My Daughter-in-Law Didn’t Invite Me to the Family Thanksgiving Dinner She’s Hosting

A woman and her daughter-in-law have not been on good terms since the day they met. One day, the daughter-in-law hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for their whole family but refused to invite her mother-in-law, forcing the latter to host a celebration of her own.

Nurturing a harmonious relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law is no easy feat, and many times, women find themselves walking on eggshells around their husband's mom.

Having raised her son for many years under her control, a mother may find it challenging to give up the reins and watch her boy prioritize a new family with a new woman in his life. Values and different perspectives may also contribute to potential disagreements between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law.

However, starting on the wrong foot may be one of the biggest issues to fix in such a relationship. Unfortunately, such was the situation of a woman who sought help from the Reddit community about her strained relationship with her daughter-in-law.

How it Began

The woman's daughter-in-law was her son's college sweetheart. However, as a young couple, their relationship did not have the best foundation. They dated for two months, cooled off, became friends with benefits, and ultimately got back together. Shortly after, the girl found out she was pregnant.

At the time, the woman's son claimed they were not in an exclusive relationship and were seeing other people, so she asked him to get a paternity test. As it turned out, the child was his.

During their first meeting, the daughter-in-law immediately showed the woman an attitude and said it was not a pleasure meeting the person who called her names, a claim the woman denied.

A Strained Relationship

Even though the girl married the woman's son in what she called a "shotgun wedding" and is the mother of the woman's grandchild, their relationship remains strained. Besides seeing her daughter-in-law during family gatherings, they do not talk nor meet.

The woman has reached out by inviting her daughter-in-law and son to meet, only to be blown off several times. At one point, she accepted that she would not be as involved as a mother or grandmother in their family.

Their family gatherings for the holidays usually rotate households, and that year, it was her daughter-in-law's turn to host Thanksgiving. The woman messaged her daughter-in-law to inquire a about the details of the celebration, including what time she should come and if she should bring anything to add to the spread. To her surprise, the woman revealed:

"She told me I wasn't invited, but my husband is."

What She Did Next

After discussing things with her husband, the woman decided to host her own Thanksgiving. She informed her other family members of this, including why she was having her own dinner.

The other family members decided not to attend her son and daughter-in-law's Thanksgiving celebration. Soon enough, the couple started messaging the woman, calling her harsh words and demanding she cancel her dinner.

The woman explained to her son about her daughter-in-law uninviting her to their event, which he said he did not know of. The son believed his mother was hosting her own holiday dinner to annoy his wife.

The Online Community's Response

The woman's Reddit post received several responses, most of which were from people who believed she was not wrong to host her own dinner party. One Reddit user claimed that the daughter-in-law knew other family members would pick a side, and they sided with the mom.

Meanwhile, other community members called out the woman's son for not mediating between his mom and his wife. They believe it was also suspicious of him to be telling his mom his love story with his wife.

Do you think the woman was right to host her own Thanksgiving dinner? What would you have done differently or similarly in this situation?

In a similar story, a woman sought the advice of Reddit community members after banning her daughter-in-law from her home. According to the woman, her daughter-in-law called her lazy several times and claimed being a busy housewife was not a real job despite being asked to stop.