Oh, Christmas.
It’s the happiest time of year.
Apparently.
For weeks on end, we spend hours circling shopping centre car parks and burn half our savings on gifts and seafood all to prepare for one single day – December 25.
But there’s one thing for sure, Christmas Day pretty much never goes perfectly to plan.
From Christmas dinner mishaps to gifts gone wrong, there’s always a chance something will go wrong.
We spoke to Mamamia readers to find the very best Christmas Day horror stories.
Here’s what they had to say:
The new girlfriend.
“I had recently split from my ex, but decided to have Christmas Day together for the sake of our daughter. He brought along his new girlfriend who I didn’t really know. They had been dating for 10 weeks.
“Lunch was a painful disaster. I was in tears most of the day. Later that night I found out from Facebook that they had got engaged. After 10 weeks. We weren’t divorced. It was a horror really.” – Sarah*
No dinner for you.
“I was heavily pregnant with my third, visiting family in Queensland. On Christmas Eve, my mother-in-law starts going through the ‘menu’ for the following day – the only thing on there I can safely eat were the boiled potatoes and green salad.
Too late for me to organise anything nice for myself and fellow pregnant cousin to enjoy eating… so she grandly suggests I could eat a tin of tuna. Steam started coming out of my avid cook, control freak, foodie ears!” – Maddy*
Roast-stealing dog.
“It was my big debut cooking the traditional pork roast and crackle after my mum passed away.
“I went for a shower and came out to package it up and it was gone! ALL OF IT. And there is one smiling slightly guilty labradoodle licking his lips,” – Jenny.
Sick day.
“Last year, my husband and I start feeling queasy in the morning, throwing up by lunch time and missed seeing the whole family and eating any food. Managed to get out of bed for 45 minutes in the evening to open a couple of presents before going back to bed.
“We also had to cancel our big Boxing Day party we were going to host.” – Laura.
Police visit.
“A few years ago on Christmas Day, there was a huge disagreement between two of my uncles just minutes before dinner was set down on the table. The reason behind the fight was so stupid and minuscule that I can’t even remember what they were arguing about.
“Things escalated and both men seemed to get louder and louder until the point that our neighbours called the police. Not only did the police show up, but by the time everything was sorted out, the roast had gone cold.” – Tara*
Slip up.
“My mum lent on the stove and slipped. Her hand was so burnt, she had ring marks on her hand from the stove element. It was horrible and she spent Christmas with her hand in the ice bucket!” – Cassandra.
Cancel the ambulance.
“After Christmas lunch, my Nana went to the bathroom and there was a huge commotion because my Mum and aunties though that she was bleeding from her downstairs region, when at 80 years old, she probably shouldn’t be.
“Shortly after, someone discovered that it probably wasn’t a great idea to buy Christmas decorated toilet paper as the dye ran from the paper. We cancelled the ambulance.” – Renny.
Smashed glass.
“I shattered my kitchen window with a dish washing brush last year trying to swat a fly away from my roast veggies. I seemed to forget for a moment that you shouldn’t smash glass with a hard object.
“Not a good time of year to try and organise for a repairman in a rental.” – Briony.
Knocked out.
“I accidentally knocked my brother out in the morning and he was out of it for most of Christmas Day. That was slightly disastrous.” – Abby.
Goodbye turkey.
“Our cat made a grab for the Christmas turkey. He swiped it from the table but it was about the same size as him so both he and the turkey fell to the floor.” – Anna.
Christmas is ruined.
“It was my first Christmas living with my partner. We both have separated parents so we agreed to have a joint mum dinner at our house. Both mums came and appeared to enjoy the day.
“A week or so after Christmas, my partner mentioned that his mum actually hated Christmas. She said that I stole her Christmas and that it was ruined by the other people she had to share it with. That her Christmas present is time alone (without interruption) with her ‘boy’ (apparently ignoring the concert tickets, pictures and jewellery I had organised for her present but that’s fine…). She even complained about the presence of my mum.
“If a pleasant conversation that I couldn’t catch a word in, a meeting of two single mums and their children to make a little bigger and more joyous Christmas than we each would usually have separately is what she considers a ruined event then that baffles me.
“And like all family Christmas’ turned sour… we’re doing it all again this year!” – Kate*
* Some names have been changed.
Do you have a Christmas Day horror story? Let us know in the comments section below.
Top Comments
My parents, two siblings and I were driving two hours to my grandmothers for Christmas lunch with our car packed full of our favourite gifts from Santa. Half an hour from our destination we were involved in a head-on collision. Everyone but my father was fine. He nearly bled out and severely injured his arm and face requiring a long hospital stay and Physio and we were forced to stay in my grandmother's small house until he could come home.
Another year my aunt barely escaped cyclone Tracey and we spent all Christmas worrying that she'd lost her husband and home.
Lifes too short to celebrate Christmas with shitty people.That womans partner needs to grow a pair and have a chat with his mum
Right, why would you ever invite her to anything ever again? Why would she want to come again if it was really so awful the first time? I hope there’s been some serious conversations about boundaries and so on since last time.