At Christmas, it can be awkward when a present doesn't quite land as you'd intended. You've bought your mum another scarf even though she already has a dozen, your father-in-law a bottle of whiskey when he's been sober for 20 years, and your sister a One Direction poster forgetting that phase ended 10 years ago.
But spare a thought for one fella whose gift inadvertently and irreversibly reshaped his girlfriend's family.
The man in question - who recounted what happened on Reddit last Christmas - decided to buy his missus a DNA test, which everyone thought was a 'great gift' at the time.
Advert
However, the response changed quite markedly when the test results uncovered a family secret of 30 years.
He wrote: "When she finally got the results she was looking through the health section first. Everything looked good. Then she gets to the family section. Grandma - check, grandpa - check, mom - check, half sister - che.... wait what?!
"She looks up the half the sister, and she does not recognize her but recognizes a few people in her circle. She looks up her father and gets his name. (She's from a real small town) confused she calls up her mom and puts her on speaker in our room."
Advert
She went on to ask her mum if she had a half sister, to which her mum said: "Of course not, why would you have a half sister honey lol."
Before her mum had stopped laughing, she then asked: "Do you know a John Smith?"
The post continued: "The phone became dead silent. In an extremely serious tone her mom responds 'what about him'.
"My girlfriend then explains that she's on '23 and Me' [DNA test site] and for some reason it's saying she has a half sister and John is her father. There was what felt like five minutes of complete silence.
Advert
"Her mom finally broke the silence and in an icy tone said 'have you said anything to your father?'
"My girlfriend responded 'no, I called you first. I figured you might know'.
"Another few moments of eerie silence pass. Her mom broke the silence with a sigh."
She went on to tell her not to say anything to her dad or boyfriend - who was listening in on speakerphone.
The post went on: "So apparently her mom and dad had 'taken a break' for a weekend, and she hooked up with her ex-boyfriend (John), then got back with my girlfriend's dad a couple of days later.
Advert
"When she found out she was pregnant and they dated a possible time frame for conception. She knew it was probably not her husband's.
"She's kept this secret for 30 years. She told my girlfriend to keep this secret. My girlfriend doesn't know what to do now and I'm just sitting here shaking my head at the audacity of her mom."
So yeah, his girlfriend didn't find out she's a distant descendant of a royal, but she did find out her dad isn't her real dad.
Merry Christmas one and all.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy