Dubai: Brightly lit Christmas trees on several street corners, Santa Claus distributing gifts to children in malls, the Jingle Bells melody playing everywhere and decorated paper cups at coffee shops describe the Christmas spirit in the UAE.
Though Christmas trees commonly set up in UAE homes are artificial, several families choose to buy natural Christmas trees shipped from abroad.
Despite shops selling real Christmas trees for between Dh399 and Dh1,000, the demand remains remarkably high. Lower-priced trees tend to be smaller in size with the price increasing according to the height.
Rose Studio and Stores, located on Shaikh Zayed Road, provides the trees at Dh1,000 each. It is the same for a shipment upon request. With most of their Christmas trees shipped from Holland, Rose Studio and Stores has currently run out of stock, but offer a shipment service for those interested.
Other stores, such as Ace Hardware, have sold hundreds of trees in the span of two weeks.
According to Kamarul Riyal, Ace started selling the trees in the third week of November and finished its stock by the beginning of December.
“Our trees come in from North America and are in three different sizes,” Riyal explained. “The sizes range between 1.5-1.8 metres, 1.8-2.1 metres and 2.1-2.4 metres.”
Maintaining the trees in the store is simple and includes spraying the leaves, watering the trees twice a day and keeping them in a refrigerated container so customers can get healthy-looking trees.
After a customer selects a tree, at least two inches of the trunk are cut before it is put into a water-filled base for transportation. Once the trunk is cut, it must be immediately placed in water to keep the wood from drying.
Customers are given instructions on how to maintain a Christmas tree so that it stays green through the festive season.
Customers are advised to keep the tree away from direct exposure to the sun and to constantly keep the water level of the base high.
