Traditional Tree Eel
One year there was a TV program on before Christmas, something like “10 Worst Christmas Disasters.” One feature on the program was about a family who bought a Christmas tree that had been imported from Norway, and it had a snake wrapped around the trunk which went unnoticed until Christmas morning, scaring the family, with the mother on the TV screaming about a “Christmas tree eel.”
Now, this terrified my sister (six or seven at the time), so we decided to wrap a toy snake around the bottom of our tree. When she went to get her presents right from the back, she saw this snake and ran out in tears. Hilarious. Now every year we wrap our own Christmas tree eel around our tree and have done so for about 14 years! ~ FierceTom