My entitled family demands that I hand over my lottery ticket winnings after I win $25,000 during

our family's Christmas White Elephant Gift Exchange. But after the way they treated me and the way

they freaked out on me and called me selfish for not giving them more money, I decided to keep

everything to myself. And now I'm worried that I may have destroyed my relationship with my family

because at this point I seriously don't know what to do. Here's what happened. Okay, to start things out, the recent family Christmas party was at my house this year, and about 25 people showed up. The traditional game this year was White Elephant. My family plays the dice version, with some house rules for context. Anyone who doesn't have a gift by the end of the game will receive $10 as a gift. Also, trading gifts is allowed only with a $10 consolation gift. The game had a total of about 40 gifts. I ended the game with four gifts and four family members ended with none. My gifts were a space heater, windshield wipers, a 20-pound gummy bear, and a $50 Starbucks gift card.

Of the four people without a gift, three of them got rejected, meaning only one trade was made.

My cousin ended with $50 worth of lottery tickets, but assumed they'd be worth nothing, and I don't

go to Starbucks.

Now, we couldn't trade because of the rules above, and argued that the gift cards and the lottery tickets had a numerical value, just like the $10 gifts, so they should be tradable. Well, the family agreed and more gift cards were exchanged, and this will be important later on. Trading ended and people began using their gifts, so I went to put my gifts back in my room, and I got a quarter to scratch my $5.10 tickets. Now, I thought to myself, I'm not expecting to win anything. But the second I was about to move on to the third ticket, I did a double take and I realized I won $25,000. For a second, I thought they were fake. But my grandma who bought them wouldn't do that. I sat in my room for a bit and decided to keep quiet about it, knowing how some family members might react. I thought about how I would tell them throughout the party, and when they asked about it, I said no and that I threw them out. But unfortunately, this is just the beginning of my problems, as my family turns on me in a way that I honestly never expected. The next day on the 29th, I asked my mom to come with me to cash in the

lottery ticket. Now, she was surprised, of course, and told me that I needed to go to the casino

with my brother thinking this was funny and deciding to tag along. He proceeded to post snaps of

me being handed $100 bills in the casino, although I told him not to say anything because of the

commotion it would cause,

and that I'd share some with the family, he posted it anyways. Well, an hour passes, and I'm pulled

into a group chat of people from the party, plus some family members that couldn't make it. I said

that I'd give everyone who came to the party $250, but they thought I was being selfish. For about 30 people that attended, that's $7,500

right there. I felt that was fair. But family members who were not even there argued that they

shouldn't be excluded, and others argue that $250 isn't enough if I have $25,000. After about 30

minutes of arguing, I was pissed and I gave up negotiating. I told everyone that I'm sorry that they're not happy with their white elephant gifts this year and that the rule was that all trades are final. So in the end, I kept all the money. I put $15,000 in my savings, and then I invested the rest. But now, many of my family members are still upset with me, even going as far as calling me cruel and heartless. But I told them that if $250 isn't enough from $100 limit, then they are the selfish ones and not me. So seriously, am I at fault here or am I the jerk for the way things went down? Because right now, I feel like there's a giant rift in my family. Okay, I've said this once and I'll say it a hundred times on this channel.

Do not tell people if you win the lottery.

This is a prime example.

First of all, it's only $25,000.

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