A woman who washed her Christmas tree before putting it up has left social media users baffled.
Instagram user Tanja Bentley Ward divided the internet when she shared a video of her dunking the artificial firs in a bathtub, before hanging them up to dry, ahead of the holidays later this month.
The clip showed the bathwater turning muddy after Tanja – who appears to live in the US – rinsed her trees in it.
The text on her Instagram Reel read: ‘You might be surprised by the amount of dust on your Christmas tree…’
Explaining her reasons, the poster captioned: ‘How dusty could it possibly be?!
‘Last year, I mentioned how dusty the Christmas tree appeared. This year, Johnny setup [sic] for me to rinse and dry the branches before we decorate the house.
‘Have you ever cleaned your Christmas tree?!
‘Ours was much worse than I thought.’
A woman was left shocked after seeing an unexpected material cascade from her Christmas tree after she installed the festive decoration in her home.
The video showed her bathwater turning murky after dunking the tree in it, which appalled other users on the social media platform
Instagram users expressed their disbelief over Tanja’s actions in the comments section, with her post garnering over 110,000 likes and 850 responses.
One user fumed: ‘I will never forgive you for showing me this’.
Another criticised Tanja for washing her artificial Christmas tree, writing: ‘Nice way to rust your FAKE tree, get a real one.’
Several people were confused about why Tanja would wash a real tree that would, naturally, be dusty – until they clocked that she was talking about a faux spruce.
Reacting to Tanja’s shock about how much dust had lodged itself within the tree’s branches, one person sarcastically wrote: ‘Almost like it was outdoors before you brought it in.’
A second user added: ‘For I moment I thought this was referring to real trees and I was like…yes of course?’
A third shared their best advice for cleaning trees like Tanja’s, writing: ‘Take it outside and spray it with the hose before it gets too cold out, dry it off with the leaf blower and then take it in and decorate it.’
Still others declared they would ‘never ever ever ever’ wash their Christmas trees, lamenting about adding yet another chore to their to-do lists.
The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is pictured in the square before being mounted by specialist crews
‘This is giving random s*** your manager makes you clean at work when its slow,’ one person quipped.
Another added: ‘I DONT NEED ANYTHING ELSE TO CLEAN.’
It comes after the Christmas tree in London’s Trafalgar Square was mocked over its ‘dead branches’.
Locals described the tree – an annual gift from Norway – as ‘rather unwell looking’ and ‘so sad’ as they claimed they could see dead wood in photographs posted online.
The tree, gifted to the UK by Norway every year since 1947, will see its lights switched on in a grand ceremony on Thursday.
In recent years the tree has been criticised for its lacklustre appearance after a long trip from Norway, with experts having to arrange the branches and ‘fluff out’ the pines after it arrives 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 have had 10 days of beauty sleep – who wouldn’t look a bit flat after that kind of travel, but don’t fret; it’ll fluff up and shine just in time for my big moment’.
Although the tree looked better than in previous years, some still weren’t convinced.
One social media user said: ‘I don’t think anyone hates the tradition in the slightest. They maybe wish it wouldn’t look so sad.’
Another added: ‘The rather unwell looking Xmas tree looks like it’s about to make its appearance in Trafalgar Square.’
A third said: ‘Going to take a lot of fluffing to hide all those dead branches. Just saying’.
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