Moms are the holiday magic. This we know. They are the ones who decorate the house, plan the trips to see Christmas lights, shop for the gifts (and then wrap them), and pretty much make the entire holiday season run smoothly. Moms are basically Santa Claus. And we’re so very tired.
One married mom to three grown sons posted a TikTok, sharing that she would not be lifting one finger to decorate or get a Christmas tree, waiting on her family to take the lead. Her social experiment went viral after she shared her plan.
“Today is December 13th, and no one has mentioned getting a Christmas tree or decorating for Christmas. The tree would probably go right there in that corner and no one has said anything about getting out the decorations, going and getting a tree for Christmas,” Melissa Neely shared.
“So we’re just going to wait and see if anybody mentions getting a Christmas tree, and if they don’t, maybe we won’t put up a Christmas tree this year.”
Neely, 55, shares that she’s been married for 30 years with three grown sons, two of which still live at home.
“We’ll see if they decide they want a Christmas tree or if they bring it up or even mention it, and we’ll see how long it goes until we actually decorate for Christmas, or maybe we won’t decorate for Christmas this year. So we’re just going to just wait and see what happens.”
After her video went viral, several TikTok users commented on the clip, sharing their solidarity with Neely and empathy for her situation.
“This resonates with me. Women/moms carry the burden of the ‘magic.’ It’s exhausting,” one user noted.
Another user pointed out a very clear distinction in Neely’s life. “The operative word here is ‘sons,’” they wrote.
“If I waited for the men in my house to get excited about Christmas decor we wouldn’t have any. I decorate for me,” one user said to which others agreed that they decorate their home for themselves because they appreciate it.
At this point, people were invested in Neely’s experiment. Thankfully, she posted updates.
In an update video, she noted there was a “brief, tiny mentioning” about getting a tree that very same evening. However, other than that, no initiative was taken.
“But I didn’t reply as, ‘Oh, we should do it on this day or go to this place’ or I didn’t offer up any details on how anything was going to happen for Christmas. I’m just waiting to see who’s going to come up with the details and if it’s going to happen or not,” she said.
“It’s just an experiment for fun that I’m doing to entertain myself.”
On Dec. 15, she posted another update, and lo and behold, the video showed her husband walking into the house with a Christmas tree!
“Christmas tree has been purchased on his way home from yoga. He stopped and picked up a really cute Christmas tree,” she shared.
“So how exciting, and to be fair, he does the most. He really does. It’s hard to keep up with him. He just is constantly doing a project. So it’s not that he is not interested in Christmas or wasn’t tasked with it. It was just my own humor of trying to see how long the lack of a Christmas tree would go on. And it actually didn’t go on that long, December 15th. That’s still how many days away from Christmas. We’re so ahead. We’re so ahead.”
But that begs the question… who is going to decorate it?
