Christmas with Sis

[NotKelly]

For the third year in a row, I have put on the family Christmas gathering. The family is very very small. Just me, my mother, my sister and my aunt (mother's sister).

 

Sister loathes aunt and makes no secret of it to my mother and me. She even demanded a Christmas Eve gathering in which my aunt would be secretly excluded (aunt is invited over for Christmas Day), or else she wouldn't come over for Christmas Day. I don't know what my aunt did to deserve this hatred; she does tend to ramble and repeat herself a lot, and one time she showed up drunk to my sister's house and I guess that disgusted my sister so much. (Honestly I suspect my aunt drinks because she's afraid of my sister.)

 

My sister has very Martha Stewart-ish tendencies (when she is flush with cash, which she isn't now) and so when I put on this Christmas party, I try to have lots of food, make an effort to decorate cute cookies, and generally try to think of everything that will please my worldly sister. It is sort of fun trying to throw a real party. I see it as a fun way for the whole family to just forget the world for 2-3 days (as long as it takes to consume the leftovers), but it's so dependent on everybody's moods, I wonder why I even bother.

 

Yesterday, my sister arrived at the Christmas Eve gathering SHE requested, moody and sniffling. It turns out she had to leave her kitty at home (she brought her two dogs) and was disconsolate for a whole hour. (Her house is 10 minutes away!) She pretty much ignored the food and cookies I'd spent days making and even proclaimed she didn't like some of it. As I'm sort of used to this behavior periodically from her -- sometimes she can be the most self-centered person I know -- I didn't let it spoil my mood.

 

Then we decided to open a few gifts (other gifts being left for Christmas Day). There were two big boxes she brought that weren't FOR anybody in particular, she said; they were addressed to "HQ" which is the term we use for the family house I still live in (my mother is currently living with me). Remembering how she once gave me mousetraps as a thank-you gift for looking after her dog (we'd had a stray mouse in the house some weeks before), I was fully prepared for this "gift" to be a Dustbuster or something related to housecleaning. No, it was a full set of new silverware and another full set of new glasses. Nice gift, right? Well, not really, when she then suggested that we have these made available for her use when she visits us. (It's her opinion that our glasses and silverware are too old and familiar and mismatched.)

 

There were a couple small gifts actually for my mother and me that we opened. One of them was an elaborately decorated holiday cookie. This is kind of nice because we have a tradition of giving each other food and treat stocking stuffers. No sooner had we unwrapped them, though, that my sister revealed, "It's a re-gift. I got these as a present at work." Umm... gee, thanks! (I've regifted stuff as much as the next person, but was it necessary for her to tell us?)

 

The third gift turned out to be a set of lottery tickets. I know some people think they are a great gift idea. Your recipient either has the chance to win $100,000 or perhaps just nothing. My mom and I scratched off our tickets. I won $15. My mom won nothing. Awkward!! (This is why I personally do not see them as a good gift idea - or at least you should never give them to more than one person at a time.)

 

My sister is not always like this. To be fair, she has been pretty overworked lately, she only gets one day off a week. But when she starts doing rude/insensitive/weird things at the Holidays, she tends to go all-out. So today's holiday gathering ought to be a "blast" and I'm sure my aunt will want to liquor up early and often. My mother just throws up her hands at my sister's attitude and behavior. And it's obviously not the gifts I object to -- rather the spirit in which they're given. I actually felt sorry for my sister this time which is what made it easy for me not to get angry.

 

I am wondering how my gifts to my family members will go over. This year, I splurged on them (I had a little extra cash- I'm not rich) and bought them some electronic gadgets which (a) they themselves usually couldn't afford and (b) which I genuinely think they will like. I bought my mom a modest, simple digital videocam (which I already know she wants); I bought my aunt a portable DVD player (she hasn't got any DVD player at all); and I bought my sister an iPod Shuffle (she has no portable music player). I'm honestly not sure how they will react because even though all these are under $100, it's way out of the usual price range for our gifts. I thought it would just be a nice surprise, but I'm not too sure, gauging everyone's wacky moods this Christmas. Maybe these gifts will be embarrassing.

 

But you know... although they were not bought in that spirit, if my sister is embarrassed by my gift to her, I'm sort of thinking: "Well.... GOOD." (evil grin)

Edited December 25, 2007 by NotKelly

[johan]

Your sister is a nutcase! She's lucky to have you though. Somewhere deep down she probably realizes this.

[NotKelly]

Well hey, it's been four years since I posted this topic and since I came back here today, I'm having a good laugh at my earlier post where I was contemplating how Christmas Day 2007 would turn out, since Christmas Eve was so weird. It actually turned out really horrible: my sister acted like a bitch on steroids the entire time, so badly that I was very close to telling her to leave. My mom convinced me not to say anything. Sadly, that year is the year I decided to stop throwing these "parties" and things got considerably more bare-bones after that.

 

Anyhow, the rotten Christmases with Sis continued until last year when she decided not to participate in Christmas at all (not that she ever really DID!) My mother, aunt and I had a wonderful Christmas day together this past December and maybe that really is the ultimate solution.

Edited March 15, 2012 by NotKelly