Woman decides to change her Christmas wrapping to teach extended family a lesson

Christmas is one of the happiest times of the year, with the snow, carols, gifts and cookies. It is that time of the year when everything automatically becomes better for someone. However, what happens when someone bums out your holiday cheer by calling you unfair for something you did without even realizing it? In a story posted by u/rosexknight, she spoke about sweet revenge and how things worked out well.

The 30-year-old woman begins the story by saying she is married to a man who is 35 years old. He has three older and one younger sister who collectively have about 10 children ranging from infants to high schoolers. Since the couple has no kids, they love to spoil their nieces and nephews to bits on birthdays and Christmas. In the process, they strive to ensure that they are unfair to no kid and stick to the budget so no one feels left out. She explained, "For instance, this year, we spent a little over $50 a kid, and they all got 2 presents, except the high schooler, who we spoiled a little more since she's older."

The woman also explained, "I wrap all my presents in candy cane wrapping paper if I can so that everyone knows who it is from at a glance, but the other things I use for wrapping, like bows and labels, are arbitrary." That is the case because kids being kids, are pretty much going to rip the presents open.

She adds, "I also tend to buy in bulk when I buy wrapping supplies so that I don't have to buy more bows and paper every single year." Opposed to her normal bows from Dollar Tree, she got a few from Costco because she was short. However, the Costco ones were prettier. She says, "The only reason I know this is because last year I overheard two of my sisters-in-law complaining that I used 'the good bows' on the other sister's kids and not theirs. As if my bow and label choices showed favoritism." They also gave her a cold shoulder, which annoyed her because she loved the kids.

She explains that favoritism would be spending more money on one kid or getting a kid more presents, but that wasn't the case. The couple, in fact, also got $50 gift cards for the sisters without getting anything in return. The couple agreed that this was a ridiculous thing for them to be upset about. Nevertheless, the woman chose to do something better for the next year. She said, "I wrapped all the presents, went out of my way to use the same size labels for all the kids, and no one got bows." The husband and his mother thought it was hilarious. She adds, "I'm excited to see how things unfold, or shall I say unwrap tomorrow evening."

In an update, she said that one of the younger kids said that he looked forward to the bows and was sad that he didn't get the two he usually did. To that, the woman assured him that he would get five bows next year. Then she says, "My MIL asked what she should tell them if they say something and I told her to explain that I didn't want anyone feeling like I was favoring anyone." A while later, the mother-in-law and sister had a conversation. The woman said, "My MIL told my SILs why no one got bows, and while they did not say anything to me, they have had a look all day of children scolded by their mama."

After the woman spoke to the high schooler, she realized that the kids had made a competition out of who got the most bows and the mothers somehow made it all about themselves, which led to this whole thing. According to the high schooler, "Apparently, last year, the SILs heard the kids talking about bows and that's how the whole 'good' and 'bad' bow drama started." The woman finally promised the kids that she wouldn't forget the bows next year and concluded the story by saying, "I will roll a dice to determine who gets how many bows and that I won't forget again."

u/SheWhoLovesToDraw said, "Your sisters-in-law just want to be snarky and rude, and them reading way too much into a situation based on their personal perception of 'bow quality' is pathetic. I would've gone with single-colored gift bags - one color per niece/nephew - and watched them complain about how your color choices clearly indicated some form of favoritism." u/Suspicious_Studio_59 said, "I love that your MIL thinks this is funny as well. She could have been just as petty as them, but she supports you."