MIL has stolen my childhood christmas decorations!

[ExhaustedPigeon37]

Hello all,

Bit of a strange one but I think my MIL has stolen my Christmas Decorations!!

They have been in my family since I was small and although they aren’t expensive, nothing special they are just sentimental to me.

We had these three decorations, saying Joy, Noel and Ho Ho Ho with a Santa head on the top. The letters cascade downwards and the Santa has a loop so that you can hang them up. This year I put our decorations up and only found the Joy one. Asked DH and he said he hadn’t seen them, so I only put the Joy one up thinking I’d come across them in another box, I never did.

Fast forward to yesterday when we went over to theirs and they live about an hour away so we stayed for dinner and catch up after DH finished work. MIL was showing us her new decorations and the tree (which is themed red and white). I happened to glance at the bottom of the tree where I saw THE/MY Noel and Ho Ho Ho decorations hanging off of her tree!!! I’ve never seen these decorations at their house before, so the only conclusion I can come to is that they are mine, which is why I couldn’t find them this year!

Asked DH and he said he didn’t notice, asked if he remembers us giving them to her or anything and he said can’t at all. Last year we moved house in

I’m so shocked. What do I do? Do I ask for them back? Do I just leave it? Do I sneak them out when we next go there? DH wanted to stay at home on Boxing Day but I now want to go there to retrieve my decorations (they have been invited on Christmas Day but declined due to the journey and FIL recently having had a knee replacement).

I’d do the same. Once you bring it up, she will deny having nicked them and then you’ll never get them back.

Why is your dh not outraged that your MIL stole from you?!

I assume that you, yourself have a list of things that you don’t mind family stealing vs a list of things you definitely don’t want them to steal. No?

The most likely scenario here is that MiL complimented these decks last year and your DH gave them to her. He's now embarrassed and panicking and she's totally unaware

Because he gave them to her?

Would she have had the opportunity / access to steal the ornaments? You started to write something about moving house; did she help you move?

Has she been up in your loft to pinch them ?

I do find it odd that you didn't notice that they gone from your windows or realise when you put the third one away that you hadn't taken the other two down.

I think I would have to do a “oh wow, you found them!” declaration and question where MIL had found them - let her explain their presence on her tree (whilst surreptitiously removing them and claiming back ownership!)

What if you 'stole them back' and then yours turned up? 😳

If you are 100% sure that they are yours then steal them back.

Definitely steal them back! I doubt she will mention them as she stole them in the first place! Then if she comes to yours at Christmas time just hide them till she has gone. With them being of sentimental value you don't want to risk them being stolen again.

OP PLEASE UPDATE ON BOXING DAY 🧑‍🎄 I would have made a scene about it tbh, oh I wondered where they got too! Did the kids give you them 🤣🤣🤣🤣 laughed it off whilst putting them back in my bag

Make a point of going to her house before Christmas & make a big thing of admiring her tree then say' Oh there they are. I was wondering where they got to' Take YOUR decorations off her tree & put them in your bag saying nothing further. Wait for her reaction. If she says they're hers ask her when & where she got them from as you had the same ones that have gone missing & can't be replaced as they are from the 90's & belonged to your Mum.

Very bizarre you have a 1/3rd of the set and she has the other 2/3rds of the set! They are from the 90’s and were a 3 piece set! Where’s her “Joy” one??? She’s definitely taken these, don’t ask as she’s never going to admit she took them. Take them back discreetly and never mention them again. Next year I’d cable tie them on my tree 🤗

You sound like you're talking about guinea pigs.

How do you think she took them, does she have access to your storage or do you think it was from last Christmas?

“Ohh MIL where did you buy those decs, I used to have the full set of three but some have got lost and I’d love to replace them?”

and wait for the awkward silence or implausible explanation…..

Just ask her quietly where she bought them. If she's vague about their origin, feel free to slide them into your bag before you leave.

Take them back, display them proudly and keep an eye on your bloke.

I would steal three different decorations from her house and put them in your house in a prominent spot.
It gets the message across and would freak her out more. If you feel really bitter about the ‘I am not your nanna’ comment I know I would be then you could steal three small things each time you go there, maybe a knife, fork and spoon after Christmas.

I learnt from 50Cent about revenge 😬

I've designed some bespoke ones for your MiL.
Take your ones back and replace them with these...

(Sorry, I'm no artist and Santa looks awfully like the Pringles man 😂)

Deeply unpleasant and nasty thread. You talk about an elderly woman possibly having dementia and describe her other health problems in detail. You're enjoying talking about she might have stolen your decorations, which sounds unlikely considering she doesn't have form for this - why would she start stealing now? With lots of laughing emojis and discussing plans to steal them back, or worse, confuse her in other ways. Pretty nasty.

FWIW I think there's a completely in innocent explanation as to how she has these decorations, which you're unlikely to believe when it comes to light, because you're enjoying this thread. If you really wanted to know, you would have asked her in the beginning, in a normal way rather than coming on here.