A dug-up video from the ‘Eighties put the internet in a Christmas mood with its hilarious yet festive footage of one mother opening her gifts.
Jordan Alvillar (@jordielaura5) made waves on TikTok with a post that has now received more than 417,000 views and 47,800 comments. “I digitised my family’s home videos from the Eighties,” Jordan’s caption read. “Here’s my mom’s soul leaving her body on Christmas Day!”
According to the TikToker, this was the first year her family had a camcorder to document their holiday together. Jordan, 36, showcased her mother, Susan, her dad, Jim, her sister, Leslie, her stepbrother, David, and herself inside their home in Colorado. Jordan was one, her sister was four years old, and her stepbrother was nine years old.
Susan, who was then 37, is pictured in a long purple nightgown, kneeling next to the Christmas tree. To her children, her reaction to seeing her gift was honest. But little did they know she put on the best performance of her life – and luckily, her faux response was caught on camera.
“It’s a mixer,” she screamed as she tore open the wrapping paper to find the exact KitchenAid mixer she’d asked for. “Boy, oh boy, I can’t wait to use that to make my husband a wonderful meal.”
“Just think of the tasty treats I can make my family with this mixer,” Susan continued, pretending she didn’t know she would get the cooking tool.
The video then cuts to a new clip of Susan whipping up a meal in the kitchen. “Isn’t this just a wonderful holiday season! I’m so glad I’ve been able to cook and clean and just do things like a regular housewife should,” she sarcastically exclaimed.
Of course, Jim added a quip in response to his wife’s. “A woman’s work is never done,” he said.
Elsewhere in the video, the Alvillars family dinner was featured. Amid cries from the children, Susan continued on with her clever humour. “The Alvillars sitting down to a wonderful relaxing meal — as usual,” she joked.
And later when the screaming settled, Susan proclaimed: “This is a peaceful Christmas dinner. You want to know why it’s so peaceful? The children are now gone.”
Before Jordan’s clip finishes, the camera returns to footage from Christmas morning, showing Susan opening another gift. “Look! It’s a spill-safe mug!... Thank you, everybody,” she remarked, holding a coffee cup.
Fans of Jordan’s video filled the comments to tell her how much they loved Susan’s dry humour, adding how they thought the clip was “timeless”.
“Her face after he said, ‘a woman’s work is never done.’ that right there, was the end,” one woman wrote, while another said: “She’s saying all the quiet parts out loud.”
“This is like an SNL skit,” an obsessed viewer proclaimed.
One individual quipped: “Starting to understand why my mom is so passive-aggressive.”
“It’s comforting to know my mom’s generation didn’t have it more together than we do,” a fifth added.
In conversation with Today, Jordan confessed: “People speak generally about the magic of holidays without applying that magic to a specific person. As an adult, you realise those people are usually moms.”
Speaking to the outlet, Susan explained how she was working in public relations at the time while Jim was a trial attorney. But Susan was also in charge of household tasks and watching the children, making the holidays all the more exhausting.
The Independent has contacted Alvillars for a comment.
