Source: Reddit
My ex husband and I got divorced 7 years ago. We share custody of our 13 year old daughter. He got married and has a 5 year old daughter with his now wife.
His daughter would spend time with my daughter regularly. They adore each other but she doesn’t come to my house and they rarely meet up there.
His wife has been diagnosed with cancer and has started treatment recently. The other day he came to drop our daughter off and asked to speak to me. He talked about his wife’s circumstances and how his family won’t be able to have a Christmas celebration this year. He said it wasn’t fair for his daughter and asked if I could “include” her in my family’s celebration. He pointed out how the girls will have a great time together bonding and making memories, but I said I was sorry but my family’s traditional celebration is a sacred thing and I do not feel comfortable including anyone else.
Plus it’d be awkward having her in my home. He said that his daughter may not be family to me but she sure is to her halfsister. He asked me to stop and “think” about what’s best for the kids here. I suggested he take his daughter to spend Christmas with her grandparents (he said his parents and him are NC) and tried to cut the conversation short but he stopped me and started going on about how cruel it was for me to decline to include his daughter who’s already having a hard time adjusting. I saw that he was beginning to cry so I stepped back and said I was no longer feeling comfortable having this conversation. I asked him to leave and he did but still texted me asking me to agree to let his daughter come spend christmas even offered that he stays away if that’ll make me less uncomfortable, I said no and now he’s calling me selfish and unfeeling.
A point worth mentioning here is that my family are going to attend and they said that they too will not feel comfortable in this situation, thus I said it’d be awkward.
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