Her Dad Is So Upset That She And Her Sister Want To Spend Christmas With Their Mom
This 24-year-old girl and her 16-year-old little sister want to spend this Christmas with their mom and her side of the family, but this is making her dad upset.
Now, she and her sister have never been able to enjoy a large family celebration for Christmas; they always spend the holiday with just their mom and dad.
Not only for Christmas would the festivities be limited to the four of them, but every single holiday was like this.
“My dad is kind of miserable and does not like my mom’s family and doesn’t really like his own family either,” she explained.
“To be honest, it got really boring year after year and almost isolating. It never felt like Christmas, really. My mom’s family live far away (like a full day’s drive), and we don’t see them that often.”
“A year ago, my parents got divorced. My sister and dad’s relationship is very strained, and if I didn’t pick my battles, ours probably would be too. Last year for Christmas, my sister and I stayed over at our dad’s for Christmas Eve into Christmas morning, then went over to my mom’s for the rest of Christmas day.”
Their mom already arranged to see her family for Christmas this year, and she and her little sister were thrilled at the option to go with her.
They finally will get to have the exciting Christmas they always dreamed of that includes their mom’s big family.
A couple of days after telling their mom they were going with her, they saw their dad and informed him of their Christmas plans.
Mironifamily – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Her dad instantly got mad and couldn’t understand why they would want to deal with terrible traffic to go see their mom’s family when they could go a couple of weeks later.
“I calmly said it was because we wanted to spend the holiday with them but wanted to get a plan on the books with him, too,” she said.
“He immediately started asking why my mom didn’t ask for his permission/discuss it with him first, which I’ll give him that. Maybe she should have. My thought process was that I present it with my sister to him as something we want to do instead of my mom telling him she was taking us to her family’s celebration and being portrayed as the Grinch who stole his children for Christmas.”
“I guess that happened regardless. He started guilt-tripping us, but I stood my ground, saying that we really wanted to go, and so he said he needed to talk to my mom. After we left, he called my mom, and they got into an argument. He said how he was going to be all alone for Christmas and really wants us to reconsider our plans.”
Her mom didn’t budge, so her dad said she needed his permission to take their youngest daughter to another state since she’s a minor.
She believes her dad is just telling tall tales, and she’s upset that her dad is trying to drag the law into everything over Christmas plans.
Her dad has since said he wants to speak to her and her little sister, but she has no idea what to even say to him.
She and her sister aren’t going to rearrange their plans just so their dad isn’t alone on Christmas, but they also are worried about things spiraling out of control.
“Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why he’s upset,” she continued. “I would be, too, but we can’t be in two places at once.”
“It’s not our fault our family that we love seeing lives so far away…I wish we could do that house-hopping thing, but we can’t. But I was trying to be proactive making plans so he could make plans, too.”
“Some additional context: my dad has plenty of friends, a new girlfriend, and some family he tolerates that he could spend Christmas with if he wants. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to have him. If he does spend Christmas all alone, that’s his own choice.”
She and her sister went on a Thanksgiving vacation with their mom, and her dad had no problem with that at all, which made her think he wouldn’t be upset about Christmas either.
She just wants to be able to see her family and enjoy herself, especially since this has been an incredibly difficult year.
What advice do you have for her?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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