Once, I told my aunt (on my dad's side) she was being a bitch because my mom came in town for my cousin's wedding (not my aunt's kid, her brother's kid) and she had everyone over to her house after but told my mom she wasn't allowed to come in front of everyone at the bar the reception was in. It was also my younger cousins' birthday (also not her kids, her sister's kids) and my mom had brought them both presents all the way from Chicago to Texas. She wouldn't even allow me to drive over with my mom and meet the twins outside so mom could tell them she loved them and give them the presents.
My dad was pissed because my aunt ended up ruining the whole night by going on and on about how dare I say that to her. First he tried to blame me for ruining the night, eventually he understood after I pointed out to him that actually no, she had. Because all I did was call her out for her hateful behavior toward my mom. She ruined everyone's night by turning the whole night into The Poor Pitty Wanda Show.
Then 8 months later. (I had not spoken to my aunt since then, got over it that night even, did not care at all, didn't think about it. Moved on) My aunt decided Thanksgiving was at hers this year, everyone was ready to go over. Sides and drinks and desert had already been dropped at her house the night before. I woke up at 8am to a text from her saying I wasn't welcome at her home for family thanksgiving if I didn't apologize to her for my calling her a bitch one time over text 8 months ago for being a bitch to my mom and excluding her from a family event by throwing it at her house and telling her she wasn't welcome.
And when I showed my dad, I wasn't even mad. He tried to tell me "fuck that you're coming with us" and I told him it's actually fine, I didn't really want to be around her anyway, she's not nice and being at her house is boring because it was like being stuck on the sidelines of a tennis match (between two unhinged narcissistic skinny bigoted white ladies) where my aunt and my stepmom competed for aplomb and attention (they expected silent spectators, heads on a swivel, because if anyone else tried to have a conversation, they would just get louder until everyone gave up, shut up and paid attention to them again). I tried to tell him to just go with my brother, stepmom and step brothers. My little brother said that if I was staying home, he wasn't going either.
My dad called my aunt, told her she was being a bitch, and that if she didn't get off her high horse, it's thanksgiving, you don't get to exclude anyone from the family gathering, then we weren't going and she could keep all the food we bought, he'd go to Walmart before they closed and buy a ham and some potatoes and we'd make our own dinner at home.
So we went to Walmart and bought a ham and some potatoes and stuffing mix and green bean casserole ingredients and I cooked thanksgiving dinner at home.
I had a fucking GREAT day. First time I ever felt like my dad stuck up for me and put me and my feelings first.
He did kind of ruin it later, after all day of fielding my aunt's pissed off texts and calls, because she was embarrassed after she had to explain to the rest of our family where we were and everyone told her she was wrong and my grandma told her she should be ashamed of herself, he ended up trying to tell me "you ruined thanksgiving." I laughed and said, "try again." And he said, "you both did" and I said, "No I didn't, I had a great thanksgiving. We had a great meal, you watched your football, and I actually felt like you cared about me and respected my feelings and would have my back and stand up for me today. I think Wanda ruined her own thanksgiving. And she's trying to ruin yours too, why are you letting her?"
And he conceded the point.
