Do you remember that scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation where Aunt Edna hears “a funny squeaking sound”, and when Clark investigates the Christmas tree as the source of the noise, he’s ambushed by a crazy squirrel lurking in there?
Well, this story is kind of like that, except instead of the Griswolds, it was the McCormick family, and instead of a squirrel it was a koala. And instead of attacking the poor family patriarch, this animal opted to just sort of…chill.
Which, if you ask me, is definitely preferable to the whole running-around-the-house-in-terror fiasco the squirrel caused in that movie.
Last week, the McCormicks returned to their home in Coromandel Valley, Australia, and immediately felt like something was *off*.
16-year-old Taylah McCormick told The Guardian that she had been the last one to leave the house that day, and had made sure to put the dog outside, close all the doors, and turn off the lights. Everything had seemed perfectly fine then.
But when the family got home, they realized their Christmas tree looked like it had been tampered with.
Their dog went straight for the tree where most of its baubles had fallen onto the floor, and he began sniffing around it, which seemed strange.
Upon investigating the tree herself, Taylah’s mom, Amanda, discovered a live koala sitting inside of it, clinging to some branches as it peered out at the stunned family.
“It was pretty tangled up in the lights,” Taylah told the outlet. “It was a fake tree and very old but she still tried eating the leaves off it… I saw [the koala] munch down on some but she stopped when she realized it was plastic.”
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At first, mom Amanda thought the Koala was some sort of prank being pulled on her by her children, and refused to believe it was actually *real*.
But upon closer inspection, there was no denying it was, indeed, a real-live Koala.
“We’ve had them in our trees before but not inside on our Christmas tree,” Amanda explained. “It must have crawled in when the doors were open, it would have been in our house for at least three hours.”
When the family called the Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue to report this bizarre discovery, the operator also thought it was a prank.
But after some convincing, the McCormicks were finally taken seriously and a rescue team arrived to help detangle the poor koala from its perch in the tree.
Dubbed “Daphne” by the family, the adorable animal was determined to be a female, around three to four years old, and in “good health.”
Of course, before Daphne was taken away, Taylah couldn’t resist filming a now-viral TikTok video with her.
In the clip , the teen lip-syncs along to a remixed version of Bee Gees’ hit, “Staying Alive” before turning the camera around to show the likely incredibly confused koala sitting inside her Christmas tree.
“For those wondering how she got to the tree, we left the door open and she must’ve snuck inside while me and my dog were sleeping,” Taylah wrote alongside the video.
As of writing, the clip has been viewed over 1 million times on the site and has just over 300,00 likes.
“All the comments have been like, ‘There’s no way this is real,'” Taylah tol The Guardian . “And the ones that do realize it’s real, they’re like, ‘Oh, next we’re going to be riding a kangaroo to school,’ and ‘This is a true Aussie Christmas’.”
She later shared another TikTok video showing the moment the rescue team, who came and retrieved Daphne, safely released her into a nearby bushy area. After taking a few, last looks at the McCormick family, the sweet koala clambers up a tree and disappears.
It’s unlikely the family will ever forget her, the furriest, most adorable little Christmas decoration there ever was.
h/t: The Guardian , Facebook | 1300Koalz