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.

@Rosehip10 - feeling prickly this morning? Of course level of education is a definer of class. Always has been, Don't be so daft. Wealth is far more transient a marker. At Uni I had a friend with a title who was always trying to cadge a tenner from someone. Totally skint!
My original comment was that my dear MIL did not understand the definition of WC and simply thought it meant people who work. Which is wryly amusing.
Back to the OP's topic, it really doesn't matter when or how anyone starts decorating for Christmas. Up to them. We all need some joy in our lives.

[quote myfaceismyown]@Rosehip10 if you start off WC and you get a degree you become MC whether you like it or not. Its not relevant into which class I was born. Similarly you cannot be a company director and working class. No subtlety here.[/quote]
Nonsense. My dad was a miner. My current DP is trade and so are most of our friends. We have a white van, and prefer our gratification immediate not deferred. My degree and senior management job don't make me MC. I am educated WC.

Do you think there is a faith element in this theory too?

I come from a working-class background but was raised Catholic. Advent was very much a period of preparation for Christmas, not the celebration of Christmas. We used to sing Christmas Carols around the wreath every Sunday of Advent, but the real tree would not go up until Christmas Eve and we would celebrate Christmas during the whole 12 days of Christmas, right up to 6th January (Epiphany).

When I got married, my husband came from a working-class background too, but his family put up their decorations a lot earlier than we did, and he would want them down just after New Years' Day.

@5128gap The Cambridge dictionary defines WC thus "(UK also the working classes) a social group that consists of people who earn little money, often being paid only for the hours or days that they work, and who usually do physical work". Sorry poppet, you are MC.

Ha ha, is that why everyone wants to go to university these days because it magically turns you into middle class

@Yingandyang

Ha ha, is that why everyone wants to go to university these days because it magically turns you into middle class

I am not sure you understand what working class means

When you’ve worked hard to afford decorations and ‘garish outdoor inflatables’ that are actually quite expensive, you’re bound to want to enjoy them for longer. It would make no sense to spend a weeks wages to only enjoy them for 2 weeks. #teamxmas #teamworkingclass
P.S I don’t have any lights or inflatables outside - I can’t afford them

Sorry poppet, you are MC.
No I agree pp is educated wc or wc class roots.
They may have money.
Dbro is a millionaire and considers him wc he has plenty of money but loves a pint, chippy, rag newspaper, has a mouth like a foghorn and wouldn't never put on air and grace for anyone.
Wears a football shirt regularly too.
Dsis chartered accountant with investment properties wouldn't change her mind, accent or wc values for anyone.
Similarly privately educated from mc parents who lost money through health or hardship would always be mc.
Money doesn't change class.

[quote myfaceismyown]@5128gap The Cambridge dictionary defines WC thus "(UK also the working classes) a social group that consists of people who earn little money, often being paid only for the hours or days that they work, and who usually do physical work". Sorry poppet, you are MC.[/quote]
Goodness. Don't tell the proper middle class people. They'll have to invent a whole new class for themselves if they realised who that let in.

Blue lights are just so associated with the emergency services for me that I really dislike them at Christmas. If they were the old style turquoise blue that would be ok but led blue just makes me think crime scene/accident.

I do wonder if the perceived stereotypes about people who put their Christmas decorations up early relate to the whole delayed gratification thing. Lots of research to suggest those who can wait for things are more successful therefore those people who are just so excited about Christmas they just can't wait are seen as less successful?

Don't tell the proper middle class people. They'll have to invent a whole new class for themselves if they realised who that let in.
Exactly.
Education and hard work with opportunities will provide a MC lifestyle not a ladder.
I think MC like to refer to these people as nouveau riche. 🤣

Ahh the season of good will and the spirit of Christmas! I am imagining panto cows though (I'll get my costume)

Though the only thing that bothers me about people putting up trees early is it becomes very difficult to buy a real tree 🎄 a week before Christmas.

I thought that everyone put their decorations up early last year and probably this year because it was a bit of brightness to make us forget a bit about Covid and lockdowns, nothing to do with class

I live in between two very different neighbourhoods and would say a major difference is the type of decorations. One way is more gaudy the other more plain (like the photo examples) Neither is right or wrong but there is a difference.

@LovelyBranches

I think that anyone who thinks that class is redundant clearly doesn’t negatively feel the impact of their class on their lives. It’s certainly not redundant.

I think your friend is probably more right, putting decorations up earlier is more popular in working class areas. As are ostentatious decorations. You do see it more amongst instagrammers and ‘new money’ too.

What a load of rubbish, most people who put up decorations early, do so because they have small children, regardless of class. The people in my circle who are most ostentatious are also the most wealthy (not ' new money' either). The obsession with class on here is weird.

Nope. Not a working class thing at all. More a middle class, look how much I have thing. Going through an upmarket part of the city yesterday, it would seem everyone is celebrating Xmas early. Whereas in the schemes, you know the bought houses, as they are the only ones with their trees up. Maybe different in Englandshire...

Having a degree does not automatically make you middle class - what a ridiculous comment.

[quote myfaceismyown]@Rosehip10 if you start off WC and you get a degree you become MC whether you like it or not. Its not relevant into which class I was born. Similarly you cannot be a company director and working class. No subtlety here.[/quote]
This is very stupid. You become middle class whether you like it or not

You realise that a lot of people go to uni now? It’s no longer the stamp of the middle classes. I work (minimum wage) in a nursery with lots of ladies who have degrees in education or similar. Many of them are scraping by in difficulty. All are working class.

Never mind the decorations. What time do you have the Christmas meal? Working class afternoon. Middle class evening. That's a real signifier.

[quote myfaceismyown]@Rosehip10 if you start off WC and you get a degree you become MC whether you like it or not. Its not relevant into which class I was born. Similarly you cannot be a company director and working class. No subtlety here.[/quote]
Agree with @Rosehip10 what a load of utter shite.

if you start off WC and you get a degree you become MC whether you like it or not. Its not relevant into which class I was born. Oh are you feeling sensitive you may not be mc afterall?
Education is no longer exclusive to MC.
Most teenagers around here go to colleges universities or start an apprenticeship, very much wc area.
Plenty of neighbours have money.

@dropitlikeitsloth

I live in between two very different neighbourhoods and would say a major difference is the type of decorations. One way is more gaudy the other more plain (like the photo examples) Neither is right or wrong but there is a difference.

Ours is like the second photo. But some in our village have it like the first. Each to their own.