The results are in! From heartwarming stories to the three wise men, here are the responses to this year’s Christmas Quiz.

The Metfriendly annual Christmas quiz is something we look forward to every year. Getting first-hand insight into life in the Police Service is fascinating and many of the results are profound and thoughtful, whilst others are simply hilarious.

You answered questions on just about everything in this quiz. From sharing your most heartwarming Christmas stories to explaining what myrrh is, hundreds of you offered your thoughts and experiences. We also asked what you’d say to the public about policing at Christmas if given the chance, and the responses shed light on how committed you are to your communities.

Christmas celebrations, music and decorations

Our survey highlighted just how important your peers are to you. Responding to your favourite part of the festive season, the most popular answer was ‘Festive spirit amongst colleagues and the public’. Following the Christmas camaraderie, the next most exciting aspect of the festive period was spending cosy nights in throughout the cold weather, with many respondents also thinking about all the food they’ll be getting their hands on come the big day. Some, but not many of you cared most about presents and just 4% were most excited about hearing Mariah Carey blaring non-stop. Fair enough.

That was also reflected when we asked what Christmas song you’d play at work, if you could get away with it. A third of you picked ‘Fairytale of New York’ and just over a quarter went for ‘Last Christmas’, while ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ and ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ shared roughly 18% of votes. Christmas music clearly doesn’t resonate among all coppers though, with seventeen of you saying you hate it and wouldn’t play any given the chance!

When it came to putting up the decorations, more than 60% of you have had them up since the start of the month, with most of the remaining votes split between a few weeks before Christmas and absolutely any time you fancy it. Only 2% of respondents were on-hand straight after Halloween to get the tree up, which shows a level of commitment that warrants some respect.

Finally, we asked what Christmas tradition you could do without. Unsurprisingly when asking the Police, the most common answer was the general public drinking a bit too much alcohol. However, a very heartwarming message can be taken away from the fact that over a quarter of you said worrying about whether you chose the right gift is your biggest irritation, despite not so many being bothered about what you receive.

Money, budgeting and financial goals

The festive period isn’t fun for everyone. In fact, it’s a time of the year where wallets are stretched and stress about money can take over. Just under 40% of you said despite not wanting to spend much, you’re still looking forward to Christmas, while over a third of respondents claimed the period will be challenging, or were more concerned about money than the holiday. The responses highlight continued pressures felt by members of the Police Service and the wider working community in the UK.

In terms of budgeting and saving money throughout 2022, only 14% of respondents made it through the year with no problems. The majority of you described it as challenging or more difficult towards the end of the year, whilst just over 10% had struggled significantly. Make sure you and your family members use any resources available that could help save you money  and ways to accomplish your financial goals going forward.

As far as goals for 2023 go, our Members were largely torn between three options. The most popular objective, with over 33% of votes, was to budget and save money efficiently, whilst paying off outstanding debts or loans and taking a well-deserved holiday were evenly split, both sharing about a quarter of total votes. One in ten of you said you hadn’t yet invested any money into an ISA and want to make that a target for 2023, while 8% of respondents thought money would be too tight to think about financial goals next year.

Find out more about saving regularly with Metfriendly.

Christmas trivia

This year, your festive trivia was impeccable. We were surprised with the amount of correct responses, showing an astute knowledge of Christmas topics, so very well done. Almost three-quarters of you identified the sixpence as the coin traditionally baked into a Christmas pudding, while 84% knew that putting up a Christmas tree is a tradition originating from Germany. Commiserations to the single respondent who said it was Japan, but certainly not a bad guess by any means!

Just under half of you knew that myrrh is a resin that comes from trees, although roughly the same amount of people split their votes between it being a traditional perfume and a herb. Lastly, it seems like there are a lot of ‘Elf’ lovers out there, as we asked you about the first rule in the Code of Elves from the Will Ferrell movie. Twenty-one people showed their hunger by claiming it was to never forget to leave out milk and cookies, but roughly half of our respondents knew the correct answer was ‘treat every day like Christmas’.

What policing at Christmas is like and your heartwarming stories

We asked you what you’d tell the public about policing at Christmas that they probably don’t know. There were some brilliant responses and we received a lot of thoughtful insight, including everything from having less staff in work to an annual suspect call being put out for a large IC1 male in a red suit seen gaining entry to a building via the chimney.

However, the prize went to one Officer who eloquently described what it’s like to be on the job at Christmas. They said that Police Officers see the occasion from a different perspective to the general public. Whilst most would assume it’s a day for families to get together, it’s actually one of the busiest days of the year for the Police and they are likely to work overtime and not spend Christmas with their own families at all.

As for your most heartwarming Christmas story, the responses were nothing short of amazing. It’s eye-opening to see just how many members of the Police Service have their own unique story to tell about the festive period.

Despite so many insights worthy of recognition, the prize was awarded to one Officer who, upon arriving for a child welfare check at a home on Christmas Eve, removed the youngster from the household and helped to get them placed in a foster home the same day. The Officer managed to catch up with the child a few days later and was touched to hear they had experienced the best Christmas of their life and felt safe for the very first time.

Stories like this would surely warm anyone’s heart - even the Grinch himself. Many of you identified the Christmas period as a time when crime spikes, despite the general public often thinking the opposite effect may occur. Police Staff and Officers continue to serve their communities while many other professions enjoy time off to relax and unwind with their families.

As always, it was a true pleasure to read through your quiz responses, so a huge thank you goes out to everybody who took part this year.

The winners are: 
Solveiga (best story about policing at Christmas)
James (best heartwarming story)
Pat (our randomly picked winner)

From all of us here at Metfriendly, we wish you a safe Christmas and a very happy New Year. You deserve it!