What's weird about where you are staying - Thanksgiving 2024 edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL is paranoid about her dining table. She first covers it in blankets. (DH’s teenaged mutant ninja turtles one from his childhood) then she adds a layer of cardboard cut to shape. Then, three different table cloths, then a lace table cloth, with a final layer of plastic. It’s not an antique table either, it’s a cherry colored table she bought in the 90s from value city furniture. It’s such a joy to eat off of a thickly padded table!

Wow, this is remarkable!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t price together that all 50% of this thread was Wisconsin PP #1. God bless you on your magical Thanksgiving journey, WI PP #1. Please keep the updates going and pour one out for our chipmunk friend.

Ahahaha I am maybe 5%. And as it happens I am now having a g&t in a tervis tumbler. Now that may not seem weird at first glance, but here is why it is weird, or feels weird to me. That’s a summer by the pool g&t conveyance. Also, it’s clearly pretty new. Nothing else in this outpost post dates 1993 and most is much older. How did it get here? I found it yesterday behind ancient Tupperware. Most people are drinking from McDonald’s character glasses (and there is also a straight from the can PBR contingent). I will not give up this tumbler, so I’m contributing to the weirdness by hiding it when I’m not using it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL is paranoid about her dining table. She first covers it in blankets. (DH’s teenaged mutant ninja turtles one from his childhood) then she adds a layer of cardboard cut to shape. Then, three different table cloths, then a lace table cloth, with a final layer of plastic. It’s not an antique table either, it’s a cherry colored table she bought in the 90s from value city furniture. It’s such a joy to eat off of a thickly padded table!

Wow, this is remarkable!

I dare you to give her an actual table pad for Christmas.

[Anonymous]

SIL just brought out a wedding picture and handed it to DH because she had it and thought he might like it. A picture from his first wedding. Which was not our wedding, lol. It's an old picture as DH and I have been together for over 20 years.

WTF? I scowled at her, but didn't say anything. I don't really care, lol. I'm not really the jealous type, fortunately. DH said "I don't need this" and handed it back to her. She said, "Well ok, I thought you would want it" and took it away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL is paranoid about her dining table. She first covers it in blankets. (DH’s teenaged mutant ninja turtles one from his childhood) then she adds a layer of cardboard cut to shape. Then, three different table cloths, then a lace table cloth, with a final layer of plastic. It’s not an antique table either, it’s a cherry colored table she bought in the 90s from value city furniture. It’s such a joy to eat off of a thickly padded table!

This is why I come to DCUM at the holidays. 😂😂😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a twist on this thread. How about clueless house guests? I’m hosting SIL and she arrived over the weekend for an 8 day stay. We have had numerous discussions and conflicts in the past about how disruptive her visits are to the kids sleep. Both kids have sleep disorders and my biggest stressor in life is getting my youngest to sleep and ensuring she gets the maximum sleep possible. My husband and I were looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning (only day for the next week) and was woken up at 6:40am to giggling and screaming laughter from SIL and daughter together in the next room. SIL seemed confused when husband went in and asked them to be quiet and asking why daughter was awake. My son woke up moments later. I couldn’t fall asleep after that. Daughter was up almost 2 hours earlier than a normal Saturday. And his family wonders why visits are so exhausting!

If your kids have sleep disorders you should offer to pay for a hotel for your visitors, you really just should not have overnight guests.

Not PP you were talking to, but my son has a sleep disorder, untreatable sleep apnea. It's NOT a joke. It will shorten his life, make him more liable to develop dementia, and worsens his existing ADHD and daily capabilities. No one should scoff at such medical troubles.

Why would I pay for hotels for guests? Our house is too small for guests. We see each other at non-Holiday times, that's all.

Why is it untreatable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t price together that all 50% of this thread was Wisconsin PP #1. God bless you on your magical Thanksgiving journey, WI PP #1. Please keep the updates going and pour one out for our chipmunk friend.

Ahahaha I am maybe 5%. And as it happens I am now having a g&t in a tervis tumbler. Now that may not seem weird at first glance, but here is why it is weird, or feels weird to me. That’s a summer by the pool g&t conveyance. Also, it’s clearly pretty new. Nothing else in this outpost post dates 1993 and most is much older. How did it get here? I found it yesterday behind ancient Tupperware. Most people are drinking from McDonald’s character glasses (and there is also a straight from the can PBR contingent). I will not give up this tumbler, so I’m contributing to the weirdness by hiding it when I’m not using it.

Oh those McDonald's glasses are nothing to scoff at. My inlaws serve drinks in re-used solo cups, and plastic World Series souvenir cups from the 1980s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom proudly told me on Monday that she just finished cooking the turkey so she can re-heat it for us Thursday.

This right here is the kind of wacky I love finding buried in these threads among the house too cold/too hot, garbage police, and nobody is allowed to eat posts!

I’ve been haunted by wondering where the cooked turkey is stored.

On the patio! It's cool enough. I mean people are whining and wearing sweaters INDOORS so it's definitely cool enough for a turkey outdoors. Logic.

Are you in the Midwest? When we used to go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, my mom would cook all this food a week or so in advance and then leave it in the garage if there wasn’t room in the fridge (and they had two huge refrigerators and a deep freeze….). I don’t think the garage was ever under 40 degrees. When the kids were little, we’d buy our own groceries and cook for them under the guise that they were too picky and needed their own food. We stopped going there for holidays around 7-8 years ago because the old food, cold house, uncomfortable beds, weird rules, etc got to be too much.

My dad has now passed away and my mom is in a small apartment. I was feeling sad that we didn’t have big family travel plans this year and wouldn’t all be together in their big house, but this thread is reminding me of how much we hated going to my parents’ for Thanksgiving! It was never the cozy Hallmark Thanksgiving that I’m picturing in my head—it was the Griswolds.

Yeah, I'm from Michigan and my mother would just set stuff outside. Like right outside the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIL has been seeing a new "health guru" who had her download an app called Trash Panda. You use the app to scan the barcodes on food items and the app will tell you all the problematic ingredients. All of our snacks and most of our other food items now have sticky notes on them listing the 'bad stuff' and TRASH written on them.

She doesn't Trash Panda her wine, though. She tsked me for letting DD go get Chick-fil-a last night with her friends, but MIL's dinner last night was a half a block of cheese and a bottle of wine. I think my kid will survive some fast food.

This is so hilarious I'm kind of glad it happened to you so you could tell us about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arrived at MIL's yesterday, and am here for the whole week. Need a distraction from her fretting over cooking (which I am doing all of) and financial planning (which she only trusts DH around).

I'll start:

- House is freezing. MIL considers setting temp to 65 high, and says it's because kids are from south (California). I grew up in Midwest, BTW. I've been wrapped up in blanket since getting here...MIL nearly fainted when I suggested setting temp to 67.
- MIL insists on hosting dinner. Will no longer let me host, which involves travel, nor SIL who is 15 minutes away. But MIL hates cooking and does not have a full size oven...so getting meal together is lots of coordination and drama.

Where does MIL live? Is it cold outside and she can’t afford to heat her house higher than 65? I can’t quite follow. Most older people have real circulation issues and insist on the house being in the 80s, so you may be a lucky one there. You can always put more layers on.

PNW. MIL is actually very wealthy, hence financial planning stress. It's a weird thing about DH's family. They keep house at 60 and wear jackets inside. It's a favor that house is set at 65, but I'm still freezing. DD is wearing gloves!

Why can't you say it without the intials? Pacific northwest?

Not pp, but damn near everybody knows what PNW. Except perhaps you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arrived at MIL's yesterday, and am here for the whole week. Need a distraction from her fretting over cooking (which I am doing all of) and financial planning (which she only trusts DH around).

I'll start:

- House is freezing. MIL considers setting temp to 65 high, and says it's because kids are from south (California). I grew up in Midwest, BTW. I've been wrapped up in blanket since getting here...MIL nearly fainted when I suggested setting temp to 67.
- MIL insists on hosting dinner. Will no longer let me host, which involves travel, nor SIL who is 15 minutes away. But MIL hates cooking and does not have a full size oven...so getting meal together is lots of coordination and drama.

Where does MIL live? Is it cold outside and she can’t afford to heat her house higher than 65? I can’t quite follow. Most older people have real circulation issues and insist on the house being in the 80s, so you may be a lucky one there. You can always put more layers on.

PNW. MIL is actually very wealthy, hence financial planning stress. It's a weird thing about DH's family. They keep house at 60 and wear jackets inside. It's a favor that house is set at 65, but I'm still freezing. DD is wearing gloves!

Why can't you say it without the intials? Pacific northwest?

New poster here who had no idea what PNW was, didn’t care enough to Google, and is now rolling my eyes at how obnoxious that is!

I moved to the PNW from DMV. People here use PNW all the time without a thought, so I doubt the PP was trying to be obnoxious.

I want to hear more about what happens when people flout the “no snacking” rule at their in-laws’. Does someone DASH the food from your hands? What happens if you say you’re hungry? Does someone say “Too bad!”?

Yeah, I've never lived out west at all and I knew what it meant. PNW seems like common knowledge to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL’s house has the fewest outlets, the dullest knives, and the oldest spices ever.

Omg, that’s me! Better get in shape by time have in law kids 😜

[Anonymous]

I used to live on the south shore of Lake Superior. Porch food, PBRs, random ancient glasses.....brings back memories.

Blissfully, I am planted on my own couch this evening, albeit cursing the Capitals because they're losing, without a single guest. Nuclear family thanksgiving is underrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arrived at MIL's yesterday, and am here for the whole week. Need a distraction from her fretting over cooking (which I am doing all of) and financial planning (which she only trusts DH around).

I'll start:

- House is freezing. MIL considers setting temp to 65 high, and says it's because kids are from south (California). I grew up in Midwest, BTW. I've been wrapped up in blanket since getting here...MIL nearly fainted when I suggested setting temp to 67.
- MIL insists on hosting dinner. Will no longer let me host, which involves travel, nor SIL who is 15 minutes away. But MIL hates cooking and does not have a full size oven...so getting meal together is lots of coordination and drama.

Where does MIL live? Is it cold outside and she can’t afford to heat her house higher than 65? I can’t quite follow. Most older people have real circulation issues and insist on the house being in the 80s, so you may be a lucky one there. You can always put more layers on.

PNW. MIL is actually very wealthy, hence financial planning stress. It's a weird thing about DH's family. They keep house at 60 and wear jackets inside. It's a favor that house is set at 65, but I'm still freezing. DD is wearing gloves!

Why can't you say it without the intials? Pacific northwest?

New poster here who had no idea what PNW was, didn’t care enough to Google, and is now rolling my eyes at how obnoxious that is!

Again, not the pp but gd you are some idiots. Everyone who reads knows what PNW is and I've only been west of the Mississippi a handful of times. This country has a bad case of the dumbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL will precook broccoli in the morning because it “takes too long to cook” at a mealtime. She will then reheat it when it’s time to eat. Also food safety means nothing. Meat left on the counter for hours is a common occurrence. I won’t eat what she makes. Luckily we are at our house this year so no issues.

One of my favorite things here is the never ending bottle of salad dressing. Some years ago they bought a bottle of strawberry vinaigrette. They just keep adding vinegar, oil, whatever to the bottle and shaking it. That bottle is at least three years old and to my knowledge it has never been washed. Pretty much if it was cooked in or sourced from this house, and you didn’t witness it being opened in a reasonable timeframe you are taking your life into your hands if you eat it.

Meh. This is probably fine.