We want to keep our Christmas tree up all year

It's traditional to take down your Christmas tree in early January - but one family want to keep theirs in place as long as possible.

Every year, Pat Drummond gets her sons to buy a tree for her Edinburgh home as soon as they go on sale at the beginning of December.

She gets them to erect it at her front door, and every evening she stands on the other side of the street to admire its 500 fairy lights.

Following a widely-held tradition, the tree is usually taken down by the Twelfth Night.

But this year the 86-year-old mother-of-three could not bear to part with it. Instead, she has continued to switch on the lights every night in her Edinburgh suburb.

Her son Jon, 61, said: "We are not superstitious in the slightest so have no qualms about having it up past the Twelfth Night. We should be able to have it up longer than that if we want."

Twelfth Night falls on either 5 or 6 January, depending on whether the counting begins on Christmas Day or 26 December.

There is a common superstition that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after that date.

"It takes at least seven years to grow a tree to this height so it hardly seems right to saw it into pieces when it's still a perfectly good tree," said Jon, a retired dentist.

"Now that we are all environmentally conscious I think it's justifiable to keep it up longer than a month."

The family plan to keep the 8ft tree in place as long as they can.

Pat, a retired legal secretary, said: "I admire it out of my windows and from the other side of the street.

"I haven't really been out since Christmas because I've been ill, so I like to see my tree with all its lights on.

"We have also kept all the colourful lights along the guttering. I think it's a very nice thing."

She said the tree makes her feel comfortable and cheers her up.

The tree partially obstructs the front door, but they keep it there so it is sheltered from the wind.

"We enjoy our tree, it gives us great pleasure and I think it is the highlight in our street," added Jon.

"It would be a shame to pull it down and to cut it up while it's still holding its needles."

Pat said they would keep it up until next Christmas if it still looked good.

She also still has all her Christmas cards on display in her home, as well as Christmas toys including large mice and a 5ft carrot.

Matthew Bailey, from Mortonhall Garden Centre, said it was surprising that a tree was still going strong after so long.

"It must be getting moisture from being outside in the cool damp air. It is very interesting," he said.