While the majority of people agree that Christmas is the perfect time for giving, one mother has divided the people after defending her decision to charge family members for Christmas dinner.
As UK-based Mandie Holgate admitted, paying for the expenses associated with preparing Christmas dinner was too much for her to handle alone which is why she started charging her family members $50 per person to attend her party.
Defending her decision in an interview with LADbible, the woman said she loves to be in charge of organizing Christmas parties as long as her family members are willing to contribute financially.
“We worked it out and it costs around £700. It used to be that my mum and dad, my husband and I, and my sister and her husband would take it in turns,” the 46-year-old said.
“But as the years went on, my sister said she didn’t want to do it anymore because she didn’t enjoy it. I love it, getting the house all pretty, getting the music on, and having a drink. So that’s how it started really.”
After undergoing a taxing surgery that left her concerned about her finances, however, the mum started facing difficulties paying for the occasion out of her own pocket.
“I’m doing all the shopping and the cooking for the big day. And as a small business owner, I try and shop locally, which is great but it does mean that it can be slightly dearer,” Mandie added.
“So that’s part of it really, I’d rather do that and know that I am supporting local businesses, which is something I think we all have to get our heads around.
“One of the family members did say ‘you can get a turkey cheaper than that,’ and you can but you don’t know where it came from or how it was treated.”
Since the expenses associated with preparing a premium dinner aren’t easy on the wallet, Mandie decided to charge family members attending the Christmas dinner $50 per head.
“They basically said ‘great, I’ll pay anything, I just don’t want to cook it,’” she added.
“And though I’ve had one troll tell me he thinks I’m wrong, most people have contacted me to say they agree … I do it every year and my family are happy to put in because they don’t want the work and the mess, so where’s the big deal? Why should it leave me skint in January? It’s crazy. We’re all part of the same team, the same family and I love it.”
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Replaced!