Family plans 5-day trip to ungrateful in-laws they rarely see, mother-in-law scolds travel plans: 'She hasn't offered one ounce of gratitude'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 16, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

This couple made the effort to visit the in-laws for the upcoming holiday season, but that effort is not being appreciated. Some people can just never be satisfied or grateful for what they have… until it's gone, that is. 

Some folks have this compulsion to complain about everything, good or bad, just so they have something to talk about. In this case, the mother-in-law is disappointed that her family members aren't visiting for a longer period of time. She doesn't even seem excited that they are visiting in the first place! Instead, all she can do is talk about how they'll only be visiting for a day or so. Then, when they do visit for that day, I can only imagine that she'll spend a good part of that time yapping about how they can only stay for a little while. Some people are just like that — they can't actually appreciate someone, and they have to bring their own grievances into everything. 

This type of guilt-tripping doesn't exactly make someone want to visit, either. If all this mother-in-law can talk about is how sad she is that they can't stay longer, and meanwhile she won't ask questions about her family's lives or jobs or kids, that's going to leave the guests with a bad taste in their mouths. It's a big adjustment to fix this kind of attitude, but the mother-in-law will just have to try her best if she still wants happy holiday guests showing up at her door year after year. 

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    Young woman in pink shirt hugs old woman in striped shirt and cardigan while both smile
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    We booked our tickets to go out to see MIL and FIL for Christmas. They live in the middle of nowhere so we could fly to the big city and make the nearly 3 hour drive
    via u/chesterbubblegum
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    battling traffic on the way up to their house or we could fly to the nearest little airport and drive 45 min to their house. We chose the latter, but there are only flights on
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  • 04
    Monday and Friday, so that's when we booked them for. Christmas is on Thursday this year so it seemed to work out perfect. 5 days is more than I want to spend but it
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  • 05
    worked out with the flights so oh well. Well, we call MIL and FIL today to tell them we booked our tickets and they sounded obviously disappointed when
    via u/chesterbubblegum
  • 06
    we told them the dates and she said, "Your brother is not coming out until Wednesday that's means it's only one day together" followed by a disappointment
    via u/chesterbubblegum
  • 07
    sigh. My husband just ignored this comment and kept talking about Christmas plans and they moved on to. Meanwhile I notice not she hasn't offered one ounce
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  • 08
    of gratitude that we are flying out, spent money to see them, and are spending 5
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  • 09
    whole days... More than we've seen them in two years. I love being a constant disappointment
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  • 10

    This commenter had some good advice

    Lu... "You know what, you can't be happy to see us - we won't bother coming at all."
    via u/Lucky-Effective-1564
  • 11

    This is a fun idea that would actually make the whole family happy (except MIL, obviously)

    Catt... I would spend two days and then book a fun hotel or air bnb in that big city
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    as a super big adventure for the kiddos.
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  • 13
    Oniy... I'd be pointing out that the 'lack of time together' seems to be BIL's fault,
    via u/OniyaMCD
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    since he's the one showing up late. (But I bet he's the golden child.)
    via u/OniyaMCD
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    Old woman in white tank top and glasses with short hair smiles at young girl in white tank top with long brown hair in outdoor setting
    via Natalia Blauth For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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