barefoot, slipping / sliding.
Posted on 12/01/2022 3:46:52 AM PST by dennisw
Duddridge started charging for Christmas dinner in 2016, and has since become part of the family’s traditions — immediate relatives are used to it by now.
“Some people might think it’s harsh to put a levy on meals for kids but it’s an important life lesson. The older grandkids like to try and offer to help me to earn some of their money back and I admire that,” she said.
Grandma charges family $45 a head for Christmas dinner Duddridge said she spends “dozens of hours” scouring grocery stores for the cheapest and best deals, especially with the price of groceries skyrocketing this year.
“Every week my meal budget buys less and less so I have to be tactical in buying ingredients to make the dinner for my 12 guests,” said Duddrige, who receives about $1,200 a month in widower’s pensions.
Her husband passed away in 2015, cutting her expendable income in half.
“Like many moms and grans who always make Christmas dinner, I couldn’t bear the cost of buying all the gifts and paying for the entire meal..
The mom of five and grandma of six is charging adults up to $18 for the meal, her 12-year-old and three 9-year-old grandchildren have to pony up about $6, and her two 3-year-old grandchildren are being charged $3. She charges the adult women less because they have families and work part-time.
“I log into my bank account and check who has made their Christmas dinner payment in November,” she told the Sun of her annual tradition. “Once my ‘naughty and nice’ tally is done I do a quick ring around chasing my ‘delinquent depositors’ and remind them to meet their payment date of Dec. 1.”
But I will eventually receive cash from them for the meal,” Duddridge said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
To me, that's a bargain. I'll sit on the couch with a glass of wine and watch somebody else do the cooking and cleaning for a change.
She’d be eating dinner alone while I was at the local pub eating their Christmas special and drinking beer. It’s not like Christmas meals with grumpy relatives you’d rather not be around is fun. Try to charge me $45 for it and that’s all the reason I need to spend Christmas somewhere I enjoy.
“She’s pictured cooking a rack of lamb.”
That’s high class! For sure, I would be paying to eat her Christmas dinner, if it included a doggie bag. I have eaten plenty of lamb, but never had the rack of.
Today, they are both homeowners in their own right.
if she can no longer afford it, it is time to pass the tradition on to someone else who can
I love that! Your kids will appreciate it more and more over time and after you’re gone.
My grandkids reacted with horror when I told them about this - LOL.
Yep, seniors rock. My parents were well into their forties when I was born, and when they were born, their parents were deep in their thirties (tempered by both the Depression and WW2). I think that’s why my folks are so conservative, and I acquired a retro mentality. Love old movies, oldies music, and when they talk about boomer life I can follow without feeling two planets away. Favorite subject, history.
My fellow millennials can be depressing company. Many of them are gender confused, most are outright illiterate, and that includes the college students. They also don’t know beans about money and they are devoid of patriotism.
Seniors are on my wavelength.
I’m with you.
In our family I usually host the holiday meal but everyone brings something and my Mom always paid for the turkey or ham before she passed away recently. That way its not a burden on one person.
Sorry...for $45 each, we can do a great meal at home. Have fun, Mom. Will miss you, Mom.
Yes right out of school, not in HIGH SCHOOL.
18 is fine to charge rent. Under 18? The person is an A-hole.
$45/person?
That’s mighty expensive for a home prepared meal
She's a nut case. How is she using more electricity with so many warm bodies? They need to go to someone else's house and not invite her.
My budget in the past has been $30 so one hour of shopping and it's done. This year, I ditched the shopping and made do with what we had. The dressing and desserts are made the day before. The turkey (this year chicken) goes in the oven at 7 am. 11 am, the bird comes out and the sides go in. Dinner is served at noon.
That woman could learn a thing from a little 9 year old. One year, I was in bed sick as a dog so our 4th grader made the entire dinner from scratch by herself. No boxed dressing or purchased pie crusts. The only thing she needed help with was having hubby get the turkey out of the oven and asked me how much sage to put into the dressing and I could only mumble, "More than you think." Dinner was perfect.
Don’t do a search for “food bank haul” unless you want your blood pressure to shoot through the roof. People throw what they don’t want into the garbage. They get upset because their pistachios aren’t shelled. One woman, brags she gets her free food so she can afford a weekly seafood feast.
I’m doing something wrong.
Some of the most needy will not ask for assistance. When I was teaching we would make food baskets for the needy. After Thanksgiving, one of the teachers asked her students how they liked Thanksgiving. A child told her they had hot dogs and baked beans and for dessert had pumpkin pie. She had no clue that it was not unusual.
“I’m doing something wrong”
Not so, because…
“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.’
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
—Romans 14
The scammers can scam away, and THEY will get to answer.
Getting ready for the feats of strength and airing of grievances.
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