Man Explains Why He Bought Gifts For Everyone In His Partner's Family Except His 'Furious' Mother-In-Law
At first, he just wanted her to like him.
Polina Tankilveitch, Olga Ponomarenko / CanvaPro Dealing with your parents around the holidays can be tough. We love them, but this stressful time of year is doing no favors.
Of course, our in-laws are an entirely different discussion.
For one Reddit poster, all he wanted was to impress his partner’s mother, but it just didn't work out the way he hoped.
He explained why he bought gifts for everyone in his partner's family except his mother-in-law.
After buying her an expensive and thoughtful necklace a few Christmases ago, and then a set of handmade candles the following year, he quickly realized that he’d have to “do better” because she clearly didn’t like the gifts (and ended up throwing them away).
This year, he went all out buying her an all-inclusive vacation.
But, things took a turn for the worse when he learned what his “mother-in-law” was saying behind his back.
After he spent a great deal of time, money, and effort planning a heartfelt vacation for his partner’s mother, she decided to make a “rude” comment about his previous Christmas gifts. Offended by her misguided and entitled attitude, he was frustrated and at his “wit's end” with trying to please her each time the holidays rolled around.
He decided to cancel the whole Christmas trip gift and he used part of the refund money to buy the rest of the family gifts, along with extra gifts for his partner.
Photo: vgajic / Canva Pro
Feeling like she got what she deserved, he asked Reddit if he was wrong for “fighting fire with fire” and spending money on the people in his partner’s family who appreciated him. After years of catering to his partner’s mother, he was “over it.”
When their family gathered for an early Christmas celebration, his mother-in-law, "pulled my partner aside and asked him why she didn’t get anything.” She became distraught when his partner revealed what the gift was and that it had been canceled. She was “furious.”
“She started crying … and threw the food that was on the table on the floor, before driving home.”
Many agreed with the man and called his mother-in-law ‘manipulative.’
After years of being disrespected, commenters urged the man not to feel guilty for his decision to forego a gift for his ungrateful mother-in-law.
“Take your gifts, smile, and say ‘thank you’ — what is so hard about that?” one commenter wrote. “I’ve had several people in my life use these gift-giving power plays, she rejected every gift — often peevishly.”
Another commenter pointed out, “Nobody ever stood up to her, she terrified everyone. I came from abusive and narcissistic parents, so she never stood a chance with me.”
Although this Reddit poster simply followed the wishes of his partner’s mother, his actions are a great reminder of the true meaning of gift-giving during the holidays.
We reward, show kindness, and share love with the people who mean a lot to us in our lives. And people who take that for granted shouldn’t get our constant time and energy or our gifts.
Enjoy your holidays, and even more so, be just a little bit petty towards your in-laws, if needed.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture and human interest stories.