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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dh bought ridiculously enormous Xmas tree.

150 replies

Treez21 · 18/12/2021 05:19

The tree is 7 foot and really wide. Our living room can't take it. It's not even a nice shape. It's overpowering and feels like we have a forest in there. I'm actually quite embarrassed of it too, and I was looking forward to having people round for drinks, but not with this monstrosity.

We didn't really have a proper Xmas last year and I bought lots of nice decorations this year to make an effort even though I'm not really into Xmas. It looks bloody awful and even the kids don't seem that chuffed. We got a real one as they wanted one. First and last time.

Would I be unreasonable to take the decorations off the tree and saw it down a bit? Can I cut the back so it stands more against the wall, or move it to the conservatory. Or should I just suck it up??

So, would i be unreasonable to tackle the tree (advice on how to gladly received) or leave it?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
OneOfTheGrundys · 18/12/2021 07:16

@FaoinDrualus

OP, it sounds magnificent! I would vote for keeping it as as and embracing your forest-y living room. But yes, you could trim it flat, google flat-backed trees to see how that looks - I think it might look a bit strange from the side but in a corner might look good. Not one for a bay window though! Or you could trim it in a shape, like topiary.
Ohhhhh I love that Godzilla pic. Defo one idea for some post Xmas fun!!!!
SalsaLove · 18/12/2021 07:18

@Bubblty

Embrace the chosen tree which grew and will slowly die. Respect it for what it is.
👍🏻🎄
DeepaBeesKit · 18/12/2021 07:18

Natural trees are always a wider shape, its crappy fake trees that create this idea that you can get a long narrow shape in a 6ft tree - it's not the norm.

Your tree sounds like a cracker OP. Embrace it, it's only up a couple of weeks. I'm sure any guests will only admire it.

friskybivalves · 18/12/2021 07:19

Superb tree. Your DH has played a blinder there. Can you get him to choose the Trafalgar Sq one next year? It's much too flimsy.

Looubylou · 18/12/2021 07:20

Come on OP, you know it's amazing, and needed to find a way of showing it without openly showing off. If this is not the case, please say you have been enthusiastic and not let the kids hear otherwise - their attitude will be affected by yours. Your husband has come up absolutely trumps and he and the kids don't deserve a
killjoy grinch response. My mother bought a seven footer years ago, it was so wide you were literally crawling under it to switch on the (several sets😂) of lights. It is remembered as the best tree ever. Have a lovely Christmas and if the kids have heard moaning, please announce that after your surprise, you absolutely love it. Then perhaps start casually bursting into Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree lyrics every now and then as you potter about. Family reset 🤣🎄🤣🎄🤣

StormyTeacups · 18/12/2021 07:20

I think everyone has a massive tree year don't they? I know we did, we had a bay window but only really focussed on the height of prospective tree. Chose a beauty, got it home and it swallowed half the room in its girth. When it was time to part with it we had to open the window behind it and manhandle it out.

If it is crooked, try to wodge it up better, by all means trim bits etc but in the photo you posted it is gorgeous. No-one is going to look at your tree in any way askance.

TraceyLacey · 18/12/2021 07:24

An enormous tree dominating the room is the whole idea in my house! Your living room will feel massive in January when it's down.

Original poster
Treez21 · 18/12/2021 07:25

Yes I've been told to stop ruining Xmas!

OP posts:
LilFoxes · 18/12/2021 07:31

Think it looks fantastic OP! We always had odd trees that my grandfather 'found' for us. They'd always be half missing or too big or too small or clearly the bottom half of a bigger tree. We thought it was hysterical and now I've got my own family I'm sad we go out and buy perfect trees that are very un-funny. I think you've decorated to perfection and hope you can start to giggle when you look at it.

Middleagesucks · 18/12/2021 07:34

I think it looks lovely OP. We have a very big tree this year. And a very small house. Didn't quite judge it correctly. DS2 is very excited about how much space there is under it for Santa to fill!! We can only watch tv from one end of the sofa.

Choice4567 · 18/12/2021 07:34

That it is a really beautiful tree 🎄

Electriq · 18/12/2021 07:38

It looks great, plus it will be chucked out in a few weeks, its really not worth the upset, id happily having it in my house, O think its lovely.

Okbutnotgreat · 18/12/2021 07:39

We got one delivered from a FB page a few years ago and when we took the net off it was enormous. We had to move furniture and totally rejig the room to fit it in and it was still a tight squeeze. It had such tightly packed vast branches that we had to buy hundreds more lights and baubles to make it look decorated and it totally dominated the downstairs of our open plan house.

That tree has gone down in family legend and years later there’s a sigh of disappointment as our 7ft perfectly shaped real tree is revealed each year. Really @Treez21 embrace it, the joy of a real tree is they aren’t symmetrical and perfect. Trim it if you need to but enjoy it, your kids will remember it in years to come as the best ever.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 18/12/2021 07:54

Someone I know removed three quarters of the branches, so he just a trunk and a segment of branches and put it in the corner. It looked really good.

(He did have a chain saw though...)

TremendouslyJolly · 18/12/2021 07:54

Honestly OP I think you need to stop for a moment and give your head a wobble. You’re getting “really upset” over what looks to me and everyone else like a beautiful Christmas tree. Seriously, get over yourself and stop stropping about something so insignificant. You’ll be making your husband feel like shit too.

FairFuming · 18/12/2021 07:56

I left my ex earlier this year and a real tree just isn't possible so for the first time ever we have a fake one ( very cheap off fb) I miss walking into the pine smell and I miss how bushy and beautiful a real tree is. Embrace it.
We always had real ones growing up and also had a giant 8 ft tree that had to be cut right down. It half blocked the telly even after its hair cut and our crazy elderly cat took to sitting under it and "singing" at weird hours. There was one year we only had a scrawny tiny one too as left getting it too late and my mum was trying not to show how upet she was with it. so my dad went out with his saw and found a different kind of evergreen that had blown over and hacked a load of branches off and proceeded to make the pine version of frankensteins monster. Me and my siblings have so many fun memories of our Christmas trees especially the imperfect ones.

Gretaburley · 18/12/2021 07:57

My dh was born in a tiny rural town. His uncles turned up with ‘Christmas’ in the weeks of December. A huge ham, a pheasant, beer and the first year we started dating the biggest tree I’ve ever seen in a 3 bed semi!
It had a lot sawn from the bottom and top before it was wedged into the corner between the fireplace and the window.
Dh’s dsis is 13 years younger so a small child at the time.
I miss those Christmases. Dh’s dm really knew how to do Christmas.

Embrace your tree OP.

dudsville · 18/12/2021 07:59

That's a mighty fine tree ma'am, please step away.

Swisscheeseleaves · 18/12/2021 07:59

It looks lovely but if you want it to fit better (bear in mind I've never had a real tree so don't know if this is a terrible idea) i would get a pair of secateurs and trim it around the back where it definitely won't be seen so it can sit a bit closer to the wall. On my artificial tree i don't put on the branches at the back because it sits in an alcove and if i put it all together it would stick out too far. I just decorate the front bits that can be seen.

justaddcandlelight · 18/12/2021 08:00

It's a gorgeous tree op, I agree with a pp, artificial trees that look perfect can be soulless. You've got yourself a fab tree there! Embrace the tree nature grew for youGrin

3luckystars · 18/12/2021 08:00

Looks absolutely beautiful to me!

Pinetreesfall · 18/12/2021 08:01

Ahh your tree is lovely! My DH acquired a 10ft (yes really) tree this year from work - unsurprisingly it wouldn't fit in the car, House etc. luckily he is an ex-tree surgeon so has cut it quite well and we have 6.5ft of top section. However it is so bushy and I think if I go behind it to open the curtains I might end up in Narnia!
Kids are 4 and 2 and are terrified of it Xmas Hmm

TreeLawney · 18/12/2021 08:01

Oh that’s a beautiful tree!

I love a real tree precisely because it fills the space in a way an artificial one just doesn’t. We always go for the biggest we can get away with in our bay - is it even Christmas if you haven’t had to saw bits off to make it fit?!

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 18/12/2021 08:02

I sympathise! When dds were still at home they used to go with dh to buy a tree, and always came back with a whopper - he’d have to saw a foot off the bottom to make it fit under the ceiling and we’d still have to shift the furniture around to make enough space for it.
It always looked v nice in the end, but I’m glad we always have a more reasonable sized one now.

SeaToSki · 18/12/2021 08:04

Some judicious pruning might help, but the lean can be changed with how is is attached in the stand.

If you do prune it, do it little by little and step back after each cut to look at it from all sides. You can take a whole branch off or cut the end off a branch.

We have a very bushy one this year (DH and DD chose it while I was ill). I took off 3 or 4 of the bottom branches which were poking out the widest and then pushed it back hard against the wall, the back branches are now squashed and the wall might end up a bit scratched but it looks very good as the crowding at the back makes it look really nice

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