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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9 yo daughter goes with Dad to pick up some last minute groceries. she gets apple cider, her favorite and a treat.

FIL and MIL drink most of it and at dinner MIL pours two glasses and gives it to each of themselves, right in front of 9 yo.

9 yo looks around sad, as she realizes the whole gallon is empty somehow within one day, and she never got more than one glass and here were the last two.

MIL, the grandmother, says: “What’s wrong, are you jealous?”

All the children look at each other like they saw a witch.

How cruel and selfish! Kids saw her for that too. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11 yo got called a Lone Wolf by her paternal grandmother on Saturday, and a Dark Horse on Sunday.

9 yo was merely called a chatterbox.

Guess they made up after MIL drank a gallon of apple cider all by herself.

Same lady? Yikes, she was on a roll by the back half of the holiday weekend.

What is she so angry and mean about? I mean, why???!
Tweens are sensitive enough, they don’t need their grandmother speaking in riddles and insults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One in-law will only really engage in conversation on two-three topics. If not one of those topics, he doesn’t engage much beyond asking one or two questions for which he prefers a short answer then looks and acts bored.

I kind of like that guy cuts through the BS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One in-law will only really engage in conversation on two-three topics. If not one of those topics, he doesn’t engage much beyond asking one or two questions for which he prefers a short answer then looks and acts bored.

I kind of like that guy cuts through the BS

We have one of those aspie types- will only talk about solar panels (his job), iPhones, or Star News (European).

Can’t follow or talk about anything else. Just sits there.

[Anonymous]

As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

Weird. Sounds like she bought all the food and ingredients.

Either keep the leftovers yourself - she paid and it’s her house- or spread around the leftovers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

What do you mean you cooked the turkey? She bought it and you “cooked it”?

Unless you injected with garlic butter and then fried it in peanut oil outside while watching it constantly, it’s pretty low maintenance. It gets basted and then sits in an oven for 2-3 hours with foil on top.

Making 3-4 sides is more tedious and time consuming. And you have to time it right, keep things heated. gravy is last due to using the turkey drippings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wtf drinks apple juice or orange juice with a dinner meal?

And no, no grandmother the world over would drink up a grandchild’s juice and then taunt and gloat at said grandchild at a group dinner.

What a b1thc.

Hope you only get together once a year w in laws like that.

Apple cider. We do for Thanksgiving, and it has always been the children's drink. But we're New Englanders and we are picky about the cider. We only get it from orchards in fall. We used to press our own as a family outing. My parents would always let one gallon go a bit fuzzy, just for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

Did they purchase and cook the food, and host? Totally fair to keep the leftovers. IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

Did they purchase and cook the food, and host? Totally fair to keep the leftovers. IMO.

We brought the ingredients and made several sides. Either way, I found it weird

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As we were leaving, my MIL was packing up leftovers for us to take home. Would not give her son any of the side she made (there was lots left) and my FIL was saying that there wasn't enough turkey to share (there was.) It was like they bought those things so they were theirs to keep. FWIW, I cooked the turkey.

At least a nice lesson in how different people can be.

Did they purchase and cook the food, and host? Totally fair to keep the leftovers. IMO.

We brought the ingredients and made several sides. Either way, I found it weird

They packed up leftovers of food you contributed and wanted to keep what they contributed.

And?

Nothing weird about that to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last thing, I had never seen anyone store food in a cold garage until I got married. When MIL walked out with a pan of leftover turkey and put it on a cloth that was on the car hood, it blew my mind. And I don't care how cold it was, it bothered me that our food was sitting out in the garage with the cars and the lawn chemicals and boxes of books and broken garden tools.

You need to unclench…a lot

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I would not put up with that. If I’m not comfortable. I’m staying in a hotel.

Of course MIL also lives relatively far from nearest hotel etc. DS is now wearing a hat and puffer jacket...

This is why I have no shame about day drinking here

Since it’s not a money issue, just go turn the thermostat up to 70. Have one of your kids distract everyone if necessary.

Not all at once. You have to do it a degree or two at time.

I am that person -- I grew up with the house at 60 and have it set to 63-64 pretty much all the time. (We also have bad circulation, so even when it is higher there are rooms that are too hot and too cold). We have some targeted space heaters in certain places that we can turn on/off if we want. We have the money, and I know I drive my husband nuts, but I can't get over the feeling of wastefulness. its a hard habit to break!

(my father still turns it to 55 downstairs overnight, so at least I'm better than that).

My friend divorced his wife over this

Haha! My friend divorced her cheap o husband over this! He was insufferable all around not just about temperatures

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIL refuses to buy foods that the kids like and then makes us feel terrible because our kids are bad eaters. I’m not talking about sugared cereal (gasp!) or spaghetti-os level “kid food.” She made beef stew last night and tonight we are having fish because she got a good deal at the store (and because SHE likes that). The house is a museum and no games of any kind left over from Ds and three sibs. I’m not even sure they were allowed to sleep in the house as children (I know the dog wasn’t).

I don't know about this one...I grew up having to eat the same "adult" food as adults and have my kids do the same. We don't do separate meals and that has expanded my kids palate.

We don’t do separate “kid meals” either and kids are really not particularly picky, but it’s like she goes out of her way to make the visit as unpleasant as possible and the food is one aspect of this. We are on “vacation” and I just don’t want to deal with kids who are grumpy because they didn’t eat (there is also a strict no snacks in the house rule). I’m just asking she meets the kids a smidge of the way with something like grilled meat and salad or really any kind of pasta.

Hell no--you oil your kids something they like. And if they want a snack, you give it to them. Otherwise you don't visit, it's really quite simple

[Anonymous]

We went for a walk after thanksgiving dinner and 45 year old sibling kept overreacting to cars driving by my 18 year old DC. As in “move over Larlo, car coming!” Haven’t seen this sibling in a while and I think they still consider my DC a young kid.
FWIW sibling has no kids and we were in a large group so DC wasn’t the only one in the “way” of cars. No sidewalks but a very quiet suburban neighborhood.