A single mother has shared the reason she took down her Christmas tree, starting a conversation online.
“Take my Christmas tree with you because there’s no point in my kids not having something to open under my tree on Christmas morning,” the TikTok video begins, showing the mom taking the tree apart.
Erica, on TikTok @electricerica, explains that her video isn’t because she’s asking for “sympathy.” Instead, she wants to “try to normalize what single mothers go through.” It has since received more than 3 million views.
The single mother of six explains: “I work full time and it’s barely enough to live on. Nothing but the necessities.”
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Picture of a gloved hand holding a Christmas tree.
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Strangers support dad facing kids’ first Christmas without mum: ‘I’ve never been so overwhelmed with joy’
“Now I’m forced to find a part-time job on top of my full-time job,” she says, asking people to “watch and get involved” so they can “help someone who is doing everything to help themselves and still not succeeding.”
The comments are full of criticism of the mom because people blamed her for how she handled the situation.
In the following videos, Erica explains that it is important for her to put her energy into being a “happy, present mother” and says that this is more important than material things that she can give them.
“Every day this week I woke up looking at the tree, knowing I wouldn’t be able to put anything under it for them,” says Erica, handling the reaction. “It stole my joy, and those emotions I felt made me unhappy, and I refuse to let my children have a poor mother and a mother who is so devastated by life’s difficulties that she is not present in the children’s lives. live.”
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Picture of a Christmas tree being packed.
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Strangers support dad facing kids’ first Christmas without mum: ‘I’ve never been so overwhelmed with joy’
In the comments, people noted that there were organizations that could help her children get gifts for the holidays. Others pointed out that earlier that same day, she posted a video of herself driving 11 hours and renting a hotel room to visit family with the father of her one-year-old twins, who is currently serving time in a federal prison.
“You had the money to drive for hours and stay in a hotel to visit a man in prison, why didn’t you use that money for gifts for your children?” the user commented on her video visit.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way,” wrote another commenter on a video of her defending her Christmas tree removal. “They have toy banks for people who have help for your kids, maybe you could look into that, but this is worse for your kids, and you’re being selfish by taking this tree.”
Erica clarified in a follow-up video that she and her young children will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas at her oldest daughter’s house, spending the holiday “opening presents there — presents that she bought for my kids.”
In her latest video addressing the situation, Erica says she expected people to disagree with her, but was crushed by the “ugly” comments left on her videos.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education