Crappy In-Laws

Phil’s family situation is odd, to say the least. The man he calls “Dad” is really of no relation to him at all, unless you count the fact the he is the father of Phil’s half-brother. However, he used to be married to Phil’s mother and is the man who raised him, which is why he is called “Dad.” We get along wonderfully with him, and he is very good to us. He lives in Utah, but he makes sure to visit us at least a couple of times a year.

Phil’s mother is no longer involved in our lives. It’s a long story, but I’ll just say that she made her bed and now has to lie in it. And I no longer have to deal with a manipulative, meddling mother-in-law.

Then there’s Phil’s biological father. Phil has a very odd relationship with him. It’s more like that of a distant relative. He’s someone that Phil shares blood with, but not much more. I have always sort of had to push Phil a bit to include him in our lives. Phil didn’t even want to invite him to our wedding, but I had to encourage him to go ahead and invite him.

Anyhow, Phil and I have been married for six years now. Every year, for the past five years, his bio-dad and step-mother have included my daughters in the Christmas gift giving. They usually send the kids gift cards for Christmas. Last year, they sent all four of the children gift cards, but for some reason they sent a larger dollar amount to Colin (my step-son) than to the girls (and no, they weren’t the ones that are already a set figure). This kind of pissed me off, because they were obviously showing favoritism toward Colin.

But this year was even worse. This year, they sent a measly $15 gift card to Katie and TOTALLY STIFFED Sarah and Emily! They got zilch, nada, nothing. Not even a card saying “Merry Christmas.” Oh, and get this, Katie’s card that the gift card came in was addressed to “Kathie.” That’s some grandfather that doesn’t even recall his only granddaughter’s name.

So anyway, I am no longer going to be encouraging Phil to keep in touch with these people. I am done with them. They have obviously decided that my children don’t “count,” and that is just something that I cannot put up with. If Phil decides to keep in touch on his own, that’s fine with me, but I am certainly not going to be the one who is facilitating everything. Not my job anymore.