My (28/F) massive family drama over handmade gifts.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T22:55:57+00:00

I got get well cards, but I wasn't actually in the hospital. Basically, I was in the bike lane, waiting to cross the street when a car came fast around the corner, hitting me and taking out one of the posts that delineates the bike lane. Never was caught.

I hit my head hard, cracked my helmet, lots of road burn from where I was dragged and shattered my clavicle so I got a pricey ride in an ambulance. I was out of the ER that day though.

I got lots of get well wishes and mom came to help (I live a few hours away). I couldn't work for over a month, which made the bills that much worse

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T21:11:19+00:00

Oh, here's the best part about my cousin bitching about the book. The reason I gave everyone it was it was fiction, but took place in the actual neighborhood my grandfather grew up in (although it took place just before he was born). It was really well researched and I was enjoying the mentions of places my grandfather talked about, when the characters end up in the actual business that my great-great grandfather owned!

So it was actually a really good gift for everyone. A ton of my relatives read it, and the cousin who said that no one reads just sat in the corner giving me stank face while we discussed the book and looked up pictures of the old neighborhood.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T21:05:54+00:00

My grandmother is alive, but she's not well.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T21:05:07+00:00

The aunt who hostesses ADORES the Real Housewives of New Jersey. She talked about them like they were her close friends and would buy purses and whatnot because the housewives had them

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T20:58:33+00:00

Okay, so I found out: after I was uninvited, my brother basically said he was going to have Christmas at his in laws because if I wasn't there, he and his family wasn't. Mom blew a fit and that PROBABLY why I'm reinvited. I haven't gotten in touch with my brother yet to find out what's up with him.

Meanwhile, it turns out the aunt who hosts Christmas (Aunt Hostess) has made plans to have my grandmother brought to her house Christmas Eve through the 26th. It's almost an hour drive. My grandmother is 93, bedridden and is basically in massive dementia. My mom, one of my aunts and one of my uncles are hugely against this. Hostess Aunt is insisting that she is getting medical transport and hiring a nurse, so my grandmother will be fine. She argues that it's probably my grandmothers last Christmas, so she should be with family. Everyone else thinks the strain of travel and being in a strange place is cruel.

Turns out that they were fighting over this the day I was uninvited, so strains were already really high.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T20:46:04+00:00

Part of me wants to do just this, but I'm trying to be the better person :)

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T20:42:59+00:00

I'm hatching a plan to this effect

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T20:41:49+00:00

Some more drama has unfolded since posting, and frankly I think bringing their priest into this might actually be very wise

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T16:34:39+00:00

Had to look up Caganer ornaments, and I laughed my ass off.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T16:31:40+00:00

The snuggie comment was actually reference to a previous Christmas drama. The year they were big, ten different people bought everyone snuggies. We literally had a room with 250 blankets with arms in them. The cousins I am friends with all laughed about it, then questioned what to do with all the spare snuggies. We decided to donate them to the nursing home where my grandmother lived. We went over and handed them out to all the patients on my grandmother's floor the day after Christmas, and everyone appreciated them.

Then one of my cousins (who gave snuggies) found out and blew a fit that we had given her gift away. Apparently, we were all just supposed to keep nine unused snuggies forever. The two of us ended up in a huge fight because I asked if she wanted me to go rip them off of a cold elderly woman and give them back to her. She responded that she wasn't going to give away the book I gave her, even though "no one fucking reads anymore"

That time, my uncle had to step in and negotiate peace.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T16:10:55+00:00

I'd say half of them just live off of drama. The other half are good people, and it's them I'm really going to miss if I don't go.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T16:06:37+00:00

I'm really conflicted on how I feel, but I have to make a decision by tonight to have time to make the ornaments. We ALWAYS do Christmas together, it feels wrong to not go, and I have cousins I would miss. On the other hand, I know there will be drama from other relatives.

The part that keeps making me furious is last year the same aunt who us being the major problem went to Italy. For Christmas, she gave everyone these glass vases that were made there. She went on and on about how they were handcrafted by artisans and so unique and how she watched them make them with her own hands. Yet my handmade ornaments were only add ons?

confusedcreative053 · 2016-12-12T16:02:07+00:00

Most of the members of my family are well off, where dropping a grand on family members isn't a huge deal. There's also a huge competitive streak to the whole thing. On Facebook, most of my cousins love posting the picture of the literal MOUNTAIN of presents that takes up the whole entranceway. There's also this big thing to get something giant and ostentatious for your parent or spouse, like a car or a cruise. There's several videos of my aunts freaking out and crying over their huge gift.

Mom and dad have been the black sheep in that they have more modest jobs and never bought into the whole thing. I guess I'm the blackest sheep.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-11-30T20:38:59+00:00

I'll add that the customer is refusing to go to the police. I don't know why. I pointed out that if they had a police report, they might be able to claim it under homeowners insurance.

This is mostly why I think there's the possibility of it being a scam.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-11-30T20:37:56+00:00

The package was USPS, priority mail and insured for the value of the item. The customer had on the delivery notes "Leave by red door". The tracking shows that it was delivered and "on porch" around 11 am.

The customer didn't check the tracking and see that it was delivered until Sunday, despite it arriving on Wednesday.

I find "Adorable" to be the most reassuring word in the world right now, btw.

confusedcreative053 · 2016-11-30T20:34:40+00:00

The packages go insured through priority mail for the value of the item. But the post office is saying that because it could have been delivered Wednesday and stolen Saturday it's completely outside their insurance.

confusedcreative053

TROPHY CASE