On Tuesday morning, children all over the world will wake up and excitedly rush to the Christmas tree to open presents from their parents and, of course, for those young enough, gifts from Santa Claus. The size and value of the presents vary from household to household, with some parents preferring not to spoil their children too much, and others sparing no expense for their little ones.
One such mother that falls into the latter group, 38-year-old Emma Tapping, has faced criticism after she posted photos of her Christmas tree almost invisible behind a stack of presents so high only the top branches are showing. According to Unilad , Tapping shared the photo to social media, and people quickly labeled her “selfish” in the comments section of the image.
The massive pile of presents in the image shows the entire living room covered in wrapped gifts, and it would be easy to believe that it would take her three children, Mia, Ella, and Tatum, the entire Christmas day to unwrap and then find their gifts among all the discarded paper. That doesn’t even account for all the time it would have taken her to actually wrap all these gifts before December 25.
Following the backlash, Tapping removed the photo from her Instagram account.
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With so many people asking questions about when Tapping has to start wrapping and how she can possibly afford to spend so much on Christmas gifts, she decided to respond in the comments section as well.
“I start wrapping in August. Not every night just a few bits when the mood takes me. I couldn’t guess how many rolls of wrapping paper I use but I tend to buy lots in the Jan sales and use them the following year which is how I can start wrapping in August. Start shopping as early in the year as possible. Hit as many sales as you can throughout the year.”
The 38-year-old mother works full-time and explained that she can’t help but be delighted over her children’s squeals of joy on Christmas morning when they open their presents. But she and her partner James have no plans to go into debt over the holiday season, and they start systematically buying presents early on in the year so that they have a tidy haul by the time prices skyrocket in December.
Tapping has also set up a Facebook page called Thebossmum Money Saving Specialist, where she shares discount codes for other thrifty parents to make use of and updates her followers on her present shopping throughout the year.
Despite these explanations, many people called her selfish for not donating some of the presents to less fortunate children who have nothing to wake up to on Christmas morning. Others defended her, pointing out that it is entirely her decision what she does with her money and how much she spoils her children.
