Grandma hides kids' Christmas toys from Santa so they'll like her presents more, leading parents to forbid her from giving gifts altogether: ‘She wants the attention’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Dec 6, 2025 5:00 PM EST

For kids, not a lot can beat the gifts they get from their wonderful grandparents. Somehow, grandparents know exactly what to gift their beloved grandkids to make them the happiest kids on the block. They are the master gift-givers in every family.

The only "person" who can even slightly compete with grandparents in that sense is the one and only–Santa Claus. First, because Santa gets the advantage of having a wish list, and second, because Santa is magical. He can never do wrong; any gift from Santa is the best gift a kid can get.

You would think that grandparents would accept being the second-best gift givers after Santa. But apparently, some can get jealous and even competitive over the title, just like the grandma in the story below. She got so jealous of how much her grandson loved his toys from Santa that she actually took them away.

This led the 5-year-old to confess to his parents that he wants to hide his Santa toys from Grandma this year so she won't take them. 

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  • When the parents heard about Grandma's behavior, they knew they couldn't let her keep acting like the Grinch, and told her that she is not allowed to bring gifts to the kids this Christmas.

    She did not take it well…

  • a little boy standing next to a christmas tree
    via Kateryna Hliznitsova

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • AITA for telling my wife's parents not to bring Christmas Gifts this year?

    Throwaway account since family knows my main. I (39 M) have been with my wife (38 F) for 17 Years.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • We have two amazing kids (5 M and 2 F). The issue: My Mother- in-Law is awful when it comes to Christmas gifts.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Every year, she demands gift lists from the family and then proceeds to ignore them. She thinks knows us so well that she can do better than what we explicitly ask for.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • MIL tends to "latch" onto a specific gift idea forever. My wife and her sister get yearly gifts featuring things they haven't liked since their teens.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Another example: We bought our house 10 years ago. That year, we mostly just asked for things for the house.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • MIL actually did well that year, getting us a set of towels for our bathrooms. However she then latched onto "Towels" and got us new towels EVERY YEAR FOR THE NEXT SIX YEARS.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • When my wife asked her to stop, MIL got angry and said "I don't know what your problem is.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • You said you liked towels." She's also competitive with gifts. One year | surprised my wife with a trip to Japan.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • When MIL found out, she had to show off the necklace that FIL had given her, and bragged about the Cruise tickets that she got him, as if she had to one-up her Daughter.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • These are annoyances we can deal with as adults. However, this is starting to affect our kids.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Every year, We spend Christmas Morning as just the four of us, with family coming over in the evening.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Two years ago, when they arrived, our Son (then 3) couldn't wait to show them his favorite new toy from Santa.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Grandparents giving little girl Christmas present
    via Curated Lifestyle

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • MIL immediately got jealous over how much he loved this toy and started shoving gifts in his face to try and distract him from it.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • While he did enjoy most of them, nothing could top his excitement for his Santa gift.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Through the day I caught MIL hiding his Santa gift so he would play with the toys she brought instead.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Last year, when we said that they were on their way, our Son began putting his new toys away in his room.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • When I asked him why he was doing that, he said he was hiding them because he didn't want Gramma to take them away.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • When they arrived and she gave him her gifts, she began complaining he wasn't "excited enough" until my wife intervened.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • My wife has never loved Christmas (I get why) and I don't want our kids to feel the same.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Our Daughter is still too young to be affected, but it's clearly already getting to our Son.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • We don't want to cut MIL/FIL out of Christmas, but want to avoid the issues of MIL and gifts.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • I spoke to my wife about this and she 100% agreed. When we went to MIL & FIL'S place for Thanksgiving, we sat down with them while the kids went outside playing with their Aunt & Uncle.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • MIL lost it on us. She ranted that we were "ruining her few Christmases left with her Grandbabies" and said she wasn't sure they were going to come to Christmas.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • We stayed for dinner so the kids could visit with A&U (who live out of state), but MIL ignored both my wife and I for the rest of the day.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • A(We)TA for telling MIL to not bring gifts to Christmas?
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • justmyusername47 NTA absolutely wrong of MIL to make your son afraid she'll take his Santa toys?? WTF is wrong with her? What did FIL say? As a grandmother, I really do love spoiling the grand baby, but I always check with the parents to make sure the gifts are OK. And I wouldn't care if they didn't think my gift was the favorite. MIL has some serious issues.
    via justmyusername47
  • OP Prudent-Caregiver-24 FIL rarely says anything, if at all. He has his own issues but I won't delve into those here
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • Jeepers Creepers74 NTA. On the one hand, it's refreshing to read about an MIL who loves giving gifts rather than one who always forgets big occasions or is more concerned about what she's receiving. But being bad at picking gifts yet competitive about people liking them is a terrible mix. If it were me, I would have asked that she stop giving things and give experiences with the grandkids instead. Like, her gift can be that she will take them to an amusement park and spoil them with a few souven
    via JeepersCreepers74
  • OP Prudent-Caregiver-24 I honestly don't even know if she enjoys giving gifts. With her it always seems to be more about the attention she gets from giving the gift rather than giving the gift itself.
    via Prudent-Caregiver-24
  • writierthanyou I was ready to say Y.T.A. until getting to the part where she takes his other toys. You're focusing on the gifts when the issue is MIL overstepping. You should have confronted her the first time she did it and laid down the law. I do think ESH for you trying to tiptoe around the real problem. It didn't even do you any good. Tell her to stop taking your kids toys, period. That is not normal.
    via writierthanyou
  • Ok_Homework_7621 You should cut them out of Christmas. If you have to choose between ruining your in-laws' Christmas or your kids', there's no question who comes first. Give your kids a couple of days and if you must, see them closer to the New Year and for less time. But tbh, they were the ones who ruined Thanksgiving, I would have told them they were out of Christmas right there. This is a consequence of their behaviour. They can decide to change their behaviour and get more access. Or they ca
    via Ok_Homework_7621
  • LingonberryPrior6896 My MIL watched kids for us once. Daughter who was less than 2 had a favorite stuffed. My MIL took it away and gave her the stuffie she had given her the prior Christmas. When we got home daughter asked for her fav which was on a high shelf (son told us story). She pulled out MIL's toy and said throw it away. She refused to EVER play with it.
    via LingonberryPrior6896
  • NTA teresajs Stop celebrating with them on Christmas Day. Instead, offer to celebrate the weekend before or after. Keep Christmad Day for just your immediate family. Also, stop giving wishlists. MIL doesn't use them, so stop... Or maybe give generic lists ("art supplies", "building set", "stuffed animal"...).
    via teresajs
  • pupperoni42 NTA. Them not coming for Christmas is a perfect solution! Don't talk her out of it and don't give in to the emotional blackmail. I was actually going to suggest doing Christmas the with in-laws the week before. Your kids can enjoy the time with grandparents, then have a little break, then enjoy Christmas Day and Santa with you two. I'd also have a box or bag handy and as you're cleaning up after they've left, just dump all the unwanted gifts in that box and immediately put it in the
    via pupperoni42
  • ServelanDarrow NTA. I feel so bad for your son! Glad you are protecting your kids from this awful behavior!
    via ServelanDarrow
  • NotTheMama4208 I think NTA but she sounds pretty unhinged and like she is prepared to throw a fit. As long as you and wife are on the same page AND prepared for MIL backlash together, totally fine. These kind of narcissists are very difficult to reason with.
    via NotTheMama4208

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Tags

christmas family drama aita presents toys kids mother siblings grandma parenting santa family women parents children Father
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