It doesn’t take much to get us in the holiday mood when Christmas arrives. Buying gifts for loved ones is time consuming and also a very thoughtful gesture. However in this story the woman’s thoughtful gesture backfired her. Read the whole story to know what happened in this family during Christmas and what do you think?
Source: Reddit
I’m engaged to Noah and this was the first Christmas I spent with his family. I met them in the summer after we moved to be near his family now that he’s finished with college. We’re getting married in February and we’re expecting our first child together in May. Being someone who has no family and seeing how close his family was, I wanted to make sure I showed my appreciation for them with the gifts I gave so I tried to get something each person would love.
One of his sisters loves to read and so I made a book sleeve for her with little details from all her favorite books. One of his nieces is on the spectrum and has wanted clothes for her stuffy, so I made some clothes for her to put on the stuffy. I bought his mom a jewelry box that she had admired a couple of times after she mentioned never having a real one. For his dad I bought him a frame for his office big enough to hold photos of his whole family on, since he always complained he couldn’t find one big enough or nice enough, and had no more room for individual frames. I included photos Noah had provided me in it. I got his other sister her favorite makeup which she mentioned she couldn’t afford to buy lately. Then I got his brother a signed piece of memorabilia from his favorite sports team. For the rest of the nieces and nephews, I bought wish list items the parents weren’t getting.
Noah thought they would love everything. He told me I didn’t need to go to the effort I did (I spent weeks tracking everything down and searching for certain items) but he really thought they’d like them. But when Christmas Day happened I could tell something was off. I spent the whole time worrying that I had bought them stuff they didn’t like anymore or something. They said nothing. But then the next day they asked Noah what the hell I was thinking and I was like some kind of stalker buying them such personal stuff when I’m almost stranger to them. The next day we saw them again and I apologized for the gifts I gave them and told them I would be a lot more mindful in the future. I offered to make it up to them. One of his sister’s called me a stalker to my face and told me it was no wonder my family didn’t want me if I was so creepy to do stuff like that. Noah yelled at her. I apologized again and told them I didn’t want to hurt anyone and I would learn from this. They told me I had overstepped. Noah said we were leaving and they owed me an apology. I feel so bad. Noah is supporting me and told me I did nothing wrong. But surely there wouldn’t be so much offense if that were true. I need to ask, am I wrong ?
Also, not sure if this is relevant or not but I grew up in an unhappy home. My parents were unkind to me and my sister. She was much older and also hated me. I think maybe because of how our parents treated her. But I ended up with nobody who wanted me by the time I was 16 and I was homeless for a good period after that. That’s what Noah’s sister meant. I had told them honestly when they asked.
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
