Among Friends

[Nightowlz]

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@gmkb wrote:

Ouch!  Not the Christmas spirit.  You didn't ask, but my advice is bring a couple of side dishes (green bean casserole, cold sliced ham, green salad, jello salad are some suggestions), smile, enjoy and next year plan a trip to your sister's in Florida.

No reason to have anger over a bowl of noodles.  People are more important.

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I never did get in the Christmas spirit. I kept forgetting about it some how. I was going to put the tree up the weekend of Thanksgiving but we had an ice storm & DH could not move his truck so he could move my car out of the garage to get into the attic to get the tree. I asked him to get it down the following weekend but it never happened so it does not feel like Christmas without the decor.

I don't think my MIL would like it if I bring all that stuff when she plans to have chicken & noodles. We went to Fl last 2 Christmas's so thought we would stay home this year. All my family will be there except my oldest brother. If I felt like I could make it on my own I would leave in the morning & come back before it gets hot at my sisters. It's over 1200 miles. LOL!!!

[Nightowlz]

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@Bird mama wrote:

@Nightowlz

Oh hon, forgive me.  I misunderstood.  So you are looking at a pot of chicken and noodles and that's it?!?

Jesus - I can see why you want to take your bird and ham elsewhere.

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YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nightowlz]

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@nana59 wrote:

can i go to florida with you.....

Sure. It's over a 1200 mile drive.

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@Nightowlz wrote:

Just need to vent. Bought a ham to turkey plus some other things to make to take to the in-laws for Christmas dinner. I know at DH's mom age she is tired of the cooking & mess that goes along with Holiday dinners. I don't care for it either. Told DH to call & tell her we would cook the ham & turkey. She informs him she talked to his sister & they decided his mom would make chicken & noodles for Christmas. DH told his mom we would bring the ham & turkey anyways. I said to DH we are going to your parents house with ham & turkey to eat that with chicken & noodles. I think not. I'm all for a Traditional Christmas dinner so I will be staying home on Christmas. DH & his famiy can do what they want. His mom's chicken & noodles is nothing more then a pot of noodles with a whole chicken in it. I guess she uses the chicken for another meal. I'm not eating a bowl of noodles for Chrismtas dinner. I should just tell DH to tell his boss he will be gone from the 19th thru the 4th for the holidays & go to my sisters in Fl.

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[QVCkitty1]

Wow, there is a lot of judgement here !  The woman needed to vent , she didn't ask for a holiday spirit lesson . 

[Nightowlz]

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@Another new name Sue wrote:

Wow.  There is a lot more going on here than noodles as you seem to be harboring a lot of anger.  How sad that you would miss a family dinner because don't like the food. 

Think about it--Christmas is a holiday when we get together with family.  What is eaten is relatively unimportant.  You can eat the food you like ANY time, so do a little attitude adjustment and go along with the plans.  If you stay home, it will just create more hard feelings, more negative family history.  Everyone will remember the year when Nightowiz didn't come to Christmas dinner and went to FL!!!  Seriously, rise above this, smile and go.  Or start thinking about what is really bothering you and why you anger so easily over food.

My 2 cents.

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It's not about the food. I'm happy with a turkey sandwich & a piece of pecan pie. I'm not eating a bowl of noodles. The anger is with the MIL that decides to do these things without including me. It's happened over & over again. After 39 yrs. I have had enough. I hate buying all this stuff to find what we normally used to do has been changed again without any kind of notice. If DH had not called his mom to tell her we would make the ham & turkey we would not have heard from her until 1-2 days before Christmas. It's ok for her to make changes but not me. One year I took a red velvet cake instead of pecan pies & everyone got ticked off. They did not like the change & I don't like the change.

[Nightowlz]

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@Bird mama wrote:

Maryanne has a point.  I don't know how far they live from you.  Maybe you could do a pre-emptive visit on Christmas Eve or do a hit and run visit on Christmas Day and come home and eat what you want.

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MY In-laws live about 5 mins from us. That won't work for DH. When we go over at Thanksgiving & Christmas he thinks we have to stay there for 5 hrs or more. At least I can play my games on my iPad.

[Nightowlz]

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@QVCkitty1 wrote:

Wow, there is a lot of judgement here !  The woman needed to vent , she didn't ask for a holiday spirit lesson . 

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It's ok. I'm just sitting here reading the replies & laughing & saying bah humbug. LOL!!!

[Bird mama]

NM

[luv-the-Q]

Well, for 42 years I have baked, cooked, baked some more, cooked some more and cleaned up for days after Christmas.  This year I have ordered Chick-fil-a, I'm getting pizza, cookies from the deli, and anything else that sounds good that I don't have to cook.  The grandkids won't care and if the adults get upset, which I doubt they will, they can get glad in the same britches they got mad in.  That is what my mother-in-law would have told us.  I believe she was right.

[Shogirl]

I feel your pain, Nightowlz!  So, we have my family over for Christmas each year - 10 people total.  We discussed at Thanksgiving doing something other than turkey/ham and the usual fixings, so when it came time to send out the invite email, I suggested pot roast (because I make really good pot roast.)  Also, everyone pitches in and brings a dish to go with.  My one brother decided to make a big deal about it.  He first said he and his wife wanted turkey becuase they only get it two times/year and it means something to them.  (Huh?  They can't cook it for themselves at any other time of the year???)  In the meantime, everyone else agreed on pot roast, although my sister who is gluten-free asked how I cook it in case she needed to bring something else.  So I sent a note back saying it was voted on to have pot roast and sorry to my brother.  He then responds with "Don't  you cook potatos and veges with the pot roast?"  And I responded "Sure, you can ... but I didn't sign up to cook the whole meal nor do I have the money nor do I think my cookers would even hold enough potatoes/veges for this sized group."  OK, so he responds with "I talked to Dad about it and he has a large cooker you can use to make the potatoes/veges with.  We're going to bring dessert and turkey."  I was PO'd, to say the least, and responded with "Why can't someone else bring potatoes and veges and why are you making such a big deal about it?"  Mind you, during these emails, all of the other relatives were quiet as church mice!  FINALLY, my sister speaks up and offers to bring a potatoe/vege medley and others volunteered for some drinks, sides, desserts, and we were good to go.  My brother never responded to my last note. 

i can tell you, though, I was sick of the whole thing and didn't even want to have it at our house.  My husband had to talk me down and remind me why I do this - it's for my Dad.