Some day I'll stop being weirded out by the ability of people to locate all the blame for something an m/f couple does on the woman. But not today. And yeah, the phrasing is genuinely bizarre. Even if the kids aren't the brother's, referring to her family of five when one of those family members is presumably the LW's brother. It makes me wonder if the LW didn't change details around to disguise the people involved and got things mixed up. This would all make more sense if SiL was LW's husband's sister.
That said, this could very easily be me being complained about. Because we live about 200 miles from where I grew up, and where my mother, older brother, and younger sister (and their families) still live, we have to travel for holidays. Even if we were closer, hosting wouldn't be an option for reasons of us having cats and them having allergies, but the simple reality is that they wouldn't visit anyway. I hear a lot about how impractical it would be for them to travel, with reasons ranging from obligations to spouses' families to work obligations, but apparently, those are things we're supposed to work around.
Ahem. Slightly bitter.
We've generally been assigned some kind of contribution, although my Mom usually just gets it for us. And I've sometimes sensed a little, "you guys aren't pulling your weight" from the two who do the hosting. Yeah, well, we're also paying gas money, taking days off work, paying a pet sitter, and all sorts of things, not to mention the labor involved in traveling. No, we don't have to deal with the house and food prep of hosting, but we're also always on someone else's territory.
So, yeah, brother should bring a bottle of wine or something tasty from a bakery, but I'm a little underwhelmed at LW's righteous indignation. Possibly I am over-identifying here.
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That said, this could very easily be me being complained about. Because we live about 200 miles from where I grew up, and where my mother, older brother, and younger sister (and their families) still live, we have to travel for holidays. Even if we were closer, hosting wouldn't be an option for reasons of us having cats and them having allergies, but the simple reality is that they wouldn't visit anyway. I hear a lot about how impractical it would be for them to travel, with reasons ranging from obligations to spouses' families to work obligations, but apparently, those are things we're supposed to work around.
Ahem. Slightly bitter.
We've generally been assigned some kind of contribution, although my Mom usually just gets it for us. And I've sometimes sensed a little, "you guys aren't pulling your weight" from the two who do the hosting. Yeah, well, we're also paying gas money, taking days off work, paying a pet sitter, and all sorts of things, not to mention the labor involved in traveling. No, we don't have to deal with the house and food prep of hosting, but we're also always on someone else's territory.
So, yeah, brother should bring a bottle of wine or something tasty from a bakery, but I'm a little underwhelmed at LW's righteous indignation. Possibly I am over-identifying here.