Man finds decades-old Christmas present inside the walls of parents’ home while renovating

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By stefan armitage

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For Tim King, a home renovation project turned into a heartwarming Christmas moment that his family will never forget.

While helping his parents remodel their Lombard, Illinois, home, the 53-year-old stumbled upon a long-lost Christmas gift tucked behind a bathroom wall — complete with his name on it.

"We took out a medicine cabinet before we drywalled, and I thought, ‘I’d better just look in there to make sure nothing’s back there,’" King told PEOPLE in an interview. “And then there it was!”

The unexpected discovery came in the form of a dust-covered, neatly wrapped present.

King - who owns T.King Construction Services - shared the moment on Instagram on December 27, posting a video that has since garnered over 48,000 likes.


In the clip, King leads viewers to the hiding spot before pulling out the forgotten gift, playfully captioning it, “#Christmasmiracle" in overlay text.

“My mom wasn’t awake yet, so we waited to open it in front of her,” King shared. However, even his mother couldn’t solve the mystery of the hidden gift, as she had no recollection of ever buying it.

King explained that his parents used to hide presents in the attic, and the box likely slipped into a crawl space unnoticed.

In a follow-up video, King opened the decades-old package to reveal a treasure from his childhood: a box of vintage Matchbox Thunder Jet model airplanes.


Based on the toy’s estimated release date, the gift was probably purchased around 1978, when King was just six years old.

The late discovery sparked plenty of good-natured humor within King’s family. “I have one sister, and my mom has always been very picky about getting us the exact same amount of gifts,” he said, before adding: “So we’ve been joking that I’ve been screwed out of one present for 46 years.”

The heartwarming discovery and the story behind it have captivated social media users, with many sharing their own tales of forgotten treasures.

For King, the gift may have been decades late, but its surprise arrival has brought a little extra magic to his holiday season.

"If that isn't a literal step into a time machine then I don't know what is. I would give anything to find an old unwrapped gift from my childhood. Glad he found it," one person wrote.

A second commented: "Frame a piece of the wrapping paper with a pic of you holding the jets. Couple lines of when it was supposed to be given and the date you found it. Makes a great conversation piece."

Another shared: "This is soooooo my mom! She hid things every year and you could watch her face as she was counting gifts and realizing she was missing one… 40+ years later there is still a pink cowgirl hat she hid that has never been found."

Sometimes, it turns out, Christmas miracles just take a little longer to find their way to you.

Featured image credit: Guido Mieth / Getty