A woman who washed her Christmas tree before putting it up left social media users baffled.
Instagram user Tanja Bentley Ward divided the internet when she shared a video of her wetting the artificial fir trees in a bathtub, before hanging them to dry, before the holidays later this month.
The video showed the bath water turning cloudy after Tanja, who appears to live in the United States, rinsed her trees with it.
The caption on her Instagram Reel read: ‘You’ll be surprised at how much dust is on your Christmas tree…’
Explaining its reasons, the poster read: ‘How dusty could there be?!
‘Last year I mentioned how dusty the Christmas tree looked. This year, Johnny prepared (sic) me to rinse and dry the branches before decorating the house.
‘Have you ever cleaned your Christmas tree?!
“Ours was much worse than I thought.”
A woman was shocked to see an unexpected waterfall of material from her Christmas tree after installing the festive decorations in her home.
The video showed his bath water turning cloudy after submerging the tree in it, horrifying other users on the social media platform.
Instagram users expressed their disbelief at Tanja’s actions in the comments section, and her post garnered more than 110,000 likes and 850 responses.
One user fumed: “I will never forgive you for showing me this.”
Another criticized Tanja for washing her artificial Christmas tree, writing: “Good way to rust your FAKE tree, get a real one.”
Several people were confused as to why Tanja would wash a real tree that would naturally be dusty, until they realized she was referring to a fake spruce.
Reacting to Tanja’s surprise at how much dust had lodged between the branches of the tree, one person sarcastically wrote: “Almost like it was outside before you brought it in.”
A second user added: “For a moment I thought he meant real trees and I thought… yes of course?”
A third shared their top tips for cleaning trees like Tanja’s: “Take it outside and spray it with the hose before it gets too cold, dry it with the leaf blower and then take it out and decorate it.”
Others declared they would “never, ever” wash their Christmas trees, lamenting adding yet another task to their to-do lists.
The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree appears in the square before being assembled by specialist teams.
“This is some random shit: Your boss makes you clean at work when it’s slow,” one person joked.
Another added: “I DON’T NEED ANYTHING ELSE TO CLEAN.”
It comes after the Christmas tree in London’s Trafalgar Square was mocked for its “dead branches”.
Locals described the tree, an annual treat from Norway, as “quite unpleasant looking” and “very sad” as they claimed they could see dead wood in photographs posted online.
The tree, which Norway has given to the UK every year since 1947, will see its lights switched on in a grand ceremony on Thursday.
In recent years, the tree has been criticized for its lackluster appearance after a long journey from Norway, with experts having to trim the branches and “fluff” the pines after its arrival in London.
Announcing its return, the tree’s official social media account said: ‘Guess who’s back?’ Now before the haters start commenting on my branches, I’ve had 10 days of restful sleep; Who wouldn’t look a little bored after that kind of trip, but don’t worry; will fluff and shine just in time for my big moment.”
Although the tree looked better than in previous years, some were still not convinced.
One social media user said: “I don’t think anyone hates the tradition in the slightest.” Maybe they wish it didn’t seem so sad.
Another added: “Looks like the rather nasty looking Christmas tree is about to appear in Trafalgar Square.”
A third said: “It’s going to take a lot of effort to hide all those dead branches.” I’m just saying.’