Ah Christmas morning.

Here is my Christmas Breakfast. It had better get me through the rest of the day because that's all the cooking I am doing!

Yesterday I told mother I wouldn't be coming and she said, she can't have daughter overnight as she is leaving to go away early in the morning. I said no problem, she can just remain with her dad until I go and get her. No no she says, I will take her back to his house after lunch.

Then later "I will take her to the beach with me since you don't want to see her on Christmas" I say no we are seeing a movie. She repeats the message last night and then this morning, "I will take her to the beach until Sunday since you don't even want to see her at Christmas and then I'll take her back to her fathers". I'll tell you what, if she takes her to the beach against my wishes it will be the last time I speak to her again, ever. I just got a further email from stepfather saying 'it would be much better if we could just take daughter to the beach until Sunday so we will just do that OK". Not a Merry Christmas from anyone, just this repeating the same demand over and over that I have already said no to. This is their choice, it is uneccessary; daughter could either stay with her father for lunch or they could leave for the beach and  will collect her from their house, my brothers will be home, there is no need for any of this other than to take control and bully me because I am not there to defend myself. Very sad.

So I see a picture of daughter on facebook this morning holding a new ipad and I think wow, did her dad actually get her something she needs for school? Normally she is not allowed to take any of the 'gifts" he buys her away from his house and they just get played with by him and her young siblings so she says the gifts aren't really 'hers". Anyway I called her to say Merry Christmas and she says the ipad isnt allowed to leave her dads house but that they are telling her if she goes to live with them and to a school of their choosing she can 'have it all the time". So they are happy, as usual, for her to go without what she is meant to have for school but dangle it over her head and say 'if you lived with us you could have this". Evidently they don't know she is getting an ipad from her great grandmother today, and daughter doesn't know this yet either....but when I was talking to her she went to another room and whispered "this ipad is just a way to try to bribe me to live here and go to their stupid private school. I'm not even going to turn it on, I don't want anything to do with their stupid ipad, they think they are going to control me with a gold ipad?" Yes they got her a gold one, instead of helping with her huge schooling costs they would rather spend almost $1000 on a carrot to dangle over her head and like all of her other gifts (such as an xbox she didnt want last year) her father will use it himself and then give it to the little kids when he is sick of it.

Angry words from a little girl on Christmas Morning. 

I laughed it off with her anyway and implored her to enjoy her lunch, and enjoy seeing family and I would see her soon. It seems everyone is in an angry bitter mood today, even daughter, glad I'm not in amongst it to be honest. It is usually like this, everyone angry and bickering and trying to make everyone else feel guilty because their Christmas is imperfect. Usually I am trying to placate everyone and keep the peace. Not this year! I've eaten my pancakes. I've had a whinge on here. Now I am going back to bed, sleeping until noon, walking the dog on the beach, watching Bad Santa which is my completely offensive and inappropriate Christmas Movie, and then I will go do the big train voyage to get daughter. No time to stand around and listen to you complain, sorry mother, we have to get the last train home again.....this sounds like a good day all in all and everyone should be happy if I collect daughter this evening. Brilliant.

Next year I am taking daughter camping. I think she will utterly love this idea to be honest. Just the 2 of us, maybe to the Grampians. THAT would be a lovely gift for both of us. No grumpy family allowed.

-- Edited by missmeliss on Wednesday 24th of December 2014 08:08:32 PM