Here’s how to keep a real Christmas tree fresh and prevent it from becoming a fire hazard

If you don't tend to a real Christmas tree, it could become a fire hazard.

For many people, the Christmas tree is one of the best parts of the festive season. It's the pièce de résistance in most households and everyone has their own personal preferences on how to decorate it. Some go for a colour scheme, others have a mish-mash of collected baubles from over the years. Some people love tinsel, while others loathe it. Some people put the lights on first, while others always leave them until last. If you're a lover of a real Christmas tree and you've gone through the rigmarole of sizing it to the stand, decorating it and hoovering up all the pine needles after getting it into the house, naturally you want it to look fresh for as long as possible. via GIPHY According to Live Science, maintaining a real tree is not just for aesthetic purposes:

"If you choose a real tree, keeping it fresh is very important, not only to preserve its beauty, but also to prevent it from becoming a fire hazard. With proper care, a Christmas tree can stay fresh for a month or even longer. Everyone knows that you must add water to the reservoir in the base of a Christmas tree — and as a rule of thumb, a typical tree absorbs a quart of water for each inch of its diameter."

Very handy to know! While some people add things like sugar or corn syrup to the water, one tree scientist (we never knew that was a thing!) Les Werner said:

"Clean water still works best."

If you want to test out what you personally think works best, Live Science suggests a few experiments that would be fun to try out with the kids. Either way, definitely give your tree a sup of water!