Wisconsin man keeps Christmas tree up for 40 years

With tinsel in tact, a Wausau, Wisconsin, man has kept a cut Christmas tree in his house for 40 years.

The Wausau Daily Herald reports that 89-year-old Neil Olsen said that when he put his Christmas tree up in 1974, he would only take it down once all six of his sons had returned home. He is still waiting for one of his sons.

Two of his sons served in the military during the Vietnam War. One of them was injured and is now disabled. He lives in Washington state and hasn’t been able to make the trip back to Wausau.

Olsen won’t turn his tree on anymore; he fears that it will blow up. However, he says that if his son comes home, the needles may fall off of the tree. Olsen believes that his tree may hold the record for the longest-standing cut Christmas tree. He doesn’t plan to take it down and hopes that his son will be home with the others one Christmas.

Via: The Wausau Daily Herald > Wausau man’s Christmas tree still up after four decades