A 2018 study found that about 10% of Millenials were hoping their in-laws would disinvite them from Christmas dinner at the last moment.
Regardless of which age group you’re in, you may know the feeling ― whether you outright hate your in-laws or just wish for the comfort of your own Crimbo traditions, it’s no secret some struggle to deal with spouses’ parents at Christmas.
If you’re among them, I can at least assure you you’re far from alone.
In a post shared to the Reddit forum r/AskUK, site user u/ohshititsthefuzz asked: “What have the in-laws done to annoy you over the Christmas period?”.
Here are some of the most-upvoted responses:
1) “Bought my toddler a gigantic John Deere ride-on tractor toy which is now taking up my entire lounge.”
2) “My MIL bought me a hair brush set. I have alopecia.”
“And I shave the rest so definitely do not need it. She also bought my male partner I floral bath bomb and a Christmas candle set. She does it on my purpose and it winds me up because my partner spends so much time looking for the perfect gifts for them!” Abz75
3) “Mother-in-law (who lives in a posh apartment and dresses in Gucci) arrived at my daughter’s for Christmas day. Her contribution was a bottle of lime cordial.”
“Which she took home with her.” u/cloche_du_fromage
4) “My in-laws are great but God the food is mediocre.”
“Can’t wait to get down to my mum’s for a real spread.” r/luala
5) “Called me fat. Even though I’ve lost weight since knee replacement surgery in October.”
“I’m doing my best.” u/EuroBella
6) “Gifted us a family photo. Without me in it.”
7) “Tried to physically take my newborn from me after I’d already said no to holding him.”
8) “They turned up just in time to sit on their arses scrolling for an hour while we prepared both days’ Christmas meals, and returned to the couch immediately when it was time to clear up.”
“Then when we’d waited until after lunch and a walk to open the presents so that everyone would be there, they decided they needed a snack and made the rest of the family sit waiting for them to work out where the snacks were, then they returned with their snack without even considering asking if anyone else wanted anything.” u/bluntbangs
9) “Argued that all TV on Christmas day had to be live, and not recorded months before.”
10) “MIL saw the mountain of ingredients and other things I had bought for Christmas dinner and desserts. She was happy with our plan and didn’t want to change anything.”
“As I’m assembling a massive trifle (made from scratch), after cooking for hours, she waltzes in with a huge jelly dessert and a prepared ham under the other arm.
There’s obviously no room in the fridge and of course, absolutely no way the FOUR of us will be in any way able to eat all of it.
I didn’t say anything of course but I’m mightily pissed off.” u/daniel625
11) “We woke up early to FaceTime them when they were all together for Christmas and my MIL then spent 25 minutes going one by one through the Christmas cards one of them made with AI.”
“She’d already shared all of the images via text.” u/annedroiid
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments!
