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.

@SirChenjins well not really as it will still end in the bin at some point. So more resources will be used to recycle it or burn it.

I’m not having a go at people who use fake trees (and like i said it’s best to use what you have), it’s just wrong to think a fake tree is better than a real one.

Blimey. I’m didn’t realise there were so many rules around this 😂
Grew up in a working class home and Christmas tree went up 2 weeks before and came down 2 weeks after. I’d probably class myself as middle class now and would put the tree up the week before Christmas as we waited until after ds birthday which is mid dec. Now dc are grown up, i put it up whenever I feel like it. Last year it was mid November 😀 and this year it will be beginning of Dec as we’re busy after that.

Can I just ask; since when has being working class been seen as a bad thing? Mum and dad worked bloody hard and my dad never had a day off sick in his working life , they bought their council house, never owed a penny to anyone and were rightly proud of their achievements which were all gained from their own hard work. Not sure what anyone could find to sneer at.

@DoofusRick

I do think putting decorations up before December is just wrong - you really need to wait for Advent

Advent begins on Sunday November 28th this year. Quite the conundrum you’ve got there.

Beat me to it 😂

Is there something wrong with being working class? Or with being middle class, for that matter?

I put my tree up when I feel like it. It’ll be early this year, as I’m due to give birth around Christmas and have SPD that’s only getting worse, so I need to do it while I can still move.

Last year, I think I put it up around the 15th December.

Passed an apartment block this evening. At least 3 trees up

This is the most ridiculous British thread I've ever seen 😄

How did you all learn these rules?

They should put questions like this on the citizenship test

@Play8063 is it a British thing or an English thing? I thought the other union countries didn’t do class as much?

(But I’m probably wrong about that too)

Haven't read the full threat but I'm proudly working class, from an old mining town in the North, and my tree goes up Bonfire weekend every year. Not ashamed to a) be working class or b) put my tree up in November. It makes us happy.
I did see some comments that the people who put their trees up early are the ones who don't work. We've worked every day since we were 16, barring maternity/paternity leave, and all of our friends and family who have their trees up are the same. May be a class thing but it's not an unemployed thing as far as I can see.

[quote Monkeymilkshake]@SirChenjins well not really as it will still end in the bin at some point. So more resources will be used to recycle it or burn it.

I’m not having a go at people who use fake trees (and like i said it’s best to use what you have), it’s just wrong to think a fake tree is better than a real one.[/quote]
There’s quite a few articles which say that yes, it’s greener after 10 years. We’ve had real trees over the years and have a small real one in a pot - but the unnecessary car journeys to collect the real trees and to dispose of them at the recycling centre didn’t sit well with me. Our 27 year old fake tree from John Lewis comes out every Christmas and I’m happy with my oh-so-common festive offering.

Absolutely true.
LC tend to have garish multicoloured decorations up in November. Also added in recent years are the hideous cheap looking tacky door bows. Very very LC.
MC usually have a large real tree and many real or natural decorations or more expensive real looking decorations.
You never put them up before the 1st weekend in December. Ever! We choose and cut our tree and wouldn’t want to have it cut before December the 5th at the earliest but ideally the second weekend in dec.

@Mrschristmasqueen

Haven't read the full threat but I'm proudly working class, from an old mining town in the North, and my tree goes up Bonfire weekend every year. Not ashamed to a) be working class or b) put my tree up in November. It makes us happy. I did see some comments that the people who put their trees up early are the ones who don't work. We've worked every day since we were 16, barring maternity/paternity leave, and all of our friends and family who have their trees up are the same. May be a class thing but it's not an unemployed thing as far as I can see.

Obviously I meant thread, not threat.

My mum considered herself middle class (I then moved to London and realised that what she saw as middle class - professional, bookish, listening to radio 4, live theatre - meant nothing without the money to back it up and we were actually common as muck by Southern standards!) and was also religious, a combination which saw our (artificial) tree go up on Christmas Eve and come down again on the Epiphany. Christmas gifts were small and one per person because "Christmas is about the birth of Christ, not commercialism!" Cf. chocolate advent calendars... The nearest she got to tacky was the Christmas Crib - and woe betide you if you put the Baby Jesus in there before midnight on Christmas eve!

In reaction to that I'm definitely plebeian in my tastes - loads of deccies, fairy lights up the wazoo, if I could get an outside plug socket fitted I'd have the front garden looking like Selfridges windows - but I can't bring myself to put any of it up before mid December. It's somehow not special if it's there all month.

@Flatwhitetostayin

On Instagram it's definitely not a WC thing.

Lol. Most of Instagram IS WC!!

How did you all learn these rules?

*They should put questions like this on the citizenship test grin?
It would probably be a lot more useful than some of the questions that are on there.

I quite enjoy a mumsnet class thread because it makes you realise just how much of our lives are full of hidden and not so hidden codes.

I find myself in no man's land because quite a lot of my values and foundations are working class, but there's no avoiding the fact that my job, home ownership and finances would make me middle class on some things. These threads always make me laugh because there's things people say are working class that my working class parents and grandparents would hate and would view as (I'm not sure of quite the right word) scruffy/tacky/chavvy.

You are being unreasonable to even care!

@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 😂

You can't explain why things are common or tacky, they just are:

• Babies with pierced ears
• Live, Laugh, Love wall art
• England/Union flags hanging in your front window

I'm sure this putting your tree up early is a relatively new phenomena

We have to move stuff around to put up a tree so would rather do it mid December

We put ours up on 8 Dec, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and take the decs down on 6 Jan, Epiphany. DH has very traditional parents…..

@Silverswirl

Absolutely true. LC tend to have garish multicoloured decorations up in November. Also added in recent years are the hideous cheap looking tacky door bows. Very very LC. MC usually have a large real tree and many real or natural decorations or more expensive real looking decorations. You never put them up before the 1st weekend in December. Ever! We choose and cut our tree and wouldn’t want to have it cut before December the 5th at the earliest but ideally the second weekend in dec.

You know you can’t make yourself middle class by using what you deem to be ‘not tacky’ decorations don’t you?

But it’s good to know you’re so in with what’s cool in the middle classes. Funny that you haven’t picked up any understanding of tasteful behaviour. To me, classy people simply wouldn’t look down on other people so nastily.

To me, classy people simply wouldn’t look down on other people so nastily.

Well quite. But I’m sure we all know that class has no bearing on how classy one is!

@FitAt50

Again, I’ve explained this. Those things aren’t tacky, they’re more just associated with people who are quite poor. People like to look down on those who are poor, but you couldn’t really get away with saying ‘haha yuck look at those poor people they haven’t got as much money as me’ because you’d sound like a dick. So instead, people like to say things are tacky/common, but it has much the same meaning.

I mean how can anyone seriously look down on someone because they have a ‘live laugh love’ sign? If you don’t like them, don’t get one. But it doesn’t make you a better person than someone who does have one.

@ShinyMe

Well I've noticed on Instagram that Highclere and Chatsworth both have all their lights and tress up already, so I reckon your mate might not be the font of all knowledge.

Yes as does Castle Howard

@Kanaloa oh you are wrong. Very wrong. It’s the genuine upper classes that don’t sneer down on people. MC’s certainly do. It’s literally their hallmark.