Do you give your household staff a Christmas bonus

[BercowsFestiveFlamingo]

From the maids and the cook to the butler and the chauffeur it's getting to be a rather dear do these days what with the leaks in the old roof and the terrible state of the stable block I might have to sell off some of the family jewels.
I suppose one is expected to give one's staff a Christmas bonus but is it really necessary? There's tradition and then there's one's roof and its leaks. Not to mention the damage Great Aunt Annie did to the ruddy estate wall after an ill-advised mixture of tequila and the gardener's ride-on mower. She always was a rum one and that trip to Mexico has a lot to answer for.
Anyway, I digress, back to the question in hand: bonuses-yes or no? They are a good bunch apart from that time they had a soirée orgy in the lodge and had raided the wine cellar and pantry. Great uncle Albert and the cook have not seen eye to eye since. Probably best after the eye-full of her nether regions he got went he went to investigate the noise.
Alas, I fear I may cause a rumpus if the usual bonus is not there this year.

Pay up or they'll be pissing in your vinegar all year.

That might explain the sour look on great uncle's face at dinner last weekend.

All our staff get an extra months wages, except the cook. We give her 2 months as she works Christmas Day and the feast she prepares is magnificent.

I just give them the pick of my cast offs

Their faces light up. The dear things

I get my cleaner a nice present and a bottle of her favourite wine.

No certainly not!

Our staff line up in the hall on Christmas Eve and I hand them a gift (a framed photo of Dh and l).

I find that quite sufficient.

@LizzieSiddal

No certainly not!

Our staff line up in the hall on Christmas Eve and I hand them a gift (a framed photo of Dh and l).

I find that quite sufficient.

This cracked me up

We leave the binman some beer on top of the bins...is that the kind of bonus you mean?
🚮😄

It's quickly done in my household.

Nuer certainly nert

Box of Rochers for all here chez nous

No they are grateful to receive the leftovers from our Christmas dinner

We give ours a signed photograph of our family. They are so very grateful, the dear simple creatures. We also allow them to take the leftovers from our Christmas lunch and sometimes the fumes from the whiskey bottle. I know some might say we spoil them, but we can’t help but be so magnanimous, it is our very nature.

Aye. Double pay.

But this is what Boxing Day is for, no?

The feckers have £4 an hour, what more do they want? I am not forking out MY hard earned cash for bonuses for 55 staff! Sod that!

I only clip them round the ear once on Christmas morning instead of the usual two they get every other day of the year.

Yankee candle and some smellies hun xx

I buy DH a present if thats what you mean.

Apparently handing them an Xmas pudding each is thanks enough. You can get them from Asda for £3, so assuming you say 15 staff (low I know but some people do manage), that's only £45. Or you could push the boat our for one which costs £6 - if you can stretch to £90 without impoverishing yourself so much that you can't afford Annabelle's boarding fees.

Did Great Aunt Annie steal a house in Mexico?

I let them watch The Querns speech on the big telly in the east wing.
The bonus is its 10 minutes off their duties, all paid for!

Plebeians.

Not after last year. There was a single sock left in the washing machine. The housekeeper asked me to pass it to her, I did so and I accidentally freed her. Couldn't find a new one till March!

Nothing will be given to them by me.

I've just left the bin men an envelope out with twenty quid in it.

The rest of them can go to shite. They have the pleasure of my company.

I am my staff.