The holidays are meant to be spent with the people you care about most in the world. It’s a time for warmth, introspection, and taking a well-deserved break from the stress of leading a hectic life. Unfortunately, things rarely go as planned. And many people find that once Xmas rolls around, they’re left frustrated and drained.
The r/AskReddit community recently opened up about who ruined their Christmas celebrations and how. We’ve collected some of their most intriguing stories to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to read about just how bad things can get and how lucky most of us are that this hasn’t happened to us.
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Ellen at my mum’s work. She went to the Christmas lunch sick, turned out she had Covid and now so does my mum and three other colleagues. Because of Ellen at least 6 high risk people have been exposed and all three family Christmases are cancelled. I’m extremely f*****g unimpressed with your work ethic Ellen.
My dad telling me (a white mom) that I better not make my daughter (black) look ghetto with corn rows. She’s 13 months old and he hasn’t held her, barely acknowledges her. Prob bc she’s black and I’m finding out more and more how racist he is. He won’t be back to my house now. He’s 89 and he can p**s off.
Good riddance to your dad. I'm sorry, I know that it has to hurt. But if he can't be receptive and loving to your daughter then he can kick rocks!
Technically happened last night but my cat tripped my mother and she broke her arm on the way down.
The ER had a surprisingly short wait time though.
Cat is fine and he has no regrets.
Though the winter holidays can be full of joy, merriment, and happiness, for many folks, stress is an ever-present reality, too.
According to the American Psychological Association, 41% of US adults have revealed that their stress levels increase during the holiday season between November and December. 43% of respondents claim that this stress prevents them from enjoying the holidays to the fullest. Meanwhile, 36% of Americans opened up about how the holidays “feel like a competition.”
My husband by telling me at dinner that he should have been informed of all my mental health problems before we got together. He said this after I’d spent the previous three hours preparing the dinner he was eating. The irony is he’s chronically ill and hasn’t worked since 2014. Most of my current mental health issues come from being his caregiver and breadwinner.
My cat of 16 years died this morning in his sleep. Didn't tell my 7 year old son because of Christmas. He is sleeping over his grandmothers house tonight and we are going to tell him tomorrow. We are devastated losing a family member, and I am dreading telling the poor kid.
This is so sad! I've had this happen to me before sadly. My beloved bunny that was house and command trained, had traveled the country with me and had been by my side for over a decade had a major stroke on Christmas one year. We had to have the on-call vet come in to humanely euthanize him since he couldn't eat, drink, or move half his body. I was devastated. It was my son's second Christmas, but first where he knew there were gifts (he was 13 months old). So incredibly heartbreaking
Entire family ruined it by uninviting me to Christmas because my aunt was offended I got vaccinated.
A lot of things are outside of our control. Surprise blizzards. Transportation delays. People falling ill. But what we can control is how we react to all of these unfortunate circumstances. We can choose to let them get us stressed, frustrated, and angry beyond belief. Or we can embrace what’s happened and try to look for a silver lining. Or look for some comedy in the situation.
You can still have an enjoyable time even if you’re stuck in a traffic jam or your flight’s been delayed (for the third time that day). You can use the time to meet interesting people, read a good book, catch up on the news, eat some delicious food, or call your loved ones. Xmas is only ever truly ruined if we let it be that way.
My brother by existing. My family flew into Paris from one country, he flew in from another, and had a complete mental breakdown because no one came to the airport to escort him to our Airbnb and ordered him an Uber instead. He proceeded to scream and abuse my parents, stating that they abandoned him and left him to fend for himself in the wild unknown that is CDG airport. He then threatened to leave immediately and refused to leave his room, not even to eat, as a form of protest for my parents being so horrible to him.
He is 35 years old, and my parents bought his tickets and this trip is on their dime entirely.
Grandma forgot where she hid the presents. Haven’t found them yet.
My ex. Told me she was going to stay the night at her mom's house on Christmas Eve because she missed her. I said yes that's your mom, go spend time with her and that we'd met up in the morning. Her mom is calling me Christmas morning asking to speak with her and that she couldn't get ahold of her. I said she should be over there, correct. Her mom said nope she hasn't seen her all night. That's how I found out she was cheating on me.
Edit: Thanks everyone for your words. I'm doing fine and will be ok through it all. Going to be living with family for a bit. And for anyone curious, we were together for 5 years.
As we’ve covered on Bored Panda very recently, if we see that the current way we’re celebrating Christmas isn’t doing us any good, we need to have the courage to change things.
If you find that your family traditions are stressing you out and that it’s unpleasant to spend time with certain people, we should not feel guilty about switching up the dynamic next year. We are not supposed to feel completely exhausted and angry once we’re done celebrating.
Not my Christms ruined, but my friends. Her parents left home to stay in Florida, they were supposed to come back for Thanksgiving. They did not come back. Her parents were supposed to come back yesterday, Christmas Eve to spend time with their kids. They did not. Her parents left her (17), her sister (an adult but legally blind), and her grandmother (who literally just had a stroke and is in the hospital) alone. No financial support, the only person bringing in money is her. She couldn't even celebrate christmas with her family, just her sister. For the past few nights my family has invited her to dinner to help out. I feel so bad for her, no teenage girl should have to go through such stressful events without the support of her parents during Christmas.
That's not legal, assuming they're in the US given the details. It's considered child abandonment and if there is an adult child in their care that is disabled it also goes against them. Wtf is wrong with people?!
My mom told everyone that there’s not going to be anymore babies in the family anyway, so my sister can throw away my son’s crib.
I am actively trying to get pregnant and have been taking steps and working on my health to make it happen as I had cervical cancer last year and a few other uterine issues. And for those wondering, yes, she and everyone else in the room is aware of all of this.
I drove 12 hours to get “home” to my dad’s house, staying 5 days because he guilts me for never staying more than 2 nights. I’m divorced, with grown kids (they were coming in later) so it’s just me and him for the first three days.
My first day here… he tells me at noon he’s leaving at 1:30 because he has plans with his lady friend. He invites me to dinner at her house, but tells me he’s spending the night there. I decline the dinner, and plan to have a solo day in my hometown. Annoying he ditched me, but whatever.
I spend my day running errands, come back to his place early, order my favorite local takeout, wrap presents and fall asleep on the couch…
THIS MF’R… at 5:30am he feels like something isn’t right, and checks his home thermostat app on his phone. He sees the temp at an egregious 71°. Knowing he set it to 68°, he’s SURE I have fallen asleep upstairs, left the gas logs on, and the house is about to burn down with me in it… so he does what any 72 year old would do with a 45 year old son staying at his place…
THE MAN COMES HOME AND JERKS ME OUT OF MY SLEEP ON THE COUCH AND RIPS ME A NEW A*****E. I’m talking veins in the neck bulging, spittle flying while he’s yelling type of new a*****e. For 3°!?!? He then spends FIVE HOURS questioning me on everything about my career, personal life, mental health, etc… truly riding my a*s.
So yeah, probably the last Christmas I ever “come home.”
Give yourself the gift of never doing that again. Seriously, you don't owe that türd bucket a thing.
OMG I spit coffee!!!🤣🤣🤣 Türd bucket... I'm stealing that one
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Why don't people interrupt other people's meltdowns? I don't have time for this sort of drama.
Sounds like OP's dad lives alone. I can see why. I hope his "lady friend" breaks his heart (if he even has one).
What we should do instead is focus on the activities and people that genuinely bring us joy. And it’s never wrong to talk to your family and friends about how you’re going to be doing things differently next time and why.
How did you enjoy the holidays this year, dear Pandas? What kinds of family traditions do you have? Have you ever had a Christmas that got ruined in the past? Did you manage to salvage it in some shape or form back then? Share your experiences and opinions in the comment section below.
Girlfriend stayed the night. Went to her place this am. Found her cat dead. Had been fighting an illness but had seemed much better.
Wouldn’t say ruined Christmas. Just a sad end of the day.
Sheesh, this post near bottom while “(otherwise healthy) dog vomited over (wrapped) presents” near top of list…
Drove 4 hours to spend the day with my dad (at his request 3 weeks ago) then immediately after lunch, not even dinner, he said he and his new girlfriend (of 4 weeks) were invited to a friend’s dinner and were going there. My drive was longer than the time spent he spent with me at his house. So now I’m watching Christmas movies and drinking with my grandma instead. After trying fix our relationship that’s been rocky since I was a teenager (now in my 30s), it’s great to realize he truly doesn’t care
That's just awful. At least, now you know what you can expect from him. Cheers to you and your grandma!
My wife did by immediately after opening all the presents, tell me how disappointed she is in what I got her. Or I guess I did by buying her s****y presents depending on your point of view.
Update to answer some questions:
We’ve been married for 25 years
Most of the gifts were from her Christmas list. She was unhappy that I didn’t also buy things not from the list.
Creative things I’ve surprised her with in the past.
Once I got her favorite artist (Dar Williams) to call her for her birthday.
For her 50th I surprised her with a convertible Vw beetle
I’ve surprised her by flying her friends out to stay with us for Christmas a few years ago.
It’s not that i can’t be creative. I just wasnt this year
My mom. Screaming at and in front of everyone (including the kids and my elderly grandmother who came out of hospital this morning) that she doesn't want to be a full-time carer for my grandmother. No one asked her to care for my grandma. For the past few years Mom has been asking grandma for her inheritance early so she could buy a house, grandma always said no. Mom moved in with grandma a month ago and now wants grandma to move out so mom can live in the house alone rent free. Where grandma is supposed to go is beyond me as mom has refused to participate in plans for a care home etc because it will likely involve selling the house to pay for this.
Damn, poor grandma. I'm sorry this is your mom we're talking about but I consider that kind of people who'd leave their parents in a ditch so they could get what they want just horrible. I hope your grandma can change her will or plans for inheritance when the time comes. I feel so sorry for her, I can't imagine how she felt while your mother yelled like that. :(
My dad just ruined Christmas dinner for me. I was switching two chairs at the dinner table -one with arms was too tight against the table and next to impossible to get into. He literally hollered at me for moving the chair. Apparently he’d done some measuring and was getting a few extra chairs that he thought would only fit a certain way, and was already mad that no one had put the extra leafs in the table. Which I knew nothing about, I was just going to sit next to my kid. It was goddamn humiliating, I know I shouldn’t be the one who was embarrassed and I tried to shake it off but found my eyes welling up with tears anyway. I’m going thru a divorce from my emotionally abusive husband of 20 years and he’s being awful about our 12 year old and I’m just more emotionally fragile than I realized.
80 year old uncle ruined Christmas Eve with family (had to cancel). He got lost while hunting, but not terribly far from road. He heard my brother in law and my grandfather searching for him but was embarrassed so waited to come out at sunrise after everyone went home after hours of searching but before everyone came back (or so he thought). My 80 year old grandfather, uncles brother, had open heart surgery heart this year and is going through radiation for cancer and couldn't sleep all night thinking his brother died in the woods. Grandfather and other older family members ended feeling so bad from stress we had to cancel.
My mom invited my ex-girlfriend to the family zoom (because she's still family?). My Girlfriend of two years wasn't too stoked to meet her.
Norovirus. Was up all night with a vomiting 6 year old and I had to “sleep” on the floor in their room. He last vomited about 4:30am today.
Stripped the vomit-covered sheets and showered him in the middle of the night because he was covered. My hips are killing me from sleeping on the floor. Merry Christmas!
Grandparents told everyone how they get one person something really nice each year and that it was finally my turn. They 'gave' me the really nice big green egg and patio desk i was saving for. Then after they looked real nice to everyone and everyone else was gone they told me it was actually a loan and I would need to pay them to keep it. I told them to f**k off.
Put my husband and kids on a plane to go join the rest of our family on vacation while I drove 12 hours in the opposite direction to be with my dying dad.
I'm so sorry. I hope you made it and time and can make the most out of your time with dad
The drunk a*****e that was joyriding last night and totalled my car in a hit and run did a good job of ruining my day.
I gave my little girl a drone. It went up in the air the first time and just kept going and going and going. That was like 8 hours ago. Could still be going….
My 11 year old son, except he doesn’t know it. I LOVE Christmas and I tend to go over board every year with my kids. (I over compensate for my lack of ever having a happy Christmas time growing up). My son is at the age of making inappropriate jokes all the time ( I had no idea you could make that many ball jokes in one day) Anyways we were trying to watch movies as a family and he was sent to his room due to him being asked to stop repeating the same joke over and over because he wasn’t getting a reaction. Well he went on a rant about it being child abuse and us favoriting his 14 year old sister more. This is his usual insult when punished. He screams child abuse at the littlest inconvenience. Apparently this is a trigger for me I was physically, mentally and at one point sexually abused as a child. Knowing that he had probably $1,000 worth of things under the tree for him to open the next morning just kinda broke me. I cried myself to sleep last night and I didn’t want to get up the morning.
Time for your son to learn what abuse truly means. No, I don't mean by demonstrating it, but rather explain what abuse is. How some children and adults live. I'm a survivor of abuse, it still haunts me to this day.
Mom got hammered Christmas eve and woke up for a midnight snack of the Christmas dinner. Left it all out and the dog ate it all
The dog was a very good boi this year it seems. Santa was definitely impressed.
My mother. She screamed at my dad like a banshee at about 6am. All my dad did was put water in the coffee maker. When you put water in, it immediately starts brewing. I guess that was too early in the morning to start the coffee? I’m not exactly sure what her beef was.
For context: For the first time in several years,
my entire immediate family were all under one roof for an extended period of time. We were staying at my grandmother’s house for the holidays. My mother has always been prone to fits of rage. Growing up, she exploded often. I haven’t been around it in 9 years, neither have my brothers, but we got an ugly reminder of her behavior yesterday morning.
My dad doesn’t believe in divorce. He works nights to avoid her. They pass like ships in the night. They have separate bedrooms and separate lives. My dad’s uncle just passed away, that’s why we all came together. We typically don’t celebrate Christmas together.
I overpaid to fly home today, and I opted out of Christmas dinner to do so. I left two days before everyone else. I can’t do it. It’s as if she’s possessed by a demon.
Time for your dad to consider seperate homes. No need to divorce, just move out
My sister brought her dog who immediately walked over and threw up all over my kid's presents as if he'd been planning to do that all year.
My parent's puppy managed to open and eat half a jar of THC body balm and had to be taken to the emergency vet at 1 am. She threw up a large mango sized menthol dog treat vomit ball in my hand. She got meds and monitored and is doing much .much better now
Brother in Law. 12:06am. Breakfast casserole knocked out of the fridge and all over the floor as he was reaching for another midnight snack. Six minutes flat, impressive.
Note: this post originally had 38 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
My aunt asking me "aren't you too old to still be living at home?". I don't know, Wendy, aren't you too old to still be a f*****g b***h?
Witnessed a dog drown on Boxing Day and had to do CPR on him. Got him back but he sadly died later that night. Keep having flashbacks and all I see when I shut my eyes. I guess his poor family are having a worse Christmas though, they were distraught when we pulled him out lifeless and I was doing CPR. Cuddle your pets extra hard tonight and learn CPR for pets and humans!
I'm so sorry but thank you so much for trying. Poor dog, that's so very sad. I'll second your recommendation for learning CPR for pets and humans - though a while ago that I did the pet one and I think I might try and do a refresher course.
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we got a letter from the state, the week before xmas, saying that my disabled mother had been kicked off her carer program. getting a straight answer of why or whether or not it was true was hell in a handbasket, and didnt get fixed until today (the 28th). we cancelled so many plans just to wait twiddling our thumbs for a phone call from the govt that never came. the punchline? it was a system error; those letters were never supposed to be sent. all those lost memories and the terror and anger just makes my blood boil.
Last year (2022) one of my neighbors' houses burned until it was gutted. Bad enough when your house catches fire - but on Christmas? Ugh! Many blessings on the firefighters who battled that blaze. Thankfully, though, they did rebuild - must have had great insurance, and knew some good contractors. Only 7-8 months later, their house looks as though nothing happened.
This year Christmas really sucked. On Friday the 22nd I got the news that I have cancer. So instead of relaxing I spent the last few days making calls to arrange everything I need before the surgery, blood tests, CT etc. A lot of places are closed this week, so that was fun.
Cannot begin to imagine what type of person would downvote this. Here’s an upvote to bring it back to zero. I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this. Prayers for successful treatment so that next year you can announce cancer free.
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Husband died in September, 1st time sister contacted me since. No condolence, no How are you - just wanted to share her dna results, when I said I was not interested and I was done with her homophobic, bigoted c**p. i was told i was immature and she felt sorry for me for rejecting her. ( Not for losing my husband of 40 yrs)
Dear God, that is so beyond self-absorbed. I'm so sorry for your loss, and I hope you have good support from others in your life. ❤️
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My mom lost her sh*t at my spouse and I. After agreeing to be there for Christmas eve & day, we made the 2.5+ hour drive and were greeted with comments about how infrequent and short our visits are. We had groceries delivered to her place because there's not enough food there. We arrived before lunch. I had forgotten to make sure we had lunch items. Everything else was off limits for later. My mom told us to wait for dinner, which was just soup that she knew we don't like. We offered to go to the store for more food and she just lost it and used the most hurtful words. Said my spouse deserves the toxic family he has. She kicked us out. Threw the presents in a box. We just left everything there. The presents. The groceries. I cried all the way home. She has yet to reach out to us. I'm still very hurt.
when my grandmother passed on christmas eve in '97 it shattered the family. so, since then, the holidays have been a bit of a down time. then, my mom passed on christmas eve a few years ago. with the exception of my son who has a young child the rest of the family have just kind of dreaded the holidays and feel relieved when they are over. it would be different if they had passed on at a different time but when the entire world starts winding up in november for the day it's hard to keep it off your mind.
My aunt asking me "aren't you too old to still be living at home?". I don't know, Wendy, aren't you too old to still be a f*****g b***h?
Witnessed a dog drown on Boxing Day and had to do CPR on him. Got him back but he sadly died later that night. Keep having flashbacks and all I see when I shut my eyes. I guess his poor family are having a worse Christmas though, they were distraught when we pulled him out lifeless and I was doing CPR. Cuddle your pets extra hard tonight and learn CPR for pets and humans!
I'm so sorry but thank you so much for trying. Poor dog, that's so very sad. I'll second your recommendation for learning CPR for pets and humans - though a while ago that I did the pet one and I think I might try and do a refresher course.
Load More Replies... we got a letter from the state, the week before xmas, saying that my disabled mother had been kicked off her carer program. getting a straight answer of why or whether or not it was true was hell in a handbasket, and didnt get fixed until today (the 28th). we cancelled so many plans just to wait twiddling our thumbs for a phone call from the govt that never came. the punchline? it was a system error; those letters were never supposed to be sent. all those lost memories and the terror and anger just makes my blood boil.
Last year (2022) one of my neighbors' houses burned until it was gutted. Bad enough when your house catches fire - but on Christmas? Ugh! Many blessings on the firefighters who battled that blaze. Thankfully, though, they did rebuild - must have had great insurance, and knew some good contractors. Only 7-8 months later, their house looks as though nothing happened.
This year Christmas really sucked. On Friday the 22nd I got the news that I have cancer. So instead of relaxing I spent the last few days making calls to arrange everything I need before the surgery, blood tests, CT etc. A lot of places are closed this week, so that was fun.
Cannot begin to imagine what type of person would downvote this. Here’s an upvote to bring it back to zero. I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this. Prayers for successful treatment so that next year you can announce cancer free.
Load More Replies... Husband died in September, 1st time sister contacted me since. No condolence, no How are you - just wanted to share her dna results, when I said I was not interested and I was done with her homophobic, bigoted c**p. i was told i was immature and she felt sorry for me for rejecting her. ( Not for losing my husband of 40 yrs)
Dear God, that is so beyond self-absorbed. I'm so sorry for your loss, and I hope you have good support from others in your life. ❤️
Load More Replies... My mom lost her sh*t at my spouse and I. After agreeing to be there for Christmas eve & day, we made the 2.5+ hour drive and were greeted with comments about how infrequent and short our visits are. We had groceries delivered to her place because there's not enough food there. We arrived before lunch. I had forgotten to make sure we had lunch items. Everything else was off limits for later. My mom told us to wait for dinner, which was just soup that she knew we don't like. We offered to go to the store for more food and she just lost it and used the most hurtful words. Said my spouse deserves the toxic family he has. She kicked us out. Threw the presents in a box. We just left everything there. The presents. The groceries. I cried all the way home. She has yet to reach out to us. I'm still very hurt.
when my grandmother passed on christmas eve in '97 it shattered the family. so, since then, the holidays have been a bit of a down time. then, my mom passed on christmas eve a few years ago. with the exception of my son who has a young child the rest of the family have just kind of dreaded the holidays and feel relieved when they are over. it would be different if they had passed on at a different time but when the entire world starts winding up in november for the day it's hard to keep it off your mind.
