Every year, Georgia Schofield from Hartlepool packs up her Christmas tree at 5pm on Christmas day — leading to some branding her a ‘Grinch; and a ‘bad mum.’
But the mum-of-two and TikToker, who posts under the handle @bruh.georgia, insists that she has a good reason.
Ava, her eldest child, has a uniquely festive birthday.
‘I take the tree and the other decorations down and replace them with Ava’s birthday stuff,’ said Georgia.
‘I’ve been doing this for the past four years, this year will be the fifth.’
Ava, four, will be celebrating her fifth birthday the right after the Christmas celebrations as she does every year, on Boxing Day.
‘Of course, I do it when the kids are in bed,’ mum Georgia continued.
‘It’s a lot easier for me if it’s kept simple so it’s easy to put away, as I’m a single parent so I do it all on my own.’
Still, the 25-year-old insists that despite the swift turnaround, she, Ava and 3-year-old Leo still ‘love’ the festive period.
‘I do enjoy the Christmas period although it’s very stressful,’ she said. ‘I absolutely love it because I get to see the excitement from the kids opening their presents and they love to help decorate the tree.
But the parent was left taken aback when, after sharing her festive ritual on TikTok, she was met with a torrent of abuse.
Georgia explained: ‘My family and friends understand why I do it but when I went viral online for it I did get mixed opinions, which is to be expected.
‘I’ve been told I’m spiteful as it’s not fair on my youngest for taking the tree down. But, like his big sister, he knows no different as it’s been done all his life.’
And Georgia is determined not to ‘let negativity get [her] down.’
‘Don’t get me wrong when it gets personal it does get to me because I’m being judged off people who don’t know me or my life,’ she admitted.
‘You can’t please everyone but the way I see it is it’s my life and I’ll do what I want to do whether people like it or not.’
Social media users commented their dismay under Georgia’s video, with many hitting out at the mum for her actions.
@jattiz1 commented, ‘Whyyyyyyyyy did u take the tree down? I would’ve loved for it to stay up,’ while @tee_baby1 wrote: ‘But it’s Boxing Day? Still part of Christmas tradition. I’d personally keep it up because it’s still Christmas.’
‘My birthday is the 27th and I’d cry if my mom took all the Christmas stuff down,’ added a third user.
Although some praised Georgia for making an effort to prioritise Ava’s mid-festive season celebration, others proposed a workaround to save the mum the effort.
@lea881 suggested: ‘You should keep the tree and decorate with birthday banners instead.’
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