Niece & Nephew gift help

[Ksandra]

Sy my Niece (almost 1) and Nephew (almost 3) bdays are coming soon and I need some help dealing with gifts. (Trust me this gets pretty complicated).

I need to give some backstory so you can see where my problem liess.


First off, important to note, my sister and my parents live in CT and I live in Cali so things are long distance for me.

Back in early December my sister had a little fight with my parents. Basically my sister (Mary) said my parents were giving the kids too many gifts and didn't want that to make Mary's Christmas gifts seem less important. Now I guess they kinda made up after that but I wasn't involved. I wasn't able to get to visit them until after Christmas, so I sent out gifts instead.

Come January when I come to visit I see the gift I gave my nephew and asked "Will who did you get that from?" He said "Santa." Before I could correct him my sister cut me off and said "we said that one came from Santa." Turns out, my parents gift (which was about 200$) also "came from Santa." I was a little upset by this because basically as far as Will understood, only his parents and Santa got him anything. Though this irritated me a little I just took a deep breath since, after all, it was Christmas (at least the spirit), and Will was too young to understand why this would be a bad thing.

However, two months later my sister got into a huge fight with my parents over the gifts and how much they spend on them, amongst other things, and basically said "you won't see the kids again till their 16 and decide to drive out to visit you."


First off, at this point I feel this is all bullshit, and is the last in many many issues my sister has caused. I tried calling her to see if I could get Mary to talk to our parents again, but then she started with her lying. I don't mean this as an insult but that I seriously think my sister is a pathological liar. She once told a friend of mine (who she had never met previously) that she was gang raped when she was in middle school, in attempts to get my friend to feel like I am a jerk for not pittying my sister. She also claimed that my Father beat the shit out of her before a job interview (when she was 27 years old), and how to go to the interview with two black eyes. This is how she justifies her not getting the job, when I know he never hit her.


Anyways she started lying to me and saying things I know my parents never did, I called her on it and said "even if they were lying you lie too and you need to let it go." She screamed at me on the phone and said the same she told my parents (I won't see the niece and nephew till their 16).

This was over a month ago.


So now of course here is my delimma. I love my neice and nephew to death. I don't want them growing up thinking their aunt didn't care about them, and just ran away from them. I want to be able to get them something, but I know either two things will happen. If I send them gifts my sister will either claim they are from her, or throw them away. I've know her long enough to know this is what she will do. And I cannot hand the gifts to them personally, as I live on the other side of the country.

I could not stress this enough that this whole situation has created a lot of sadness for me. When I was living in CT I babysat Will everyday (my neice wasn't born at the time). He is so very important to me, and it is terrible to me that my sister has forced him out of my life.

So I ask you bg, what would you do? I have thought of getting them savings bonds (like I would hold and send them a certificate so they know I have them), but they are so young, they won't know what a bond is. But in the end when they are older I might be able to explain why they never got anything from me. Any other ideas or thoughts would be great though.

[Ohemgee]

Autograph your graduation picture
Then Frame it
Then wrap it.

There ya go.

[Intense]

Id send them gifts anyways. What the mother chooses to do with that is out of your control; at least you had good intentions, made the effort and did the right thing.

[zimzy]

Get them kool picture books (pop up books are awesome) and sign the insides:

From Uncle Pete (With big friendly text/not in pencil!)

[Mizango]

Thats a tough position to be in Ksandra but I like the book idea. They last a LONG time and when they read it they think about you directly. Like Zimzy just said, write your name in Sharpie or marker with a nice, loving "thinking of you" message.

Trust me, that book will be around much longer than a simple fad toy that they will play with now but will end up giving to Goodwill or something in the next year when its played out or broken. Good luck with your gifts and it sucks that this particular situation has to pose such a roadblock for you guys.

[Shuemue]

Call Montel?

[Elcura]

Kill the sister and claim the kids as your own.

Id send them gifts anyways. What the mother chooses to do with that is out of your control; at least you had good intentions, made the effort and did the right thing.

Or just do this and wait for the shitstorm to calm down.

[Ksandra]

Get them kool picture books (pop up books are awesome) and sign the insides:

From Uncle Pete (With big friendly text/not in pencil!)

I never even thought of this, great idea! :D See this is why I ask /bg/

Kill the sister and claim the kids as your own.

Id send them gifts anyways. What the mother chooses to do with that is out of your control; at least you had good intentions, made the effort and did the right thing.

Or just do this and wait for the shitstorm to calm down.

Sadly this is a shitstorm that has been building for about 5 years now. I doubt it's ever going to calm down.


Thank you everyone ^^ I'll buy the books tomorrow~

[aurik]

Trade in your sister for a newer model.

[Furtwangler]

Trade in your sister for a newer model.

qft, how selfish/snobby can you be to lie about who gives you kids stuff, and then shun the rest of your family from them. I'd like sharpy a little message or something in the books that maybe the mother would look over so the kid knows it's from you.

[Senoska]

1: Is your sister hot?

2: I agree with the book thing, best idea so far

3: your sister is a bitch, not because she blocked you from seeing the kids, but blocked the kids from seeing you, and their grandparents. What a selfish jerk.

[evilbau]

If you are going so far as to buy savings bonds, I suggest opening a 529 account in their name. It is type of tax-advantaged account that has a lot of flexibility and advantages. It is similar to a Roth IRA but meant for education expenses. My sister has set those up for her kids, my mom has set up some for them too, and I have also (I don't think my niece and nephew will ever have to worry about college expenses lol). With the way the economy is, I wouldn't be surprised if savings bonds don't even match inflation soon.

[Kumbai]

The books are a great idea for sentimental value~ I have a box of books in my attic from aunties and uncles from when I was young~ But the saving bonds are a great idea too... mine payed out recently and it helped get me a car which is great~

Go with what ya thinks best, but two great ideas.

[Creeps]

Give them the best present ever and kill their overbearing, crappy parents

Edit: Stop putting "~" at the end of your sentences, tool

[Intense]

Give them the best present ever and kill their overbearing, crappy parents

Edit: Stop putting "~" at the end of your sentences, tool

Tildes are the new periods!

[Kumbai]

Leave my ~s outa this;;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

[Lbelle]

Your sister really confuses me. I pray that my parents will be so over-devoted to my kids when I have them, as I think that could be nothing but a good thing. Good luck with the books!

[Metah]

Write "Santa's not real" in the book you send them