I've found it extremely comfortable myself some nights...
Friday OT 2 - Don't tick me off, Art
- Thread starter CtownCyclone
- Start date
anyone who gets offended if I say "Happy Holidays". I like it, it covers everything.
My MIL is also an ungrateful narcissist. Luckily my wife realized that 4 years ago so holidays are way less stressful. Also, we recently moved and didn't tell her, so we don't have to worry about her randomly showing up.
After about the 3rd one of those type comments I'd be prepared with a, "I was going to bring her but then I realized she might meet you here."
Or if you want to freak them out:
"I was going to bring her but she caught something sharp in my car and deflated"
"I was going to bring her but Cinnamon called in sick and she has to work the main stage"
"She'll be here next year, just got the tracking number confirmation that she's leaving Moscow next week"
With @Angie letting the inmates run the Friday OT asylum, here's one that I've been stewing over lately. It's Christmas time, and we all know what that means - quality time with family. Be it your own or your in-laws. Spending all this time together with no real means of escape inevitably means there will be some friction with some folks.
For example, my mother-in-law comes to visit us for the whole month of December. While it's nice that she's around the house to watch the kiddo (gives us opportunities for date nights) and make dinner, there are a few things she does that really drives me up the wall. One thing in particular is with dinner - we always eat at 6, which is when my wife gets home from work. I'll walk in the house at 4:30 (I get to work at 7, leave at 4) and dinner will have been completely made and cooling on the counter, meaning we have to nuke it before eating. It's like having leftovers on purpose.
What really gets you riled up around this time of year?
the whole month????!!
I've thought about this type of response in the past. Imply that we are copulating in ways that ermmmmmm......do not result in the possibility of conception, or just flat out say I'll let you know when I let your son start banging me bareback.
For the most part we get a long with everyone so it is not that big of deal. Last year was kind of rough with my in-laws as they got our son this slide with a cart to ride on that I specifically had shot down due to size and space. They still got it anyway and then said "I hope it's okay". No I ******* said No! They said we could just set up outside and leave it there. Oh so it can kill the grass and I constantly have to move it for that and when I have to mow? Instead it has spent 98% of the last year under the stairs. They do like to give experiences which we like. The downfall is it pretty much always involves them. No I don't want to go places with you.
My wife's extended family did that last year and it didn't go over well. The idea was you get some goofy/crazy Christmas socks and fill it with stuff. This lead to about half the people going through the Target dollar spot, a few people including my wife putting some thought and effort into it and then me just putting those little shot containers in mine. This year is back to drawing names.
My wife's extended family did that last year and it didn't go over well. The idea was you get some goofy/crazy Christmas socks and fill it with stuff. This lead to about half the people going through the Target dollar spot, a few people including my wife putting some thought and effort into it and then me just putting those little shot containers in mine. This year is back to drawing names.
Holidays have always been weird for me because my dad was very anti-joyful around them. So growing up always felt like walking on eggshells around Christmas. His family was a bunch of ******** which contributed to that. So stuff on my side now tends to pretty low-key and just a few, select people in attendance. Which is fine by me.
My husband's side tends to be more....you still do stuff with family even if they have been terrible to you. Tradition is tradition. So, more events, more people, lots of gift-giving and just.....different for me. We finally got the adult sibling gifts stopped a few years ago after it became a game of here's my list, get something from it and we'll exchange it. I was finally like how about we just give for the kids. We're all well-off adults and it's always a PITA trying to get ideas out of people. That was a win and makes it so much easier.
MIL doesn't get how my side can have people we don't have a relationship with anymore so I'll usually get a few comments about "what is X person doing these days" to try and poke the bear, so to speak. That gets annoying. And the giving of gifts that they want to give us and not what we asked for. We really enjoyed a couple years ago after being told not to get us a specific household item, they got it anyway, could tell we were less than thrilled and then - no joke - for the next three months, every phone call they asked if we'd used it yet and kept repeating how much they liked theirs and we'd like it too if we just tried it.
The hints about when we are going to have kids have become less subtle over the years as well.
My husband's side tends to be more....you still do stuff with family even if they have been terrible to you. Tradition is tradition. So, more events, more people, lots of gift-giving and just.....different for me. We finally got the adult sibling gifts stopped a few years ago after it became a game of here's my list, get something from it and we'll exchange it. I was finally like how about we just give for the kids. We're all well-off adults and it's always a PITA trying to get ideas out of people. That was a win and makes it so much easier.
MIL doesn't get how my side can have people we don't have a relationship with anymore so I'll usually get a few comments about "what is X person doing these days" to try and poke the bear, so to speak. That gets annoying. And the giving of gifts that they want to give us and not what we asked for. We really enjoyed a couple years ago after being told not to get us a specific household item, they got it anyway, could tell we were less than thrilled and then - no joke - for the next three months, every phone call they asked if we'd used it yet and kept repeating how much they liked theirs and we'd like it too if we just tried it.
The hints about when we are going to have kids have become less subtle over the years as well.
lol, that just pisses me off. I hate when people do that and then spend 20 minutes arguing with you over why you SHOULD like it and completely disregard your own reasoning. I hate that.
The. Whole. *******. Month.
2 years ago, she stayed 2 months. Had to have a difficult conversation with the wife about that.
My wife's aunts and uncles do this with us regarding her siblings. We don't have a clue what they are doing or what their plans are. We have our own lives and kids. They don't talk or really communicate at all. I did start spilling the beans on some stuff and they got very interested. I didn't go far but told them that if they want me to start spilling the beans we can't be around the whole family and they are going to have to get a few more beers in me.
I would never have guessed this a few years ago but my FILs parents told my MIL last year "Wxman is just perfect." She said "He has his faults too." The hell are you talking about lady!?!?!?
Ahhh, the "I got this for your kid even though you said NO" thing. Usually, my wife and I get some alignment on what's good and what's not good for the lil' guy. However, as Christmas approaches, she leaves sanity behind and starts buying stuff. Plus, MIL really wants to be the one to give him the "WOW" present, so she ends up trying to one-up my parents, which further draws my wife into the buying frenzy. Never mind that our son is MIL's 8th grand kid and is my parents only grand kid (meaning my parents already have the "WOW" bar set pretty high).
Yes, she lives in Canada. We typically visit for a week in July, she comes down for the whole month of December.
It's better now that we've moved into a larger house with more options for me to escape. Plus we've got the beer fridge in the garage, so I will sit out there and "work on some projects" in the evenings.
God bless you. I stress out when my MIL stays for a weekend. You're on a whooooole 'nother level
I used to have a coworker from India and I can't remember if it was his or her parents would come for 2-3 months a year. It gave me anxiety just thinking about it.
Yeah, I also chose not to take any additional time off work next week.
Had to soften this up, but people that butt into the lives of others with this should be stopped.
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