This Is The Only Realistic Depiction Of A Family You'll See In Any Christmas Ad This Year

The battle for top sentimental Christmas ad in the United Kingdom is already being fought across British televisions. Department store John Lewis' animated commercial is plucking heartstrings with the fantastical, but retailer Tesco is going for a realistic approach to make viewers feel like they are watching their own family.

The spot shows a family progressing through the years, and features everything that would feel recognizable to Brits and Americans alike (just replace one football for the other). There are buzzed parents dancing, a grandma sleeping, kids hamming it up for the camera, a nice argument in the kitchen, and even an angsty teen.

But just go ahead and watch it:

Wieden + Kennedy London produced the ad, and used video filters and makeup to create the illusion of a few decades passing in a minute and a half.

"We wanted to show what a real Christmas is all about - not a perfect, airbrushed one - but the ones we recognise from our own lives," wrote Tesco's marketing director David Wood in the company's blog.

The Daily Mail's Jan Moir elected the ad "Most Heart-Melting" in her Christmas ad roundup, for its clever and charming attention to detail set against Rod Stewart's "Forever Young."

Even some behind the ad were moved to tears:

Helen really happy about the tesco Xmas ad. pic.twitter.com/vjlC1ywNDk

- Wieden + Kennedy (@W2Optimism) November 8, 2013