Have you ever had to go someplace you really didn't want to.....

[SeaSpray]

...but when you got there, you ended up having a decent time afterall?????


Well, I'm hoping this happens to me, today!!!! We're going to a party at DH's brother and SIL's house. They live literally 3 blocks away from us, (fortunately its a different town!), have sons the SAME ages as our DSs, yet I haven't been inside their house in about 2 years. They've made it clear that they have no interest in socializing with us. That's fine with me, my life's been a lot better since pretending they don't exist. I wish they hadn't invited us to this party today!!!!!

To make a long story short, SIL is a mental case... She's a jealous person who admits freely that she talks about people behind their backs. Believe me, I could go on and on about her...but I think you get the picture....

Anyway....DH wants to attend this party...as his loving wife (hahahaha), we're all going with him.

Please wish me luck! LOL I hope we end up having a decent time.

 

[lisajl]

I hope it goes well, too!

We have a SIL like that, too.
We are having a Christmas gathering tomorrow, since we will be leaving for WDW soon.
My sister called our brother and his wife (they have no children) and told them about the get together. Before they even heard what time we were getting together, they said they could not make it.

Our brother has always picked his friends over family.
His wife is controlling and will not let my brother play with my kids.
Can you believe that? The last time he saw them, my oldest son, then 6 was in T-ball. He was showing his uncle how well he could hit the ball. Then my hateful SIL said, it's time to go!

Family.....go figure.

That is why I do genealogy, I can't be disappointed in dead people! .....(seriously)!
Lisajl

 

[ByTheSea]

Good luck!

Know how you feel. We're going to a party this evening, every year it's been just the girls, we go out for a holiday dinner and exchange ornament/gifts, but this year someone wanted to have it as a potluck at her new house, which is fine.... and bring our children...., which is fine.... but they they added bring our spouses....

These are old friends back from college days.... and one of the regular attendees at this annual event is my SIL.. who is tolerable.... but I decided to separate myself from my Brother awhile ago (and MUCH happier about it since that decision as he is quite intolerable in general) but now I'm afraid he's going to be there!!!!

This are my very dear old friends, my old roomates who I lived with for several years (too many years ago to count)... we went to the same college as my SIL and a few years back discovered that we have mutual friends, so she has joined us for this dinner the past few years....... but now I am dreading this evening.....

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

Gee, looks like tonight is the night for holiday parties that no one wants to go to. My Mom's family is having their party tonight and I'm not looking forward to it. DH intensely dislikes my cousins as they took advantage of my parents and owe them close to $1000. Hopefully they'll be out somewhere else,if not I'll have to ignore them which should be easy, because they'll spend the night at the bar.Their Mom isn't happy unless she's complaining about someone or something, so we get to listen to her all night since she'll walk in the place complaining. The of course there is my neice, whom I love dearly, but she is truly a BRAT who is just mean to my DD who won't stick up for herself. Is it any wonder that I already fixed myself a drink while I was making cookies for the darn party?

 

[Serena]

Go to the party, and treat it as an adventure. You know it's going to be awful, so you can tell each other stories of what was the most awful, and have something to talk about later, like "can you believe what we put up with?".

If it turns out that you enjoy even part of it, then you'll be ahead.

 

[SplshMtn99]

I too have a SIL who no longer exists in my book. Life has been much easier. She lives 15 miles away. She USED to call everyweek for a FAVOR! But never knew how to return one. There's ALOT more to this story. Trust me.

I will get to see her the Saturday after Christmas. I haven't seen her since last Christmas.

Oh joy!!

 

[JulesMom]

Best of luck!!!

Just be polite...that's all you can do

 

[debster812]

Terry,

You have my cellphone number, don't be afraid to use it! I am minutes away, and can come and rescue you if need be.

Hee hee hee Ho Ho Ho

Debbie

 

[nativetxn]

I've gone to parties many times full of dread and had a lot of fun anyway. I hope this is your experience.

Try to have as much fun as possible. You know the woman is going to gossip about you whether you go or not, so why not have as much fun as you can? I hope they have great snacks

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks everyone! I was able to read a few of the replies before I left to go to the party. Now, 5 hours later, we just got home.

It wasn't as bad as it could've been. At least the food was good And DS11 got to see his "cousin" (I am remarried, so they are cousins, I guess, but only by remarriage, but these kids have known each other and used to play together, since they were 5-6 yrs old) that he hadn't seen in 2 years. It took a while for them to warm up to each other again, but they both found out they like to play Yu Gi Oh cards, so that was an ice breaker, and DS had brought his cards with him, in the car, hoping Ryan was into them too. Older DS14, has a harder time when we go there because their son, also 14, thinks he's the coolest person who ever walked the earth. He was nice enough to talk to my DS for a little while here and there, but then his friend showed up and they ignored my DS for the rest of the time we were there. That happened all the time when we used to go there, so it was no big shock to DS at all. What I love though, is that SIL used to LOVE to comment about how tall her son was, compared to mine, as if a person had control over their height, or as if being taller made the person a better person. Well, thats because her son went through puberty and probably could've SHAVED, at the age of 10! I'm not exaggerating either. Anyway, my DS went through puberty at a more usual time period, and in fact is still growing and going through puberty, and he's now TALLER than SIL's son. *snicker* Sorry, I know that sounds mean, but this witch of a woman would sit there right in front of the kids and try to compare them. Since we no longer see them on a regular basis, she keeps her mouth shut now, besides, what could she possibly say. lol

It really helps to just pretend they are just aquaintances that we see once in a while. When I stop to realize this is DH's ONLY brother, it really bugs me. DH deserves to be treated by brother better than that, especially considering when they younger, all the jams DH got his brother out of.

DH and I did get to see a lot of his other relatives that we hadn't seen in a long time, so that was nice. Fortunately there were a lot of people there, and we blended in and mingled with the other guests.

Thanks for the support, everyone, and I hope everyone else who posted that were going to family parties are going well!!! This party could've been worse, I'm just glad it's overwith now.

Debbie: I was in your town, that's where they live, their house and our house are both very close to the town lines. Thanks for the offer of help if I would've needed it

 

[browneyes]

Glad to hear it wasn't too bad. (I missed your earlier post though )

 

[ByTheSea]

We're back too and had a great night. The person I wasn't looking forward to seeing didn't show up! So there were 8 of us "gals" who went to college together 20 years ago (yikes!) and our 14 children (plus a few spouses and even a few brothers of roomates who also went to school with us, so that brought it up to 11 alumni)

It was a great night!