Ever feel like you have stuck your foot so far down your throat you can’t get it out? I know that’s the way I felt at the first big Christmas get-together with my husband’s family, which consisted of his sister Beth, his two brothers Joe and Danny, his father who everyone called ‘Major’ because of his time in the service, and ‘Mother’ as she said I should call her.
Of course, there is no no-one who can hate you as fervently as an in law. ‘Mother’ didn’t like me, I already knew it - based on all the complaints she made about the way Ben’s shirt was ironed, or the fact that he had lost weight. I obviously wasn’t taking care of him properly! I was trying to be nice, though, so I offered to help wash up the dishes with my newly acquired sister in law.
‘Mother’ had the entire set of Corning Ware. You know, the heavy white pans with the little gold dots and designs all over, that once food dried on it was almost impossible to get off?
“I hate this stuff,” I confided to my in law as we stood scrubbing determinedly at the specks of food baked on to the stubborn pans. “I will never buy Corning Ware, that is for sure!”
Some one cleared her throat, and I looked up to see ‘Mother’ standing in the doorway. She set another dish on the counter, and turned and stalked out. Beth clapped a hand over her mouth to keep in the laughter. I hung my head and groaned. “Now I’ve done it! She’ll think I was criticizing her taste!”
It was so much worse than that. When gift opening time came, Ben and I tore the wrapping off of a huge box addressed to us, to find a (you guessed it) complete set of the gaudy, recalcitrant Corning Ware. I couldn’t even look at my mother in law. I knew I was officially going down in history as the worst daughter in law EVER.
Well, we never got to be best friends, but we did come to an understanding after not too many years had passed. I still have the Corning Ware, though I only bring it out on special occasions, like when it is our turn to host Christmas - and everyone knows the cook doesn’t have to wash the dishes. ☺
Sarah P.
Hey, you cannot imagine how many gifts like that do i have! Yes, it is hard to understand and get along with the “Mother”. We do not really understand each other but we help each other. so i guess this is means a family.
I am luckly- my mother in law had only boys, so she adopted me as the daughter she never had. I always hear the ‘mother in law’ stories and am so glad I don’t have one to tell!