Christmas is supposed to be a time for joy, togetherness, and maybe a little relaxation.

But for one woman, the holiday has turned into an exhausting, never-ending series of TikTok-inspired games—where participation isn’t optional.

After years of forced fun, she’s finally set a boundary, but now the family is in an uproar.

Check out what happened.

AITA for requesting Christmas to be toned down or I wouldn’t attend next year?

I 24F just got back home after spending the Christmas holiday with my family.

Now I love seeing and spending time with my family because I only see them a few times a year.

However, in recent years my mom has started implementing Christmas games after we open presents.

I would not mind if it was a long board or card game, but its usually about 20+ tiktok game challenges my mom or sister has seen online.

Last year we played games for 7 hours and this year we ran out of time on Christmas day so it carried over into boxing day.

Nothing like HOURS of games with your family during a big holiday gathering.

I’m not one for long social events or gatherings so usually by hour 2 of playing I’d just like to relax or even just decompress by myself.

But participation is mandatory and I will not be left alone.

I’ve tried explaining in the past that I get overstimulated and I’d prefer to be able to have the option to bow out or just spend family time relaxing together but I always get painted as being a spoilsport or a complainer for wanting to ruin family time.

I’m officially done after this year I’d like to spend my vacation days actually relaxing and not have to take extra days off just to recover from all the chaos and noise.

Vacation = RELAXING.

I called my mom to talk about it since hopefully having her one on one would help since I wouldn’t be ganged up on by my sister or dad.

I told her that while a lot of the games are fun its just too much at once for me.

I would like for next Christmas to just be more chill with less games or at the very least understand and accept that I need to take a break.

It did not go well she thinks I don’t appreciate the time and effort it takes to set up and get supplies for each activity and that because I see them so rarely that I shouldn’t need to take time to myself.

Well, who are you to speak, Mom?!

I basically told her that I have an open invitation from my partner to spend Christmas with her family, next year and I will be taking her up on that if something doesn’t change.

She hung up on me and now I have my sister, Dad and grandmother blowing up my phone about how I hurt my moms feelings and that I’m being an a****** for not being appreciative.

Nothing says “holiday spirit” like guilting someone into forced fun, right?

Reddit agrees: he is not the AH.

This person makes the point that everyone’s tolerance for socialization is different.

This person says good on him for communicating…not her fault Mom isn’t being understanding.

This person has some decent advice.

Apparently, in this household, Christmas cheer is mandatory, and opting out is the ultimate betrayal.

This sounds like an awful lot of togetherness.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.