What was your Christmas Drama?

[kilee]

OMG.....usually the holidays are pretty fun but this year was complete drama on mine and dh's side.

We celebrate Christmas w/ my immediate family on the Saturday before Christmas. 4 days before I spoke w/ my mother and at the end of the conversation told her "I'd see her Saturday". She acted like she knew nothing about it because she didn't get a personal invitation from my sister. Though we've been doing this for at least 10 years and we had talked about it when we are all together on Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday in early December. I called my sister who refused to play my mothers game (I later found out that they were already arguing over something else). So for 4 days it escalated between them further and further. On Friday morning Christmas was on and then off and then on and then off....back and forth every 30 minutes. We did end up having our celebration and it turned out very nice.

So Monday of last week, dh calls his mom to see what we should bring to Christmas dinner. She informs dh that Christmas is off. So there we went again.

Turns out her BF (long term-- she's been living w/ him for 13 or so years) has banned her family from coming to their house. He says that he had the place fingerprinted because someone stole some of his football cards. Really???? The place is such a disaster (think hoarders) they don't clean, you have to wade through trash to get to the kitchen table, and they don't throw ANYTHING out. How would he even know . I guess things have become really heated at their household.

Then on 12/23 in the evening MIL started calling us every 30 minutes on the dot. DH didn't feel like dealing w/ it so he let it go to the machine. About 11pm his aunt calls us because now MIL is calling all around trying to find us. Mind you, there is nothing wrong and she was NOT worried about us. Rather she wanted to know if we could have a family gathering so her BF's daughter could meet her 1 yr old nephew. (This baby is her bio brothers son that he cannot have contact w/ due to child abuse on his part. He just got out of jail after a year for it. My dh and I are still friendly w/ the babies mom as we had the baby in "foster care" for a while and we've maintained a good relationship w/ her. So, MIL thought we could throw this together). I should mention she lives out of state and has not come back since the birth of her nephew.

Needless to say...he caved and picked up the phone and did it. I had to work 1/2 a day and MIL, her BF's daughter and her husband came over along w/ the baby and his mom as soon as I got home. The husband of BF's daughter proclaimed 20 minutes into it that he cannot stand kids and went and sat in his car for 2 hrs. MIL and her BF's daughter bickered the whole time. Then as soon as the baby and his mom left, they started in on us for not supporting Mr. Child Abuser. Sorry....he did it....he confessed to the police and CPS. Then he wanted to take it back and said his confession was a lie. They can believe what they want.........HE DID IT...end of story. DH had to ask them to leave because they were getting so inappropriate. Then on her way out MIL started saying that we better be careful because her BF was determined to pin my son (dh's step-son) w/ stealing from him so we can see what it's like to have a son go to jail for the holidays'. Ummmmm......my son did not steal his football cards......his son did something horrific to his own 6 week old baby.

Anyhow......I will not be getting together w/ dh's family anytime soon. I don't think he will be either.

 

[Costumesaremylife]

Not family related, but we went to see Avatar and the theater was packed. An elderly gentleman with intestinal issues sat next to me. About a half hour into the movie, he ripped a good one. I spent the next two hours hoping that nothing else would startle another fart out of him.

Amazing!! I think you've coined a new phrase, "startle the fart!"

No drama here, my brother and sister have independently decided to stop speaking to me. I guess I'm a terrible person.

I spent Christmas eve with my lovely aunts, uncles and cousins. I'm not too terrible.

 

[MoniqueU]

My mom has been on a psych hold since dec 17th. It's not going so well is an understatement.

 

[C.Ann]

Absolutely none..

The closest I can come to any kind of "drama" is DD's FIL brought their dog over with them on Christmas morning and he kept trying to unwrap all of the presents under the tree.. So - we had to put up a barricade so he couldn't get from the kitchen to the living room..

 

[redlight]

None this year!

 

[tufenuff]

My Drama was my DH called on his way home on x-mas eve and said he fell while getting gas. He drives a big rig long haul, he was in Utah. He said it was not that bad, finished driving home for 8 hours.He gets home and cant get out of the truck or move his leg. I get him out of the truck and take him to the ER and he has a broken hip. They did surgery on x-mas morning.

 

[Robindianne]

No drama for us. We're a pretty mellow family. We all live in the same city so we see each other all the time.

Something pretty funny did happen, though. My mom's brother is sort of a character. He lives in a very small town and visited his mother twice a day (she died 10 years ago), no kids, wife died 8 years ago (although the next door neighbor has since become his girlfriend). He doesn't have a lot of money and my parents tend to give him things, pay bills for him, etc.

Before Christmas, he told my mom not to get him anything. He said you can get me shirts or underwear but no big presents at all! Well, my parents had already bought him a 32" TV! Last weekend, we took a trip to the town where he lives and my mom asked his girlfriend where she could put the TV. The girlfriend said to put it in a closet that he never goes into and she would pull it out on Christmas morning.

So, my brother called our uncle on Christmas around noon and put him on the speaker phone. He said he just got up and hadn't opened any presents yet. So, we called again after dinner and put him on the speaker. My mom asked if he got his present. He said, "Yeah I got it and why can't you ever do what you're told?" He then proceeded to cuss her out in Armenian. Only the two of them speak it but we understand enough to get the gist of what he was saying. So my mom said, "I have the receipt. Do you want me to take it back?" He said, "Heck no! You leave it right here!" He then proceeded to thank my parents for it and said the picture is beautiful. It was so hilarious and so like my uncle to react that way!

This gave me a warm smile. YOur family sounds so great!

 

[Gagirl69]

Me and my aunt have a love/hate relationship. Her daughter (my cousin) has been in jail a couple of times and she got pregnant by her crack dealing boyfriend. She loves to take jabs at me because I have been married to the same man for 20 years and we are normal. We don't understand the type of lifestyle my cousin was living. It's like she's jealous because her daughter isn't living right. So time we walk in the house at my grandma's my aunt say's OMG what did you do to your hair? I have a reddish streak in the front. The rest is brown/blonde. She then proceeds to tell me how trashy my hair looks. I said you are pissing me off. She then say's don't say "pissing" in front of your grandmother. She will have a fit. Then kinda pops me in the face. I popped her back and said you better keep your hands off of me. Then she try's to act like she was just kidding. I can't take a joke. WHATEVER!!

 

[brittanyherdnon85]

I would not call it drama however my inlaws to be were sick so we did not get to see them. I felt bad for them

 

[Disneyland1084]

Absolutely none..

The closest I can come to any kind of "drama" is DD's FIL brought their dog over with them on Christmas morning and he kept trying to unwrap all of the presents under the tree.. So - we had to put up a barricade so he couldn't get from the kitchen to the living room..

Santa brings toys to dogs too you know. Christmas morning my dog got 4 stuffed animals.

 

[maciec]

*This is the condensed version of my drama

Ours usually is drama free, except this year was not. My SIL, DH, and I were talking to neice (20) what she puts on her facebook and that she should not be using the "n" word in any of her posts. She is always posting rap lyrics that have that word in it. We were trying to explain to her that it was completely inappropriate and that employers were now checking potential employee's FB's and MySpace pages. We explained to her that she may encounter problems in the future because of her choice of language. Unbelievable that we had to explain to her that using the "n" word in any context is inappropriate, but anyway.... Well she basically blew us off. A little later in the night she made a comment about our conversation to my other SIL and together they laughed about what we had said and thought it was ridiculous. So we are in the car on the way home and I start getting FB notifications that my SIL (the one that laughed at what I had to say) was posting on my wall. She said "It was great seeing you catching up. I had a great time laughing at all of the "n" jokes with you." Then I get 4 more notifications all "n" jokes posted on my FB wall! OMG! I flipped a lid. Thank god DH had his Blackberry with him and was able to get the posts off and de-friend her.

Unbelievable!

 

[tegdig]

Mother Nature was our drama. Family was gathering together in a beautiful Northwoods resort in Northern Minnesota right on Lake Superior. Had a blizzard, 20 inches of snow, ice, rain!!!! Traveling to get us all there was a nightmare. But once we were all there safe and sound, it was wonderful. The wind was howling and waves breaking around us on the cliffs and the shore were as big as any I have seen on the Ocean....our time there was wonderful.....getting home again a little trying. Yup, Mother Nature was our biggest drama...

 

[kafitty]

Family is important and they are there to hold you up when the world beats you down, at least mine is.

ahh, you've missed out on the joys of Irish Catholic Guilt! When the world's beating you down, you've obviously done something to deserve it!!

I honestly thought there for a moment his father was going to literally lay him out across the kitchen floor because of how disgustingly disrespectful he was.

That kid, sad to say, is on a one way track to jail and there is really nothing anyone else can do at this point. It may be the best thing that happens to that kid.

sounds like the beat-down needed to happen awhile ago, but good for dad!

lots of Christmas drama for us:

1. (and biggest drama of all, without a doubt) middle step-sister was murdered by her estranged husband on Christmas morning. he hasn't been arrested YET, but the whole family knows he did it (just don't know how yet) and his story has already changed 3 times. they have 2 children, ages 3 and 6.
2. my bratty, never-been-corrected-a-day-in-his-life nephew (he's 5) ran amok through my aunt's house for hours, making my 80 year old grandmother an absolute, shaking nervous wreck.
3. grandmother's Christmas Day nerves escalated to chest pain, which required me driving her to the emergency room at 10:30 pm last night. i got home about 1:45 am and my aunt was still there with her when i left.

oh my!!

 

[mamamary]

The night before we were to drive to Ny to my family my dd threw up from 10pm until 9 am. Called my mom Christmas eve morning to cancel. A few hours later my dd was perfectly fine so we rushed and packed everything up and we were all together at my parents by 8pm Christmas Eve. Only real drama was my DD fighting with my DH on Christmas and she wound up in tears. Other than that it went smoothly.

 

[dopeysgirl01]

My parents came over and I was going crazy getting ready beforehand. My mom can be so critical. I cleaned, scrubbed, set a fancy table and was sure it still wouldn't be good enough. Surprisingly, she actually gave me a compliment instead of criticism! Since she was so nice I didn't even fuss when she took over making dinner.

 

[puffkin]

Suprisingly, there was much less drama this year than usual. Some of the events though:

1. My grandfather was pretty sick on Christmas. He is the sole caregiver for my grandmother who has pretty advanced Alzheimers. It is tough, but he is stubborn and unwilling to accept change. He wants my mom and aunt to quit their jobs and family to spend all waking moments helping him (but not his two sons). He won't accept any help from anyone else and my mom helps as much as she can but its never enough for him.

Anyway, it comes to light on Christmas after piecing things together that he is so cheap that he fills the sink with water and leaves it there all day to wash his hands. My grandmother has a lot of bathroom accidents that he cleans her up after and he is washing his hands in filthy water all day. My uncle drained the water one day and told him that was disgusting and got reamed out about it. We sat him down and tried to explain to him that he is paying the township minimum for water and his usage is nowhere near that so just run the water to wash your hands. My aunt offered to buy him hand sanitzer. No wonder they keep getting sick. But he just won't listen and it was a huge blow up with him leaving early to go home.

2. The relationship with DH's parents has been frosty at best over the past year. The basic gist of the story is they live 1 mile away and don't every see their grandchild. Time is not an issue because MIL is unemployed and we have an open door policy. Yet they always try to put on airs about how wonderful grandparents they are. So Christmas morning DH calls to wish them a Merry Christmas and says we'll be over to their house late afternoon/early evening. They have known this for months, we do the same schedule every Christmas. His mom had a fit about why we spend so much time with my family and we just saw them Christmas Eve blah blah blah (for the record, they have NEVER done anything on Christmas Eve). It basically ruined DH's Christmas even though we did nothing wrong. When we were at their house, we had a nice time playing Apples to Apples with SIL's family and us while DS played with his new toys. Later we got blasted for not spending time with everyone. I really enjoy my SIL/BIL and their kids, but we have about had it with his parents.

3. A friend of the family is in the hospital. His aunt called my Dad on Christmas and said he wanted to see my dad to say goodbye. So my dad had to rush over there. The friend has a treatable issue but he would have to lose his leg. He declined treatment so the infection is basically killing him. He was in and out of consciousness and had a clear moment on Christmas so my Dad went over to say goodbye.

4. DH's grandfather fell on Christmas night while getting into bed. Has all sorts of internal bleeding (along with a myriad of other health issues) so is still in the hospital, not really sure what his prognosis is. No one bothered to tell us until Sunday night.

5. DH's uncles family had the flu bug. Their whole family (about 15 people) spent Christmas hanging over the toilet. Postponed their day after Christmas party until Sunday. We went last night, had an ok time. At 7:30 we gathered up our stuff to leave and got reamed out for leaving so early. We both work this week and DS goes to daycare. We had to get him home to bed after a busy weekend. He normally goes to bed at 8. He is 3. Pretty much his entire family is teachers or housewives or unemployed. MIL then said well if you didn't go to Disney all the time you could take this week off. DH and I both get 2 weeks vacation a year, that is it! We go to Disney twice a year and even if we didn't we probably wouldn't have enough time to take off more than a day at the holidays anyway. Unbelievable.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Interesting thread.

No drama here! The chief drama maker in my family has been surprisingly well-behaved, but whether she can continue to be "normal" through New Year's is yet to be seen.

 

[happygirl]

Just snow to get through

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

None. It was a wonderful Christmas.

 

[sacall]

Our holiday this year was really good, with no drama but a bit of a funny one.

My parents have wanted to go to this resort that is about 3 hours from their home on Lake Michigan. My dad is 81 and in good health, my mom is 74 and in not so good of health. In fact, she is in really poor health. They really can no longer travel unless they go with others (we took them to Charleston last Easter, my brother took them down the coast of CA last summer). So, they really only want to travel a few hours away if they go somewhere by themselves.

So, I got all of my brothers to chip in and we bought a gift certificate to the Resort so they could go and spend a few days. The gift certificate came with a pamplet about the resort. Well, as my Mom is opening up the gift, she looks at the pamplet, gets this really angry look on her face and puts it down without opening up the gift certficate. I'm watching my mom do this and I tell her "Mom, it's the resort you and dad want to go to".

She turns to me and tells me she thought is was a pamplet for a nursing home She thinks we want to put her into a nursing home. She laughed about it then, but she really, truly thought we were going to put her in a nursing home. I told her I would never do that as a Christmas present

Stacy