I need a miracle cure for resentment

[Dannie]

The in-laws are coming for four days over Christmas. We'll be 11 adults and 8 children including 4 under-fives. How do I stop myself seething with resentment all the time? I know my resentment is perfectly justified, but it's just tough luck and I have to put up with it. But how? Drugs? Wax figures with pins to stick in them?

I talked to a friend today who lives in West Africa. Two busloads of government thugs arrived at her dh's newspaper early this morning and looted and burned it. She couldn't sleep at home last night in case they came for her. She's 8 months pg.
My inlaws are awful and I shall be back on here to moan about them, but i am incredibly lucky that they're my worst problem. Just thought I should say this in public so i remember.

Wow - that's awful. Had been giggling at this thread too, right down to that last post Dannie. Puts things in perspective. Hope your friends are ok...

Grim stuff apart, I'm amused to note that DH is already throwing tantrums about the prospect of spending next Christmas with HIS in-laws.

Grim stuff apart, I'm amused to note that DH is already throwing tantrums about the prospect of spending next Christmas with HIS in-laws.

Miraculously, they've changed their plans. My FIL isn't well and it'll be easier to do it at their house, with us doing the work. I am quite faint with relief. I shall happily spend three days washing up from dawn til midnight, FIL will be in his own home with his family around him, and NO ONE WILL GIVE ME ANY GRIEF. Well, not much, anyway.

In fact, this probably was my miracle cure for resentment. Not quite as good as 2 xmases ago when DD suddenly decided to use her potty (now THAT'S a gift that lasts all year...) but still welcome.

Well, as Les Dawson would say "Take my mother in law -- please!" I rejoiced too soon. Fourteen people are coming to us on Xmas morn and I was coping really well until SIL1 phoned to tell me how difficult it all was for her. All she has to do is put her DDs in the car. My journey to work is further, FGS. It's not so much her 2-1/2 yo who still has everything pureed and SIL2's 7yo kleptomaniac who only eats junk food, but DH announced today that I mustn't criticise his family. Huge tactical mistake on his part. So I look forward to seeing how his FIL, who walks with a frame, will cope with three flights of stairs between his bedroom and the kitchen.
Problem is, I saw most of The Stepford Wives on a plane a couple of months ago.
Why can't I just rise above this? Why am I behaving like my mother? My consumption of chocolate will appear as a separate item on the Ghanaian Treasury's balance sheet for 2004, and they don't arrive for another 2 days!
(btw, people posting about really awful serious Xmas stuff pls note, I do feel ashamed of myself, but I need somewhere to rant. sorry)