Woman Discovers Overstepping Mother-In-Law Is Taking Credit for Her Children’s Christmas Gifts, She Puts MIL in Her Spot, Only to Be Told She Is ‘Ruining Christmas’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Dec 25, 2024 2:00 PM EST

As a kid (honestly, even as an adult) there is nothing more exciting about Christmas than the presents. Getting to receive something from all your family, crossing items off your wishlist, and even getting stuff you never even have considered yourselves – everything about that experience is just jolly and cheerful.

My absolute favorite person to get Christmas presents from was my grandma. She always knew exactly what I wanted, she never worried about the cost of the gift, and she always made me feel like the most important person in the world. Man, grandmas are the best, well, maybe except for the grandma in this Reddit story.

When my grandma got too old to get me gifts, I never held it against her. But if she tried to take credit for gifts my parents got me, that might have made me upset with her. The mother here deserves to gift her children with what she bought them, and not have her mother-in-law steal it with the claim that she is 'too old' to get the presents herself. 

Keep scrolling to read the full story. After you are done, check out this story of a woman who insisted on attending a family Christmas dinner with her cheating boyfriend.

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  • 01
    She got super upset and told me that I was being selfish and the tried guilt tripping by saying this could be one of the last Christmas's she will have, she's old but she's not that old (71) she told me that I'm ruining christmas already, idk I'm trying my best to appear as nothing is wrong around my kids.
    via nadianb
  • 02
    AITA for telling my mother in law not to place her own gift tags on Christmas presents i ordered for MY children?
    via AtomCadaver
  • 03
    so basically i had ordered all my children's christmas presents online to be sent to my in-laws home, as we are spending christmas there this year, my mother in law said that she didn't
    via AtomCadaver
  • 04
    mind wrapping them all up before we all got there, we arrived here yesterday and all was well, after the kids got settled in their room i got a chance to ask her about the presents, she told me that they
    via AtomCadaver
  • 05
    were mostly all wrapped with just a couple she needed to finish off and that they were stored in their basement, i did ask if she needed a hand finishing the rest off, but she insisted that i should rest after
    via AtomCadaver
  • 06
    our journey, so i rejoined my husband in the sitting room, a couple hours later she had gone to take a nap, so i went down to their basement to see how many had been wrapped and like she
    via AtomCadaver
  • 07
    said there were some still left to wrap but as i was checking some of the bigger presents i noticed that they already had gift tags taped to them, when i flipped the tags they read "from grandma" on
    via AtomCadaver
  • 08
    not just one, but on all of the bigger ones so i immediately went and told my husband about what i just found n he said that his mum had asked if she could put a few of her tags on as she "didn't want
    via AtomCadaver
  • 09
    to disappoint her grandsons" my husband agreed that she could and told me that it isn't a big deal and that this is the only time we will be spending Christmas over at theirs (as they live 4hours away)
    via AtomCadaver
  • 10
    i'm mad that most of the bigger presents are things that i had pre ordered for a long time and put a lot of thought into and had some toys personalised with their name (which costed a lot of money)
    via AtomCadaver
  • 11
    anyways my mother in law came back downstairs from her nap so i basically told her that i don't think it's right for her to just do that without asking me also, she got super upset and told me that i was being selfish and the tried guilt
    via AtomCadaver
  • 12
    tripping by saying this could be one of the last Christmas's she will have, she's old but she's not that old (71) she told me that i'm ruining christmas already, idk i'm trying my best to appear as nothing is wrong around my kids,
    via AtomCadaver
  • 13
    i do feel bad and that i maybe overreacted, i don't know what to do, should i leave her tags on and apologise or put my own tags on and tell her she should have bought more?? this is turning into a nightmare
    via AtomCadaver

  • Grandma, being 71 years old is not an excuse to steal your daughter-in-law's Christmas present. You had plenty of time to figure out what to buy for your grandkids, or you could have asked for help before you decided to write ‘from grandma’ on presents you didn't even buy.

    The audacity, the entitlement… I hope my grandma never tried to pull something like this, because this would have seriously made me look at her with totally different lenses.

  • 14
    AgitatedDot9313 • 2d ago. Certified Proctolog|st [24] NTA, she is overstepping here and taking advantage of a situation. What did she actually get the grandkids?? She shouldnt have asked your
    via AgitatedDot9313
  • 15
    husband as we was well aware she did that just to circumvent you. Clearly you were the one she organized everything to do with the presents with until she decided she wanted to put her name on things. Very deceptive of her and really slty that
    via AgitatedDot9313
  • 16
    your husband didnt tell you right away, even if he was okay with it. Maybe he should help more with presents overall too
    via AgitatedDot9313
  • 17
    edebby 2d ago Pooperi... Top 1% Comme... NTA. What a lousy AH move! She knew you would be upset and sneakily told you it's all fine and ready so you'll find out when it was too late.
    via edebby
  • 18
    you don't want to disappoint your grandsons? well how about saving for their BIG presents instead of leeching from the mom and making HER look bad in front of her kids?! I just can't understand how people feel so entitled to even suggest such a horrible
    via edebby
  • 19
    request, by knowing they are making someone else taking the fall for their lack of preparedness, and laziness. you should put your own tags, and let her take the fall as she should
    via edebby
  • 20
    Lia_Delphine 2d ago Colo-rectal Surgeon [33] NTA remove the tags. Don't let them make you feel bad for their lack of preparation. You put a lot of thought into your gifts don't let her claim credit.
    via Lia_Delphine
  • 21
    stollentrollin • 2d ago Ah le Enthusiast [7] Who raised this woman? The audacity and entitlement are astounding. Of course you are NTA and your MIL is a really big one.
    via stollentrollin
  • 22
    QueanFreyja • 2d ago • How old are your kids? If they're old enough I would be tempted to tell them that Grandma is having a bit of trouble remembering what she
    via QueanFreyja
  • 23
    bought because she is so old (her words), so she stuck her tags on everything but you'll let them know which things you bought.
    via QueanFreyja
  • 24
    DoTheSportThing • 2d ago • Wow NTA. That's cherry- picking, claiming responsibility for the best presents. You should have been able to choose presents (if any!?) can be from her. Wow. Wow. Wow. I hate this for you!
    via DoTheSportThing

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christmas daughter in law aita drama mother wife grandma reddit story parenting petty husband mother in law family Reddit parents children
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