Answers to FIDDLEFIT's Questions /Holiday rudeness

[benvonwojo]

Fiddlefit:

>How was your passover dinner last weekend?
It was okay actually. I selected recipes that were quite simple to make, nutritious yet tasty. I made turkey and beef meatloafs, steamed green beans, and baked red potato slices with dill and soy cheese -YUM. The people who are the most difficult or maybe the words are rude and oblivious, got to the house later than everyone else. They only managed to put their dirty coats on my bed with my freshly laundered clothes (go figure there are 3 beds in the house and mine was only with the door closed), the dad sits at the set table before everyone ate and uses my plate to place his filthy (and I MEAN FILTHY) camera on for closer examination until I booted him off, and brought me dead flowers as their contribution to the evening. I think I need to be away in Victoria for ALL of the holidays.

>That's great that you're going for your ACE! Are you just starting the process?
I just started the ACE studying but its going well. My husband is a doctor so the anatomy part is really fun with his help. Its great to expand on whats in the book and learn even more than necessary. The only problem will be finding a CPR certification class near where I live.

Anyone else have any nightmare/rude relative holiday stories to share?

 

[allwildgirl]

The first Christmas I was with my SO, we invited his family over for Christmas Eve dinner. We told them 4:30 - 5 p.m. His sister and her family showed up on time. His father and stepmother arrived at 8. We were making a roast beef. Needless to say, by the time they got there, it was more like roast shoe leather. I was FURIOUS. It meant that the kids had eaten at 5 (they were both little at that time) and were bored out of their skulls waiting. And we were opening gifts at 10 p.m.

 

[Dani53]

Oh my!! I have a sister in law that drives me insane. Fortunately she is the only one on the whole family tree that does. Their very first time meeting our family was at my house for Thanksgiving several years ago.

A little background is that we didn't even know my brother was dating anyone, and he drops the bomb that they had married a few months before...on the phone one day, all casually. Needless to say the family was a bit surprised.

Fast forward to THAT dreaded Thanskgiving. They drive to my house and she promptly settles in to my daughters room to lay on the bed. I assume she is tired from the drive so I allow her to rest. Not very friendly at all, but I let it go.

The next day she comes out for breakfast. I had made a nice spread of omelettes, bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt, muffins...you know..."company breakfast" with lots to choose from. She whines to my brother that she can't eat it and asks him to make her some eggs. I asked my brother what the heck the omelettes were. He ignores me and said he would make her some, and proceeds to pull out my 18 pack and scramble them!! They each had a plate of a MOUND of scrambled eggs.

Same scenario for lunch and dinner that day. All accompanyied with her hiding out in the bedroom and whining a lot. I was really cutting her a lot of slack still as I was still wanting her to feel welcomed into our family and making up every excuse I could for her.

The next day she had come out of the room and we were all sitting in the living room. My mom had finally arrived for the holiday, and my kids were jumping up and down, excited that Nana was finally here. We all get up and run outside to greet her. We come back in and the SIL was still sitting on the couch. She is about to meet her husbands mother for the first time and she can't even get up off the couch!! She sat there as my mom tried to say hello, and give her a hug!

Not a care in the world to first impressions, I gotta tell you.

As you can imagine, by the time I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner I was not liking this girl at all. I cooked the entire meal by myself, without one word of "can I help with anything?", or "is there anything I can do?", she complained about not liking anything, and then went and sat on the couch.

When she did eat, it was a gross amount of something and then lots of whining. I was beginning to wonder if she was bulemic, and purging in the bathroom.

It has been several years and sadly it has not ever gotten any better. Her personality is what it is. I fortunately don't have to be around her much. I adore my brother but he seriously has me scratching my head on this one. They have one child, whom I adore but feel very sorry for, and she just found out she was pregnant. Sadly, I cringed with each pregnancy because I see them as potential casualties of war...not holding out much hope on the marriage I suppose.

I will always do everything in my power to be nice, and supportive of them, but she sure doesn't make it easy.

 

[benvonwojo]

Why does it seem that everyone has a member of the family (or in my case 1 family of 4) that is the epitome of rude. I always wondered where they learned or didnt learn their manners.

 

[Maximus]

LOL! This is a fun thread.

OK here's mine--not necessarily rude but definitely culture shock--

A few months before we got married my ex hubby took me to Georgia over Christmas to meet the whole family. Being afraid of flying, he, his 6 year old daughter & I drove more than 10 hours in one day to get there. Pretty much everyone lived out of town & everyone--I mean EVERYONE--stayed at his grandmother's 3 bedroom house.

Being good southern baptists, he & I had to sleep in separate rooms (dating for 6 years & being engaged are NOT the same as being married!). So I had to share a bedroom with his daughter & two of his cousins. There were air mattresses everywhere & god forbid you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night b/c you were guaranteed to step on someone.

Also, being a yankee, I had no idea what clothes to bring so I just brought lightweight sweaters & ended up sweating my a$$ off the entire time. Mind you, this was not a weekend trip--we were there for the entire week. I was uncomfortable to say the least.

So, being in the deep south surrounded by southern baptists, I don't think I said ten words the entire time, knowing pretty much anything that came out of my mouth would offend someone (& those of you who've gotten to know me know how difficult this was). And no alcohol to get me through it. Yikes!

It was without a doubt the worst Christmas of my life.