Wife Suggests New Ideas To Make Her Hubby's Family's Christmas Child-Friendly And He Dismissed Her Which Immediately Caused A Big Fight

The husband and wife in this story have an arrangement where they rotate spending Christmas every year. One year, they spend it with the wife's family and the next one is with the husband's side.

It works for them because the husband doesn't enjoy spending a lot of time with the wife's family and the wife is not a big fan of OP's (original poster) mom. So, celebrating Christmas with the two families together is not even an option.

The two families have very different ways of spending Christmas. The wife's side is more children-centric while with OP's family, the adults are the main focus.

When they celebrate Christmas with the wife's family, the dinner is tailored to suit children's taste, they get loads of gifts, and the children run all over the house freely. OP finds all of this bland and boring.

In his opinion, his family does Christmas better. They get great food more suitable for adults, everyone's relaxed, and his mom doesn't give any gifts to the children.

She only gives OP and his siblings gifts prior to the Christmas Eve dinner. His mom also encourages the children to go play in another room while the adults talk.

This year, OP's wife suggested that they should talk to his mom and stepdad about making their celebration more kid-friendly. OP told her she has no right to tell his mom how to spend her money.

She also said that they should consider buying gifts for all the children. OP objected reasoning that this will not go well with his childless sister.

The wife's defense is that Christmas is supposed to be a magical time for children. The adults have other holidays to spoil each other and she's sad that his family's Christmas is more about the adults.

He said that while her points are valid, it's controlling and inappropriate for her to try to change how his family celebrated. He was sure that the suggestion would also offend his mom.

The wife got upset because OP put his mom's feelings ahead of hers and she only wanted to bring it up. She also thinks OP is wrong for saying that she's controlling.

So who's the real Grinch in this story?

You can read OP's original post below:

unknown unknown unknown unknown unknown unknown unknown unknown

The wife was merely making a suggestion

Damnbee

Is it possible that nobody's an a**hole?

mandilew

The kids would love this for sure

kpink88

Maybe OP's a bit of an a**hole

minuteye

The should consider giving each other the gift of compromise

PitifulGazelle8177

This is a win-win situation

The_Krudler

Everyone acted like a j*rk except the wife? Interesting.

Meggers26

Part 2 of the comment

Meggers26

Last bit

Meggers26

This year, you sit at the children's table... in the other room

The_Krudler

Sounds horrible for children TBH

hexaspex

Maybe it's time to *grow* the traditions along with the growing family

Peasplease25

And the kids told grandma that she's a bore!

unknown

Just because they're kids doesn't mean their feelings are less valid

TimeandEntropy

OP used his fighting words

RafRafRafRaf

Highly doubt we'll ever get the answers we need

shrimpandshooflypie

OP is a different kind of parent

BentBent12

It was just a suggestion, OP

FireFurFox

The wife offered a middle road but OP went extreme

EnRouted

An easy enough solution for OP

The_Krudler

If you celebrate Christmas, it should be fun for everyone — not just for children and not just for adults either. The suggestion has definite merits, the adults would still get their grown-up talk time and children would also enjoy receiving gifts and not being treated like pariahs.

OP may have been too protective of his family's traditions but the children are also a part of the family are they not? They don't even need to receive gifts, they could at least have a decent meal they can enjoy.

What do you think? Was OP's wife asking for too much? Was OP an a**hole for dismissing the idea outright?

Comment below, not answering is an automatic lump of coal in your stocking (we have Santa on speed dial)!