OK. Mr. ld's aunt gave us a doozy of a Christmas present today- it sucked. BIG TIME.

[lavenderdiva]

two boxes individually wrapped, but tied together with one bow. I take the bow off, and open the first gift: The ALLI weight loss system companion book. ooookkkkkaaaaayyyyy. I say with a look of complete disbelief, 'A weight-loss book?'. DH's aunt says, 'Oh, you opened them in the wrong order; open the next one, you were supposed to open it first'. oooookkkkkaaaaaayyyyy. I tear the paper off the 2nd item: its a box of Russell Stover chocolates.

WTF??? I look at her, and its nothing. She says, 'you're supposed to eat the chocolates, and then read the book for the recipes'.

I was completely insulted and humiliated. Where in the world would someone think this is an appropriate gift?????????????

aside: later in the day, we all had to go to lunch with DH's parents, this aunt and her husband came along, and she again insulted DH about his former marriage.

I hate family Christmases......

[Longhorn]

1. Wow, I don't know what to say!

That is absolutely appalling! It isn't funny, if she was going for a joke, even if y'all were reed-thin. It isn't helpful. It isn't kind or caring. It's just plain mean!

I'm so sorry there are people like that out there that can cause such pain. You don't deserve that! :hug:

[lavenderdiva]

2. thank you Longhorn, for your sweet words

this aunt is a pill; that's putting it mildly. She wasn't even invited for Christmas. She had a Dr's appt. here in Houston on the 18th, was staying with Mr. ld's mom and dad, and just decided to stay over for Christmas. Me, if I had been the host, would have had no qualms telling her that I had other plans for Christmas, and that she needed to stay elsewhere. Mr. ld's mom just thinks everyone should always be happy, and always forgive everyone, and never let anyone know how you really feel; so she never said anything to her and let her stay. Even though Mr. ld's brother and his family had driven in from Florida and were also staying with their mom. A house-full for sure.

I am a stickler for thank-you notes, but this aunt will NOT be receiving a note from me this year.

This aunt is always a a problem. If its not something like this, its that she still loves Bush and Palin. That's the sort of person she is... :puke:

[Broken_Hero]

3. Sorry to hear about that

sometimes people don't really understand how...difficult/hard the weight loss issue really is....

My mother is the Queen Bee of making me feel like a fat shit...every time she see's me "Oh my, you still haven't lost the weight huh?"

I always want to respond by saying "What the hell do you think!"

:D

[lavenderdiva]

4. OR, like this stupid aunt say

'Its not a weight loss book, I was giving it to you for the recipes'. ????????. The name of the book is 'The ALLI Weight-Loss System'. One would not think, by reading the title, that this is a recipe book. And a box of Russell Stover recipes.

The crazy thing is that Mr. ld had to explain to his mother (the sister of this aunt), how this was an insult and very hurtful to me. She didn't see anything wrong with it. She didn't see why I should feel humiliated or hurt by this gift. People are absolutely STUPID. Why should this have to be explained to anybody?

I'm so sorry petersond, that your Mom says such insensitive things to you. But you are right: people don't understand how hard being overweight is, and how difficult it is to lose the weight. They don't see their insensitivity (they always seem to think they are helping you -- NOT), or how much they look down on overweight people. They seem to think that if you don't, or aren't able to consistently lose weight once you've started your weight loss journey, then you aren't serious about losing weight. A lot of people that I've encountered, think that the weight should keep coming off if you are serious. They don't get that there are plateaus or just times when you're tired of eating miniscule portions and exercising like a mad-person to lose 1/2lb.

I wish science would hurry up and figure out what is going on with our metabolism. Maybe they have, and I just haven't heard about it. There are a lot of people in my life who eat as much as I do, or more, and don't weigh what I do.

:hug:

[auntAgonist]

5. I love family christmases but I hate relatives like that!

How totally inappropriate and hurtful to you. I'm so sorry her stupidity and cruelty affected you the way it did. I have no words.
I DO know how it feels though.

I'm real sorry you had to endure her brainless gift and attitude.

:loveya:

Love yourself and try not to let her get under your skin.

aA
kesha

[lavenderdiva]

6. sweet kesha

thank you for your sentiments-- Oh, that relatives could all be like you :loveya: :hug:

[Systematic Chaos]

7. Um... wow.

Reading this story brought back some less-than-thrilling memories from my younger days. I'll never forget the Fat Albert lunchbox I got from my brother (who would have been about 20 at this point, and was married) just before I was going to start Kindergarten. I was upset to the point of tears but the whole family thought it was funny.

You handled it very well, I think. :hug: