Family Dispute

So the fighting between my youngest brother-in-law, his family and my father-in-law continues. This weekend we're heading down to my father-in-law's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, her kids, his sister (my husband's aunt) and her family. I think my middle brother-in-law is also supposed to be there with his boyfriend.

So basically 2 of my father-in-law's 3 kids will be there and we're supposed to just pretend like the 3rd son doesn't exist. I'm sure my FIL will make at least a couple comments about him, which is going to be super awkward since the middle brother-in-law's boyfriend is bosom buddies with the youngest brother-in-law's wife.

Confused yet?

Oh and then to top things off, my FIL's girlfriend casually asked on Wednesday if we wanted to do our Christmas exchange on Sunday. We weren't even aware of who would be participating in such an exchange.

Not to sound like the Grinch or anything, but I'm a little (ok, a lot) not thrilled about buying extra gifts for children I don't know and probably won't see ever again. My father-in-law's girlfriend has a 14 year old and a 9 year old that will be there as well as her 11 year old granddaughter who now lives with them. The girlfriend has custody of the 14 year old son, but the 9 year old daughter lives with her father and sees her mother on the weekends (they have different fathers). The 11 year old granddaughter is living there because her mother was homeless and living in a car - I'm not sure if said homeless mother will be at Thanksgivmas or not. My husband's aunt will also be at the Thanksgivmas celebration, meaning we'll also need to get something for his aunt, her husband and their 2 kids. We actually know them though, so that's slightly better than the 11 year old grandaughter of the 40-something year old girlfriend.

I really really really wish that my father-in-law had held off playing house until we knew whether or not the girlfriend was going to be a permanent fixture in our lives. He always berated my middle brother-in-law (the gay one) about moving guys in so quickly and then the moment he became single he did the exact same thing. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Anyway, that's my rant - I guess I'll just have to see how the drama plays out between everyone while doing my best to keep my opinions to myself. I hope my father-in-law doesn't bring up the whole apartment thing or the whole missing brother-in-law thing because I really don't know how civil I can keep the discussion if he does. Well, wish me luck!

Oh, and also, fingers crossed that my father-in-laws girlfriend knows how to make a good Thanksgiving meal. LOL - I've never had anything that she's cooked, so I don't know what to expect.