She Hates Spending Christmas With Her Extended Family, So She Lied About Having Plans With Her Boyfriend And Is Planning To Go On A Secret Beach Vacation By Herself, But Now She Feels Guilty For Leaving Her Dad
With Christmas just over a month away, many people are gearing up for holiday festivities and are beyond excited to relax and spend time with loved ones. But those who are fanatical about December 25th often forget that the holiday can also be the worst time of year for those with difficult family lives.
And unfortunately, this young woman falls into the latter category. In fact, she admits to downright hating Christmas altogether.
“It’s the best time of the year to be confronted with all of the stuff that you don’t have,” she vented.
In her case, though, the worst part of the holiday has to do with her extended family. To be honest, she was never close with anyone outside of her immediate relatives, and she only sees her extended family once a year– on Christmas.
But quite frankly, the issue is not that she does not like her extended relatives. Instead, they apparently just never wanted anything to do with her nuclear family. She claims that they are just snobby, rich, super pompous, and heavily religious.
So, the only reason that she and her family are even invited to the Christmas celebration is that her extended family members view the holiday as a “religious family occasion.” In other words, the invite feels more like an obligation than a welcoming gesture to her.
And because of that, the whole event just makes her so upset every year. She detailed how every time she attends her extended family’s Christmas, she cannot sit through the family antics without nearly being brought to tears.
“It’s hard to explain. The air is always tense, everything is calculated and artificial, and the conversation is always about elevated topics like music and art,” she said.
“I can’t explain it. They’re just jerks.”
Natalia Chircova – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
So, in anticipation of Christmas this year, she decided that she could not suffer through one more fake family get-together. In turn, she actually ended up lying about having plans to spend the holiday with her “boyfriend’s” family.
And instead of trudging through another uncomfortable Christmas dinner, she will be going on a solo vacation centered around self-care and zero drama.
“I am going to sit on the beach with approximately three bottles of wine and enough shellfish to kill a man,” she joked.
Ever since telling the lie, though, one family member’s response has particularly upset her: her father’s. Apparently, he is really distraught that she will be missing Christmas and wants her to spend the holiday with him.
So, even though she cannot physically bring herself to deal with yet another dreadful family Christmas, she has been feeling seriously guilty about abandoning her father.
And now, with just a few weeks until the holiday, she has been left wondering if refusing to attend the Christmas celebration in order to lay alone on the beach is a good personal decision or if it makes her a total jerk to her dad.
If you had extended relatives like hers, would you want to attend the annual family Christmas celebration either? Do you think people are entitled to do what is best for them rather than feeling obligated to attend gatherings during the holidays? Might it be a good idea to invite her father along on the trip if they are close? If you were in her shoes, how would you navigate this situation?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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