Mackenzie Edwards: Jesus, take the wheel.

[Rebecca]

I figured out exactly what really bothers me about her...instead of saying something like, “I always try to remember/remind myself of the true reason for Christmas,” with her caption, she is instead ordering OTHERS to “always remember the TRUE reason...”. She speaks down to people. She speaks as if she’s some type of authority and everyone should listen and fall in line. I don’t know if this is how she treats all the people in her actual life (good luck with Ryan) or if she’s drunk on the power of having a large audience but it’s how her blog posts come off. It’s how her captions come off. She’s not trying, at all, to be relatable to the audience. She’s putting herself above the rest of us, as if she knows everything. She knows and remembers the only TRUE reason for Christmas and she’s got to instruct her followers to remember. This is only one small example. She’s amazingly self righteous in most things that she does. She’s more self righteous than Tyler at this point.

It’s all too much and pretty insane coming from a “new” and pretty much universally despised 3rd tier “character” on TM who we all saw marry a guy who could barely stay awake in a drug stupor and then claim ignorance of his obvious condition. Good job, I guess, because I’ve devoted way too much thought to her. She is fascinating in all the wrong ways. 

5 hours ago, MissMel said:

Edited December 27, 2017 by Rebecca

[Tatum]

I think the mention of the true meaning of Christmas is because she knows everyone hates her and she feels like name dropping Jesus will remind everyone that she's  the good Christian girl who married her baby daddy (even if she did divorce about 2 weeks later), unlike these other godless heathens, and she thinks that will raise her fan base. Most of these girls don't really seem to follow any kind of religion (not that there is anything wrong with that, I am not religious myself), and Mack probably thinks she will be the favorite by default of those who do profess to be religious. She's the Carrie fucking Underwood of the Teen Mom franchise. Except you know, she's not talented, pretty, or charismatic. But she sure does love Jesus!

[bounnatalie]

That sure is a lot of presents under that tree!

[ReadMeLattice]

20 hours ago, Rebecca said:

I figured out exactly what really bothers me about her...instead of saying something like, “I always try to remember/remind myself of the true reason for Christmas,” with her caption, she is instead ordering OTHERS to “always remember the TRUE reason...”. She speaks down to people. She speaks as if she’s some type of authority and everyone should listen and fall in line. I don’t know if this is how she treats all the people in her actual life (good luck with Ryan) or if she’s drunk on the power of having a large audience but it’s how her blog posts come off. It’s how her captions come off. She’s not trying, at all, to be relatable to the audience. She’s putting herself above the rest of us, as if she knows everything. She knows and remembers the only TRUE reason for Christmas and she’s got to instruct her followers to remember. This is only one small example. She’s amazingly self righteous in most things that she does. She’s more self righteous than Tyler at this point.

It’s all too much and pretty insane coming from a “new” and pretty much universally despised 3rd tier “character” on TM who we all saw marry a guy who could barely stay awake in a drug stupor and then claim ignorance of his obvious condition. Good job, I guess, because I’ve devoted way too much thought to her. She is fascinating in all the wrong ways. 

Exactly. Plus I always forget she's 20 because she looks so much older. 

Even the least popular lifestyle bloggers know that lessons are best framed as something YOU had to learn that you're now passing on (whether it's related to health, family, morals, whatever). "I sometimes have trouble remembering the true meaning of Christmas, but *insert anecdote* reminded me..." 

Pretending to be unassailably perfect is annoying AF, and only draws attention to your flaws. 

[londonfroglet]

39 minutes ago, Lm2162 said:

Exactly. Plus I always forget she's 20 because she looks so much older. 

There are a few people on her latest IG post wishing her a Happy 40th... or more specifically, a "Happy 41st Birthday, Middleaged Mac!!!"

*snort*

That amuses me, though I actually think she looks sweet in that photo, as she should, and not like a posable asshat. 

[Birdee]

1 hour ago, bounnatalie said:

That sure is a lot of presents under that tree!

She probably wrapped every box in the house--from cereal to tampons--just to set that photo up.

[luvbadtv]

3 hours ago, bounnatalie said:

That sure is a lot of presents under that tree!

Yep, the TRUE meaning.

[GreatKazu]

Mack, always remember the TRUE meaning of the 12 steps of Al-Anon!

[ghoulina]

I think those kids have been photoshopped into a stock photo. I'm not even kidding. 

[MaggieG]

OMG @ghoulina I thought the same thing! It's just a crazy amount of presents

[Tatum]

25 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

I think those kids have been photoshopped into a stock photo. I'm not even kidding. 

Now I just wasted 10 min looking on google images for this stock photo to prove you right. I didn't find it, but I think you're on to something. Not only are there an ungodly amount of presents, but look how nicely they're all wrapped. Also, the tree doesn't appear to have any handmade ornaments that you'd expect to find on a family tree with a 9 year old and a 3 year old. And there's a deliberate color coordination between the wrapping paper and the colors of the tree. It looks like a professionally decorated and staged department store tree.

[ginger90]

She posted a picture of herself and Ryan on Instagram. The caption:

 

mack.edwards21Had the BEST birthday yet! Woke up to flowers, then spent the evening with my sweet Hudson&Bentley, the best friends and family a girl could ask for, and my love!

[StayingAfterSunday]

That's a ridiculous amount of presents.  Maybe it  really is photoshopped.  Then again, I remember Christmas shopping for my own kids at that age.  They didn't receive piles of gifts like the ones shown with Ryan and Hudson.  But I do know that it's not exhorbitantly expensive buying for young children.  It's when they get a bit older that the buying gets rough - and pricey. 

When kids are little there are parents (like my ex-mother-in-law) who would go to, say, Family Dollar and buy dozens and dozens of cheap items which she would then wrap in lovely paper and adorn with big bows.  It all looked spectacular to her children on Christmas morning, but once they tore off the paper they had a pile of cheap junk sitting there.  Not that they cared.  I guess the thrill came from opening all that stuff.

[GreatKazu]

We have a ridiculous amount of presents at Xmas time because we have lots of relatives to give presents to. I imagine Mackenzie had presents for her own family under that tree. I can also see her buying a lot of presents especially for the boys. After all, she has to present the image of a loving family for her followers and maybe show off how well-off she is now that she is hitting the MTV bank. 

[ghoulina]

7 hours ago, MaggieG said:

OMG @ghoulina I thought the same thing! It's just a crazy amount of presents

It's not even really the amount (my inlaws are insane and send HUGE boxes of presents to our house every year), but they're all a little too...perfect. Perfectly wrapped, all nice paper, no odd shapes. It's like a bunch of complimentary department store boxes under that wrapping paper. A lot of toys are hard to wrap and look all lumpy and real. It just doesn't look real. 

[CandysWrapRoom]

7 hours ago, ghoulina said:

I think those kids have been photoshopped into a stock photo. I'm not even kidding. 

I can see Mimi Jen being ridiculous about what Christmas "looks" like and having a tree and gifts that look like a magazine ad.  I can also see Mac photoshopping the kids into an ad so, either way.  LOL

[Tatum]

49 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

It's not even really the amount (my inlaws are insane and send HUGE boxes of presents to our house every year), but they're all a little too...perfect. Perfectly wrapped, all nice paper, no odd shapes. It's like a bunch of complimentary department store boxes under that wrapping paper. A lot of toys are hard to wrap and look all lumpy and real. It just doesn't look real. 

I agree. Perhaps Mack or her mom are just really good at wrapping presents, and are really Pinterest-y and buy coordinated wrapping paper that has very understated designs (notice no cartoons, or anything "loud"), and maybe they only like Christmas trees with white lights and generic ornaments that are only red, green, and gold (seriously, no construction paper ornaments? Nothing blue, or purple or pink? No sports memorabilia ornaments?) but to me, I agree it looks too perfect.

[GreatKazu]

Well, Jesus is the reason for the season, dontcha know? Mackenzie posted people must remember the TRUE reason for Christmas. I guess she isn't about to decorate her tree with a bunch of nonsense ornaments. It has to be very traditional. I am sure she spent a good amount of time on Pinterest. lol. 

I know someone like her who makes sure the wrapping paper and the décor all look coordinated. As @Tatum pointed out, very Pinterest-y. It looks as if she paid someone to go in and do all the décor for her. That is way too much work for me. I will admit, my tree has only blue lights, but it is decorated with my Dodger ornaments and ornaments from our travels. I do make an effort to buy blue wrapping paper and blue-colored gift bags, but if I have to buy different colors because there is no blue available, no biggie. It is a blue Christmas in my house.

Mackenzie probably has the boys' presents hidden in the house, away from the tree. I used to do that when my kids were young when it came to the odd-shaped gifts or big toys. 

Edited December 30, 2017 by GreatKazu

[bounnatalie]

Agree. My initial impression it was odd to see her message "always remember the true meaning of Christmas" under a photo of a tree with a massive amount of perfectly wrapped gifts.  I guess it seemed like an odd choice of a photo for reminding us about the true meaning of Christmas.

[gunderda]

3 hours ago, ghoulina said:

It's not even really the amount (my inlaws are insane and send HUGE boxes of presents to our house every year), but they're all a little too...perfect. Perfectly wrapped, all nice paper, no odd shapes. It's like a bunch of complimentary department store boxes under that wrapping paper. A lot of toys are hard to wrap and look all lumpy and real. It just doesn't look real. 

That doesn't seem off to me.  My family doesn't wrap odd shaped gifts.  You either find a box or find piece of cardboard to tape around it to make it easier to wrap.  

However  I wouldn't be surprised if it's a professional photographers set up or something. That's not a normal Christmas morning photo! 

My family usually has an ungodly amount of photos too - not because we have a lot of people (5 adults, 3 kids) but because we just go overboard with buying gifts and for some reason everything has to be wrapped separately, even if it's items that go together. But THAT is A LOT of gifts. 

Edited December 30, 2017 by gunderda

[Marisagf]

2 hours ago, gunderda said:

That doesn't seem off to me.  My family doesn't wrap odd shaped gifts.  You either find a box or find piece of cardboard to tape around it to make it easier to wrap.  

However  I wouldn't be surprised if it's a professional photographers set up or something. That's not a normal Christmas morning photo! 

My family usually has an ungodly amount of photos too - not because we have a lot of people (5 adults, 3 kids) but because we just go overboard with buying gifts and for some reason everything has to be wrapped separately, even if it's items that go together. But THAT is A LOT of gifts. 

I was going to post the same thing.  EVERYTHING from the background to the pajamas to the posing screams professional photo shoot.  

[eskimo]

Not that it's a big deal to me either way, but there's something about the lighting that tells me it's staged.  I mean there's a lot of light coming in those windows so, depending on where you live (maybe someone knows exact sunrise/sunset times in TN) that would have to be between 9ish am- 4:30ish pm.  I'm in southern Idaho and here sunrise is around 8:30 and sunset is about 5:15 this time of year, but it's not actually that bright outside till 9:30 or later, and it starts looking like evening around 4.  I know they are further south, but if it's real they either had the kids wait all morning to open presents, or put them in their PJ's in the afternoon on Christmas eve (or whatever day).  It's possible, but not likely, that it's a real Christmas morning photo.  

[TimeToCancelTM]

On 12/28/2017 at 1:01 PM, Birdee said:

She probably wrapped every box in the house--from cereal to tampons--just to set that photo up.

Not the tampon boxes tho...?????I love you for this birdee!! Lol BEYOND true to all this!! ^^^

[TimeToCancelTM]

13 hours ago, StayingAfterSunday said:

That's a ridiculous amount of presents.  Maybe it  really is photoshopped.  Then again, I remember Christmas shopping for my own kids at that age.  They didn't receive piles of gifts like the ones shown with Ryan and Hudson.  But I do know that it's not exhorbitantly expensive buying for young children.  It's when they get a bit older that the buying gets rough - and pricey. 

When kids are little there are parents (like my ex-mother-in-law) who would go to, say, Family Dollar and buy dozens and dozens of cheap items which she would then wrap in lovely paper and adorn with big bows.  It all looked spectacular to her children on Christmas morning, but once they tore off the paper they had a pile of cheap junk sitting there.  Not that they cared.  I guess the thrill came from opening all that stuff.

You littertly described my MIL...lol she takes $150 and makes her entire fucking den covered in presents (all from dollar tree) (which i totally dont mind) and for our kids it looks like this bitch robbed santa and made a xmas miracle happen...lol all while my husband and i are busting our ass buying 1-2 expensive gifts for my kid and the rest is socks and underwear from santa!! Lol. I honestly dont mind at all...kids love to just open shit...even if its some shitty 99 cent store crap lol. But my point is...that i dont doubt mac did the same and is now trying to portray how "amazingly christian" she is...and how jesus himself has blessed her, and her children with a gang of dollar tree presents. Lol 

 

I just realized how much i rambled about this dumb bitch and her fake ass photoshopped pic...???.... where is my life now a days?? Lol 

[ginger90]

If it was a photo shoot I think she would have tagged the photographer, or studio. No comp perhaps ?

[FlowerofCarnage]

[Emkat]

Hahaha omg that made me laugh!

[GreatKazu]

6 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

This is the bomb!

[Rebecca]

18 hours ago, Marisagf said:

I was going to post the same thing.  EVERYTHING from the background to the pajamas to the posing screams professional photo shoot.  

I didn’t even think it WASN’T a photo shoot professionally done, I assumed that from the beginning and thought the stuff about wrapping everything in the home was a joke.

8 hours ago, ginger90 said:

If it was a photo shoot I think she would have tagged the photographer, or studio. No comp perhaps ?

I’m sure because it wasn’t sponsored and tagging the photographer does nothing to perpetuate her “perfect life” myth.

7 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

Too real, I’m sure.

[SPLAIN]

Are there any other photos of the inside of Mack's home to compare? Could that photo have been taken elsewhere like at a studio? I don't think there are name tags on those gifts.

[eightoclock]

It is Mimi Jen’s house/tree. Perhaps they used the ‘portrait mode’ on their phone to take the pictures. There are also Christmas pictures from last year on her instagram.

[FozzyBear]

On 12/29/2017 at 4:14 PM, bounnatalie said:

Agree. My initial impression it was odd to see her message "always remember the true meaning of Christmas" under a photo of a tree with a massive amount of perfectly wrapped gifts.  I guess it seemed like an odd choice of a photo for reminding us about the true meaning of Christmas.

Never forget the true meaning of Christmas: humble bragging about how you can afford to give your kids a mountain of gifts while shamming others for not being righteous enough. 

[GreatKazu]

17 hours ago, eightoclock said:

It is Mimi Jen’s house/tree. Perhaps they used the ‘portrait mode’ on their phone to take the pictures. There are also Christmas pictures from last year on her instagram.

Oh, it is Mimi's house. Thanks for clarifying. 

[FairyDusted]

Much easier to believe that's Mimis' house.

[Rebecca]

4 hours ago, FairyDusted said:

Much easier to believe that's Mimis' house.

I totally should’ve thought if that. Makes total sense.

[dorcastrilling]

Yeah, I am a wrapping weirdo. All red foil with wide tartan ribbon, every damned year. Also white lights because if colored are not distributed evenly it makes me itch all over. Even when I was a kid. I am not at all anal about anything else, but that one thing makes me nuts.

 

I also put oddly shaped gifts in boxes. The picture did not seem off to me in any way.

[Kb60]

On 12/30/2017 at 7:37 PM, SPLAIN said:

Are there any other photos of the inside of Mack's home to compare? Could that photo have been taken elsewhere like at a studio? I don't think there are name tags on those gifts.

The inside of Mack's house is awful. She obviously forgot to decorate or even try to make it look like a comfy place to be. It looks more like a messy closet.

[FlowerofCarnage]

I wonder what Jen and Larry truly feel about MacKenzie?  After that Highway to Hell  drive and rushed roadside wedding, how could feel anything but disgust?

[GreatKazu]

I have always felt they like Mackenzie because she is there to side with them on anything pertaining to Ryan and they are there to side with her against Maci. 

So convenient for Larry that Mackenzie feels the same way he does  - they both feel Maci is in love with Ryan and that is why she acts the way she does. Those two are so dense. How hard is it to believe that Maci's tears and concerns are true and honest. Maci can actually have concerns for Ryan and his spiral downward with his addiction. This is not some stranger down the street with an addiction problem. This is the father of her child. It is no different than Gary being concerned about Amber's downward spiral and how it will affect Leah. Maci doesn't want to get that phone call that something bad has happened to Ryan or that he has caused harm to someone else due to his addiction. 

Enough of me defending Maci. 

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I don't think Mimi Jen likes her, per say, but is just glad someone else is there to help carry the burden of caring for the overgrown child known as Ryan. And I'm sure she and Larry hope that maybe Ryan loves her and will get/stay clean for her and become a respectable husband/father. 

I think Larry's just glad Ryan is in his own place with someone to feed and clean up after him so he doesn't come home looking for mama to do it. (And it doesn't hurt that Mac learned quickly to agree with Larry and parrot him). I think from Mimi Jen's tears at the parking lot wedding, though, she knows deep inside that Mac's intentions aren't great and that her son was (is?) a mess that had no business getting married, let alone to a 21 year old with a young child to care for. But I think Mimi Jen is definitely one of those "let's hope for the best and try to make the best out of everything while looking like we're happy" type of Southern mamas. 

Edited January 2, 2018 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[alexa]

5 hours ago, GreatKazu said:

I have always felt they like Mackenzie because she is there to side with them on anything pertaining to Ryan and they are there to side with her against Maci. 

So convenient for Larry that Mackenzie feels the same way he does  - they both feel Maci is in love with Ryan and that is why she acts the way she does. Those two are so dense. How hard is it to believe that Maci's tears and concerns are true and honest. Maci can actually have concerns for Ryan and his spiral downward with his addiction. This is not some stranger down the street with an addiction problem. This is the father of her child. It is no different than Gary being concerned about Amber's downward spiral and how it will affect Leah. Maci doesn't want to get that phone call that something bad has happened to Ryan or that he has caused harm to someone else due to his addiction. 

Enough of me defending Maci. 

I had to double check who wrote this post. Lol!  I agree with this. I think Ryan has become enough of a loser that they should no longer think Maci is in love with Ryan and that her son is probably a legitimate reason to be concerned. 

[LilaFowler]

I'd be so ashamed if I were Ryan's parents. He is nothing but a drug-addicted loser. They clearly still think that the sun shines out his ass and everyone is obsessed with him. Delusional.

[ghoulina]

Over time, I've actually begun to think that Larry is more in denial than Jen. I think Jen knows what her son is, but she just loves him and is too tender-hearted to do anything about it. I think Larry is actually the one who cares more about image and is hell bent on believing his son is just fine. I think that's why I see him getting along better with Mack. They're eager to peddle stories about Maci still being in love with Rhine and "triggering" him. Mimi Jen is a lot more quiet. I think she knows the score, but it just breaks her heart too much. 

[kitkat343]

Ryan’s parents might just want more grandchildren so they can have a do over with their failure of a son.  Hot Ryan from years ago might have had a lot of options for a wife, but aside from teen mom money I’m not sure what Ryan has to offer 

Edited January 3, 2018 by kitkat343

[Maharincess]

Is Ryan an only child? 

[CofCinci]

49 minutes ago, Maharincess said:

Is Ryan an only child? 

Yes. I think Mimi Jen had fertility problems, which is why she didn’t abort the one-night stand baby. 

[Rebecca]

On 1/3/2018 at 4:23 PM, Maharincess said:

Is Ryan an only child? 

As C said, yep. And they weren’t together very long at all before. I’d be really curious to see how any other kids Jen and Larry had would’ve turned out. Possibly better we don’t get to find out.

[GreatKazu]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 7:02 AM, ghoulina said:

Over time, I've actually begun to think that Larry is more in denial than Jen. I think Jen knows what her son is, but she just loves him and is too tender-hearted to do anything about it. I think Larry is actually the one who cares more about image and is hell bent on believing his son is just fine. I think that's why I see him getting along better with Mack. They're eager to peddle stories about Maci still being in love with Rhine and "triggering" him. Mimi Jen is a lot more quiet. I think she knows the score, but it just breaks her heart too much. 

Definitely he is in more denial. In just a short amount of time I have come to believe Larry is the bigger enabler of the two. I sense it is because Larry has his own problems with alcohol. I think Larry feels guilt at times for how his son turned out. He won't admit it, of course, but I think he struggles with that and he turns to beer to help ignore those feelings. Jen has been struggling to keep the lid on the boiling pot until it finally blew. She has been dealing with two people who have been butting heads and then some for many years. Jen has been trying to protect Ryan from Larry's demons while at the same time dealing with Ryan's demons. Throw in whatever Larry was dishing out throughout his marriage. That scene where he was plastered and was blabbering on about not pissing on Ryan if he was on fire, was an eye-opener to what was really happening behind closed doors. I think back to that scene where Larry was complimenting Jen and offering her sweet-nothings in front of the camera last season or the season before, and wondered if that was how he soothed things over with Jen from time to time. 

Edited January 6, 2018 by GreatKazu

[Scarlett45]

11 hours ago, GreatKazu said:

Definitely he is in more denial. In just a short amount of time I have come to believe Larry is the bigger enabler of the two. I sense it is because Larry has his own problems with alcohol. I think Larry feels guilt at times for how his son turned out. He won't admit it, of course, but I think he struggles with that and he turns to beer to help ignore those feelings. Jen has been struggling to keep the lid on the boiling pot until it finally blew. She has been dealing with two people who have been butting heads and then some for many years. Jen has been trying to protect Ryan from Larry's demons while at the same time dealing with Ryan's demons. Throw in whatever Larry was dishing out throughout his marriage. That scene where he was plastered and was blabbering on about not pissing on Ryan if he was on fire, was an eye-opener to what was really happening behind closed doors. I think back to that scene where Larry was complimenting Jen and offering her sweet-nothings in front of the camera last season or the season before, and wondered if that was how he soothed things over with Jen from time to time. 

I think that Jen has a lot of ambivalent feelings about Larry. I think Larry has probably been a good provider and attentive husband in a lot of ways, BUT it’s clear their marriage as a “my way or the highway” type of marriage, and Jen probably resented that. Rather than standing up for what she wanted she passive aggressively babied Ryan (and starting on Bentley) in a way she knew Larry wouldn’t approve of because childcare was HER domain, the home was HER domain. 

I think Larry was probably in denial about Ryan’s drug use for a long time, but the stealing pushed Larry over the edge. I don’t blame him- to steal from your parent, who’s given you EVERYTHING is unexusable. Larry’s anger was justified but unless he’s going to stop enabling Ryan he’s a part of the problem. At this point no one is willing to be “bad cop” with Ryan. 

 

I understand every child isnt going to be ambitious or a “go getter” but the real trouble starts when the parents won’t pull the plug. It’s my personal belief that if at 21 your child has not made moves to live an independent life it’s time to cut the cord (18 is young, maybe they need a few years to figure it out) and get them OUT of the nest for their well being and yours. Ryan is THIRTY! I have a 30 year old living under my roof who’s conginatively a toddler- trust she’s the only 30year old I’m taking care of in this life!

Edited January 6, 2018 by Scarlett45

[CofCinci]

Hopefully Ryan is to high to have sex (with her).