I regret ever inviting the IL's over for Christmas morning

goodheartedmommy

I invited them to breakfast. She decided they won't eat what I have planned, and keeps acting like what I'm fixing is a huge deal and is trying to convince me otherwise for my sake (really, what I have planned is about 30 minutes prep/cooking total, no big deal). She's like oh, you know FIL, he won't eat anything.

I'm going to call her back and tell her he can show up with a bowl of cheerios if he's going to be that damn picky. I'm not fixing anything bizarre at all, and it's annoying me that they can't just come over and eat what I serve. I don't call her up and tell her she can't cook whatever she's cooking for dinner when we go to her house.

Why are the holidays so stressful when they should be relaxing? 

kevschickee2

whatch ya making?

minnasmommy

ahhhhh! the joys of spending time with family!

I feel for ya, girl! 

Marce921

Ugh, that's totally annoying. I offered to host Christmas for my ILs (on the 27th) and I'd make a beef brisket. MIL kept insisting I not go to so much trouble, so finally I said, "The beef brisket is fully cooked, all I have to do is basically warm it up." LOL She didn't say anything else about it.

goodheartedmommy

Cranberry orange muffins, sausage with apples (just saute sausage and apples in a skillet together) and a bacon/cheese/spinach fritata (fancy word for a crustless quiche in a skillet). He doesn't touch veggies, so the fritata is out (I'd make some scrambled eggs for him if the spinach is a big deal). Seriously, though, I didn't know there were adults so picky that they couldn't at least eat 1 of those things...or at least come and just keep your mouth shut about it. I eat plenty of things other people make that I don't like. It's polite.

lsufan

Can I have breakfast at your house?  That sounds delicious!

kevschickee2

sounds good to me yummm

goodheartedmommy

We love our breakfast in this house! I'd eat breakfast 3 meals a day if I could!

tbabe

Wow. are you sure you didnt have that conversation wtih my MIL?  she/they pulll that samesh!t with me every holiday.  JOY

MelandJeff

Your IL's sound like tons O fun

Why doesnt your H say something to them? 

goodheartedmommy

He usually speaks up in these conversations. Like in this one, he kept saying "oh, the kids love this stuff so we'd be doing it anyway" and "it's really not a big deal to cook it." Of course, I had already said those things and we both were totally ignored.

I told DH one day I couldn't tell if his mom just liked to piss me off or if she was just THAT clueless. She doesn't get food stuff at all. She thought for the longest time that organic meant mexican food. We didn't speak to them from the time Ethan was a couple of weeks old until he was 14 months or so. She couldn't figure out why I only liked him to eat mexican food. She continues to make all of her desserts with sugar-free cool-whip, even though I've told her a million times that my kids can't have artificial sweeteners like that, and to please call me ahead of time so I can make them an okay dessert. She's ridiculous. I try to let it roll off my back for the most part, because there have been two times that we've cut off ties with them and I'm trying to work it out because the kids love them so much. One little comment from me gets MIL all worked up and in full-out war mode again. 

MelandJeff

goodheartedmommy:

He usually speaks up in these conversations. Like in this one, he kept saying "oh, the kids love this stuff so we'd be doing it anyway" and "it's really not a big deal to cook it." Of course, I had already said those things and we both were totally ignored.

I told DH one day I couldn't tell if his mom just liked to piss me off or if she was just THAT clueless. She doesn't get food stuff at all. She thought for the longest time that organic meant mexican food. We didn't speak to them from the time Ethan was a couple of weeks old until he was 14 months or so. She couldn't figure out why I only liked him to eat mexican food. She continues to make all of her desserts with sugar-free cool-whip, even though I've told her a million times that my kids can't have artificial sweeteners like that, and to please call me ahead of time so I can make them an okay dessert. She's ridiculous. I try to let it roll off my back for the most part, because there have been two times that we've cut off ties with them and I'm trying to work it out because the kids love them so much. One little comment from me gets MIL all worked up and in full-out war mode again. 

OOhhh, I bet she was smirking her way to self righteousness when she got you those towels too, I can just imagine!

goodheartedmommy

Ha! I told DH to call her back and tell her that he's a (insert word of your choice here) and that I do NOT want towels and washcloths for Christmas. I know that makes me a brat, but I was going to seriously cry if everyone else got something good and I got towels and washcloths. DH telling them that made her judginess towards me even worse, I'm sure. She's like Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond (luckily DH is NOT Ray!). I'm betting she pities (and loves) the fact that I'm such a bad housekeeper that I have ratty old towels that are so bad my husband thinks I need new ones for Christmas.

shopgirl_07

Organic means Mexican food?! She's not very bright is she?

Jodi&Joe

Did you ever think she is nitpicking your foods b/c you are nitpicking hers?  Your kids can't have artificial sweeteners?!  Just once.  Just once for dessert over her house.

Um,  yea, I'd be picking your meals apart too.

Sorry --- sucks.  But pot....meet kettle!

goodheartedmommy

I could list a million things about her...she's crazy.

She came to our house a few days after Ethan was born. My sheltie loves to chew on the ears of my dachshund, and they'll be dripping wet. The doxie jumped in MIL's lap, and she asked why he was so wet. My mom was there and said "Jonathan (DH), I thought you finally quit chewing on Oscar's ears!" MIL looked at him and goes "Oh, Jonathan!" She just doesn't quite *get* it. MIL showed up at home the day Maile was born wearing a mask because she was "so sick" and then wanted to hold the baby. She couldn't come to my baby shower with Ethan because her lips were too chapped.

Jodi&Joe

"....with Ethan because her lips were too chapped."

OMG --- that is NOT right!  So funny....but so not right!

goodheartedmommy

Jodi&Joe:

Did you ever think she is nitpicking your foods b/c you are nitpicking hers?  Your kids can't have artificial sweeteners?!  Just once.  Just once for dessert over her house.

Um,  yea, I'd be picking your meals apart too.

Sorry --- sucks.  But pot....meet kettle!

Sorry, aspartame/splenda/etc are not okay. And once would lead to another, and another. I can give on things like HFCS, but not sugar-free artificial sweeteners. We see them often enough that it wouldn't be a "just once" thing. It's not like we're at the house of a long-lost aunt that we'll never see again.

DandR

Jodi&Joe:

Did you ever think she is nitpicking your foods b/c you are nitpicking hers?  Your kids can't have artificial sweeteners?!  Just once.  Just once for dessert over her house.

Um,  yea, I'd be picking your meals apart too.

Sorry --- sucks.  But pot....meet kettle!

I'm with my twin on this...if you won't let your kids eat what she makes..then why should she eat what YOU make....AND....you said something along the lines of "its polite to just eat it even if you don't like it." yet you obviously don't do it when at HER house......

 

MelandJeff

Why thank you GHM, I will now go hug my MIL and tell her I love her.

goodheartedmommy

DandR:

Jodi&Joe:

Did you ever think she is nitpicking your foods b/c you are nitpicking hers?  Your kids can't have artificial sweeteners?!  Just once.  Just once for dessert over her house.

Um,  yea, I'd be picking your meals apart too.

Sorry --- sucks.  But pot....meet kettle!

I'm with my twin on this...if you won't let your kids eat what she makes..then why should she eat what YOU make....AND....you said something along the lines of "its polite to just eat it even if you don't like it." yet you obviously don't do it when at HER house......

 

Maybe you're right, but I think there's a big difference in an adult being picky and a mother refusing something for her 2 year old that has been proven to cause cancer. Again, it's not like it would be a one-time thing. It's a continual thing. She always has desserts with meals, and the majority of them are made sugar-free. I'm not going to make a habit out of letting my kids eat it. If we were at a home we were not at often, I would let them. I think if you're at a house every 2 weeks and it's an issue every 2 weeks, then I have the right to say "no way."

goodheartedmommy

Mel--as much as I despise the lady, I find that I'm glad they're in our life now. She makes me angry, and I'm sure I do the same to her. We haven't ever really liked each other, but we put on our happy faces and pretend. I try not to question the sincerity of it too much. She DOES try now. I honestly just think she's clueless.

DandR

one meal out of 42 is not very often...... (Once every 2 weeks....3 meals a day)...

 

goodheartedmommy

I disagree. That's okay, though, I'm really not in the mood to argue with you over it tonight, so I can agree that it is somewhat silly to be upset that they are that freaking picky about what I'm cooking. I WILL say, though, that I am more than willing to bring something for my kids that they will eat, and don't demand that MIL fix something else entirely.

Jodi&Joe

GHM --- I can totally see both sides of this issue. 

gracendantho26

Life is too short to not make some food your IL's will enjoy.

lsufan

I am cracking up over here about the chapped lips.  That's just too much.

GrowingFamily

And this is why my in-laws are banned from our house on Christmas Day   No, really...they asked last year if they could come over & I said "no."  I told them that we wanted it as a day just for our immediate family to relax, enjoy their gifts and not entertain ANYONE. I told them this will be our Christmas tradition for as long as we have children at home.  I am so glad we put it on the line & don't ever have to deal with Christmas Day guests.  We spend the rest of our Christmas vacation seeing people...this is OUR day.