homemade presents and ungrateful family!!

lolly1981

sorry bit of a rant!
ohhh im so cross...my OH, my son and myself made hampers for family memebers as we didnt have masses of money to buy expensive wasteful gifts so we decided to put one together...we made jam, filled some mugs with chocolates (wrapped in cellophane and bows etc) made snowman soups, made gingerbread, lemon and peppermint creams.
my 5 yr old son helped decorate the gingerbread men, fill the mugs etc....a lot of time and effort went into it.

yesterday we call OH brother to thank him for the boys gifts and he goes straight into 'i didnt appreciate that basket you gave us, the kids were really dissapointed, they expected toys, you did this last year (we did get crappy cheap activity pack things as agaion no money) we always make an effort'
OH replies taht a lot of time and effort went into it, and we dont have alot of money and definatly not enough to buy all kids presents, we didnt even buy our own children alot.
but bro said it wasnt good enough and just went on and on about how he thought it was crap and the kids just wanted toys to open.
my OH ghot so upset he cried as he was so angry about the selfishness of it all (ne never ever cries over anything, and hes usually really laid back)...he even gave back the presents his bro gave our kids so that his brother cant throw it back in his face, jhes told his lot to not buy our children anything in future then there wont be this problem again.

even his sister was ungrateful for what we bought her, she was the only one we bought actual presents, they were mini cooper related things (as she collects minis) and she was like oh thanks...really rude.

am i right to get annoyed or should we just ignore it, for us family is what xmas is about not the toys the kids get, we have spent the last 4 days playing games and just enjoying each others company i thjought that was what it was about???

savingmummy

Oh that is terrible! How ungrateful of him to rant to you both about that.
In future would they rather you not give anything?
That would make me very angry and i find it mind boggling why anyone would say anything about anyones presents.
I too had no money this year and made up hampers thanks to the good people of MSE - mine went down a treat thankfully BUT if they hadn`t then they would get nothing the following year.

I find homemade gifts have more meaning then a shop bought item

I think you have every right to be angry about the reactions xx

poppett

Ungrateful little *****. Next year don't bother with them. If someone phoned me up ranting and raving because they didn't like the HM gifts I had made I wouldn't give them the time of day again...family or not. Obviously these people don't realise that time and love went into your gifts rather than a quick nip to the shops and a "oh that'll do for so and so"

You are entitled to rant.

jackieb

I can't believe the nerve of some people! (Not you - your brother-in-law) How ungrateful can you get?

Make an agreement with them that next Christmas you won't exchange presents.

Don't feel bad. I'd be so flattered if someone spent their time making me something. xx

Sublime_2

Thats awful. Your baskets sound really lovely, and it sounds like you made an effort to make them so. Tell them not to bother buying you presents in future, as you cannot reciprocate. You'll feel a a lot happier.

jamespir

that seems really unfair on you i wouldnt bother in the future
i think i would much rather have somone give my child something home made as i takes a lot of thought where as toys he play with for a few days then loses interest

lolly1981

...thats my exact thoughts...we spend a good 2 days in the kitchem making all the things and more time putting it all together etc....my OH half did point out that we make extra effort on their bdays when i can go out and pick something specifically for that kid rather than having to get something for the 13 or so kids needed to buy for at xmas...hes response was that he always makes effort on the kids bdays too...what he also fails to rememeber too is that he has his kids everyother weekend we have 2 here fulltime one every other weekend...his wages are about 5 times that of my OH and his gf too has a good wage, they both run successful businesses....my OH works a typical minimum wage job and we always seem to struggle.
sorry still ranting lolk

chrisb1357

Sorry to hear that, If i was you i would have said well ok if you dont like them i will have them back and use them myself and i bet they will say no to that. At the end of the day its the thought that counts at Christmas

Chris

amcluesent

>he goes straight into 'i didnt appreciate that basket<

Was he drunk? Or did his wife put him up to 'passing-on' the message?

lolly1981

nope he was perfectly sober and thats just OH's family through and through.
quite materialistic, his children are spoilt get everything they want when they want it and because we cant do that we are seen as being bad people lol.

he was saying kids expect toys at xmas...well his might mine certainly dont, he asks for things granted and we try to get him some of the things he would like but he doesnt expect them!

Millionaire

Tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine:mad:.

It's the thought that counts, and you also obviously spent a lot of time and effort preparing the items. Ungrateful Barstewards.