Christmas dinner means breaking bread with relatives you’ve been avoiding all year.
It means the smell of a roast banquet cooking from eight in the morning.
It means interminable amounts of work and months of planning for a select few (or less) for one elaborate meal (with dessert) that’s more decadent than anything else you eat all year.
The meal is almost always forgotten following a family disagreement that puts an end to the festivities until next year.
Gemma Andrews on ITV’s This Morning.
There is very little thanks for playing the role of the host during Christmas gatherings (apart from a job well done of course) and more often than not you end up out of pocket.
A mum-of-four in the UK has evened the playing field by asking each of her guests to pay $50 to attend Christmas dinner at her home.
Appearing on UK’s ITV morning show, This Morning, Gemma Andrews revealed that she started charging her family after several years of being left out of pocket.
“I charge the adults £30, I don’t charge the children, and sometimes we have six children come to our house,” Gemma explained on air.
“The very first year I opened my house to everybody, Christmas Eve I got let down by five people, putting me out of pocket.”
“The year after I tried asking everyone to bring a dish, come to Christmas Eve, and everyone says, ‘Oh, I forgot to get it’, and I’m left rambling around trying to find a bag of prawns.”
Gemma says it was her family who first suggested the Christmas system and not one person has complained about it yet.
Due to her son’s severe allergies she must be the one who cooks, so she gets the money, then orders the food and cooks it.
“I think if it were alternative years at different houses I wouldn’t feel the need to ask for cover. But I’ve got the house that’s big enough to host.”
“The people that come to Christmas dinner are my grandparents-in-law, and my ex-husband and his family come round. I’ve hosted for the last ten years because I have the house that’s big enough to host.”
To be honest, we can kind of see her point.
It’s not cheap to cook a Christmas dinner, and if no one is complaining then, no harm no foul… right?
