Being married to a cellphone or I'm just a luddite

[nscrbug]

This is a timely thread topic. My MIL has officially "canceled" Christmas (she also canceled Thanksgiving last month) this year because of a cellphone incident that occurred during Christmas last year. MIL has a house "rule"...absolutely NO cellphones during family holiday get-togethers. When my DH and I arrived at their house on Christmas Day last year, my SIL had her face buried in her iPhone texting...and this continued for the next 5 hours!!! I don't even think she saw her kids opening up their gifts, because she was too enthralled with texting or whatever it was she was doing her iPhone. This enraged my MIL so much, that the next day she informed all of us that she was canceling Christmas (and all other family holidays) from this point forward...because she didn't want to interrupt anyone's phonecalls. So because of my SIL's bad behavior last year, there will be no Christmas celebration at my inlaws ever again. Talk about one bad apple ruining it for everyone!

[indysteel]

Wow, Linda! That seems a tad extreme. Do you have any idea why MIL didn't just address this with your SIL?

Pardon the diversion from the topic, but I haven't read any updates of late about your sister. I sure hope she's doing okay. You are still very much in my thoughts and prayers.

[Irulan]

Wow, Linda! That seems a tad extreme. Do you have any idea why MIL didn't just address this with your SIL?

The whole thing sounds pretty dysfunctional.... but what family isn't to some degree, at holiday time?!

[SadieKate]

The whole thing sounds pretty dysfunctional.... but what family isn't to some degree, at holiday time?!

Isn't it a requirement?

[Irulan]

Isn't it a requirement?

Not necessarily. It's lovely when every one has grown enough to minimize dysfunction.

[Crankin]

Sadie Kate, did you see my response to Oak's comment?
I tried to explain her behavior and why her "liking" my comments is annoying. I am pretty sure that if any of you wise women of TE were around this person, you would feel the same way.
If I were the only person who felt this way, then it would be me who has the problem. But, I am not; in fact I have had people who don't know her well ask me if "she has issues" when they have seen her in public situations, like at volunteer meetings or social situations. My other close friend, who is not athletic at all has other things that this person makes comments about, like she is an expert about what you do, but she knows nothing, really.
I know this sounds mean, but if you all heard the way she speaks to me at times, you would get it. I just can't totally break the friendship.

[SadieKate]

No, I didn't but that doesn't change the fact that one can "like" the fact that someone you have friended on FB is enjoying their own life. There are plenty of activities I wouldn't spend two minutes on but I can appreciate others finding fulfillment.

I didn't really get the gist of your friend's problems but I tend not to read responses that don't have paragraph breaks. Makes me cranky and cross-eyed.

The FB setting that allows you to block specific people from seeing or responding to your posts is WONDERFUL! And FB doesn't tell them they've been blocked. I found it after consulting the Wise TE Woman Salsa.

[zoom-zoom]

The whole thing sounds pretty dysfunctional.... but what family isn't to some degree, at holiday time?!

I always thought my family was dysfunctional...now I know that mostly we're just loud and obnoxious. The only one who's really borderline dysfunctional is my baby sister, but she's becoming less of a PITA the older she gets (though she is still astoundingly immature for a woman going on 31). My DH's family has always put on airs of superiority, but WOW, what a flippin' mess that bunch is. They need extra closet space for all their skeletons.

With my family we drink during the holidays to have fun and share laughs. With my hubby's family I wish they'd drink more so they'd stop being so danged uptight!