Although Christmas is generally a special time for families, it can also be pretty stressful.
There’s a lot of pressure to make sure the entire family gets together (and gets along), that you get the right presents for everyone and that you still come in under budget on everything. It can also be a hard time for those who are lonely during the holidays. To unpack all the complex feelings that come with the holidays, Farmers Department Store, a UK-based company, decided to run a long commercial about it.
The video they put together has been gaining traction on the internet.
When the story begins, we see that there is an older couple living next to a young family with a little boy.
In fitting with the stereotype, the main character is the “grumpy old man” neighbor who is constantly bothered by the noise and chaos going on next door. Still, things get more complicated when he sees that the boy next door has broken his mom’s french press. Clearly feeling for the mom, the old man goes out to a store, buys a new french press, and makes it look older in his garage.
He later goes out to the street pretending to throw it away but ends up giving it to the family—though the boy is a little suspicious.
This pattern of secret gift-giving continues throughout the video.
After the first episode, the old man sees the father next door fanning himself with a newspaper while comforting his baby. You can guess what happens next: the old man goes to the store, buys a fan, makes it look older and leaves it on the curb. The family takes it yet again and all is right with the world. Still, the climax of the video comes when the little boy addresses a card to Santa.
Rather than leave it at his house, the boy takes the card to the old man next door—with milk and cookies.
Though the story raises some interesting questions (how is it so hot that fans are necessary in the UK during Christmas, for example), the message of the video is winning viewers’ hearts.
The Christmas season can be a beautiful time for those with families and means, but it can also be a trying time for those without. This clip invites viewers to open up their hearts to their fellow man, to look beyond stereotypes and to get into the Christmas spirit.
And hey, if that message includes selling a few more french presses and standing fans, so be it.
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