People defend family member who is withholding Christmas presents over prank

‘What is wrong with your family?’

A Redditor received the support of internet-users after they explained why they are continuing to withhold their family’s Christmas gifts.

On 2 January, the individual candidly confessed their holiday troubles in the popular Reddit thread, Am I The A**hole. They started by explaining how they haven’t been close to their family for a while, but recently reconnected with them after buying a new house close by. “My family have all been pranksters and at times entitled, my whole life,” they admitted.

Fortunately for the Redditor, their job has allowed them to cover monthly costs for their house and still have extra for personal savings and spending. This year, they decided to splurge on holiday gifts for their family.

“For gifts, I got them all good stuff. Like tablets for the kids with built in DVD players. Sports memorabilia and camping stuff for my dad, brother and uncle. Specific antiques, jewelry and appliances for my mom, SIL and aunt,” the original poster said.

Thinking their family would try to pull at least one prank, the cautious individual asked them to be on their best behaviour because they were bringing their girlfriend over for the festivities. To the Redditor’s dismay, they did not listen.

“Everything was going smoothly. And I warned my family, no pranks on me or my girlfriend. AT ALL! They swore none would happen. But they could not resist,” the user proclaimed. “We got attacked by silly string from multiple fronts. That stuff reeks and gets everywhere. Somehow we powered through that.”

On top of all that, their family’s presents weren’t in the same realm as what they had bought. “Then came the gifts. I wasn’t expecting much. But none of them even tried,” the individual noted. “I got dollar store cooking utensils, a pair of insanely ugly holiday socks that I confirmed were also dollar store, and a pink hat. And that was just from my parents.”

“They all kept snickering and recording me as I unwrapped random junk. One being a used mirror to a car I no longer own,” they continued. “And the one gift there to my girlfriend was a bottle of fart spray. I told them I’d had enough, and they’d agreed to no pranks. Long story short, they weren’t just gag gifts. They were the only presents there for us.”

In light of their family’s unnecessary actions, the upset Redditor packed up the presents they’d bought for them and refused to hand them over. Their family did not respond well – they begged the original poster to give them their gifts.

“I told them all that they didn’t change one bit. And they could kiss all of that stuff goodbye. We bagged everything and stormed out,” they added. “The family keep calling and messaging me that I’m being greedy, I couldn’t take a joke, couldn’t think of anything to get me, the kids are crying.”

Looking to gather the opinions of those with no personal ties to the situation, the Reddit user asked the internet if people thought they were in the wrong for withholding the presents. Most responders didn’t think so.

“It’s not like you didn’t warn them. Time to go not close with them again,” one person wrote, while another added: “Proud of you for following through on your well stated boundaries. You deserve better.”

One user commented: “What is wrong with your family? A prank is only funny if appreciated by everyone involved and you warned them that you didn’t want to partake in anything like that.”

“You did the right thing by taking away their presents and while there’s not much hope for the ‘adults’ involved, maybe the kids might learn a valuable lesson about f**king around and finding out,” they continued.

“What a sick depressing prank that was. They are inconsiderate and it’s better if you end the relationship,” a fourth proclaimed.

Another individual remarked: “One problem with pranksters is that when you ask them not to play any pranks or mess around, this generally ensures that they will double the pranks as they know it will get a rise out of you.”