Mother-In-Law Is ‘Lonely, Cold & Left Out’ Because Her Son Wants To Spend Christmas Morning With His Wife & Kids
Sixteen Miles Out | Unsplash If it weren't for family drama, Christmas truly would be the most wonderful time of the year. Okay, the pressure to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars doesn't help either, but the family drama is really what makes the season a slog!
And for many, there is no worse form of family drama at the holidays than the dreaded in-laws. Plenty of people are lucky enough to have good relationships with theirs, but all too many find themselves doing battle every year. For one mom on Reddit, this year's mother-in-law tug-of-war has gone to a frankly ridiculous extent.
A woman's mother-in-law is furious that she's been excluded from Christmas morning.
Every family does things a bit differently, of course, but for many, that fairytale scene of the entire family gathered together on Christmas morning only happens in movies. It's not at all uncommon these days for parents to keep Christmas morning for just themselves and their kids, then join with the rest of the family later in the day.
That's how this family has always done things. Every year. For the past decade, since their first child was born. It's always the same: Christmas morning is for the kids, her family gets together later in the day, her husband's family divvies up between his siblings over the course of several days around Christmas. It's always worked fine.
Until this year, that is! Now, suddenly, out of nowhere her "mother-in-law is not fulfilled by this." She's decided that this year, she wants to be included on Christmas morning to watch her grandkids open their gifts from Santa Claus. And after being told no, she's begun retaliating in the most childish way possible.
Vlada Karpovich | Pexels | Canva Pro
The mother-in-law retaliated on social media by posting about being 'lonely, cold and left out.'
"She is big on guilt trips and makes comments on how she misses the chaos," the mom wrote of her mother-in-law, which sounds like a bit of an understatement. Because after being told that they'd prefer to keep their Christmas morning tradition as is, she's gone full middle-school girl.
"She has been posting leading stories, obviously directed at us, about lonely, cold, left-out grandparents on Christmas," the mom wrote. And it's not as if this mother-in-law will actually be alone or ever has been.
"For most of our children’s lives she had her husband, and now she has moved on to a boyfriend. Definitely not waking up alone," the mom wrote. What's more, because of past conflicts, she's not even close to the grandkids, let alone the couple. "She can go months without calling and asking about the kids," she added.
And, as always, they'll be seeing her in the coming days at her husband's family's gathering regardless. Despite this, they even invited her over later in the day on Christmas Day as a compromise, but it doesn't seem to be good enough. "So are we [wrong] for keeping Christmas morning to ourselves?" the mom asked.
'No' is a complete sentence, even at Christmas.
The holidays are hard, and emotions run high. That's just human nature. But it's not an excuse to behave like an entitled, spoiled brat. That goes for grown Boomers in their golden years as much as it does for the children.
People are not required to accommodate everyone's preferences simply because the grandparents demand it. This mother-in-law already had her entire child-rearing years to run Christmas her way. Now, it's time to step back and go with the flow, even if the flow in question is not to your exacting standards.
But even more important: People are allowed to set boundaries, and no amount of guilt-tripping should make anyone feel like they have to violate theirs. Christmas is a lot of work, and as the ones who do most of it, moms are allowed to organize it as they please. Allowing a passive-aggressive manipulator to "make" you feel like you have to abandon your own principles is a choice, and you do not owe it to anyone to make it.
Passive-aggressive, manipulative behavior is inappropriate and often downright abusive, and it's nobody's responsibility to tolerate it, even at Christmas. That doesn't mean there won't be blowback for kindly but firmly asserting your boundaries, but most of the time, the blowback is worth it for the peace of mind it brings, especially at the holidays.
Mother-in-law will be fine, and if nothing else, being told "no" for once will give her an opportunity to examine herself before we enter 2026. She likely won't, of course, but that's on her!
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
