Each family has their own festive traditions they like to stick to.
Whether it be watching Love Actually on Christmas Eve, going on a wintry dog walk or trying to find the coin hidden in Christmas pudding, every household seems to do things differently.
And for one woman, her annual scavenger hunt was a highlight of her family celebrations. She thought it was a fun activity her parents had thought up for fun – but realised the truth about the game when she was an adult.
In a candid TikTok video, Emily Anne said: “Adulthood is looking back at your family’s Christmas traditions and realising how many of them started because your parents didn’t have any money.”
Emily continued: “My sisters and I would wake up on Christmas morning and come downstairs to a note from Santa with a list of clues leading to where all of our presents were. And I’m pretty sure we had more fun working together to solve all the clues than actually opening the presents.”
She went on to share how there would always be at least one prank present, such as a potato, for them to open, which made everything even more exciting. But when they got older, their parents decided to share the heartbreaking reason why they’d started that tradition in the first place.
Emily said: “It was because their first Christmas with children, they had $20 (£15.99) to spend on everybody for all of their Christmas presents – and they had no idea how they were going to make it last for everybody.
“So they decided to start a scavenger hunt to make the process of opening all of the very few presents they got a lot more memorable. And then to make more things to open they went around and wrapped up like potatoes and random things from around the house.”
The clever idea ended up being one of “the best” Christmas traditions – and it shows how the festive season is about more than just money. It’s also about love, family and putting others before yourself.
Many were moved by the clip and left their thoughts in the comments section. One said: “One tradition was all the kids slept in one room together with one adult in it so we couldn’t sneak out and open gifts. Real reason was that no one in the family had a big enough house.”
A second person commeted: “We went to bed with no tree. Woke up to a fully decorated one and gifts. We were too poor and they gave out free trees on Xmas Eve. My mum stayed up and decorated it all. It’s my favourite magic.”
Meanwhile, a third added: “Our Santa got water and a ham sandwich instead of milk and cookies so we would ‘stand out.’ Parents needed to save the milk.”