As the saying goes, any time spent with in-laws can be ‘interesting’ - regardless of how approachable and easy-going they may seem to be and I have certainly found this to be true since getting married last spring. However, having spent the last few years alternating Christmases spent with my family in Ukraine and my fiancé’s family in Leeds, I was surprised when friends and relations started wishing me ‘good luck on my first Christmas with the in-laws’. What could be so different between Christmas with my fiancé’s family and Christmas with my husband’s family?
Apparently, there were to be lots of unexpected changes! As we were now a married couple, my in-laws had decided that we finally needed to have our own space so gave us my grandmother-in-law’s boudoir… The following morning was almost more challenging as I was required to cook a full English breakfast for the whole family as the newest addition to the Smith family. As this was the first time since I was twelve that I had cooked an English breakfast, I had to cook a delicious meal whilst giving the impression that this was a regular occurrence! It took me a while to realise that since I was now a ‘Smith’, I would be treated in a similar manner to the rest of the family and that the hostility shown towards me by the grandmother-in-law was just her regular aggressive behaviour that she exhibited to all Smiths. It also meant however that my bed was warmed up nightly, that I was greeted at every door with a steaming mug of Yorkshire tea and that my glass was always kept topped up with alcohol.
I was grateful to get my feet firmly under t’table (as they say up north) by buying the in-laws better presents than my husband had succeeded in doing for the previous decade, by sweet-talking the grandmother with dementia, and by building cute snowmen at each grandparent’s house. I was also thankful for the reciprocal efforts made by my new mother-in-law as she attempted to assimilate their traditional English Christmas with the international celebrations with which I was more familiar. A Christmas dinner consisting of prawns, Thai-style lemon chicken and home-brewed Glühwein went down a treat and I was equally grateful with her Christmas quiz, children’s party games and offer to take us to midnight mass at one of the oldest and most traditional churches in Leeds.
The week, with its excitements and challenges, was overall a peaceful time with my new in-laws and I was delighted to discover that I’d had a better week than any of my other newly married friends. Time with the in-laws is often ‘interesting’ but that does not mean that it cannot also be incredibly enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment