'AITA for exploding at my husband after he let the kids open Christmas gifts without me?'

A woman recently shared her story on Reddit's "Am I The A**hole" (AITA) forum, asking, "AITA for yelling at my husband after he allowed our kids to open their Christmas gifts without me?"

The OP expressed her anger and frustration after discovering that her husband had allowed their children to open their Christmas presents without her, leaving her feeling deeply upset.

The post has gained significant traction, amassing over 22k likes and approximately 13k comments, with users weighing in on whether the husband's decision was acceptable or if the OP's reaction was justified.

Husband slammed by wife for letting kids open Christmas presents early

The original poster (OP) shared her story on Reddit's popular "Am I The A**hole forum", and it quickly went viral, gathering thousands of upvotes and comments from people eager to share their perspectives.

In the post titled "Kids opened their presents without me", the OP explained her situation, "My husband is usually a great husband and father, but I am so effing pissed right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been this mad. I woke up this morning around 8:30 when I heard the kids running around. I knew they would be eager to open their Christmas presents so I got up immediately."

"I have a lot of trouble sleeping for various reasons so my husband lets me sleep in every morning and watches the kids until I wake up naturally or I have to get up to help get the kids ready for the day. He’s alone with them for half an hour to an hour. He knows what time to wake me up if I oversleep," she wrote.

OP elaborated that her husband usually lets her sleep in due to her sleep struggles, but Christmas morning turned out differently.

She said, "So I come into the living room and there is wrapping paper everywhere. All the presents are already unwrapped and the kids (5 and 7) are playing with them. I immediately started crying and walked back into the bedroom where my sadness also turned into anger, and I started screaming like crazy."

According to OP, her frustration wasn’t simply about unwrapped gifts.

"I am so, so mad. I spent so much time, thinking about what to get the kids, ordering it or driving around to find it in the stores, wrapping them and everything, and I feel like I was completely deprived of the joy of seeing their faces when they open their presents, which is one the best parts of Christmas," she wrote.

Despite her anger, OP’s husband maintained he was only trying to stick to their routine of letting her sleep in. He also recorded the moment for her to watch later. However, OP felt this wasn’t enough.

She wrote, "My husband said he videotaped it. I screamed at him why he either couldn’t make the kids wait, or he could’ve just come and woken me up. He just said “I never wake you up in the morning” I said “it’s fucking Christmas morning. You didn’t think I wanted to watch the kids unwrap the presents” and I called him an asshole."

"He just said sorry, he didn’t say I overreacted. I’m really hurt right now and I don’t even know how to get over it. I don’t feel like doing anything Christmasy today. I’m so disappointed in everybody. I guess this was more of a rant to get this off my chest, but you can certainly tell me if I was the asshole or not. Also, if you have any suggestions on how to mediate my hurt feelings, that would be really great. I hope you all have a merry Christmas," she wrote.

Wife’s Christmas rage over husband letting kids open gifts early ignites online debate

One user commented, "I have serious trouble sleeping and I always have. It doesn't even matter on Christmas. Idc if I've slept an hour, I want to see my kids open their gifts. My wife would never let me miss that. She knows how important it is to me. Considering OP's husband's sheepish response, I'm pretty sure he knows he should have woken her up. This situation is just messed up. I would be so hurt!"

Another agreed, adding, "It makes total sense why you'd be upset, especially when one of the most joyful moments of Christmas—the kids opening their presents—was taken away from you. It’s clear that you put a lot of thought and effort into making the holiday special, and your feelings were totally valid. Your husband didn’t consider how important that moment was for you, and it's good that you both communicated about it afterward and worked through it. It's a tough situation, but it's great that you were able to talk it out and make a plan for next year."

One commenter aptly put it, "Not the a**hole, girl. Like, it’s Christmas, and seeing your kids' faces light up is the best part! Hubby should’ve woken you up for real. But since y’all talked it out and made a plan for next year, it sounds like you handled it maturely. Stay sweet and enjoy the holidays!"

Another wrote, "NTA but, since you're German AND have trouble sleeping (and probably being awake in the morning), I would consider going back to your roots and opening presents on the evening of the 24th. That way you can't miss it and you pass on a bit of your cultural heritage to your kids. That's just a suggestion of course and I know that Ratschläge sind auch Schläge"

"Okay, not gonna lie, I get why you’re mad. Christmas morning is the moment, and you missed it. But it sounds like your hubby didn’t mean to mess up. He just didn’t think, which sucks, but you guys talked it out, and that’s what matters. It’s good that you forgave him, and now you have a plan for next year! You got this, girl. Just try to enjoy the rest of the day," a user wrote.

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