It’s a holiday week in America, so all the drama of my family is coming around again. I don’t wanna go all r/AITA about it because who the fuck cares. Anyway, my partner and I don’t really being around my brother’s in-laws. His partner has a two sisters, each with multiple kids. All the in-laws’ kids and my nibling (my brother’s kid) hang out together all the time. Same school for a few of them and my brother’s MIL watches them all at the same time a couple days a week. Honestly, they’re fine people, okay even. My partner and I just don’t jive with them. We have no relationship with these people other than them being related to my brother’s spouse.

But that’s the thing, they are my brother’s family. So it kinda bums me out that he habitually invites all of his in-laws to my parents’ for holidays. Often neither he nor my parents will telegraph that the in-laws are coming. One time all my brother’s in-laws came to one of my kid’s birthdays. Granted my kid’s birthday is near a holiday, but my parents agreed to host and planned for my kid to have their birthday celebration. We wanted it to just be “our” family.

To complicate things more, over time my brother’s kid has become a bit of a jerk. They’re bossy and kind of mean. My kids have wanted to see their cousin less and less over the past year. So my partner and I have to prepare our kids to be around their cousin. We were just informed, today, that my brother’s in-laws are going to be at my parent’s house for the 4th of July. To avoid a lot of consternation, my partner and I have made other plans. Which of course has caused a whole slue of drama in the family. Really fun.