Last Christmas Dinner
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Christmas usually goes like this: we spend one day at the in-laws. Just us and them. My BIL spends the day at his in-laws, SIL with hers, so we're the only ones left to spend time with mine.
Last year my mom, who had been diagnosed with cancer, had invited us to her birthday celebration in late November.
14 days later we received a call from her partner, who informed us that he just called an ambulance, because she wasn't doing so well since we left. We drove there to visit right away (4h drive). I stayed for the week, and then on and off during the rest of December. She was apparently getting better, so I went home on Christmas, to be with my kids, and to celebrate my 50th birthday at an expensive event we had planned long before. She insisted I leave her, but I went back right after, to be with her during a procedure she was scared of, and to finalize the preparations for her planned mobile care.
This is to give you an idea about my mental state. I still cooked Christmas dinner, as usual, and still prepared a different entrée for FIL, as usual, because he doesn't like the traditional one, and he gobbled it up without any sign of appreciation, as usual.
During the main course he started bullying my younger son for the way he was eating, or something he didn't want to eat, I can't remember, and lectured him that he should be more grateful.
On the inside I was barely holding it together. I would have loved to explode in FIL's face, but I didn't, because it would definitely have ruined the evening, possibly without a chance to ever reconcile. So I just looked down on my plate, not saying a word. Not even a glance in his general direction.
My husband listened to their argument going back and forth 3 or 4 times, then he just calmly said: "come on, that's enough now."
FIL looked at him, his eyes filling with rage. He tossed his cutlery on the half emptied plate, got up, left the room and slammed the door.
He hasn't spoken to ME ever since. Not a single word. Didn't congratulate me on my 50th. No "happy new year". Not even a "hello" anymore.
My mom died on January 1st.
He hasn't even condoled.
I'm not going to spend Christmas with him ever again. It's about to get very interesting. I won't go to their house. MIL will probably want to come here instead, which is fine.
But he won't be invited. It's going to be so much fun.