She's still rocking around the Christmas tree. British mom Emma Tapping, who was shamed by the Internet as "materialistic" for posting a photo of her Christmas tree covered in presents, defended her now-viral photo on Thursday, Dec. 10.
A week ago, Tapping, 35, posted a photo of a Christmas tree nearly covered by a towering pile of presents to her Instagram account. At the time, she only had 258 followers, but somehow the photo went viral — and not in a good way. Several days after sharing the snap, the mom of three was tagged in a photo on Facebook with the caption: "It's nearly time for all the materialistic parents to compete and broadcast how many presents their kids have. Just remember, there are a lot of children who won't get much."
That post was shared over 100,000 times, and some parents began calling out Tapping's display of gifts as "disgusting" and her three children as "spoiled." Others, meanwhile, defended the Brit.
So she took to Facebook to defend herself. "I know this page is going to get busier and I know I am in the papers today so I thought I would set people straight on a few facts," Tapping wrote in a public post. "This picture was put on my Instagram along with pictures of homemade decorations I had made with the kids. 1 picture of the tree. It was taken, screenshot and blasted all over facebook without my knowledge. It was not done as a 'bragging parent.'"
The heaping pile of presents, meanwhile, was not only intended for her young ones. "The presents under the tree are for my children, myself, my partner and my mother, not just the kids," she noted. "Please try and remember this is about 3 little children, their christmas, their tree. Feel free to share. Merry Christmas xxxxx."
Tapping added to BuzzFeed News that the haters won't spoil her holiday season.
"I love Christmas and I shop savvy to give [my kids] a good Christmas," she told the site. "I would happily help anyone find the bargains or give tips on how I save. I think how I spend my money on my children is my choice. You may not agree, but this is three little kids’ Christmas tree being blasted."
