That annoying guest - what is their christmas crime?

[MrsWhites]

So everyone has a guest or someone in the family if you don’t host who will do something seemingly innocent that will piss everyone off? Who is yours and why? I’ll go first -

My sister because she uses all the gravy and doesn’t get off her arse to go and make more! No matter how much gravy we put out she will always use most of it! It’s got to the point now where we put the gravy boars furthest away from her so everyone else gets a go first!

Wow, some of these make my gravy scoffing sister seem like a breeze.

To be fair, she does also roll her eyes at my autistic son not eating much of the Christmas dinner, he doesn’t like roast potatoes and he doesn’t eat much veg - she thinks it is better to shout at her toddler for not eating his sprouts than letting him eat turkey, pigs in blankets, potato waffles (the only potato item he will eat) and cauliflower cheese.

We have in the past made her her own jug of gravy but she said we were being rude pointing out how much she liked it and declared that the main gravy boat was a better consistency anyway.

FIL who makes daft petty comments
If I fire back then I'm deemed to be the asshole

Very old school relationship his family have with him. They always protect the male figurehead even when he is in the wrong

FILS new wife, who constantly makes jibes about the size (lack of) of my house and has actually thrown my new cushions off the settee onto the floor, complaining there are too many of them. Then shoves her mucky shoes down the side of the settee so the dog won't chew them (he has no interest whatsoever in her smelly shoes, especially when there is buffet food on offer). The thing that really annoys me about her is when I lay out a buffet on the kitchen table, with the intention that people fill their plates and wander back into the lounge to eat it, she insists on sitting down at the table amongst the buffet dishes and eating her meal. No matter how tight I wedge the dining chairs in she will somehow manage to pull out a chair for her and FIL and insist he sits at table with her. Everyone else takes their food back into the lounge whilst those two push dishes out of the way so they can "sit down properly at the table" Arghhh!!

You stopped her I hope..???

Ha, my mum and brother came to stay in my flat when I was in my 20s. My mum told me I should move my tampons somewhere else other than the loo (there were no cupboards in the loo) so my brother didn't see them. Obviously he'd reached his 20s without realising women have periods.

I don't have any sisters, or I'd ask if we had the same mother @SwirlyGates!

If he has a phone that’s what he’s doing in there.

I know something worse than the sister hogging gravy - the hosts who don't provide any gravy at all! Shocked to the core I was!

I've called out the 'forgetful' toilet no-flush types before now.
'Oi! You're not at home now. Flush the bleedin bog.'
Harsh but fair.

I'm going to spend my Christmas Day partly worrying about @Quamarina and partly hoping she does live updates.

No way! This is outrageous!

DSS. He’s 15 but still asks for someone to make him a drink, just as we’ve all sat down. I just direct him to the cupboard now 🙄 🙄

@Missingducks my sibling had a very good looking friend as a teenager, who's first instinct was to look in the mirror above the fireplace when he came round. My mum covered it with a towel one time when she knew he was coming, he looked confused bless him 😂
You could try that?

I was thinking the exact same thing 😭😭

Reading all these makes me even more grateful for my family. Everyone turns up at mine on Christmas Eve, helps get everything prepared for the following day’s cooking. Dad helps sort drinks and makes sure no-one runs dry, my sister usually brings a massive pie to have with chips from the chippy on Xmas Eve, my brother and his girlfriend pitch in with whatever is asked of them - emptying/re-filling the dishwasher, taking out the empties to the recycling or whatever and husband and I just thank our lucky stars it’s not all down to us!

She died over twenty years ago but I am still traumatised from hosting my great aunt for 13 Christmases. From our house to hers was a 40 minute drive but the round trip would take nearly 3 hours to load her and her bags into the car. Once she had arrived in the house regardless or what was going on in the kitchen, how close dinner was and what the children were playing with she wanted a cup of tea and she wanted them to open the presents that "the little girl down the road" had sent - these were things like a pencil case with dried up felt tips and a colouring book with every other page scribbled on and she would be surprised that the children weren't interested in them.

Once the tea was made and dinner was on the table she would have to scrabble through her bag to find her bread and butter which she would have to have on a plate beside her on the table.

I had to work out what to give the children and when so that she could be with us when the children opened their presents but we wanted them to have presents in the morning, not to wait until after lunch. So it was a balancing act between keeping the children happy and entertained and having enough to open to satisfy my great aunt.

Then she would go home by 7 o'clock so my poor DF would be back on the road for another three hour round trip.

My late father was socially awkward but loved coming for Christmas Dinner. He would arrive at the exact time we said, stand at the kitchen door until the food was served, getting in the way, load his plate and eat at top speed and be ready to go home while the rest of us were still eating. I loved him to bits so accepted his quirks which seemed worse after mum died.

I can’t imagine being that uptight that I police how people enjoy their food 🙄

my BIL. idle sod. doesn’t even walk to the fridge to
for himself a drink let alone get one for anyone else. and almost always puts his bubbly on the floor and knocks it over. he’s the reason i save the good stuff for me, my mum and MIL and open a cheap nasty bottle for him (and my husband) as the wont appreciate the finer tasting ones anyway!
and BIL never brings anything as a ‘thanks for having us’ gesture or even booze he plans to
drunk himself. how is he even an adult?!

Oh come on, it’s gross.

I can't believe the amount of people who are allowed to turn up at others houses, be on the receiving end of their hospitality and expense and 'give' absolutely nothing, be it food, drinks and/or pitching in.
We operate the same as Tabitha and with up to 25 people here on the day, it wouldn't be happening otherwise.
The only CF we ever had was a cousin of DH's home for xmas a couple of years ago who made the mistake of announcing
"I'll have a glass of red" as I walked past him, when I looked at him and asked was he talking to me, he actually slightly sneered and announced
"Eh yeah????" to which I replied Well don't ever speak to me like that in my house, learn some fucking manners - wouldn't mind but he had arrived with one arm as the long as the other.
I sent DH into him with a glass of the already opened bottle of red (3 days ago) that I use for cooking, his face said it all as he tasted it.

Same here. I just point out that being in a relatively small room with hot pans, sharp knives and a short-tempered person is an unwise life choice.

we have an older family member, who never shuts up for a minute, even when you are clearly trying to watch something on tv, or have a little after dinner snooze especially about his beloved golf which nobody is ever interested in. He never helps to clear the table or with the dishes. Thankfully he’s going elsewhere this year!

@GellerYeller @Nevermind17

Can't you manage this by pre telling them not too ?
Or.work out the allowance ? I brought mine the other day and DD without asking worked out we get 6 each !
Having said that we have a guest would finish everything off so harder to control .
Weve acrualy got side meat for him !!

Although younger DS and I are in a war of attrition over toilet rolls. Whenever he comes to mine he turns the roll over so it (incorrectly) comes off the top. So when I go to his house, I turn his round so it comes (properly) off the bottom.

Indeed, toilet paper does need to come off the bottom.