A mom of five recently shared a TikTok video of her empty Christmas stocking amid her family’s Christmas celebration and her comments soon overflowed.
Aubree Jones says she wanted to send a message to other parents, especially husbands, that doing a little extra something for a partner is a nice way to show their partners they care for them.
The 30-second clip, recorded two years ago by Jones' husband, Josh Jones, has since gone viral, garnering nearly 12 million views and over 28,000 comments and counting.
"I posted it because I was thinking, 'Well, this has got to be a common thing.' I know there's moms who fill their own stockings or they're empty," Aubree Jones told "Good Morning America."
"The reason I did the video was just, hey, a little bit goes a long way. Fill the stocking with some socks and Chapstick and candy. It's just a way to show that you care about your wife," she added.
In the video, Josh Jones can be heard explaining how their five daughters – Trendy, 11, Zaylee, 9, Sunny, 7, Truly, 5, Journey, 1 – and even his younger brother Golden, all had their Christmas stockings filled with treats but his wife's stocking was bare.
"All of a sudden, I see the empty stocking on the couch and I'm like, 'Oh no, what have I done?'" Josh Jones recounted to "GMA." "Because for the previous 10 years or nine years, her stocking had never been empty like that. I'd never seen anything like that because she had been filling it herself. And all of a sudden I was like, 'Oh no, this looks really bad. It makes me look really bad. It's kind of funny though how bad it looks, how pathetic it looks. And so I just pulled out the camera."
Although Aubree Jones said she did appear to look "sad and alone" in the video clip, she hadn't been particularly bothered by her empty Christmas stocking.
"I had stayed up late filling everyone's stockings … I was tired," the mom recalled. "And I was just kind of sitting, enjoying their happiness and their excitement on Christmas."
Social media users continue to comment on the short video with a variety of reactions and although the longtime couple, who have been married for over 12 years, say they weren't surprised their video went viral, some of the strongest reactions did.
"We weren't expecting how enraged it made people, to the point where people were like, 'You need to divorce this man. Like, 'the little girl inside her is so hurt,'" Josh Jones said. "We were just laughing the whole time because we were like, 'Oh my goodness, that's not us. That's not how we feel.'"
Nonetheless, Josh Jones said he has since begun to fill his wife's Christmas stocking in the years since and this year, for an additional humorous take, he plans on filling an oversized, giant stocking for her "to the brim" with "lots of boxes, lots of stuff."
Aubree Jones said with their viral "stockinggate" video, as the couple refer to it, she hopes it can serve as a reminder for partners to speak up if something bothers them.
"A small thing like that does not give reason for divorce and for tearing a family apart. But it really is a small thing that can make a difference and can show that you care," she said.
"My intent [was] just helping to bring awareness that a lot of men just don't realize it. And it's OK to give them grace and it's OK to work on your marriage and to communicate and to speak up when you need something," she continued.
"These little thoughtful things that you can do for your spouse, I think it's what makes marriages last, by going and just doing those little extra things," Josh Jones added.
