Christmas frustrations

Anyone else? Everything has been fine with the exception of the cat trying to electrocute himself by chewing on our lovely pre lit tree.

But now my MIL is driving me insane. Saturday, husband sends everyone a list of what our Christmas wishes are.  Since then I have received no less than 7 texts

"don't you wear perfume?" No I don't

"'im getting your husband a dressing gown!"

No I have already purchased him one, he needs slippers.

Literally said this Saturday. MIL just messaged me again, "ok just got him a dressing gown... Does he need slippers"

😫
My response was how I told her Saturday twice that I already have him one. Her response is oh well now he had a spare. He doesn't need a spare! Ahhhhh

And she just messaged again!  Oh. My. God.

What do I do?! I'm responding sweet but it's driving me crazy today.

Stop responding to every text.
Accept any gift graciously, and if it's not needed or wanted, donate it to charity.
Don't let others run/ruin your day!

Stop responding to every text.
Accept any gift graciously, and if it's not needed or wanted, donate it to charity.
Don't let others run/ruin your day!

I don't want to sound ungrateful. I just hate for anyone to waste money. 😔 Charity shop look out for us this year lol.

You'll likely be able to return the robe for store credit.  And then he can get something he actually needs.   

My inlaws get us sweet f* all. 

You'll likely be able to return the robe for store credit.  And then he can get something he actually needs.   

The sales will be on after Christmas and he will be able to buy twice as much for the value of the returned item. 

Ask MIL for the receipt. Or return the one you bought as you will have the receipt for that.

We finally made a rule in our extended family that nobody but the kids gets anything for Christmas.  Finally we could stop exchanging worthless crap and fighting about it.

We finally made a rule in our extended family that nobody but the kids gets anything for Christmas.  Finally we could stop exchanging worthless crap and fighting about it.

Man, I wish this was our rule. I keep trying to tell my MIL not to bother (they have given us a lot in terms of money/help over the years) but she has the idea fixed in her head that we need something to open on Christmas morning. Like we're four instead of forty. I know it comes from a place of generosity but it's still frustrating and we end up with loads of crap that we don't need but can't get rid of because she'd definitely notice if her gifts weren't on display in our house.

Man, I wish this was our rule. I keep trying to tell my MIL not to bother (they have given us a lot in terms of money/help over the years) but she has the idea fixed in her head that we need something to open on Christmas morning. Like we're four instead of forty. I know it comes from a place of generosity but it's still frustrating and we end up with loads of crap that we don't need but can't get rid of because she'd definitely notice if her gifts weren't on display in our house.

This! I told everyone last year that if they insisted on giving us anything, give us cash or vouchers! That way no one is disappointed and gets their feelings hurt 

My husband and I don't give Christmas presents to each other.  My family don't send anything (my sister sometimes orders something from Amazon UK for us).  My mother might deposit some money into my US account and send me a text message to say Merry Christmas.  It seems silly to then send her money back, so I just tell her Merry Christmas, and that's that.  My husband's family give us a few things, like chocolates, wine, etc.  And we pretty much give them the same back.  Christmas is really low-key for us.  It's more about spending time together than it is about gifts.  Sometimes, though, my husband and I do make a big purchase together and call it our Christmas present to ourselves.

My husband and I don't give Christmas presents to each other.  My family don't send anything (my sister sometimes orders something from Amazon UK for us).  My mother might deposit some money into my US account and send me a text message to say Merry Christmas.  It seems silly to then send her money back, so I just tell her Merry Christmas, and that's that.  My husband's family give us a few things, like chocolates, wine, etc.  And we pretty much give them the same back.  Christmas is really low-key for us.  It's more about spending time together than it is about gifts.  Sometimes, though, my husband and I do make a big purchase together and call it our Christmas present to ourselves.

This is the first year in the last 4 that I will have bought presents for anyone other than husband. I usually just get him one nice gift. Everyone else gets nice cards 😁

I have no issue with my inlaws not buying for us.  I'd much rather it be just for the kids.  But I do wish they would stop telling us what they want or ask us to stop buying for them.   

They did throw a curve ball one year and bought us a candle.  The card was addressed to my husband and his ex.  IT WAS NOT MALICIOUS.  Just shows my MIL's mind isn't as sharp as it once was. 

I keep trying to get out of the adult present thing, but it just doesn't work.  Sigh.

Thankfully in my family, we just do a Yankee Swap so only buy one present for the adults. We buy for the kids though. With my in-laws, we're only meant to buy for kids but they buy for us and one of my SILs as we don't have kids, so I feel bad not returning the favour (especially as one of my BILs and his family watches our dog for us while we go on holidays). That means we end up just buying something for everybody (not the most expensive, but we spend about £20 per person MAX). Pitched the idea that we should just do Secret Santa once all the "kids" turn 18 (we are close - one more year really). That way it'll be another case of just buy one gift at a set value vs a bit for everybody. Could you try suggesting just doing something like that for the immediate in-laws?

We are mainly buying for my 8 year old daughter this year I got hubby some socks and Milky Way buttons. I asked him to get me some nice bubble bath and socks. Wanted to save a bit of money and we already have everything. We did splurge on a pedigree puppy in September so really he is our family Christmas gift .

I bought the Daughter three William Morris print dresses we found at H&M, where she'd never been able to shop in the past because she couldn't fit anything. She's lost 35 pounds and tried them on "just to see". Anyway, she fell in love with the dresses (and looked good in them) but has minimal cash, so I told her I'd get them for her for Christmas. She's going to knit me a 1940s-looking sleeveless vest for Christmas. With Stripes. I've always wanted one of those.

End of buying for Christmas. (We did send "exotic" UK stuff in little packages to our friends back home - introduced one to Turkish Delight - but otherwise, that's it!)

Her Birthday is coming up in a month. Now I have NO idea what to get her for that.