A koala surprised an Australian family by hanging out in their Christmas tree

Christmas in Australia looks a little different from celebrations on the other side of the equator. For example, a white Christmas is rare (unless you are talking about hailstorms), and sometimes, you find surprises in your Christmas tree rather than under it. This was one family's experience down under when they returned home to find a koala hanging out in their Christmas tree. Amanda McCormick, whose house the koala had wandered into, called charity organization 1300Koalaz in order to get help—the hotline operator thought it was a prank. However, it was, in fact, completely true. And she has pictures to prove it!

The incident went viral when the koala rescue organization posted McCormick's photos to their Facebook page. "This evening our hotline operator took a call," they wrote. "At first she thought she was the victim of a prank call. But no, a koala desperate to get in the Christmas spirit had wandered into Amanda McCormick’s house and decided it wanted to be the fairy on the Christmas tree. Amanda was not so sure and rang 1300Koalaz for help. Thanks, Amanda, for the great pictures and making sure this little koala got its wish, even if it was just for a short while."

The organization even threw in a cute little pun: "'Tis the season to be jolly... Koalalalala, lalalala." The post was first uploaded on December 2 and has already gone viral, with thousands of folks from across the world writing in to say that the incident had made their day. One person described the koala as "Santa's cutest elf on duty!" They claimed it was a "true Christmas miracle" that McCormick spotted the koala in her tree. Another wrote, "Why can't a koala snuggle in my tree? This made me burst with laughter. This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I've never seen a real koala in my life, only pictures of them, but I think they are so beautiful. This photo is fantastically taken, that little koala knew he was caught on camera. He was posing, he's gonna be famous now."

That Facebook user's comment was definitely not far off the mark. Not only has 1300Koalaz's post been shared over 3,400 times, but the koala has also since been featured on major news channels in several countries. The koala has also gone viral on TikTok, where a member of the family posted a video of him chilling out in their Christmas tree. On TikTok, the video has been shared over 15,000 times. While the koala has not been able to replace the star on McCormick's Christmas tree, he has definitely become a star on social media.