<p>jym, I noticed that part of the comment. “We don’t believe in religion.” Well, maybe you don’t believe in God, just as I don’t believe in Santa Claus. But you do, and this is a big deal for you, so they should come and be respectful. They’re not going for themselves; they’re going for you. You wouldn’t have invited them if you didn’t want them there.</p>
<p>Congrats, sherpa!! Lets be fair-- you did a HUGE favor for me and went way out of your way to get lift tickets for a ski resort and send them to me. How incredibly kind was that? It was the least I could do to drive over and scope out those places for you, though I probably should not have picked rush hour to do it :)</p>
<p>Congrats again to Mariah!!</p>
<p>Exactly, VeryHappy. I think she had no clue how offensive her comment was about not setting foot in the synagogue (and she is jewish but her DH is not). But THEN to have the gaul to ask to come to the party, stay at our house and bring their dog for the weekend? Well, at least in THAT case I had the strength to say NO.</p>
<p>More in the category of “outrageous outrage”, but when all the siblings got together to throw FIL a 75th surprise birthday in his own (local) backyard, casually catered, etc., DS, then 14, wanted to bring his girlfriend. I said it was fine, there would be plenty for everyone and she wasn’t a big eater. </p>
<p>SIL, who lives on the opposite coast, was outraged the gf was allowed to come when her own kids couldn’t bring their friends, and we were, after all, paying $X/person to the caterer. Not to mention that the guest list had been cut due to the monster size of the extended family. She muttered about it all afternoon.</p>
<p>No one else thought it was a big deal.</p>
<p>My inlaws thought that I was unreasonable for not wanting them to bring their two dogs, one was a Great Dane, and their cat into my house. They had traveled by car and brought the animals with them. So the cat proceeds to scratch at my new sofa. Made the visit miserable. </p>
<p>Another rude guest: As I was showing off my new flooring to my BIL, he intentionally poured red wine on it and then smirked when I ran to get a towel to clean it up. It left no stain but still…</p>
<p>We once went to a housewarming several hours from our home. My husband and our kids (one a baby), mother, brother and sister with her family. We arrived later than the local guests and all the seats in the garage were taken, so after standing in the rain for a while, we had the audacity to ask if there was a dry place we could sit. Have never lived it down since because the host took it to mean that we thought we were better than the other guests. We didn’t. We were wet. I mean it’s not like we asked to go into the actual house or anything. The nerve of us!</p>
<p>Sorry, xaniamom, but I agree with you SIL on that one. I have a hard time with family reunion-tpye events, where kids can’t spend time with family members. It seems like parents are using friends/girlfriends/boyfriends to bribe them to attend these events.</p>
<p>Why would some one have a house warming party in their garage? Isn’t one of the points of having a house warming party so guests can see your new home!</p>
<p>
[QUOTE<em>]
We don’t believe in religion so we won’t set foot in a synagogue. But we’d love to come to the party. But we bring our dog with us everywhere we go. Can we stay with you and bring the dog? She isn’t much trouble"
[/QUOTE</em>]
</p>
<p>Tried to quote this, we will see if it worked or a fail.</p>
<p>We were so honored to be invited to a Bar Mitzvah a couple of years ago. What an experience, I can’t even describe how lucky we were to attend. It was very special, in fact we were told that it was an esp. nice Bar Mitzvah but we wouldn’t know the difference. </p>
<p>We are not Jewish and not religious at all. But I’ve always encouraged my children to be inviting and go to their friends religious services. You can learn so much.</p>
<p>Seems my quote was an epic fail. Oh well. I posted this before I read the second page. So amazed at how some people can act.</p>
<p>deb, next time use [ quote] without the space in brackets and [/ quote] without space in brackets…</p>
<p>
It was a center hall colonial that they had just built. All the guests were allowed to walk through the center hall from the front to the back door but not enter any rooms. They should have had velvet ropes.</p>
<p>Wow, zoosermom,that is a truly odd non-open “open house”! And to think you had to travel a long way and get wet to boot!</p>
<p>My D and I once traveled to a shower 2.5 hours from home. We showed up at the time the shower said it was starting and apparently we were late. Everyone was annoyed that we actually didn’t show up hours earlier. I said, well in some places, it’s rude to show up early. I don’t make an effort to attend this relative’s things anymore.</p>
<p>It was for my brother and his wife and we didn’t know it would be like that. They lived near her very large extended family, with whom we have always had a warm relationship, and there weren’t enough seats for as many people as showed up. We were last, so there was nowhere left to sit. There was no way in heck that my SIL was letting kids into that house. When my niece got married in SIL’s backyard, she wouldn’t allow people into the house and made all the guests (maybe 25) walk down to the location of the reception a couple of blocks away. Such hospitality!</p>
<p>My SIL is my sister’s personality twin. They are also close in age. People who don’t know all of us think sister and SIL are the actual siblings.</p>
<p>zoosermom, that is bizarre.</p>
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</p>
<p>Thank you! A friend of my D’s goes to college in California and her mother now calls it Cali. I was thinking “really?”</p>
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</p>
<p>Help me understand something. I heard that the jewish faith was transferred from the mother to the children, forcing some to convert to judaism? </p>
<p>Is that an urban legend fueled by ignorance?</p>
<p>
Just another happy event in White Trashville.</p>
<p>Our wedding was a " No kids" zone. Invites went out addressed to the adults in the household. I got four requests from different people asking if they could bring the kids. One request was, “Well, if they can’t come, can you set up something for them like a fun room in the hotel with a babysitter?” …NO…two of these families overruled me and brought them anyway. The other two brought the kids to the church only. I saw so many wedding receptions filled with kids on the dance floor that I vowed when it was my turn not to have kids there. It was an elegant event for GROWN UPS, in spite of the uninvited guests!</p>
<p>The party in the garage story reminds me of a former employer’s house party we were invited to. We were not allowed to go into the house. At the time, my D was a baby and I needed to change a diaper, I approached the patio door with infant in tow and the MIL, who was guarding the house, blocked the door and asked what I wanted. Annoyed, she let me in. To make matters worse, I had to fumble in the bathroom to change the diaper and my D stood up and knocked down all the little shampoo bottles that lined the tub, making a great racket. You would think with all the $ the exec made, they would get a storage cabinet for the obvious hotel samples. When one of the managers’ wives saw what I had gone through, she put a blanket on the lawn and changed her baby’s diaper right there. We all laughed about it. </p>
<p>Another story. Years ago, when we moved from the city to the country, we mentioned to our old city friends we were taking a week off to enjoy our new house and countryside. They thought it was a great idea and since they had the same week off, they decided they would join us and so they invited themselves to our house. We were not thrilled but we did enjoy their company and we had a guest room. They showed up with dog in tow. Then the nightmare started. We wanted to go to the county lake but no dogs were allowed. They said that was a bad idea since they could not leave their dog home alone in a strange house. We also had a dog and never had these issues. Then again, we did not take vacations in people’s houses with our dog. We had to take their dog everywhere and had to be home early for the dog’s dinner and walk time. Any dog accidents in the house were of course mine and not theirs. As such, they watched us clean up giving advice on how to properly house train a dog. My dog had been house trained since we brought her home. Then we wanted to bbq some burgers. Their child did not eat burgers, only hot dogs. Can we go get some? Did I mention, they brought nothing but themselves to our house. They needed clean towels every night and a change of linen the second night. They wanted rice instead of pasta, pork chops instead of chicken etc… Finally, I started getting rude and they went home early claiming their child did not feel good but not before they used our washer and dryer to do their laundry Never again.</p>