Reply to S/O: How many gifts do your kids get for Christmas from Grandparents?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a theory that MILs (typically guessing most people posting are women married to men) buy more and tend to be "stuff" people because they are naturally not as close with their sons as their daughters (if they have any) and so want to buy stuff to show love. There seems to be a pattern in responses of "my MIL is a stuff person, my family is not"-- but maybe that's self-selecting who's choosing to respond too. [/quote]

OP here. My DH and MIL have a somewhat contentious relationship, but she still does the same with her daughter to whom she is somewhat closer.

Setting that aside, Christmas has always been her biggest holiday and she will go into debt to purchase the over the top number of gifts just for the sake of having lots of things to open. I get that gifts are her love language, but she takes it to an extreme and seems to think it is her right now as a grandmother to "spoil" our DD with stuff. She made several comments to that effect on a recent visit. She brought four toys, two of which were not age appropriate, plus clothes, and then also bought my daughter a baby doll at the mall while my husband went to the restroom, even though she had already given her one earlier in the weekend.

I would be thrilled if she wanted to help out with things that DD needed or bought her a few age appropriate or meaningful gifts, but what she brings is mostly junk that DD is not interested in playing with, most of which already ends up getting tossed or donated. And then I feel guilty disposing of things that MIL spent money on that we know she doesn't have. Mostly just venting but would love ideas on how to deal with this. Already planning to use some of the suggestions above. [/quote]

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