People Share How Their Christmas Celebrations Were Ruined By Other People

Gone Wife

  1. u/taviken

    My ex divorced me this year, finalized on what would have been my 11th year anniversary. She took the kids and moved 900 miles away. I’m so sad all the time now. Even having my kids with me for Christmas, I feel empty. All I want is my family back.

Nothing’s ever going to be the same in this family, and Christmas may have been ruined forever.

A Quiet Christmas

  1. u/tom_selleck_stache

    I did. I told my family our convicted child-predator uncle would never know my kids and if he is there at Christmas, I wouldn't be, neither would my kids.

    This year will be a very quiet Christmas at my house because they all think I am a bigot.

Hmm, maybe bigotry now has a new definition in the dictionary.

The Stressed Girlfriend

  1. u/BlackHammer1312

    My girlfriends sister.. she has three young girls and a terrible choice of men, she chooses today via a video of the kids to reveal to everybody that she is now dating a well known junkie within our town. She has a very addictive personality and has struggled to stay clean herself, my girlfriend is now ridiculously stressed out and worried for the kids.

Sometimes, people might not be all that happy to hear your “good news,” think about that deeply before running off to share.

The Cheating Wife

  1. u/NateGrille

    I found out my wife was cheating on me at 11:30 PM Christmas Eve while we were at her parents house. I packed up my stuff, walked right by her family who didn’t know what was going on, and drove 6 hours in a crazy rain storm to my parents house. So there’s that.

Yikes! Looks like one person ruined Christmas for at least two different families.

Lung Cancer

  1. u/xLabGuyx

    Lung cancer ruined my Christmas by popping up the week before Christmas. I’ve been an endurance athlete my whole life, no smoking and barely drink

    All my covid tests were neg. So we did a ct scan that led to biopsies. Got the results three days ago. I’m only 29 years old, just finished grad school and landed my dream job three weeks ago.

It must suck hearing such devastating news, being uncertain about your life, and having to watch others bask in the happiness of the season in a way that you can’t.

Beaten By The Mom

  1. u/riverofdenali

    My mother got belligerently drunk, locked herself in the closet, and claimed she was going to end her life. Then she vomited and my Dad and I were trying to drag her into her bed. She then proceeded to get violent with me and kicked me in the face.

Sounds like a cry for help. Hopefully, they got her the help she sorely needed.

Cheating On Step-Dad

  1. u/Dakan420

    My mom decided that is better for her and me that she is going to spend these holidays with her much younger boyfriend (15-17 year difference) in an another city while her second husband (my step dad) is in a different country trying to work for us so he can help us with money and st so here I am, barely 18, spending my first Christmas and new year's eve alone.

Holiday periods are usually the best times to spot all the dysfunction in your family - just as this Redditor did.

The Family Feud

  1. u/Warm_Noise_5854

    No one, because I'm boycotting family holidays after last year.

    Last year, got engaged and bought a house and wanted to have everyone over. Brother said he and his wife likely wouldn't come because their vacation time was too important to take for me. I told my dad I was hurt, to which he responded that I was starting the family Christmas fights (my grandmothers fought every year when we were kids over where we spent Christmas), so I cancelled everything. My brother then invited my parents to spend Christmas with him and told me I wasn't invited. Somehow, I got blamed for all of this and my family can't understand why I don't really want my brother to be part of my life anymore. (This was a final nail in the coffin type thing, he's a narcissist/borderline and I'm over being treated like this.)

Sometimes, you’re better off being on your own, especially if you have family members that make you want to tear your hair out.

The Stomach Bug

  1. u/therealmoopdog

    I was planning to go spend Christmas with my mom and dad this year after my nine-year engagement broke off just before christmas (I just moved out, so I'm alone for the first time in nine years). Then my dog got a stomach bug. He woke me up 3 times at night to go outside for a poo (he usually sleeps through the night no problem) and I discovered a pile of puke on his dog bed. It's not his fault, but I don't know if I can go anywhere today.

Poor doggo, poor woman - they both certainly don’t deserve to spend Christmas wrapped up in their personal struggles.

Drunk On Christmas

  1. u/VoteGeriatric2020

    My cousin, who bought Chic-fil-A so he wouldn't have to eat our homemade meals, announced upon arriving he wasn't helping with anything, tried to trip acid all day on Christmas Eve, got drunk before noon by himself on that same day when I told him no Christmas hallucinogens, and drunkenly screamed in my face when I told him to clean up his dishes and beer cans.

If the cousin is determined to be the Grinch that ruins Christmas, then no more family gatherings for him. Or at least, that’s what we’re hoping this family decided to do.

Did Santa Cheat?

  1. u/oohkt

    It's Christmas morning and I can hear my nephew, who lives in the apartment downstairs, throwing a temper tantrum because he thinks his sister got "larger gifts" from Santa this year.

    His dad - "are you joking right now? You better be joking. Say just kidding. Oh my god, tell me he's kidding."

    It's 8am.

Maybe Santa needs to bring back the tradition of leaving naughty kids with only coal as gifts.

Bad News From The Doctor

  1. u/pootypie

    I have a condition that is rapidly worsening, and on Christmas Eve my doctor told me it's gotten so bad I may need to be in urgent care at the hospital on Tuesday. It's all I've been thinking about, I can't even sleep.

Nobody wants to wake up on Christmas Eve to dire news from their medical doctor, even though we know they’re only trying to help.

An Impressionable Christmas

  1. u/Tommer53

    My sister, her boyfriend and their young dog came to me and my mom for Christmas. It was the first time we met her boyfriend. My mom got drunk (she gets drunk very easily) before they arrived, so by the time we all sat by the table, she was almost unconscious. Three of us tried to have normal Christmas, but my mom was constantly mumbling and trying to say something all the time, making everything really uncomfortable, meanwhile the dog was constantly trying to hump my mom.

    The thing that really ruined everything was when she dropped a wine glass, she got up, did a 360 and fell on the floor hitting her head. She got up, layed down on a couch next to us, and after few minutes she kept asking me who are the people in our living room. The three of us cleaned everything up, hopped in the boyfriend's car. They were going home, but I asked for a ride to the city centre, because i really didn't want to be home. So yeah, ruined Christmas and probably the worst first impression my mom could do.

Nothing like being on your very worst behavior on the day you need to make the best first impression.

Christmas Without Grandpa

  1. u/Zeproe

    No one ruined Christmas but my Grandad has been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks and unfortunately, he can't be home for Christmas. We've never had a Christmas without him for all 20 years of my life. Due to COVID, we can't visit either.

    Gave him a call this morning and it put a lump in my throat. He mentioned he got a gift from the ward which got him emotional and nearly got me in tears. He calmed down and started to tell me about the turkey dinner he's having today which he's excited about.

    Good news though, he should be home before New Year.

With the onset of COVID, there has definitely been a few changes to so many people’s Christmas traditions.

A Very Motel Christmas

  1. u/hellshandjs

    5 days ago I moved my life, my four dogs and 1 month old baby to my mother in law's. Her and I have serious issues with each other but we had no where else to go and she promised we could put them aside for the baby. Not two days of being there she was already on her st. With the issues we've had in the past I told my s/o we need to start looking for a different place to stay.

    I guess he mentioned to her that after the holidays we would be leaving. I go to the store and come back and she's on a complete rampage (typical of her behavior) telling us to get the fk out immediately. She had to help us move in the first place because not all of our st will fit in our car and my husband drives a dn crotch rocket everywhere. We tried to rent a uhaul unsuccessfully because she had rented one with my name and email and never paid for it when she dropped it off somehow? So they wouldn't rent to me. Plus it was Christmas eve so hardly anything was available. Ended up moving all our st and dogs and baby in to a motel in the middle of a global pandemic! And that's where my baby is spending her first Christmas.

Desperation really limits your choices and places you in situations you wouldn’t want to be in. There’s no reason why these people should have been under the mercy of the MIL if they weren’t desperate.

Accidental Discharge

  1. u/Diiego_Nicolass

    My uncle got jailed up, again, supposedly for having an illegal weapon and not being too careful with it (he left it on the table "unloaded"). His older son (19yo) grabbed it and was playing with it along other friends, drunk and probably high, he shot himself in the neck and bled to death. The gun was indeed unloaded but there was still a bullet in the chamber nobody knew about (unloaded magazine was full).

    An accident it seems, but when he got arrested the charges were culpable homicide and cover up (the gun disappeared), there were witnesses so we thought they could prove it was an accident but when they talked about what happened they said my uncle shot his son in the head while playing with the unloaded weapon. He was high as fk pointing everyone while asking "what if I kill you right now?" Sadly the one who played along was his son who replied "kill me, my life is worthless anyway".

Safe to say there will forever be a black mark on Christmas in that household.

The Toy Builder

  1. u/sixteen_miles

    My ex and I had decided our kids would spend Christmas Eve with me, and that he would pick them up on Christmas Day. Last night he texted me saying that he would be at my house in 15 minutes to pick them up because technically this was his day to have them. Which is true, our stipulation says they are to go with him every other Thursday and we never put anything in about holidays (I thought we could be civil and work them out as needed, and now I’m kicking myself for being so naive). I had to hand over my sobbing, confused 2 and 5 year old daughters to him in their Christmas pajamas. Prior to this he hadn’t had them over to his house in over a month. This was purely to hurt me, and it worked.

You have to be the pettiest person on earth to ruin your children’s Christmas just to spite your ex.

Wreck-It Ralph

  1. u/SanguineFan

    For context me and my mother worked hard and waitied months with the help from etsy to make a poster or a song my mom wanted to dedicate to my father to show how much she cares. The poster had all the lyrics from My Man by Lynn Anderson. As well as picture of them on thier wedding day.

    Anyway we all open presents last night and are so excited for my dad to see our gift. He smiles and doesn't say anything hours later my mother comes in my room bawling her eyes out because my father said "I hate it. It looks like a kindergartener wrote it, I felt disrespected as soon as I saw it."

    I was livid and confronted him by asking "Why do you hate it?" And he says the same thing. He then tells me to go fk off and not ask him or anything ever again. Next thing we heard was the poster being ripped from the frame and I found it ripped to pieces. (My mom ripped it up in anger and sadness she also ripped up their wedding photo on the poster). So once again another Christmas down the drain.

It sucks when you put a lot of thought and effort into creating the “perfect” gift for someone and they’re unappreciative of it.

Ungrateful Brat

  1. u/cand3lynn3

    My boyfriend’s family left him alone on Christmas. He begged me to stay with him, but it’s a tradition that I always stay at my mom’s house. I invited him to stay with me, and instead of being grateful, he came in the house and fought with me about going with him.

    He ended up locking himself in my room and refusing to leave, even when my parents were trying to make him leave. They bought presents for him and made food and drinks for him.. he didn’t even take it because he wanted his way so bad. I didn’t get to enjoy my Christmas Eve at all... spent the whole day crying.

It would be extremely comical if she had prayed for a sign that he was not the one before this happened.

Diagnosed With Pneumonia

  1. u/chewyllama

    Woke up at 4:30am to the sound of my dog throwing up. After cleaning up and snuggling with him, 6:00am rolls around and he starts having shallow breathing. Been sitting in the vet ER parking lot since then and waiting for his exam to finish after being diagnosed with pneumonia and a $900 bill.

Be it a pet or family member, you cannot really be at rest until you know they’re doing better.

Snowflakes

  1. u/a30centsolution

    My Dad and his wife live in the Midwest. My wife and I live in California. In September, my Dad had asked my wife and I to consider moving to the same Midwest city as him and his wife. My Dad said he'd help us with moving expenses, buying a house, or whatever else we needed (my Dad and his wife are millionaires - my wife and I are not nearly as well off, but are just starting our careers). My wife and I talked about it, and we liked the city, and the prospect of getting some help buying a house (which we all know is a dying millennial dream) was enough for us to say yes.

    My dad and his wife had just purchased a new home and told us that as soon as they sold their old home, they'd co-sign and/or help with a down payment on a house in their city. They hooked us up with their realtor right away and informed their realtor of the gameplan. We're looking at homes online the entire time and making a list of houses to view when we return to the Midwest for Christmas.

    Fast forward three months: Christmas morning: After opening presents, in front of the ENTIRE family, my Dad tells me that he's decided he wants to put in a pool and doesn't want to help us buy a house. He then avoids me for the next three days, and the night before my wife and I are supposed to fly back out, I've had enough. I tell my wife to pack her bags and we'll stay in a hotel the last night.

    My dad overhears us talking about it, interjects (after literally not seeing him for three days, despite being in the same house) and I calmly confront him about the entire situation. His wife flies off the handle and literally bum rushes me from across the room, completely unprovoked, my dad has to restrain her. She tells me to leave and never come back. My Dad backs her up and says "yeah, if you don't leave, I'm going to call the police". I scoffed, pointed out that we were already leaving, and called an Uber.

    Haven't talked to him since - we blocked him and his wife.

    A year later, my wife and I are six months pregnant, I just got my dream job making great money - my Dad has no idea about either. Additionally, my brother and his girlfriend refused to visit my Dad for Christmas and have more or less cut contact with my dad and his wife.

Don’t be that person that makes promises, gives others hope, and flakes out on them when it’s time to fulfill them. You’re better off not saying anything in the first instance.

The Alcoholic Co-worker

  1. u/FuzzyRoseHat

    My husband's alcoholic co-worker. Dude has been packing into bars every day this whole pandemic and he got COVID. He took it with him to work and my husband got sick, brought it home to me.

    So now rather than enjoying hosting family Christmas in our new house; we are both still so exhausted that our living room is overtaken with bedroom furniture that we don't have the energy to take upstairs, and we ate frozen pizza on Christmas eve because the idea of grocery shopping let alone cooking anything makes me want to cry.

You could be miles away, completely unaware of the impact of your careless actions, while your unfortunate victims are suffering in pain and despair.

Guilt-tripped

  1. u/georgeharrisonyo

    My mom. She hid the fact she has multiple COVID symptoms. I was with her all night last night. I only found out because I heard her on the phone with my grandma asking her if she maybe has COVID.

    I only agreed to come up because I missed Thanksgiving due to COVID being bad in their county. I felt guilt tripped into coming home for Christmas and now once I get back I’ll be quarantined and have to take time off work.

Ah, yes - the early hysteria, carelessness, dishonesty, and confusion that came with the discovery of the virus - we don’t miss those.

No Christmas Gifts

  1. u/peebs6

    I ordered a jersey for my brother Oct 28th. It was supposed to be delivered by FedEx on Nov 2nd. It’s now Christmas and still has not been delivered. I called FedEx and they said they’re handing it off to USPS and it isn’t their problem. The tracking says it’s still a state away and hasn’t updated in over a month. I’m obviously a little annoying.

    Maybe the gift will arrive on time for New Year’s? We’re trying to see the bright side of things.

Maybe the gift will arrive on time for New Year’s? We’re trying to see the bright side of things.

A Lonely Christmas

  1. u/Efilain

    My moms denial of her bipolar disorder. She is in full manic mode. I travelled 8 hours from another country to be with my parents on christmas, I was supposed to stay for almost 2 weeks, but the atmosphere was so toxic I had to get out after 3 days. I told them I’m leaving, I couldn’t handle her screaming and agressivity and overall nastyness. I want to help her so badly, but she flat out screamed to my face that she isn’t ill, this is who she is. I have my own mental health issues and I couldn’t take it anymore because she was pouring verbal poison into me every minute I was with her. I sat on a bus back home and arrived at 3am to my apartment, to spend christmas alone.

You win some, you lose some - that’s why it’s important to choose your battles well.

Falsely Accused On Christmas Day

  1. u/notthetigerking

    My sister falsely accused me of assaulting her yesterday from five years ago because I told my parents yesterday that she was physically and verbally abusing me for this whole quarantine. I was sick and tired of enduring it just because I was the “big brother”. Made me so infuriated that she makes something so serious like that up just to save herself saying “That was the reason why I did all those things.” It made me cry so much and made me suicidal that my family believes her, and they had a messed up image of me.

    I pleaded my family to hire a polygraph test for both of us or a detective or something to prove my innocence, but she cried more and says even though its hard she will forgive me (trying to avoid the polygraph test). I would never even think of the possibility of doing anything remotely close to what she was describing and people who sexually assault others disgust me so much. Really ruined today’s Christmas and makes me so depressed that my family now sees me in that way and is siding with her.

Heavy stuff to have to unpack on Christmas day. Hopefully, the family is able to heal and move forward from this.

You Got Served

  1. u/munkUhms

    Right, so, my sister and I have never gotten along very well. She got engaged and married within maybe 4-5 months when she was 21. We went wedding dress shopping on Valentine's day, wedding at the end of May. By the 4th of July, her new husband moved out of their house and in with his parents. The divorce wasn't officially finalized until...the next Valentine's day. So technically, this was while she was still legally married. She quickly met a new guy and decided to bring him to Christmas. The new boyfriend had a few beers and started acting like a jacka. He pointed to the semicolon tattoo I have on my wrist and said "Doesn't that mean you got raped?" She laughed. I did not.

    A bit of time passed and she started picking on me. Just being mean to impress her new bf. So I brought up the wedding. Everyone went dead silent for a second. The boyfriend laughed. She did not. She grabbed him by the arm and said "We're leaving." And they did.

    Mean people are never able to handle it when their energy is reciprocated. If you can’t handle being smacked, don’t talk smack.

Mean people are never able to handle it when their energy is reciprocated. If you can’t handle being smacked, don’t talk smack.

Scammer

  1. u/Knightmareco

    My grandma is into spiritist stuff, whatever, she's happy and it's not like the money she gives away put her wellbeing in jeopardy. We found out that the people to whom she's being giving money for years is scamming her for a very large amount of money, my dad and uncles stopped taking her to that place, and they called her (from the place) and convinced her that her family wants to do her harm. She was very sour and barely spoke to anyone, that added to the fact that christmas was a very small meeting this year and some of us were there for less than an hour, we're not sure if that can be legally denounced as scamming and it's very difficult to talk to my grandma about that subject. People were bitter and worried, it was a very tense meeting.

Wealthy, older people are usually the target for these scam schemes because they don’t know better and can be too trusting sometimes. Hopefully, they get through to her soon.

What’s a Christmas Without Gifts?

  1. u/mungoo

    Nothing big, but my husband said he ordered me one thing for Christmas and it's going to be late... So I watched him open all the gifts I got for him and watched the dogs open theirs, and I guess I'm just calling it a day. If that had happened to me, I still would've bought one small thing for him to open. At least just a stocking stuffer. But I have to remember that people think about gifts differently so I probably shouldn't take it personally. I think I'm just gonna drink and game today.

It must sting a little that your partner might just be a little inconsiderate about your needs and desires.

Cheating Without Remorse

  1. u/thesedays2617

    My long-term girlfriend, who I was going to spend Christmas with cheated on me then when I tried to forgive and gave her a chance to make it work she decided she simply wanted to end things there. Now I’m sitting here staring at the huge pile of gifts I’d got her wondering what the point is anymore.

He needs to put the gifts in storage for someone that actually deserves them.

Spoiled Mom

  1. u/bluurd

    My wife ruined Christmas because she’s spoiled, inconsiderate, and selfish. She called the simple ring my daughter received from her boyfriend 'a trash ring because she wasn't wearing the nearly $700 class ring we had just given her.

    I have never been so disgusted with my wife.

It’s not the object that counts, but the gesture. Her boyfriend was clearly in love with her.

Break-In

  1. u/tropicanicc

    A man tried to break into my apartment and I actually had to go and get my bear spray to try and get him to leave. I’d sprayed him and he hit me hard enough that somehow I pinched a nerve in my spine in my neck and haven’t been able to move my head since... The nerve has also affected my left arm so whenever I move, the pain is excruciating. The police were entirely unhelpful - this was also my first Christmas alone... Needless to say I haven’t slept in days.

Few things are as scary as being alone and feeling unsafe, especially knowing first-hand how unhelpful the police can be.

Driving Lesson

  1. u/Halciet

    I live in a remote enough location that porch pirates are a non-issue, so delivery companies just drop off my packages out the front. I have a long, private drive separated by several hundred feet of woods in each direction from neighbors.

    Last week, FedEx delivered some of the gifts I'd ordered, but instead of placing them on my porch, they left them behind my vehicle in the driveway. Packages were small enough to pass beneath the bumper of the truck, and positioned close enough that they could not be seen from the rear and side view mirrors.

    I subsequently backed over them when I went to get groceries.

That crunch they must’ve felt when backing up from the driveway must’ve been surreal. A once in a lifetime type of deal!

High Tension

  1. u/Vexxzyn

    My grandfather absolutely ruined the family Christmas a few years back. My grandpa is the type of dude who always has to be right, nobody is allowed to talk back to him, have a different opinion or criticize him because he is 'the man of the house,' or, as my dad likes to put it, he's a real jerk.

    So it's Christmas 2014, and my family is getting ready to sit down for dinner at my grandparents house as we usually did. My grandma (the real heart and soul of the family) had been 3 1/2 years deep into a battle with ALS at the time, confined to a wheel chair and feeding tube (important for later). My younger cousin was getting ready to sit down, and my cousin has very unruly, curly hair. He plays a lot of hockey, and had just come from playing with my uncle and brother, so his hair didn't look the best. My grandfather ask that he go comb it before dinner so as to not look 'un-presentable.'

    This made my aunt angry. She started talking to my grandfather about how he looks fine and we should just eat, but he took it the wrong way, as somebody was 'talking back to him.' He and my aunt got into a HUGE screaming match in front of the entire family, ending, my aunt threatening to leave, me and my sisters trying out best to keep our cousin away from the fighting, and my dad trying to desperately defuse the situation.

    This huge screaming match was abruptly put on hold when my mother screamed for everyone to look at my grandma. She was in her wheelchair, unable to move or talk, crying her eyes out. My grandfather didn't care, my aunt felt terrible. The dinner continued on very awkwardly quiet, everyone afraid to say something. My grandma died about a month later at the end of January, and I can't tell you enough how absolutely awful I feel that that's what her last Christmas was and not a happy night surrounded by a loving family. Her last Christmas ever was ruined by a total and utter jerk who just wanted to be right. Nobody in the family really talks to him anymore.

It’s sad that what could have been an enjoyable dinner became a screaming match and grandma wasn’t able to enjoy her last Christmas with one happy family.

Christmas Tradition

  1. u/Victory_Infamous

    So it's kind of a tradition of ours now to get Pizza Hut on Christmas eve. Me and my brother are going over the toppings, the deals and how many pizzas we all need. There's six of us in the family and decide three large pizzas are more than enough for us as we have six slices each but normally five will do. My vegan sister went on a rant because one half of the pizza was meaty. She cried because she didn't want her side to touch meat.

    She stormed off after demanding she gets an entire pizza for her and because our mum coddles her she gets her way. We end up getting 4 large pizzas. It should have been a fun Christmas eve but instead the tension in the air was unbearable because my dad was frustrated at paying a lot more than we needed to, my other siblings are bitter at our sister for causing an argument and I didnt even get my meaty pizza. I was forced to get margarita. I like margarita but it doesnt compare to chicken, beef, pepperoni and pork.

There’s being picky and there’s being unbearably frustrating. Instead of encouraging her, the mother should be looking for ways to curb her daughter’s excesses.

Regifted

  1. u/Akamaikai

    It wasn't my Christmas that was ruined but it was my cousin's. She and her siblings are female and they have all graduated high school (they're 18, 21, 24). So the 21 year old's Christmas was ruined, let's call her Shelly. (The 24 year old cousin was not present and has been living abroad for awhile.) It was ruined by her younger sister, let's call her Marcy. So basically Marcy got Shelly underwear for Christmas, ...but it was Shelly's underwear that Marcy had been borrowing. On Christmas morning when Shelly opened her present she was obviously shocked and even shed a few tears. The video is hilarious. I got good presents though.

Siblings! You’re stuck with them for life. Love them or hate them, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Lost But Found

  1. u/I_TotallyPaused

    My sister abandoned my family last year over some mental episode she had (she had a panic attack on the way to a family reunion). Before this episode, we were extremely close. Without explanation she abandoned us and cut off all contact with us. We’ve tried to talk to her at her home and her (now ex-)husband (not her) told us to leave off. She even went as far to change her phone number. It’s been more than a year and still not a word from her. My parents still got her presents for Christmas but she never showed up, leaving those gifts unopened and unclaimed. It broke my heart!

It would be good for the family to get some closure and maybe know why the sister decided to make this drastic decision.

Medical Error

  1. u/Werehausen

    My mom's knee surgeon who broke her femur while applying a new prosthesis. Now I have to stay with her and my ailing father 24/7 because she's immobilized and can't care for him. So I don't get to be with my husband for Christmas—or most of December for that matter. Oh, and also my mom just a little bit for pitching a fit because she can't do Christmas the way she wants to despite the fact that she gets to see literally all of her loved ones.

It’s specifically unfortunate for such tragedies to take place just around the holidays. We can only hope for a fast recovery, yet it’s tough to shake the feeling that something could’ve been done.

Teamwork

  1. u/Briznar

    So it was a group effort of my parents. Last summer during quarantine, my mom decided to finally divorce my dad. My dad had been an alcoholic for a while, and eight or nine years ago my mom had decided not to divorce because my oldest sister (14 at the time) would have had to be the sober adult on the days that us three kids were with our dad. Now that I (the youngest) am almost out of highschool, she felt it was safe for us kids to handle the divorce.

    It's complicated and I've already rambled enough already, so I'll just say that my mom has had enough trying to make things work and my dad is in denial, thinking we can still work something out without going to a full divorce (he also blames himself for everything when it really just didn't work out).

    A week or two ago, my dad gave me a very emotionally distressed text that was basically an ultimatum, telling me to choose between my two parents. This gave me an opportunity to stop going to his house every week and stay with my mom indefinitely. Now it's christmas though, and we're spending christmas morning at his house so that he's not alone like he was on thanksgiving.

    My dad means well, but he goes crying over every little thing and being around him makes everyone in the family depressed. Let's see how this morning goes. I'm on my way now.

Families can be our greatest blessing or our hardest trial. This theory is specially tested during holidays. It’s obvious under which category this family falls.

A Very Sad Christmas

  1. u/Soundasleepx

    My dad was hospitalised for alcoholism recently and now he's home I'm the only family member left who will take care of him and help organise his care/life since my brother doesn't have any capacity to care whatsoever and is off having a happy little christmas of his own.

    I came to spend christmas with my dad even though he's in a bad mood and argumentative about things, he has carers that come in four times a day between 7am and 10pm which does not change over the holidays.

    I found that two expensive items have been stolen from his house last night (there are only carers that come in so it must have been them), had 2 hours sleep last night because my dad has searing toothache and today I've had to call the medical care line to book a dental appointment for sunday for him so will have to extend my stay with him to take care of that and get him there, even though I can't drive.

    There's no christmas dinner, nothing special at all, and I'm very tired.

Bad events sometimes have a domino effect. Hopefully, his next holidays will be better.

Reality Show

  1. u/Captain_CrunchYaAss

    My girlfriend has a drinking problem and decided hey let me get completely drunk at my first Christmas with my boyfriend's family. Don’t get me wrong she’s a fun drunk up to a certain point but once she passes that threshold she’s a clumsy, emotional, angry, bully and goes the extra mile to make a statement. Except the statement makes no sense ever so not understanding her infuriates her and then the arguments began.. But it doesn't end there, instead of letting me try to defuse her outburst she attacks me verbally and says some of most awful things and because I’m no punching bag I attack back and we went into a verbal free for all and now I’m single. We broke up on Christmas at a family gathering.

It’s rare for such an event to unfold during Christmas dinner. But we can guarantee no family member may forget it any time soon.

A Blessing In Disguise

  1. u/Aargloo

    My wife ruined it. But she didn’t really mean to do it. She left the fridge open when we went to bed yesterday so we needed to throw away all our Christmas food.

    I don't mind really, we celebrated by ourselves and our newborn so there was food for two. Things happen when you are tired. And it's actually an ok excuse to go to McDonalds :)

It was probably for the best in the end. They got to spend Christmas just the three of them as a happy family.

Saying Goodbye

  1. u/BlackNOrange89

    The universe. My wife and I found out yesterday that our unborn baby (our first) has a severe brain defect that is “not compatible with life.” We’re not telling the rest of the family until next week so everyone else can have a happy Christmas. We’ve been crying on and off for the last 24 hours but we gotta pull ourselves together for a few family gatherings on Zoom. I thought we could use today to celebrate the limited time we had with our baby but that’s not really happening. It’s too painful. Today is gonna suck.

Nobody knows how to act in these tragic situations. The best we can do is cope in our own way. And there is no wrong way to deal with grief, so long as you don’t intentionally hurt others.

Blown Away

  1. u/Ignius-K

    It wasn’t a who, it was a what. I’m 20, and I still live with my parents as I go to college. After a long and stressful year, I was ready for Christmas. I figured it would be a nice change of pace. Then our area gets hit by two hurricanes a few months before Christmas. Our house was declared totaled by the insurance, and by the time Christmas rolls around, we’re having it at someone else’s house.

You don't realize what you’ve been taking for granted until you lose it and have to start over.

Cheap Thrills

  1. u/snarfdarb

    My partner had to stay up late working last night, so I did too. When he finally gets done and goes to bed at 1am, I stay up to stuff his stocking real quick and put the dog to bed. No sooner did he lay down than I knocked his stocking over, which then fell and knocked over the plug-in wax warmer full of hot fresh red wax which then SPLASHED all over the wall, hardwood floor, and bf's stocking. The stocking he still has from his first Christmas. It's literally 40 years old.

    Hearing the commotion, he came running out of the bedroom and l yelled at him to stay back there, that I was cleaning up a mess I made but it's fine I'm taking care of it. I had to literally beg him to stay back there and not come out to the veritable murder scene I'd just made of our delightful little chrimmus display.

    2 hours later (3am) the wax is scraped from the floor. It's scraped from the wall as well but has stained it red. Good thing I bought some matching paint last year after we had to get into the wall to find a stud, because those stains are now painted over. You'd never guess what horror was there just an hour ago.

    I saved his stocking for last. I was sure it was a lost cause, the thing is almost like felt. By some divine stroke of luck, the wax only spilt on the back, which is also red. I almost left it, but thought, no, I gotta try. So, I grabbed an iron, an old rag and got to work. 10 minutes later there's not a trace of wax on the old bastard.

    Then I calmly swept up the bits of dried wax I'd peeled and scraped, put the paint stuff away, alcoholed the paint off my hands, put the dog to bed, and put out the champagne and hors d'oeuvres (a silly inside joke tradition we have).

    So yes, I ruined Christmas but then I saved Christmas. It was a wild ride.

Cleaning our own messes takes serious skill. We should respect ourselves more after getting out of sticky situations!

Christmas On Fire

  1. u/Capt_Bash

    Many years ago my stepfather set fire to our Christmas tree on Christmas night while we slept. Burned our house down, killing two pet hamsters. All our presents went up in flames. Barely got out alive. Yeah, that Christmas kinda sucked.

One question we all ask ourselves : why? Let’s hope he did it by accident.

Not Helping Out At All

  1. u/nutterbutter00

    My husband hates the tree so it’s only half up in the living room. I haven't had time to finish it because when I’m not working I’m running errands and battling online school with the kids. I was up until 4am putting out Santa stuff. My husband brought the bags inside and went back to sleep while I set it all out.

    But he forgot to get my daughters big gift (a trampoline) out of storage so I don’t know how I’m going to explain that. It was his one task.

    My 3 children didn’t even wake me up when they looked at their Santa gifts this morning. They know how much I look forward to it.

    Then my husband is having an anxiety attack and has just slept all day. Didn’t even bother to participate during family (us and kids) gift exchange. Now I’m cooking Christmas dinner alone while the entire house sleeps. The kids did complain that I added onion to the pot roast, though. I wanted to make turkey but by the time I was able to get to the store, they were all frozen and I had no time to thaw.

    I’ve asked the kids to take the trash out that I gathered after Xmas presents and Santa, and no one has. My husband did complain to me about the bags being in his way though, when he ventured downstairs for ten minutes.

    After cooking and eating, I will have to do the dishes too while everyone enjoys their presents. That I bought for everyone on my own with no help. And wrapped. And set out. And cleaned up afterward. And once again, husband didn’t even bother to participate or open his. I opened nothing because his gift to me was in a room that had three closed garbage bags full of wrapping paper and plastic propped against the shut door. Not even gross.

    And my kids, one with a job, don’t ever get me anything. My husband has never taken them to a store or even amazon online to pick me out a dollar something. So buying a gift for me isn’t something they even think about.

    Bah. Humbug. When I ranted to my husband about it all he told me that I was obviously in a bad mood. So he is taking another nap to avoid me. Next year I’m just saying forget it. 19 years of magical christmases and I’m just over it. Merry Christmas!

Feeling unappreciated by your loved ones is one of the worst feelings ever. Let's hope her next Christmas is better.

Setting Boundaries

  1. u/ad79324

    My mother. She claims that I'm "mean" because I didn't get her youngest son (14) a Christmas gift but did get something for others. I removed him from my life two years ago after he tried to assault my child (long story short - my younger sister overheard what he was saying and ran into the room). We haven't seen or spoken to him since then.

    She thinks I should be more understanding because he sees a counselor and loves me "more than anything".

    I asked her to leave my home and not come back. I didn't yell or cry. I just said it and was finally done.

We should have complete power over who stays close to us. We know best who’s good or bad for us, and setting boundaries is the healthy thing to do.

Llama Drama

  1. u/EveryDayAnotherMask

    My girlfriend ruined Christmas. We were having a discussion when she unexpectedly freaked out about where llamas are from. I tried to tell her it was South America, not Mexico. Simple enough but she had a tantrum and ran off. My whole family asked if everything was OK. Fantastic

Each day is made for something new to be learned. But, there’s a place for everything. That wasn’t it.

Rush Hour

  1. u/CiredFish

    My wife wants to rush Christmas. I’m trying to get the kids toys out of their boxes and she keeps shoving more gifts into their hands. By the time I have whatever opened they’ve already moved on to the next gift. It’s rush rush rush. When I was a kid I rushed too, but the adults in the room were always reminding us to slow down, not telling us to hurry up. It sucks because I really wanted them to bask in the spirit of Christmas.

The Christmas spirit, while unanimously accepted, varies from person to person. This is a reminder to take your time with things you enjoy doing. You’ll never get this moment back.