the kids much (our children, their only grandchildren) as she had a cruise to pay for and father in law needed a new dinner jacket for the evening they sat at the captain's table.

My inlaws are like death eaters, they suck the life and joy out of everything. They invited themselves over for Christmas Day and it was just painful, nothing specific happened it was just so very painful.

Not too terrible on the grand scale but I'm glad to be leaving this morning.

Part of what makes it difficult to bear is the lack of alcohol. It would all be so much easier if slightly pissed. DMIL is teatotal. DBIL isn't but is a single dad and believes he shouldn't be under the influence of alcohol when in charge of his DS so only drinks on the EOW when his DS is with his ex (and we only ever get to see him when he has his DS). DFIL had a bottle of prosecco which he was about to open when he realised that it was only going to be me and him drinking it (Dh hates prosecco and had some nice beer from father christmas in his stocking) so decided not to open it and reached for the leftover half-bottle of leibfraumilch which he had started a couple of days previously. I graciously declined the leibfraumilch and remembered I had an open bottle of decent rioja in the car (leftovers from a stopover with friends en-route that they insisted on sharing out fairly) so nipped out to get it. I only got a glass and a bit though as FIL decided to kindly share the rioja with me and keep his liebfraumilch for a future occasion.

No hilarious anecdotes to impart, just the general stress of living with a pair consisting of selfish-hypochondriac-bore and lovely-but-overwhelmed-with-low-self-esteem-and-anxiety-fusspot for 3 days. It's stifling.

Your FIL doesn’t believe in women drinking? Please assure him that we do exist 🍷

I wouldn’t visit them again. Sounds miserable.

Nothing says chauvinism like a man who raises an eyebrow at a woman drinking or eating. Although to me if they try to so much as insinuate it I take it as a gauntlet thrown down and will keep a tally for them.

I find all these threads/posts bizzare but also quite sad too. Christmas is the most special day, and time of the year yet people year after year trundle off to relatives where they really don’t want to be and end up having the shittest of days.

We love our relatives dearly but we do what WE want to do at Christmas and than involves a lovely relaxed Xmas day lounging around in our pjs, opening presents, having a drink or three along with a lovely home cooked dinner (just then 4 of us) There’s plenty of other days in the year to see family and socialise.

Please don’t let next year be a continuation of a crap Xmas. Break tradition and do what YOU want to do.

Hope you can salvage what is left of the Xmas break.....

Not as bad as others but mil bought me chocs I lost two stone recently and dd1 6 nail varnish ( saying when she opened that she knew I wouldn't like it but never mind). I know lots of people wouldn't mind but make up on kids makes my skin crawl, I have personal reasons for hating the sexualization of girls and their "toys" which she knows. Dp while not feeling as strongly also dislikes it. She will be asked to talk to DD1 and take it back.

Mine are weird and rude. We are pretty nc now. I put my foot down 3 years ago and banned them from our annual Xmas eve get together. We spend Xmas day at home and host everyone on Xmas eve, big party etc it's great and works for me and my family as my mum always works Xmas day, sis goes to her I laws and my dad goes to his inlaws.
Refused to invite inlaws the last few years after them saying mean things about me and my exh and dc in earshot of my mum and sis who got quite upset.

They hate me and my dc and prefer to host dh's exw than us.
So we just invite them over for tea one day in the run up to Xmas or a few days after. It's a token tick box exercise really.
I busy myself and drink a lot of wine whilst dh makes small talk. This year was no different. They come round, ignore my dc, make snide comments about our house, our dogs, our jobs etc, eat and drink a bit and then leave.