When does Christmas start for you? When do you start baking Christmas sweets? After Christmas shopping and housecleaning made you nervous? To us, Christmas time starts when retailers selling sweet-smelling trees appear in the streets. It is always hard to choose the right Christmas tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much is a tree?

Most Czechs buy fir trees because they last longer and they don’t shed their needles. The blue spruce is also popular, but some people prefer pine trees. The prices range from CZK 350 to 800, depending on the size of the tree. Today, only few people want trees higher than six foot five.

Green Christmas trees have many advantages – they smell and look nice, and they are real. But some people like artificial trees. The initial investment is definitely higher, but an artificial Christmas tree can be used several times. You don’t have to choose a new tree every year or deal with its disposal.

How to choose a Christmas tree

Here are a few tips to help you buy a nice Christmas tree: • Choose from the trees sold outside; it is more likely they won’t be dry and brown; • Choose rather a local tree than one imported from abroad; • Ask the vendor to show you the tree in full beauty; never buy a bundled and stacked tree.

How to keep the Christmas tree fresh

When you bring the tree home, cut down its trunk for about two inches, and insert the tree into a stable container with water. Let it rest in a cool place by Christmas Eve – in the basement, in the garden, or on the balcony. Before you start decorating the tree, put it into a stand, ideally with some space for water or wet sand.

First, place electric candles on the tree; then you can decorate it with other ornaments. Decorators advise you to put some decorations also close to the trunk and on all sides and to hang smaller balls up and larger ornaments down. To add a final touch, you can use decorative chains.

Watch out for children and pets

On social media, you can find funny pictures of how cat owners solve their “Christmas situation”. How can you protect the Christmas tree from climbing beats, including cats? The tree should be placed away from the furniture and, ideally, firmly attached to the wall or ceiling to prevent its tipping over.

Electric cables and glittering decorations are also dangerous since animals and small children can get entangled in them or they might want to play with them. Either don’t use such decorations and decorate the tree with dried fruits, peanuts and nuts, or put them as far as possible from the pilfering hands and paws.

And if you don’t want to take any chances…

An extreme solution is to put the Christmas tree in a cage, cut off a great deal of the branches and leave only the trunk with the spreading tree top, or to wrap the whole tree and ornaments in a food foil. As you can see from many photos on the Internet, people want to have their Christmas tree whatever it takes.

Where to throw away the Christmas tree?

According to Prague Services, Inc., people in Prague throw away about 300,000 Christmas trees every year. They usually do so on the Twelth Day (6 January) or later; that is why Christmas trees are collected by the garbage collection service until the end of February. Don’t throw the tree to sorted waste; just put it next to the trash can or container – never into them. Christmas trees are then collected and transported to other users who can use them, for example, as fuel. Artificial trees, however, should be always recycled in collection yards.

Photo – source: Pixabay.com, Dreamstime.com