If it's one thing most moms try to teach us, it's the value of a dollar. And when it comes to on TikToker's mom, she takes that job very—some might say extremely—seriously.
A 22-year-old TikToker named Austin from Michigan has gone viral for his story of his mom getting the absolute most out of the money she spent on Austin's braces by turning them into a Christmas tree ornament.
Yes, you read that right.
And it's got parents everywhere feeling very seen.
Be honest—that ornament is kind of cute, right?!
But beyond its Yuletide cheer, Austin's mom's obsession with his braces taps into a sentiment surely any parent can identify with. As Austin describes in his video, his mom took one look at his discarded braces and wasn't about to let all that money go into the garbage.
As she said the day he got the braces removed:
"Austin, we paid $6,000 for those braces — I'm not letting her throw them away."
Who can blame her!
Speaking with BuzzFeed News, Austin described the surreal moment... and confessed that even he saw where his mom was coming from.
"The dentist thought it was kind of weird but had no problem putting them in a bag for us."
"In all honesty, I wasn't as embarrassed as I claim to be in the video. Our family isn't shy to speak up — not in a Karen sort of way — but by being respectful and speaking up."
But Austin admits the weirdness of the ornament, which his family has hung on the tree every year since 2014.
When he came across it in storage a couple weeks ago, he knew he had to make a video about it because:
"I bet a lot of people don't do this."
Uh... fair assumption Austin! And the many surprised reactions to Austin's TikTok certainly bore that out.
@iammama.hearmeroar/TikTok
@user4246262013/TikTok
@reagankastner/TikTok
@kpayne944/TikTok
@silly_mom_tingz/TikTok
@saraak511/TikTok
Austin's mom's idea might be kind of... unique, but Austin says she's inspired tons of other moms to do the same.
"I've had about 3,000 moms comment that it's a great idea and that they wished or plan on doing this for their kids."
So there you go: the hottest gift of the 2020 holiday season has been revealed, and it's ornament's made of old braces.
Who knew?
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram