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All the uncooked food was wasted.
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Dec 01, 2022
Anyone with a newborn baby can expect a lot of sleepless nights. The rare moments when your baby is sleeping are welcome reprieve for new parents. Once the baby is down, you tiptoe around the house, careful not to disturb them.
A father took to the subreddit, AITA (Am-I-The-A—hole), to share his story about what happened at Thanksgiving dinner when his sister woke his sleeping one-month-old.
He starts by saying that even though the incident happened a week ago, his mother and sister are still upset with him over it.
Typically, the family has Thanksgiving dinner at his mother’s house, but his wife just had a baby, so to avoid taking the little one out, he and his wife decided to host the holiday dinner at their place.
However, they later regretted this choice when their baby was awoken by guests.
The night before Thanksgiving was rough for the new family, with the baby staying up all night crying and the parents unable to sleep. Understandably, both were exhausted by the next day.
The Redditor's mother and sister had shown up early to start cooking for the family dinner. According to him, “I warned them that baby and wife were finally sleeping so please be quiet.”
He says that his sister ignored those warnings and proceeded to make noises that kept waking the sleeping baby. His sister explained that “she wasn’t trying to make a lot of noise and was just cooking and was trying to be as quiet as she could.”
But by the third time the baby was awakened, his wife lost it. She became upset, started crying and told him to kick his sister and mother out of their home. Hesitant to ask his mom to leave because he didn’t believe she was the problem, the man requested that his sister go home.
Obviously shocked and upset by the demand, the sister first tried to argue but eventually decided to leave and took her mother with her. The women ended up dining at a restaurant for Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, all of the groceries that had been bought for the family feast ended up going to waste because the new parents decided to order takeout instead. Now his wife is blaming his family for ruining the baby’s first Thanksgiving.
The man’s mom and sister are upset and hurt that he put them out of his home. They believe they were being as quiet as they could while cooking and that he and his wife overreacted.
Readers have collectively decided the man and his wife are in the wrong. The first person commented, “YTA (you are the a—hole) for inviting people to cook Thanksgiving dinner at your house with an infant and expecting them to make zero noise. Like, literally WHAT the hell?”
Another person offered good advice, albeit, after the fact. They posted, “I feel like it'd be best to just say they're going to sit this one out because they've just had a baby. Yes, guests tend to make some noise, what were they expecting?”
There are several issues at play here. Holidays are a time for families to come together and enjoy themselves. The environment this couple tried to create seems more like a library than a celebration.
Also, with a one-month-old baby on board, the mother could still be feeling the effects of pregnancy and nursing, including possible post-partum depression.
This seems like a perfect time for the family to come together and extend some grace to one another.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and the author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment & news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.