I Hate The Holidays - Part I

SIL's Birthday

Yeah, I know most people wouldn't consider a birthday a holiday, but in Dragon's family his SISTER's birthday is a major event, that mustn't be missed by Dragon under any circumstances. She would be devastated, crushed, maimed for life (you get the idea).

So we are back from the honeymoon, getting settled out of town where Dragon found a job (which somehow MIL, SIL, & GIL are convinced it's my fault we moved out of town) when MIL calls to make sure that we will be "home" for SIL's birthday. Dragon tries to tell her that 1.) we can't really afford to make the trip (Our savings have been depleted by things like rent, the rental deposit, the deposits for the phone, electricity, water and food) and 2.) we both have to work. So MIL lays a major guilt trip on him and then adds that we need to buy SIL something special because she is SO DEPRESSED that Dragon doesn't live at home anymore.

So we get up at dawn in order to get to SIL's birthday on time. Turns out MIL had us getting there an hour early. It also turns out that MIL had forgotten to buy drinks & ice, didn't think she had enough paper plates and cups, and did we think the very, very small cake she had gotten would be big enough to feed 50 people? NO!!!!, especially since that was all she had to serve. So Dragon was dispatched to fetch all this junk, which he paid for with our credit card, with the understanding that MIL would reimburse us. Needless to say when we presented her with the bill she didn't have the money (20 years later she still hasn't had the money to repay us). So now we are in debt not only for the trip and the birthday present we bought SIL but for the party supplies. And MIL fails to see why I might be a tad upset. I also found out from various relatives that not having the supplies needed for the party and having one guest to show up early to fetch them was standard operating procedure for MIL.

And while SIL's birthday is a huge event, Dragon only rates a card (if they bother to remember). Needless to say they have never bothered to remember my birthday and once me and Dragon had kids they couldn't be bothered to remember their birthdays either.