Taking on my nephew has been a challenge, and my wife's grandmother passed away Dec, 7th. Also my 21yo niece (my nephew's older sister) is struggling with early adulthood. She flunked all her college classes this semester. My wife's sister passed away in 2011, and these are her kids. She was my wife's only sibling. My mother-in-law raised them, and neither of them have any coping skills for the real world. My wife's stepfather died unexpectedly last year, and now these kids don't have a male authority figure in their lives either, so I'm somehow expected to fill that role now. This wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the fact that their black uncle was always portrayed as the family villain. Which is crazy, considering that my niece and nephew both have criminal, absentee fathers and my wife is the only woman in the family that hasn't been married and divorced multiple times. They essentially disowned my wife when she started dating me almost 30 years ago. Sorry for the rant. It's been an interesting year to say the least, and they all (mother-in-law, niece, and nephew) acted a fool yesterday at the annual Christmas breakfast that I host every year for my side of the family. They embarrassed my wife and basically ruined Christmas day.