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.

Is it compulsory to have your sense of humour removed as you ascend upwards through the various strata of class? Or does it vanish from all that striving hard? Asking for a friend.

@longwayoff

Is it compulsory to have your sense of humour removed as you ascend upwards through the various strata of class? Or does it vanish from all that striving hard? Asking for a friend.

You can't ascend through the strata, don't you know? You'll always be the class you were born to. They test it at the 12 month baby review using various colours of festive lighting and then write it into your red book. That's it then- decided forever.

Phew! Thanks ThirdElephant, what a relief. I'll stay down here then clutching the flashing multicoloured light sabre I picked up at the Turning on of the Christmas Lights the other day. Thought I might have to bin it now I've got warm white lights but as my clambering efforts will always be in vain I shall give up and keep them both.

@FitAt50

Apparently it perfectly okay to mock middle class or upper class people, but God forbid mocking the working class - its not allowed.

Which threads have you seen dedicated to mocking the more wealthy and fortunate middle and upper classes? And how exactly are they mocked?

I've not noticed a huge divide and I've got friends from all over the socioeconomic scale. However, there's a general agreement that putting decorations up or getting "Christmassy" before early December is tacky because it's quietly assumed you're a bit too easily won over by commercial stuff and don't have much else going on in your life!

It's not that huge of a deal though. The only solidly "low class" Christmas thing that gets talked about where I'm from is "going to visit the Coca Cola truck"!

"Which threads have you seen dedicated to mocking the more wealthy and fortunate middle and upper classes? And how exactly are they mocked?"

Have you been on MN long? If you've ever popped into a Waitrose for a sandwich, or admit to spending more than £8.50 on your engagement ring, you'll get snarked at for being a detached, greedy posho who "can't read the room".

@rainbowmash

"Which threads have you seen dedicated to mocking the more wealthy and fortunate middle and upper classes? And how exactly are they mocked?"

Have you been on MN long? If you've ever popped into a Waitrose for a sandwich, or admit to spending more than £8.50 on your engagement ring, you'll get snarked at for being a detached, greedy posho who "can't read the room".

Yes, quite a while. Can’t remember any threads where someone was snarked at for eating a Waitrose meal deal or having an engagement ring.

Plenty where people are sneered at for such crimes as having their Christmas lights out, wearing a Pandora bracelet, or having a child named a popular and normal name like Jackson.

This post has made me laugh. Our road is in a Whats App group and there has been a lot of encouragement to put lights on a certain day next week. I have always put them up a fortnight before Christmas, any earlier and they can get messy and boring. Any later and it is almost time to take down. This year dd is bringing two lively dogs to stay for a week mid December so likely to do this later. Don’t think there is a class issue as most things are classless these days.

@rainbowmash

"Which threads have you seen dedicated to mocking the more wealthy and fortunate middle and upper classes? And how exactly are they mocked?"

Have you been on MN long? If you've ever popped into a Waitrose for a sandwich, or admit to spending more than £8.50 on your engagement ring, you'll get snarked at for being a detached, greedy posho who "can't read the room".

I don't see this I see a little light teasing and calling out of the humble brag 'problems'. But given the amount of people on here who are clearly very keen to be thought posh/rich/MC, and how hard people seem to work for it, I suspect a lot are more flattered than wounded when people comment.

I would weight that against other variables.
Right off the bat I would say :

• families with young children put their tree up earlier
• people that have a cut tree set it up later than people who have an artificial tree
• people that host the Christmas party are more out there with the decorations than those who'll be guests

@RedToothBrush oh absolutely! I don't have any problem with people putting up their decorations whenever they choose. I just wanted to snark at the poster who was trying to make out she was superior because she refused to do it before Advent

My in-laws live fairly close to a village in Staffordshire called Haughton, where the majority of the people go wild with the outside Christmas decorations and lights, and the demographic there is middle class, and upper middle class . (A few upper class too.) 1000s and 1000s of people come to see them from up to 50 miles away. They raise a lot of money for charity too.

I don't think people can generalise. Some MC have lots of outside lights, and some WC have lots of outside lights. As a number of posters have said; it's a silly, sneery generalisation intended to mock the working class. It's incredibly rude and classless to start a thread like this @FaLaLaLaLaaaar

Well this thread has certainly been enlightening Warm, white lights only, of course)!

I still don’t understand how you all learn this stuff?

And I didn’t show my friend in the end, as I didn’t want her to be right

@FaLaLaLaLaaaar

Well this thread has certainly been enlightening Warm, white lights only, of course)!

I still don’t understand how you all learn this stuff?

And I didn’t show my friend in the end, as I didn’t want her to be right

Oh she's not right. People can damn well put their decorations up when they please. It's only the people who feel insecure about their place in the MC that give a damn, Hyacinth Bucket-style.

Out of curiosity op, how did this conversation come up? At what point did the friend you say is lovely find an appropriate opening to suddenly announce that early Christmas decorations are working class?

Mine goes up the weekend before Dec 1st and most people think I’m a bit posh. Not sure what my grandmother who was posh would have thought of that, I always visited just before Christmas

When I lived in a normal area that became very new/competitive middle class it was all real trees in the bay window with no curtains and every door with a real wreath above the shredded slate dropping that had been laid down

No idea when they went up thought but I think was certainly December if only because they weren’t really sold before then

I'm from a working class family and none of us put our trimmings up early, your friend is talking nonsense. Plenty of middle class folk around here have either bought a real tree or are buying one this weekend, you forget that as real trees are perishable people feel the need to rush and get a 'good' one early and splash out on a long lasting one and make that thing last. If you have an artificial tree you've already had your moneys worth by year 2 so if it's only out for 2 weeks then who cares, plus you don't have to queue up with all your middle class neighbours at the scout sale you can just do it any old Tuesday night when the kids have nagged you enough and you've finally had a minute to hoover up. You can't discount the religious element either, it would probably be a more secular and less traditional thing to put a tree up early, plenty of people like to celebrate advent more than Christmas and take it all down on boxing day. If people have religious inclinations they're more likely to put trimmings up later.

Class does exist and Christmas does highlight plenty of classisms but sounds like your friend is a bit of a knob!

This thread has been a rather entertaining read!

I am from a m/c background up North, but am probably more w/c now, living in social housing in London, single mum to 2 kids with different dads I had in my 20s.

Anyway, I put my decorations up around the 1st December; and this year they included an inflatable Santa, multicoloured flashing lights, and coloured light up candy canes, all outside.
I used to get a real tree until we got a cat, so bought a lovely fake one secondhand. It's got static warm white lights on.

I wonder what class signifiers the friend of the original poster would ascribe to when people take their decorations down?

Mine are staying up until 6th January as I love the golden glow in the glumness of winter. Even though the tree is blocking the telly a bit