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Gifts from MIL
My MIL gives me the worst gifts ever. For my combined birthday and housewarming gift, she gave me a plant. Which after 2 minutes of research I found out it is toxic to cats (we have two). We have no plants in the house, I hate plants, I will kill them, so I have no idea why she thought this would be a good idea. I guess my face said it all when I saw the gift as she offered to take it back and get something else, but DH piped in and said not to do that and he would take care of it. We kept it outside away from the cats and it died a few months later.
For Christmas she bought me a Team Canada hockey scarf. I don't watch hockey. I generally don't watch sports at all. My thought is that she bought this scarf while she was in the sports store buying DH his sports-related gifts.
Those are just two most recent instances, but trust me, worst gift giver ever. DH just shakes his head and I either try to sell or return whatever she has given me.
Yes I know I should be grateful, somebody is buying you a gift, etc. etc. But if I actually thought that she put effort into this, I wouldn't mind. But it's just this feeling that she can't be bothered to think about what I would want and get me that. It's what is easy for her to buy or something that she herself would want. We don't have the greatest relationship ever because she is very self-centered and she can't be bothered to talk about anyone but herself, so she hasn't gotten to know me (even though DH and I have been together for 5 years).
The reason why I bring this up is that my birthday is coming up again and she said something to DH about painting a flower for me as my gift. A picture of a lily is not my cup of tea. If I wanted pictures of flowers in my house I would have them, but we don't... We have very modern, simple tastes. And she's not a professional painter or really that good. She's just an amateur doing it for fun.
Is it far of me to ask DH to put a stop to this? It's one thing to give me a scarf I can return or a plant that will just die. But I worry that if she gives me this painting she'll expect us to hang it up and I will not do that.
Thoughts?
Re: Gifts from MIL
That's a tough one. I definitely get what you're saying. But on the otherhand, unfortunately, it is a gift, and I don't really feel those can be dictated.
I do think DH could have possibly said at the time she mentioned painting a f
TTC since June 2012
I have no idea what to tell you, except me, personally -- I would just accept it and move on. I have a similar situation. MIL gives me clothes that (obviously won't fit) and removes the tags. Then says "Oh if you don't like it I can get you the receipt
lol @sdose13 - I love #2! I don't drink coffee, but DH does and he can be quite clumsy sometimes!
I think it wouldn't irritate as much if she would just take a second to get to know me and/or put in an ounce of thought to these gifts. This is
MIL is hit or miss. Sometimes it's cash, sometimes it's something she thinks I'll like. This year it was nothing!
She gets offended if we try to get rid of anything she gets us or the kiddo so ice started declining things.
I wo