Real fir, fake tinsel? Weekend Life's Justin Newcombe takes the Christmas tree problem by the horns and comes up with his own unique solution.
When I grew up it was important to have a real Christmas tree, no matter what. Failure to provide the correct gift depository might have resulted in a Christmas day present disaster, i.e. sensible wooden toys - aghhhhh - instead of the plastic Steve Austin action figure I had spent all year whining for. The tree provides ceremony and creates a sense of occasion. I knew I was in for a good two weeks of tantric Christmas torment when mum unfolded the little metal stand, pushed in the wooden post and jammed the tinsel and wire branches into holes that were slightly too big.
As a result the somewhat dusty, aforementioned branches drooped a tad. Ornamentation consisted of wrapping two bits of tinsel ribbon around the tinsel branches with the addition of five shiny orbs strategically placed to make it look like six.
I'm still a big fan of keeping it real so I've decided to make my own Christmas tree. In the spirit of Christmas and because I can cut out any shape I want, I've opted to make reindeer antler styled branches. This wasn't my first choice though; my first choice was moose antlers. Although the mighty moose is a majestic mountain and snow-oriented beast prime for Christmas exploitation, it's the size of a horse. Not a small North Shore Pony Club type horse, but a big mean, man-eating, fire-breathing, beer-swilling, macho stallion-type horse. Any attempt to make a Christmas tree out of plywood moose antlers would result in a structure big enough to park a car under, which is fine if you're planning to have Christmas in the garage. Mine's in the lounge, so reindeer antlers it is.
Step 1
