Went to buy presents for kids whose parents can ' t afford Christmas presents , dropped the gifts off , went to my dads to help him build a TV unit , away to go get a massage as I have a sore shoulder , then I have mixed martial arts class and then going to play witcherbattlefield until my eyes bleed . 710 day . <| sep |> You did not ruin this holiday . Please don ' t put this on you . If a stranger at school acted like this it wouldn ' t be okay . Don ' t let the fact she is family influence this . I speak only from my experience but it hurts so much because your life has been spend walking on eggshells and trying to read your mom to figure out what ' s going on . And it ' s always crazy . I remember my Nmom asked if we wanted pizza for dinner and we were all talking so we just said yeah that sounds great . Cue a multihour melt down about how we didn ' t deserve food and she wouldn ' t be treated like a slave . She overreacts constantly and it ' s fucking exhausting . You have the power I know it doesn ' t feel like it a lot . You know she isn ' t normal and won ' t respond to normal behavior . Practice the dead eye look . When she belittles you fix those dead eyes on her and don ' t react . Think about how Game of thrones is going . Play the alphabet game I tried to list states , movies , or cars mentally going through the alphabet . Or look at your mom and imagine what the mailperson or your friend would think of her as she insults her child needlessly . She is lower than dirt and you know it . Don ' t let this garbage person get to you ! See if there are any options to stay on campus during breaksholidays . I was able to stay for most holidays except like Christmas . This is a hug from me to you . It won ' t always be awesome but you know you have to get her out of your life . That is a big first step that many struggle with . Ps Keep an eye on your brother . He will need you to help navigate your Nmom too . Be allies and don ' t let her play your guys against each other . Edit I am thankful for paragraph breaks lol .