Woman makes her husband share housework during the holiday season to show him there's no magical elf

The holiday season often brings a whirlwind of preparation—cooking elaborate meals, decorating, cleaning, and more. It’s not uncommon for all these responsibilities to fall on the women in a household, who put in extra hours to make the holidays enjoyable for everyone else. Often, though, this leaves them feeling completely drained and without any time to relax themselves. One woman decided she’d had enough. This year, she came up with a clever plan: mandatory holiday prep evenings for her husband. She shared her experience and plan in a Reddit post, now deleted.

"As I'm starting to go over my planning for the holidays (food I'm making, which relative's houses we are going to when, gifts I have and gifts I need to get, wrapping supplies), I'm really seeing how much work it all is every year," the woman wrote as per YourTango. "Last year, as we opened gifts, I realized that no man on either side of the family participated in the gift procurement, wrapping decorations, planning, or food preparation." She recounted how her father-in-law bought a random necklace for her mother-in-law and didn't even bother to wrap it, while her father asked her to buy and wrap a gift for her mother on his behalf. "The moms, wives and girlfriends did everything else."

"This goes back decades and generations, and it's infuriating. I have vivid memories of the men sharing brandy and cigars while the wives ran around making Christmas dinner," the person expressed. "To combat this, I've instituted mandatory evenings for my husband during the holiday season where we both sit down and buy gifts, wrap gifts, make holiday food, pack the car to see relatives, etc." She continued, "He's not always a huge fan as his father never participated when he was growing up, but this cr*p ends with me." The woman wondered if we could do something to stop all the women we know from killing themselves to make the holidays happen. Many people took to the comments section of the post to share their own experiences.

u/misoranomegami wrote, "Adding in, call it out when you see it. I heard someone say once that holidays are 'magical' when you refuse to see the work people put in. Houses just magically get decorated, presents magically appear and food is magically made."

u/wildfire393 commented, "My six-year-old: Magic is real! Last night, I said 'Abra Cadabra' and this morning, the were suddenly *three pairs of matching socks* in my dresser! Me: No, kid, your mother put socks into your drawer while you were asleep because we do your laundry." u/Plumbing6 remarked, "It happens at work, too. The women are expected to organize holiday activities like Secret Santa or office potlucks."