Enlarge image
Thomas Jeromin in his apartment forest: It's getting very Christmassy
Photo: Ole Spata / dpa
Some people like to be late when buying a tree at Christmas.
The day before Christmas Eve it becomes difficult to find a nice Christmas tree for the living room.
Sometimes you have to reach for the last sparsely needled tree.
One person who doesn't have to worry at all is Thomas Jeromin from Rinteln in the Schaumburg district of Lower Saxony.
The Christmas maniac has set up and decorated 444 plastic Christmas trees in his apartment.
The record institute for Germany (RID) was now guests of the 55-year-old and his wife Susanne to recognize the luminous collection as a new world record.
Every year the 100 square meter apartment of the Jeromins is transformed into a Christmas wonderland; last year there were 420 trees.
As the 55-year-old said, 47,000 lights are now shining in his rooms.
The Christmas fan also designs themed trees, for example with Star Wars characters or rubber ducks.
He always fetches the trees from the attic on August 1st, after all, 72,000 balls have to be hung, among other things.
Discarded decorations - from balls to tinsel - are now being sent to him from all over Germany.
The largest tree, which measures 3.50 meters, hangs from the ceiling.
Before the corona pandemic, Thomas Jeromin also offered guided tours through his Christmas wonderland.
This does not work due to the current hygiene regulations, said the record institute - there is already too little space in the Jeromins' house.
Despite the pandemic, the two would not have let themselves be dissuaded from their record project.
The 444 fully decorated trees were recognized as the official RID world record - for "most decorated Christmas trees in one place".
ptz / dpa