Aibu to think the Middle Class have a much nicer Christmas from the run up to the event itself?

[Mincepiesorpigsinblankets]

Just from observing friends & family. The more mc ones seem to have a fabulous, jam packed festive period with lovely events scheduled & nice traditions. Aibu in my thinking?

Don't think it's got anything to do with middle class v working class, whatever your definition of that may be!

I think it's got more to do with your life stage and working situation, i.e how much time you have to spend together as a family etc.

Wreath making is just the latest money-making scheme and is completely overpriced and something you can do cheaply yourself. Why would you pay someone upwards of £50 each to to attach some conifer and a few cinnamon sticks to wire frame yourself? Madness!

But if you live in a block of council flats (as I used to do), there'll be a rule from the council that you aren't allowed to have anything hung on your front door.

I do see your point although would say it’s umc rather than mc. The traditional idea of Christmas with lots of family, loads of food & lots of time off plus space to host will likely be linked to money.

What counts is whether or not you have a happy family. I wouldn't say we were 'middle-class', but we lived in a wealthy, middle-class area and had loads of presents and food, etc. Christmas Day wasn't always great, however. My father was a very negative, low-energy sort of man, and my grandfather was a damaged, difficult character who'd suddenly yell at my grandmother half way through dinner. He also hated and disapproved of my dad (his son in law), so the day crackled with tension. It never really felt fun – or relaxed and jokey and happy, the way Christmas should.

The most important thing is the character/personality of the people you share Christmas with. If they're cheerful and kind, good conversationalists, etc, it will be a pleasant day. When you've got good people around you, you can have fun in a bedsit with a packet of cards and a couple of bottles of Lambrini. (Well, maybe not a bedsit...let's say a small flat😄.)

What are they doing that you're not doing?

Why don't you start doing it?

I look at people charging around doing ice skating, Christmas markets and crafting sessions and just think more fool you! It all looks tiring and expensive. I'm quite happy at home in the warm with a Baileys.

It’s all very faux as well. We don’t have Christmas markets here like there are in Europe which are properly magical.

I look at people charging around doing ice skating, Christmas markets and crafting sessions and just think more fool you! It all looks tiring and expensive. I'm quite happy at home in the warm with a Baileys.

I like to do lots of activities and stay home with a Baileys.

This! The big difference is how much time you get off and you are more likely to get the whole festive period in MC jobs.

I would be interested in how many people saying the OP is wrong are finishing on the 20th for nearly 2 weeks off and how many have Christmas Day off and that is pretty much it.

WC Christmases look absolutely fabulous. Many more presents and togetherness. I always notice the houses are always so decorated, so much anticipation and joy. As much as I like my village. It is incredibly tasteful when actually fun and frivolity is very festive.

Where there is genuine gratitude for gifts, kindness and thought there will be a great Christmas regardless of income/class.

Some of my best Christmases were at work as a younger person.

Fake German markets are rubbish too- full of massively overpriced gifts that nobody actually wants, extortionately priced food and drinks and lots of drunk people.

Far better to visit a local craft market and have drink in a cosy cafe or pub afterwards x

Christmas is expensive. Isn’t it perfectly obvious that those earning more money will be able to do more?

Doesn't have to cost the earth.

I usually make my own wreath at home from evergreens and berries from my own and (willing) neighbour's gardens or bits taken from woodland walks.

Carol services are free. Making mince pies or a chocolate log or Christmas biscuits with DC costs very little. Making their own popcorn and cocoa then watching a Christmas film together under blankets on the sofa, going for a frosty walk on a sparkly day, reading Christmas storybooks from the library, hand-making decorations for the tree or streamers for the ceiling, putting out food for Rudolph and letters for Santa. These are all gorgeous Christmas events that cost next to nothing.

We used to get cheap seats for a show but it was often the only show we saw all year when DC were young and money was very tight - a local panto when DC were small or a London comedy when they got older. Some of these were from free ticket companies that wanted a full house, so you only paid the admin fee.

100 per cent 🎄

oh we need the recreating a german market thread on this thread

and here it is https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/4091892-To-try-and-recreate-a-Christmas-market-in-my-back-garden

@ Mirabai
What you said about foraging is not totally correct - there are many exclusionary local bye-laws and also rules about SSSIs, for example.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11584156

These websites, even from supporters of foraging, shows that the situation can sometimes be quite complex:
https://britishlocalfood.com/foraging-british-law/
https://www.thegrizzlyforager.co.uk/foraging-and-the-law/
www.landscaper.org.uk/foraging

As you know, some plants are very strictly protected.No-one should interfere with them at all.
https://totallywilduk.co.uk/2023/01/05/is-foraging-legal-in-the-uk/

If you mean on front doors which open onto a corridor which is part of a designated fire escape route, then I think you'll find that rule is found in private blocks of flats too. Certainly was the case where I used to live.

You're so right.

The Middletons are MC by some mumsnetters standards!

Your post is giving Little Match Girl vibes🤣

Well I grew up in a very middle class village and there was a lot of Christmas stuff. Multiple church's doing community things, the schools did loads and more parents (mothers) had the time to be more involved. Fund raising was more successful. There were Christmas decorations out the front of houses. Lovely feeling to it.

I now live 10 miles away in the cheapest house I could find. I don't see anything from the church other than food bank. The schools do stuff but not at the same level. When I visit my parents I can see the posters fro school fete and all the decorations. On my road the decorations are minimal and gawdy one house put up a rain deer made of lights it was beautiful and was knocked within a couple days.

Myself and my kids will still have joy. But finding the money for everything has been stressful in a way it never would be if the weekly food shop was stressful every week anyway. My kids won't get what they asked for either. Thankfully all our middle class friends dropped us so at least my kids won't see the stark comparison when they get charity shop toys and their peers get a new switch or whatever. We will play together and will get quality time and have a nice walk along the rubbish strewn streets to the park if we get board. Kids don't know any difference and they will love it. I however know there is a huge difference

I'm also doing chicken instead of turkey and that changes the whole feel of Christmas dinner.

My very middle class mother will argue she gets just as stressed by Christmas as any other people. She would be offended by the idea she may have it easier than us paupers. She has no idea. People who don't have to add their shop up as they go around and rely on the reduced meat to eat meat have no fucking idea

I’m MC and my Xmas will be thrown together and with minimal effort because I’ve got no fucking money and no fucking time