When it comes to gift giving, it’s the thought that counts — unless the thought is that you need to remind your ungrateful son and his wife of everything you’ve done for them throughout the year. That’s exactly what one mother-in-law did when she decided to write out the amount of money she’d spent on her son and his wife last year, instead of giving them a proper Christmas gift.
The TikTok user showed off a card her mother-in-law sent in a video that caused quite a stir.
“Toxic mother in law,” she wrote in the video's caption. “Not the first time she’s done this.”
She proceeded to show off the Christmas card, which had a less than charitable message inside.
“So this is our toxic mother-in-law,” she says in the video’s voiceover. “I just want to preface this video by saying that there is no way you absolutely need to get a Christmas gift or give a Christmas gift.”
She said her MIL 'chooses just to repetitively do this type of behavior to my husband.'
Instead of just telling them that she can’t afford to get them a Christmas gift “or that she’s given more than enough this last year, she’ll send a card,” the TikTok user added.
Inside the card, her MIL wrote out an itemized list of past bills she covered for the couple.
“Merry Christmas,” her MIL wrote. “Received a big blanket, $112.40 Xfinity bill paid! $584.89 on electric bill! $697.29 + gift. Merry Christmas.”
As the DIL pointed out, she’d lost her job because of the pandemic, and it was just like her MIL to remind them that she’d stepped up to help.
“Basically she’ll say, 'Hey, throughout the year I’ve done things for you guys' and y’know she did those things when we lost our jobs due to COVID,” she explained. “So that was really amazing but she chooses to send a card, basically reminding, 'Hey you don’t get a gift because I’ve done all these other things.' When she literally could just, I don’t know, not give us one or just wish us a Merry Christmas.”
Over a million people watched the video.
The video has since been deleted, but lots of people reacted it to it when it was originally posted in 2021. Other people with “toxic mother-in-laws” could relate — big time.
“My mother-in-law pulled my husband aside and told him he should put our house we bought half in her name and half in his so when we separate I would get none,” one person confessed.
“My MIL offered to buy my husband a car and get him in a new place if he would just leave me,” another commenter wrote. “Also had a b-day party for my son but I wasn’t invited!”
A third commenter put it this way: “That’s not a Christmas card, that’s an invoice.”
Another user mentioned getting the same Christmas cards to send out to their loved ones — for free. Meaning her MIL spent literally nothing on the card.
In a second video, the DIL shared that her BIL also got a letter.
As the video from December 28, 2021, explained, the letter listed his hospital bill as his "gift." "He's on her insurance and she counted his copay," she wrote in the video's caption.
Ultimately, it appears the help her MIL offered during these difficult times wasn't completely from the goodness of her heart. In her original video, one commenter recommended she and her husband not take another penny from her.
"That's the plan Stan!" the DIL shared.
