Early Christmas decorations = working class

[FaLaLaLaLaaaar]

I know Mumsnet loves a class debate, so thought I’d share an argument I had with a friend last night.

She insists that only working class people put their Christmas decorations up in November, I insisted she’s a snob and class is more redundant these days so it’s a ridiculous argument.

So Vipers, I’ll ask the question as if it is coming from me to make it easier:

AIBU to think only working class people put their Christmas decorations up in November?

Yabu - No, don’t be such a snob, middle class people do too.

YANBU - Yes, it’s a working class thing.

I will be showing her the results of this.

The tone of your own post insinuates there’s something wrong with being or appearing to be working class. So what? Who cares when people put up their decs. Who cares if some people like blue lights. The least class on display comes from those casting weird pointless judgment about people just trying to live their lives and enjoy the thing everyone wants to enjoy.

@Oblomov21

I agree with her. The truely posh with loads of money put the tree up really late, and have minimal but expensive and classy decorations. Then they bring out all the expensive foods they've been making: home made chestnuts, home made figs apricots etc.

Haha! By this measure, I'm truly posh! Although I haven't actually grown figs or apricots myself, because my council estate is too far north.

@MapleMay11

I was referring to the use of the word 'mischief'. Why have you brought immigrants into this?

Perhaps you should read the OP’s posts.

I think that underlying this discussion is "we can do delayed gratification, you can't".

Where does changing your colour scheme and buying a whole new set of decorations fit in all of this?

@BeefSupreme

Anyone with blue lights is just an inconsiderate arse

Can someone explain why blue lights are so much more offensive and inconsiderate than every other light colour? “Inconsiderate” is a strange choice of word.

Blue light sensitivity means the light can cause or exaggerate vision issues and migraines. www.theraspecs.com/blog/blue-light-sensitivity-causes-symptoms-and-protection/

Blue light sensitivity means the light can cause or exaggerate vision issues and migraines.
www.theraspecs.com/blog/blue-light-sensitivity-causes-symptoms-and-protection/

I never knew this! This might explain why the lights always look unfocussed to me. Thanks!

@BeefSupreme

Anyone with blue lights is just an inconsiderate arse

Can someone explain why blue lights are so much more offensive and inconsiderate than every other light colour? “Inconsiderate” is a strange choice of word.

They can be very triggering for people with migraines and light sensitivity, and are often unbearable for neurodiverse people. All humans have a degree of blue light sensitivity, and too much can fuck with your circadian rhythm, affect your sleep and cause migraines.

I've no skin in the coloured lights v white lights game, but blue lights are an uncomfortable thing to inflict on your neighbours imo. If people really love them, they should be kept for inside use.

There is nothing wrong with being working class but there is with being 'common'. Common people put up their christmas trees in November. This is not a rich vs poor thing and perhaps your friend should have used the word common instead of working class. Some working class people are very classy.

@FitAt50

There is nothing wrong with being working class but there is with being 'common'. Common people put up their christmas trees in November. This is not a rich vs poor thing and perhaps your friend should have used the word common instead of working class. Some working class people are very classy.

Why is it common to put your Christmas decorations up in November? Such a bizarre comment.

Is adhering to the 12 days of Christmas (ie decorations go up on Christmas Eve & come down on 5th Dec) middle class? It's more a traditional/ religious approach isn't it? Or is it WC to take them down early?!

We chop our own at a local family-run place in the first week of December and it lasts until the first week of January. By the second or third weekend of December, all of the good ones have gone. The live ones at the garden centre have usually all been cut in November, regardless of when they’re sold, and whatever is left by Christmas Eve is looking a little sad. The chop-your-own places are usually closed on Christmas Eve. Where are the people putting up fresh live trees on Christmas Eve finding them (provided they don’t live on a massive estate with a Christmas tree forest)? Surely if you are putting it up that late, it’s fake?

@MistyElla if you buy one with a rootball you can plant it outside and use it year after year. Maybe they are doing that.

@RedToothBrush - The RHS shop has some nice garden decorations. I got some lovely fruit and vegetable baubles from them last year.

shop.rhs.org.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations

www.sarahraven.com/christmas/christmas-tree-decorations

Sarah Raven's are nice too, but more expensive.

I'm working class and my decorations go up mid December at the earliest. I assume most people round this area are the same class and absolutely no decorations up anywhere.
My parents live in a middle class area and more people there have their decorations up (not my parents as my dad would like to put the decorations up on the 24th and take them down on the 26th).

Truly Upper/Middle class seem to do what suits them when it suits them. Truly working class do the same. It only seems to be an aspiring wannabe section who look for us/them distinctions in anything.

@FitAt50

There is nothing wrong with being working class but there is with being 'common'. Common people put up their christmas trees in November. This is not a rich vs poor thing and perhaps your friend should have used the word common instead of working class. Some working class people are very classy.

I'm not 'common', my tree went up last weekend. I'm pagan. We celebrate all of the winter months, I tie it in with a traditional Christmas for my DC and keep everything bright and cheerful for as long as possible. YABU for calling people common juts because they do something differently to you.

I'm posh af and my tree goes up at 11.55 Christmas Eve.

22 pages of people insisting putting your tree up early is common or tacky and not a single poster who can explain why it’s tacky or common. How very British 😂

@Tistheseasontis

22 pages of people insisting putting your tree up early is common or tacky and not a single poster who can explain why it’s tacky or common. How very British 😂

I think a previous poster hit the nail on the head when they said it was about delayed gratification. I remember in A Level Sociology (yes, I got an Ology ) learning that instant gratification was a more working class trait - so WC people will put they want (but can't really afford) on credit; whereas MC will save up for them.

Should've finished that thought - so similarly with not wanting to wait till December for the fun of Christmas.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal why is delayed gratification preferable?

We’ve always put ours up on the 1st December. I’ve noticed quite a few houses already have theirs up when I’ve been driving around in different areas, some wealthier than others. I don’t think class plays a part in this personally.

Good question, @Tistheseasontis , I don't know the answer. Well, I suppose I do when it comes to not getting into loads of debt, but not when it comes to Christmas decs!

I don't even know what class I am anymore tbh! The decorations tend to go up the first week of December - onto to an artificial tree which has both coloured and white lights - and are a mash up of colours and styles, some new, some inherited, some made by the DC. No style at all, really, but we like it.

I remember learning that about delayed gratification in school.

My business studies teacher tried to explain why people in council estates could afford satellite tv and he couldnt. I think he also talked about him having to save up to go to Disney land when people in council estates just went.

I thought he was just jealous - his explanation didn’t make much sense to me.

It’s not that it’s necessarily preferable (although it’s a good trait to have for life in general - and I say that as someone who’s very much about the instant or almost instant gratification, likely undiagnosed ADHD). But it’s true that in the main, people with less money tend to spend whatever extra money they get to improve their lives in whatever small ways they can, or to treat their children at Christmas for example, even if that then causes problems in the future, whereas people with more money have a much more comfortable daily life so there is less impulse to make things better now (plus they can afford to save, so they can lay down patterns of behaviour in that regard much more easily).