When families grow older together, it’s easy to let sibling and parental relationships fall apart. Time can sometimes be the hardest gift to give someone.
So in order to remind people about the point of Christmas, German grocer Edeka’sreleased an ad on Saturday focused on family. The ad uses a story of an elderly man that is nearly forgotten about by his busy children during the Christmas holidays. He lives with his dog and chops carrots in his kitchen when a voicemail from his daughter plays.
“We’ll try again next year. It’ll work out, I promise. Merry Christmas, daddy,” she says off-camera.
Which causes the man to eat his Christmas dinner alone, again.
Then his children, scattered around the world, receive obituaries and calls. The message is: “there will be no more Christmas dinners with Grandpa”.
The children come together for a memorial, but when they step inside the family home, a strange sight awaits them. A table fully set and a Christmas tree decorated and lit. The elderly man appears from the kitchen, dressed in a buttoned cardigan and tie, and looks at his family.
“How else could I have brought you all together, Mmh?”
In the end the family all gather together eat the dinner, have a chat and a drink. The clip wraps up with a short but moving message: “Time to come home.”