Mom Finds Herself At Odds With Her New HB After Her Teenage Daughter "Ruined" Xmas By Telling Her Step-Siblings Santa Isn't Real

Spoiler: The teen is an absolute brat

Kylin

• Published in Interesting
• January 2, 2023

For those with young children, Christmas comes with an extra boost of magic and holiday cheer. Between Santa, his reindeer, Christmas lights, and yard inflatables, Elf on the Shelf (for those who don’t think there’s enough to do during the month of December), there’s a ton of excitement.

Many parents do their best to keep the magic and excitement going for as long as possible. Hiding presents, eating cookies left out for Santa, staying up all hours on Christmas Eve to stuff stockings and fill out the presents underneath the Christmas tree.

It doesn’t hurt that the Santa myth also doubles as a month-long (or longer) threat for children to be on their best behavior. Whatever the reason, parents dread the day that their children eventually find out that Santa was made up all along.

Kids don’t typically figure it out between the ages of 7-10, but sometimes the secret is ruined before then. Either by accident or by a Grinch who purposefully decides to spoil the fun.

What happens if the Grinch is your new stepdaughter and tells your 4 and 6-year-old kids the truth behind Santa? One Redditor turned to AITA for this very scenario: her 17-year-old daughter intentionally spilled the cookies to her new step-siblings in a rebellious act of revenge.

OP’s husband completely blew up when he learned the news, and his proposed punishment may end up fracturing the newly blended family. Keep scrolling to read the full story and see how Redditors reacted.

OP shares that she's been married to her new husband for a little over a year, and they both have kids from previous relationships

OP's admits her daughter, Ann has been going through a rebellious phase, and has been grounded recently

While OP was out recently, her MIL was stuck with a flat tire and her husband forced Ann into babysitting while he went to go help

Husband was home not too long after, only to find his young children in tears because Ann told them Santa wasn't real

OP's husband was completely livid, and wants to not only return Ann's presents, but send her away to her dad's for the holiday

OP got Ann's side of things, and she was understandably frustrated with being forced to babysit when she's already being punished for other misdeeds

OP tried to talk more with her husband about the issue and he refused to budge on his position

OP thinks that if her husband had just brought the kids along, none of this would have happened

There's a lot to unpack here

Husband isn't responsible for Ann ruining the Santa secret

OP needs to consider her new family as a whole, not just Ann

Everyone sucks in this situation

Parents definitely use punishment as leverage

Ann doesn't owe her step-dad babysitting because he married her mom, but that's definitely part of being a family unit

Is a flat tire an emergency?

Ann is definitely an A-hole, but clearly not the only one

But the discourse is spicy

Step-dad's attitude overall is terrible

Could Ann be rebelling because of how step-dad has been treating her?

OP has raised an entitled brat

Only the young kids are free from the A-hole judgment

The kids were just cannon fodder

Step-dad doesn't seem to have much respect for their "blended family"

Having small children makes *everything* a million times more difficult

It seems like OPs husband doesn't like her daughter

OP needs to find some sort of compromise with her husband and not try to ignore her daughters fault

There may be more to this story than we're getting

There's no getting that Christmas magic back

Family counseling sounds like a great idea

They make a good point - step-dad *knew* the daughter wasn't responsible enough to watch the younger two

There needs to be more sympathy from everyone

This conflict is definitely one heck of a doozy. I can only hope they were able to resolve it without excluding the 17-year-old from their family Christmas, but OP’s account has since been suspended, so we may never know.

What would you have done in this situation? Would you go scorched earth like OP’s husband and completely ban the teen from Christmas, or would you try to find a middle ground?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Kylin