Aussie mum’s polaroid photo Christmas tree goes viral

A Sydney mum who shared a photo of her unique looking Christmas tree online, has left thousands in awe over her “outstandingly genius” idea.

A Sydney mum has left thousands of Facebook users in awe over her “outstandingly genius” Christmas tree.

While most people decorate their trees with festive-related ornaments from baubles, tinsel and even candy canes, Marissa Velarde decided to try something different — she decorated her tree using 200 family photos, which immediately caught the attention of social media users.

The 50-year-old mother-of-two said she had no idea her unique-looking tree would result in more than 5000 likes and hundreds of comments after she posted a snap of it to the popular Facebook group Kmart Hacks & Decor.

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Sydney mum Marissa Velarde, 50, shared her ‘family photo’ Christmas tree to popular Facebook group Kmart Hacks & Decor. Picture: Facebook/KmartHacks&Decor

It has attracted 5000 likes and hundreds of comments from members who have described it as a ‘genius’ and ‘beautiful’ idea. Picture: Facebook/KmartHacks&Decor

“I was so surprised. Oh my gosh. I just didn’t think people would react that way,” Ms Velarde told news.com.au.

The entire process took her about five days, from flicking through family albums to source the images, cutting them up and hanging them on her tree, which she purchased from Big W for $200, three years ago.

After she hand-picked her 200 images which included multiple photos of the same 35 family members, she then saved it to a hard-drive and printed it off at her local Kmart for just 15 cents each.

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Marissa sourced 200 family photos from picture albums, before having them printed off at Kmart for a total of $30. Picture: Supplied

“I had 6 X 4 photos printed in Kmart, then I cut them to the size I wanted,” Ms Velarde said.

“I also bought gold and light brown cardboard paper, cut them both up a bit bigger than the picture, and stuck them on top of each other.

“I glued gold ribbon between the photo and cardboard paper.”

She then spent about an hour hanging the family photos on the tree, starting with the larger pictures at the bottom and working her way to the top with the smaller images.

Ms Velarde said the main reason behind using family photos was because of a recent health scare she had – and also not being able to visit her extended family for Christmas back home in the Philippines, due to coronavirus restrictions.

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The mother-of-two then cut up the images and hung them on her Christmas tree with the entire process taking roughly five days to complete. Picture: Supplied

“A lot has happened health wise for me since last year. I had a stroke and have had a few operations since then where they had to insert a defibrillator into the left side of my chest,” Ms Velarde told news.com.au

After she had a stroke last August, doctors discovered Ms Velarde to have Cardiomyopathy, a hereditary disease of the heart muscle.

“So they put in the defibrillator to jolt me if my heart stops,” she said.

Ms Velarde said if it wasn’t for the stroke, she wouldn’t have known she had a weak and enlarged heart.

“I wouldn’t have known I had a heart issue because I never felt anything, I actually didn’t realise I was having a stroke,” she said.

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Marissa, pictured with her husband Bobby, have family back home in the Philippines but can’t visit them for Christmas due to COVID-19. Picture: Supplied

“I have been in and out of hospital and I thought, oh my gosh, with COVID we can’t even go anywhere and visit our family overseas which we do every year at Christmas.

“So I thought maybe I could do this (photo Christmas tree) and have them ‘here’ with us,”

Ms Velarde said.

Since sharing the image and a video of her tree to the Facebook group last Thursday, it has been inundated with comments from members blown away by her “beautiful” idea.

“I think it’s outstandingly genius and beautiful! Family is what Christmas is all about,” one person wrote.

“Oh, I loveeeee this idea. Thank you,” said another.

She said her unique tree is a way to have her family memebers ‘here’. Picture: Supplied

“What a beautiful idea. My family IS my Christmas, but I’ve never thought of letting them know, quite like this,” a third person added.

“That is a really cool idea!” said a fourth, while another commented, “Ohhhhh this is sooooooo fantastic!!!!”

Some were shocked Ms Velarde already put up her Christmas tree in October to which she explained it is a tradition back home in the Philippines.

“Once we hit the “Ber” months, we start decorating,” she responded.

The mother-of-two said her tree was likely to be touching everyone at the moment because of COVID and family members not being able to see one another at such a special time of year.