Disappointed that my only extended family are completely disinterested in spending holidays together

I’m finally accepting that our holidays won’t include grandparents or extended family. I am estranged from my own family, and if we ever do reconcile I don’t see holidays together happening unfortunately. It‘s devastating because my kids don’t have any other aunts or uncles or cousins nearby. My in-laws are in our lives but consistently go on vacation on holidays. Specifically Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas. My husband told them when we had kids that it would mean a lot to spend holidays together, but they don’t care. They work for the state and have a ton of PTO so it’s not about days off. I know they can do whatever they want, but it makes me sad every time. My kids are 1 and 3 and I just pictured holidays differently for them.

It came up today because my in laws are here for the day, I came home from a doctor appointment and errands and the first and only thing my MIL said to me was ‘we booked a vacation for the end of March to the DR’ and I said oh is that around Easter? And she said yea it includes Easter Sunday. I was like ok and just distracted myself with my kids. The one Easter they came to was a blast, my FIL dressed up as the Easter rabbit and all the great grandmas came. The one Christmas they came to this year, they decided last minute to not bring their other family member they said they were bringing but didn’t tell us until they arrived, and they came in sweatpants for a really nice holiday meal and it just felt disrespectful, even my kids were dressed and they’re toddlers. It‘s just really awkward for some reason.

Posted Feb 7, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

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