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WTF, GMIL?
Grandmother in law called this afternoon. She never calls, which made me pick up the phone all worried. "Do you think it's ok to just up and leave like that?" she asked after I said "Hello." She then launched into a rant about how terrible DH and I were for not having said goodbye to her yesterday before leaving to go back home - did I mention we live just a half hour away? We had said goodbye to her on Sunday evening and I was under the impression that she understood we were heading home on Monday and that was the last time she was going to see us this week. I was so angry my Spanish skills stopped and I had to pass the phone to DH who quickly defused the situation.
I know I shouldn't be angry, especially since DH and MIL (it's her MIL) have told me to let it go. She's 88, after all, and sure seems to love some good drama. I'm just POed that we stayed in Spain for Christmas to be with her and she pulls this. We've spent the last three Christmases here out of respect for the grandmothers and I'm dying to spend a Christmas at home with my family and two year old niece!
Re: WTF, GMIL?
Omg I just cracked up! Seriously, it's time you stop sacrificing and see your family for the holidays, especially after this year. That's just not right!
Rambley Blog
I think this is the part where you pretend your Spanish skills aren't good enough for telephone conversations and immediately hand the phone to DH as soon as you hear her voice. Or scream "Que? Que? No oigo!!!" if he's not home.
As for traveling to see your family, I have no advice. We are stuck in the same holiday rut every year, manipulated by both DH's parents and mine depending on the holiday, and our only solution is to up and move out of the U.S. to avoid the drama. We spent one Thanksgiving here at home when DD was only 6 months old and you would think we told DH's parents we hated them and never wanted to see them again. It didn't matter that we traveled to see them just a month later. Sigh! Family drama stinks.
Not to be morbid, but I would like to throw out that you don't know how long your family will be around either. Young people die in car accidents and get sick all the time, not just the old folks. When I visited my family, I made extra effort to visit my sick grandmother because I was pretty sure I would never see her again and BAM! It was my other grandmother who passed away rather suddenly. So my point is that you never know what is going to happen and you need to see your family too.
You're not being morbid, you're being honest. We had a real bad scare with Mom a few years back and that's always one of the things on my mind when we "stay here for the grandmas." I think I'm going to propose Christmas in the US to DH next year, especially since we'll now have two little nieces/nephews (SIL doesn't want to know).
I guess MIL saw GMIL in town just hours after her call. She didn't remember it happened.
This was kind of what I was thinking when I read the OP. Sounds like GMIL might be getting a tinge senile?
I kind of feel like old people just get grumpy sometimes. Heck, I'm not that old, and I get grumpy sometimes and act out about completely unrelated things just because I don't realize that it's a headache or PMS or just crappy weather that are really irritating me. And so I don't really take old people seriously when they're grumpy, because so many times they just get grumpy more often. (Of course, this comes from growing up with a grandfather who was so perennially grumpy that my own parents occasionally called him my "grumpa"!)
I've learned to combat that with a "Your cooking is just too good!" She hasn't said anything to me the last three times I saw her. In fact, she said "You've lost weight!" in front of SIL. SIL threatened my life because she was told the opposite. I reiterate: I think this woman loooooooves her drama.