Anyone who has ever attempted the task of hosting the family Christmas dinner will know the sheer stress. Is the turkey going to be too dry? Is everything going to be done on time? Are the kids arguing again?
It’s all quite a lot, isn’t it?
And, of course, while it’s meant to be the most wonderful time of the year, things are rarely ever smooth sailing.
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Well, one mum - who apparently has a long history of ‘ruining the Christmas dinner’ - has been slammed online by her daughter after she ‘forgot to defrost the turkey’. Yikes, you can imagine the carnage can’t you?
Taking to parenting forum Mumsnet, the furious woman recalled the incident, which happened last year: "So my mum ruins Christmas dinner every year. She either buys stuff too early so it goes out of date, burns something, undercooks something, forgets a key ingredient (like the turkey one year!) or forgets to turn the oven on etc etc.
“After many years of 'hilarious' disaster Christmas dinners we stopped going and did our own at home. Last year she kept asking us to go there again. I kept saying no and making excuses but she made me feel guilty and I eventually caved.”
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The woman explained she’d promised her daughter ‘posh stuffing, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets etc’, so the stakes were quite high.
She continued: “My mum said that was no problem, she’d get everything.
“Nearing Christmas I kept asking her 'Have you got the stuffing? Have you got the pigs in blankets? Do you need me to get anything?' She said she had it all under control.
"Two days before Christmas I rang her and ran through the list making sure she’d got everything. She said yes. I asked her if she’d defrosted the turkey - she said she was doing it 'today'.
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“So Christmas Day arrives, we got there - my daughter all excited - my mum says 'I’m so sorry, you’ll never believe what I’ve done'. Already starting to burn up with fury I said 'What'.
"She’d forgotten to take the turkey out of the freezer. I was fuming. My daughter says 'Are we not having Christmas dinner now?' And my mum says 'I’ve got sausages in, will that be ok?'”
Of course, the prospect of eating frozen sausages and mash wasn’t exactly appealing, with the woman explaining her daughter began to get upset.
She went on: “My daughter does not eat sausages and I don’t particularly fancy frozen Richmond sausages on Christmas Day either. My daughter starts getting upset at the thought of sausages. I say 'I’ve got gammon at home, I’ll drive back and get it' my mum says 'Oh, ok … what do you want with it? Mash?'
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"I say 'Just whatever you were doing with Christmas dinner!' She says 'But it’s all frozen - with us not having turkey I didn’t think you’d want the other stuff?'
“So we have no Christmas dinner and you want to compensate with sausage and mash? I was beyond fuming and I still am! I know in the grand scheme of things it’s a non event and over now but I’m still so angry about it! Long history of her doing stuff like this which adds to the annoyance."
After asking fellow parents for advice, many were in agreement and sympathised with her over the situation.
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One said: “Yeah, this goes beyond poor executive function for whatever reason. It's sabotage. Forgot to get the turkey out - what stopped her buying a fresh one or something like beef or gammon to replace it. Sausage and mash is a bizarre p**s-take. I think you should be honest that you won't be going to hers for Xmas day again."
Another accused the mum of being a ‘major procrastinator’, writing: “She's a major procrastinator. I would never trust her to do anything. I know someone just like her who puts the brakes on everything... packing the suitcase five mins before the taxi arrives.. every damn time. Always late for everything when there is no reason to be so and letting folks down massively just like your mum OP.”
Meanwhile, a third said: “I'd be furious too. It's like your DM thinks it's cute that she's so incompetent.”
A fourth added: "This seems beyond absent mindedness. It's like she's deliberately sabotaging herself, or you. I don't know exactly, but there's something going on under the surface here."
The woman has since revealed that this year she took over the Christmas dinner duties and asked her mum not to interfere. Ouch.
Topics: Food and Drink, Parenting, Life, Christmas
Chloe Rowland