I Just Love Christmas And Christmas Stories,

after looking at our Christmas tree, I came across a picture of this one, complete with the original baubles and tinsel, the 14 inch tree is in its 124th year and has been authenticated as the world's oldest imitation Christmas tree, it was first bought in 1886 by Paul Parker's Great grandmother Lou Hicks, as Paul said, 'Christmas really took off for the Victorians because of the influence of Prince Albert and the German tradition of the Tannenbaum Christmas tree, it was never meant as a replacement tree, it's ornamental,' said Mr Parker, who was given the tree by his 88-year-old father,

the tree cost only six pence when it was bought in the mid-Victorian era, by the time it was seen by experts at the Antiques Road Show in 2005 it was valued at £1,000, on Christmas day 2010 the aged tree will be on display on the mantle piece of Mr Parker's home as he shares a turkey dinner and glass of wine with his father,

then to the other extreme, the most expensive Christmas tree in the world? well I guess it would be if you had to pay the army of volunteers that took over 4 days to decorate it if the time lapse video is to be believed, but nice though the tree looks in the Blue Room I still think it is much nicer for families to decorate their own Christmas tree rather than have an army of total strangers do it for you.