Pregnant Woman's In-Laws Insist She's 'Selfish' For Not Wanting To Sleep On The Floor During Thanksgiving Visit
It's easy to tell who is in the wrong here.
Myroslava Malovana/Shutterstock Thanksgiving is the holiday that can make or break a family. It’s the time that everyone shows up for a festive dinner together and dysfunction and buried issues bubble to the surface.
For one Reddit user, those cracks are beginning to show before the holiday even rolls around.
She took to Reddit's AITA (Am I the A--hole) subreddit to voice her frustrations and see if she was wrong for refusing her in-laws’ strange request.
Her in-laws wanted her to sleep on the floor on Thanksgiving — but she's pregnant.
She starts with some background, telling readers that she and her husband have been together for five years. At the time of the incident, she was five months pregnant.
As part of their family tradition, they travel two-and-a-half hours to his aunt’s house for Thanksgiving. The poster clarifies that her own family does not live in the United States, so they see them during Christmas.
Her husband’s aunt only has two bedrooms and a basement in her home, hardly enough room for a big family. So, everyone under 40 sleeps in the basement or finds a spot on the floor.
Most travel in from out of town and there are usually about 15 people that stay the night. The two bedrooms are reserved for elderly family members
Given that the Redditor and her spouse are only in their 20s, sleeping on the floor has not been a problem in the past.
Any woman who has gone through a pregnancy knows how uncomfortable it can get as your belly extends and you try to find comfortable positions to sleep in.
Understandably, she told her husband that she didn’t want to sleep on the floor and that the basement was too stuffy for her.
Instead, she wanted to skip the family gathering and spend Thanksgiving at home, just the two of them. Her husband seemingly agreed and let his aunt know they would not be there this year.
To the woman’s surprise, her aunt-in-law wasted no time calling to let her know how selfish she was for messing up the family tradition. Even when she explained, the aunt continued to pressure her to show up.
The aunt then went a step further, making comparisons to a cousin who showed up two years prior, although she was eight months pregnant, adding that she even slept on the floor.
The Redditor came up with a compromise, suggesting they have a late Thanksgiving lunch instead, which the aunt agreed to begrudgingly. It was a perfect arrangement in the woman’s eyes, or at least it seemed.
Her issue is that now the entire family has to change their established tradition on her behalf.
Instead of showing up at 10:00 to 11:00 am to prepare for a 6:00 pm dinner, they now have to arrive a few hours earlier.
Although the family can still do things like play football, cook together, and play board games, she found out that some of the family members were making nasty comments in a group text.
Her husband shared a message where one person suggested that the pregnant woman just stay home since she is technically not a blood relative.
Adding fuel to the fire, she responded from her husband’s phone saying, “We don’t want to. We just feel obligated.
She initially asks readers if she is wrong in breaking the family tradition before coming back to explain why they can’t just go to a hotel at bedtime.
She says, “A lot of people asked if we can just book a hotel or motel. I did try to look around three weeks ago and the cheapest one was $250. I’m sorry, but that’s just not worth it imo (in my opinion).”
People generally thought she was being reasonable in light of her pregnancy. One person said, “You're pregnant and don't want to sleep on the floor? HOW DARE YOU?! Lol.”
They went on to advise, “NTA (Not the A—hole) Take care of yourself, the tradition wasn't a tradition when it started, maybe this will be the new tradition. No reason you should be uncomfortable because 'we've always done it this way' and screw anyone that says otherwise.”
Other readers also took issue with the outdated tradition with one stating, “Yeah that tradition sucks. Some real caveman sh-t.”
Another added, “Haha! Yes, I agree. I’m not even pregnant, I’m just middle-aged and I don’t care what tradition there is I don’t sleep on the floor because I have back problems.
At the end of the day, the consensus was that the pregnant woman was definitely not an a—hole for asking for accommodations and that the family was being insensitive.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment & news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues