Instead of a warm holiday family occasion, my x's new husband got drunk and started yelling at me and the rest of the story is more like the Grinch so lets see if I can re-live the nightmare.
The plan was that x was going to be here in Orlando today, tomorrow and leave Thursday night with my daughter. My brother is arriving tomorrow and we were going to celebrate with presents and dinner tomorrow. We waited and did nothing on Christmas here.
This was also my opportunity to meet my x's new H. He had bushy hair and beard of gray and brown with a tattered cowboy hat and large belly. It was cool at first, but I noticed he didn't let his beers get warm and the alcohol would soon be talking.
At one point my son's girlfriend asked me to take her to buy one more present for my son. We were only gone a half an hour. When I returned, my x and daughter were carrying stacks of gifts FROM my house. I asked where they were going, and they said they were taking them to stepdad's car across the street. They had decided to open them at the hotel instead of at home. And x made it clear I wasn't invited.
When I reminded her that we had said we would open presents tomorrow, she said she was changing her plans and leaving tonight. When I said that I don't mind her leaving early, but that we need to open the presents here, my daughter agreed, but x decided to compromise on opening them from the neighbor's front yard on the trunk of stepdad's car. I said no, and x took our daughter and stormed away with my gifts.
Yes, x stole perhaps half of our Christmas presents from under our tree and locked them in her trunk. I took the ones my daughter was holding, but I never was able to get the others back. When I asked to get them back, that is when the x and D started crying and the stepdad took over. I made the mistake of threatening police, knowing I wouldn't do it, and my D jumped my case for that.
Then the x's H started threatening to call cops, apparently for making his wife cry. He said he knew nothing about a 3-day stay and x looked me directly in the eye and told him there were no such plans. He started to get loud and I realized that there wasn't much left of this Christmas to be salvaged.
I walked away to my house just as my son (18) walked up and asked to know what was going on. D and son's girlfriend witnessed SF's tyrade against me, but I had to tell my son about it. He said he would go and talk sense into his Mom because he definitely wanted to open presents here as a family.
Soon he came back home, saying that he was not able to talk his mother or SF into opening presents with us, but they would wait a short time for us to do so. After a half an hour, x was on the the line complaining to hurry it up. We only salvaged perhaps half the presents, plus some weren't wrapped yet and I hadn't filled the stockings, so it didn't take long.
For the sake of restoring some sense of non-conflict, I went over to the neighbor's house and apologized for my "error", saying that I must not have properly communicated the week's plans. I said nothing about the stolen gifts. The SF shook my hand in silence at the apology and walked out with one last minor jab. I just waited to be sure it was x that was driving, not the drunk SF.
They asked my son to follow them in my car to the hotel to open the rest of the gifts, and he has been following them for the past 3 to 4 hours, yet they have not stopped. My son's GF called and they are getting mad and scared and ready to turn around. It's midnight and they are on a lonely road near the gulf coast. What a mess of dysfunction.
So the Grinch really CAN steal Christmas.