That's what I was wondering too. My family usually watches as everybody opens one present, and after that everyone's grabbing presents and running around. And in silence? For several hours? If my family was quiet for 5 minutes I would start to worry

Why'd they bother to invite her and make her sit through the crushingly dull tradition of watching everyone silently unwrap presents then? Another thing to think about, for people calling her ungrateful... it's like if somebody invited you around for Christmas dinner. And you got there, and found out you wouldn't be eating. Instead, you had to sit in the corner and watch as the family enjoyed the food and pulled the crackers, and you just had to sit in silence and watch.

at any of my family's celebrations any boyfriend or girlfriend no matter how new they are gets at least a little gift from the family, its a way to include them and make them feel part of the family. Also my family does the opening one by one but we actually talk and laugh, the silence is weird

I agree! That's so boring!

you made a good point with the first paragraph, and you should have stopped there. The world doesn't revolve around her, but being invited to sit and watch 22 other people open presents for three hours isn't exactly my idea of a christmas celebration. And, as you may have noticed, very little of FML's content is actually life *******.

Newsgit is right. But sitting in silence for 3 hours? that's 3 hours she's never going to get back, and can you imagine how awkward that would be ? I don't know how she sat through it. I bet more than half the people on FML (including me), would fake sick to get away . She's not being selfish, she's being human! Which, I'm having doubts your boyfriend's family is =S I can't imagine anyone doing that on Christmas. As someone else mentioned, it would be like getting invited to dinner and being locked in a cage with a muzzle over your mouth, while you watched everyone else have a brilliant time. Sorry if that offends people, but that isn't my idea of a happy, cheery Christmas. =/ xx

22 cousins? Shit they could have each contributed 5 cents and bought her her favorite candy bar! My family has a lot of people to buy for too so we do a gift exchange instead of buying for every single one. Not to say they should change their tradition for her, but if she is going to be included at their christmas and was invited don't you think her boyfriend should have at least put in the effort to wrap something small for her? She should have been warned about this tradition otherwise, and may have chosen to spend Christmas doing something a little more fun.