Anonymous wrote:My in-laws live in a different city but have a condo in our town and they visit many times a year. They are always eager to host us and the kids at their condo but when we invite them over to our house for a meal they generally decline. They don’t give a reason. Or actually they will hem and haw about it and ultimately not come over. Is this weird? It makes me feel kind of bad—any thoughts about how not to feel bad about it? I also find it annoying because we sort of plan our weekend around the possibility they will join us for a meal. I think the right thing to do is just not plan around them but I find this hard to pull off in practice.
OP wrote town [not the widespread DMV] so if both houses are in Rockville for example this is unusual. What's the drive time between their house and yours? Time of meals? You have kids so has it always been like this? If there has been a change when did it happen? Maybe the only variable is the cat and not all pets, cats or dogs, are pleasant for guests or even members of the same family. Goes beyond allergies. Sometimes a "furbaby" makes people wonder why? Some people have pets that are generally considered intolerable.