^^^ I feel you on this. I come from a family who has always been very low key about birthdays and holidays. I married into a family who goes all out for everything. Even Mother's Day. I turned the big 5-0 earlier this month and had there not been extenuating circumstances (my FIL having major back surgery that took two days to do) my birthday would have been a circus I wouldn't have wanted to be invited to. My MIL is a wonderful woman with a big heart but she can go a bit crazy with the celebrations that make me quite uncomfortable.

I hate that my FIL had the surgery but I'm not sad it was just me and my husband for my birthday. Maybe you need to talk to your wife and tell her you appreciate her but you will decide how you spend your day. I've had to be pretty firm with my MIL in the past. Thankfully my husband backed me up on it which helped.

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