There's just nine days to go until Santa squeezes his way down millions of chimneys to quietly place Christmas gifts under the tree. Amidst travel chaos and stark weather warnings, you might be struggling to feel festive just yet, but it's safe to say a big twinkly fir dressed to the nines in baubles certainly helps.
Most of us have decked the halls already, but the last thing you expect to see inside your tree is a small creature living in it. This was the horror that one mum experienced when she saw two tiny beady eyes staring back at her when inspecting her Christmas tree - and people have described it as their worst nightmare.
Taking to TikTok to recount the ordeal, mum-of-two Gina, who posts under the handle @gina_premmama, got the fright of her life when the discovered a mouse hiding in her festive fir. Filming a video of her revelation, the Gina can be seen poking her beautifully decorated Christmas tree with a broomstick in order to find out what was rustling between the branches.
As she moves the branches aside, a rather frightened mouse appears, as you can see its tiny black eyes and grey fur amidst the Christmas lights and snow-frosted branches.
Gobsmacked Gina wrote text across the clip which reads: "Thought I was seeing things" with a panicked emoji. The caption simply reads "Help!!!!!!" as Michael Bublé's rendition of It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas is heard playing in the background.
TikTok users flocked to the comments to share their thoughts on the terrifying ordeal, as one person wrote: "The way I would’ve simply set the whole tree on fire ".
Another commented "I would of died on the spot" while someone else admitted that it was their "biggest fear" to come across a rodent in their Christmas tree.
Sharing Gina's fear, another TikTok user joked: "I would have destroyed they whole tree in a panic".
Taking the scary ordeal to new heights, someone else added "I would of fainted" with laughing emojis.
Others were more sympathetic to the mouse, and urged the mum to remove it safely from her tree without hurting it.
One person pleaded: "Please don't hurt him. You may have taken his home accidentally please don't hurt him".
A second scathed: "Ppl [sic] this dramatic over a mouse" while others argued that they couldn't see the mouse in the video at all.
In a bid to offer viewers an update on the saga, Gina posted a follow-up video where she wrote: "No mouse was harmed in the making of this video he's safely outside now with my Christmas tree" with a laughing emoji.
The latest clip shows her poking at the floor near her Christmas tree with her broom, and two cats running behind the sofa - seemingly trying to catch the mouse.
Although you can't see the mouse in Gina's second clip, people were concerned that the little rodent might not be safe, as one wrote: "I mean it looks like it was getting hurt".
But others joked that their cats would be useless in this scenario, as one TikToker said: "Atleast your cats are doing their job. Mine on the other hand...".
If you're seriously creeped out by Gina's video, it might be time to give your tree a good checking over in case you've got unwanted visitors.
Do you have a story to share? We pay for stories. Email us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
