25 December 2023 , 07:00
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Christmas is a fun-filled day for some spent feasting, dancing, laughing and being jovial with loved ones. However, one family decided to play a prank on their son’s fiancée and gift her a lump of coal each, which is typically associated with naughty children who didn’t make Santa’s “nice” list. But this did not go down at all well.
Reddit user Virtual_Ad_3893 shared the festive fail on the site, and wrote: “Am I wrong for not wanting coal for Christmas? “This year I went to my fiancé’s house for Christmas. It was my first time going, as we would typically go to my family’s house instead.
“I got a (rather pricey) gift for my fiancé ‘Dan’ related to his hobbies, I got nice gifts for ‘Dan’s’ parents based off of things I’d talked about with them before, and I got a small pack of chocolates for each of Dan’s other relatives (I didn’t know them that well). I wasn’t expecting many gifts from Dan’s relative’s because I didn’t know many of them that well, but I was certainly expecting more than I got.
“At first, I was excited when I saw that there was a big pile of gifts for me. However, once I opened the first one it was just a piece of coal. Everyone laughed, and I just kind of laughed along thinking it was a gag gift and that the other gifts would be different. But every single one turned out to be coal. All 18 of them.”
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Upset and embarrassed the partner “lashed out” , and left the do. The woman continued: “I started to get upset, so I cried and lashed out at Dan. But he calmly explained apparently this is a longstanding tradition in his family where they gift coal to newcomers who are celebrating Christmas with them for the first time. He explained that it’s just easier that way since all the relatives who might not know the newcomer well don’t have to stress over finding a gift, and it’s a fun experience for the newcomer as well.
“I told Dan I couldn’t believe I skipped my own family’s celebration for this and left. But now Dan and some of his family are blowing up my phone saying I embarrassed him in front of his relatives and that I made it awkward for everyone."
Reddit users jumped to her defence, as one commented: “You skipped your family‘s Christmas for this, and they shouldn’t have done this to you without a warning or your consent. Just because they enjoy this tradition doesn’t mean it can‘t be hurtful to you, and they clearly ruined the occasion and then gave you a stupid explanation.
Especially your fiancé is inconsiderate in all of this, you deserve better! This was legit humiliation.” Another added: “This was a thoughtless and mean spirited thing to do. You were so thoughtful and kind to them. I am so sorry, hope you had a happier time with your family.
Tell your fiancé you need time to think about this. This was a bad joke. Block all others, you don't need their continued negativity. You did nothing wrong, it's totally on them.” Another described the treatment as “sickening”, and we agree.
They weighed in: “Not to mention it’s been drilled into most of us since we were children that you get coal for Christmas when you’re bad. A family gifting coal to someone they barely know is in such bad taste that it’s almost sickening.”