Would you charge your family for Christmas dinner?

Christmas is all about being generous… but is paying for your meal taking it a step too far?

A woman has sparked outrage by admitting that she charges family members £30 a head to eat at her house on Christmas Day.

After years of trying to make some sort of compromise with her family, including encouraging her relatives to each cook a dish in preparation for the big day, Gemma Andrews decided enough was enough.

The responsibility of serving up the festive meal had always fallen to Andrews as she had the only house with enough space to accommodate the whole family.

However, as she told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning, pulling off the Christmas cooking single-handedly has proven to be tricky at times, no thanks to flaky family members.

“The very first year I opened my house to everybody, Christmas Eve I got let down by five people, putting me out of pocket and excess food,” she said.

Although she tried it once, asking her guests to bring dishes was too risky for Andrews due to her son’s severe allergies.

As a solution to put an end to last-minute drop outs and the extortionate costs of cooking on December 25, Andrews concocted the idea to charge £30 for all adults attending her meal, with children going free.

This story has received mixed responses from the public, with many outraged that anyone could even consider asking relatives to pay for their seat at the table.

One user, tweeting from @katierandall03, wrote: “Would I ever charge my family to come round for Christmas day? Not on your nelly!!! It’s just rude.”

However, others have found Andrews’ request fairly reasonable. Another user, tweeting from @MeliMooRachel, wrote: “We all put in 20/30 quid each no matter where we’re hosting Christmas dinner. Everyone brings a bottle.

“Wouldn’t expect my mum to foot the bill every year as a widowed pensioner.”

While Andrews’ unusual Christmas meal arrangement has divided opinion, it’s fair to say that taking charge in the kitchen is one turkey of a task.