War of the Christmas Gifts

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As happens every year, my brother-in-law has his panties in a wad.  He hates Christmas celebrations with a passion.  It starts with the thought of buying a gift…he likes to receive them but the thought of giving one sets him off.  He then learned that three people that he has never met are coming.  They are friends of my niece and nephew that have no family to spend the holidays with.  Finally, he doesn’t want to spend time with our family.  They spent Thanksgiving with his with the agreement to spend Christmas with hers.  Now he is having a fit about it.  The last I heard, he says he is only coming because we would think that he is a jerk if he didn’t.  News flash…we already do.

I expected him to be the family Grinch, but this time the usual arguments reached the point that my sister threatened to divorce him.  I’m told that they are trying to work things out but have no real idea one way or the other.  The last time my sister spoke to me was to tell me that no one in her family was to call, e-mail or message her.  I was supposed to pass the message to her children.  She says that her husband gets mad when her family calls and takes it out on her.  I asked and she assures me that he has never laid a hand on her.  It is all verbal.  It sounds abusive to me, but she assured me that it is not.  Not sure that I believe her.

Knowing how he is reacting to Christmas this year has left me with divided feelings.  With the economy like it is, the adults in our family draw names at Christmas.  This year I have my sister’s.  Some of the stocking stuffers I bought are over-sized (don’t fit in a regular stocking) and there are perhaps more than I’d buy for anyone else.  I found awesome deals and couldn’t resist.  It is going to look like I spent a lot more than I actually did.  Normally this would be a good thing.  He is going to blow a gasket though and likely not in front of us.  It will wait till he is alone with my sister.  On the one hand, it is good that I have her name.  I bought things that will make her smile and she needs that.  On the other hand, when she is alone with her husband, he is going to be an ass and make her wish I’d bought a pair of socks at Wal-Mart and been done with it.  If I draw his name next year (assuming he is actually in the draw which is in question at this point) I will consider doing just that.  That may sound petty, but then I don’t really care.    The Grinch isn’t going to steal Christmas without repercussions of some sort.