My wife and I have been married for over five years. We tied the knot after she finished treatment for breast cancer. Additionally, this marks our first Christmas as a married pair.
My daughter, who is sixteen years old, sometimes acts passive-aggressively toward her stepmom but can generally tolerate her.
My wife has been very understanding and gracious in the past, explaining that my daughter is just being a regular teenager attempting to adjust, but I feel like she’s gotten completely out of hand, particularly when there have been no real penalties for her actions.
Despite the stress that has built up around Christmas, my daughter has surprised us all by choosing to spend the holiday with us instead of her mom, who she claims went to see her future stepdad’s family a few towns over.
Having my kid stay with us was a huge hit with my wife.
While my daughter was engrossed in her phone conversation, she took care of everything while I offered a helping hand here and there.
We had a wonderful day together after I greeted my in-laws. Despite my wife’s apparent distress, Christmas dinner went well. Until I persuaded her, she would not tell me what was wrong. After that, she took out the Christmas present from my daughter and discovered a bra inside.
The kitchen was the scene of my wife’s sobbing breakdown. I was in a rage, so I called my daughter and questioned her about the gift. She denied any wrongdoing, but I insisted that it was meant to embarrass her stepmom and make fun of her sickness.
She attempted to get out of my plan to make her clean up after the visitors left by stating she would do it, but then she turned around and called her stepbrother to come get her and take her to her mom’s place.
At the door, I forcibly removed her stepbrother and ordered her to begin cleaning up right away.
She lost it and started screaming about how inconsiderate it was that my wife was offended by the bra and how terrible it was that I punished her on Christmas.
I stayed out of her screaming bouts and made sure she cleaned everything, even though my wife thought there was a lot.
She wanted me to send my daughter to her mom’s place, but I wouldn’t budge until we finished with punishment.
After my daughter called her stepbrother once more, she eventually left.
She then contacted her mother, who scolded me on social media for spoiling her Christmas.
Our daughter’s actions sparked a debate, and she took her side, accusing me of being harsh and a robot controlled by my wife—even though she begged me to stop thinking about it.
Because of her, my ex-inlaws are now involved and have been harshly condemning my actions.