I’ve been with my boyfriend for close to 2.5 years and know his family fairly well. This was our second Christmas that we spent together with each other’s families. Last year my 2 kids were not with me since they were at their dads out of state, but they were with me this year. We show up to his parents house late Christmas morning to open immediate family gifts before the rest of the family arrives. They play dirty Santa or white elephant (so many names) so it’s just easier to get this part with the smaller side of the family beforehand.

We sit down and start handing out gifts and my kids have 1 bag each (one of the really small nerf guns and a $25 gift card) and a small stocking with a few pieces of candy in it. That in and of itself didn’t bother me. We’re not married, my kids are not their grandkids, etc. my boyfriends daughter sits down to about 20+ gifts and a stocking that’s busting at the seams and proceeds to talk about all the gifts she has gotten and this is a time where the family is supposed to stay in one room and watch everyone open their gifts so they are stuck there watching her open a ton of gifts one after the other. Is it wrong that I feel a bit perturbed about this?!? Obviously I feel that they would buy her more but she was there for about an hour before we got there so she could have opened some up at that time. My kids asked why they had so little and she had so many. They’re all elementary age so its hard to not compare. Granted at the end they were fine with it but it hasn’t been sitting right with me. My mom only bought his daughter one thing. Granted she is on disability with a small fixed income so it’s good that she was able to afford anything, but she would never had let mine open so much in front of another child that didn’t have but 1 or 2. She even pulls them to the car at our family function if they have more than a couple each to not outshine their cousins.