The Christmas season is financially taxing. Especially if you are going to host a family dinner. After all, you've got all the gifts to buy AND the food.
One unnamed mom from the United Kingdom has come up with a way for the family to contribute to her expensive homemade Christmas dinner that has the internet divided. According to “Stacey,” who posted to the forum Mumsnet to share the story, her mother-in-law is charging the family roughly $20-a-head to attend the holiday feast.
Asking people “AIBU” (aka, “am I being unreasonable”), Stacey explains that rather than ask her family to chip in their own recipes or the usual wine or eggnog, she’s charging the dinner fee so she can “do it all from scratch” by herself.
While the daughter-in-law understands that cooking up a Christmas feast for a bunch of people can rack up quite a bill, she points out that it’s “not like she is financially destitute.” The debacle has her partner on the fence about whether they should pay the fee to attend his mom’s annual dinner, or just skip it to go to Stacey’s.
- Forum users commented with mixed responses... some assured Stacey she wasn’t “being unreasonable,” as they think it’s normal to expect a free seat at family dinner with the exception of contributing dishes or drinks.
- Others are on the mother-in-law’s side, with one user pointing out that “it depends on if you see it as charging or as chipping in” – when it comes to family, is there a difference between “chipping in” money or food?
Read the full post and responses HERE.
What do you think? I don't think I could do it. If I am going to host a holiday event, I am going to just find a way to fit it in my Christmas budget.