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Health & Fitness

How to Make Your House Safe when Decorating for the Holidays

There are a few days until Christmas which means you and your family are getting in the holiday cheer by decorating the house.  There has always been a big debate whether or not to have a real or artificial tree, to be honest I could make arguments to go either way but know that if you decided to go with the real version that there are a few safety precautions that you need to keep in mind.
First when you are picking a live tree make sure you are looking for a fresh tree with green needles.  The needles shouldn't fall off when you when you touch them and the branches should not snap off when you try and break them.  These are two good signs that the tree is fresh and well hydrated. 
When you get your tree home its a good idea to cut one to two inches off the bottom so that there is a fresh cut for the tree to absorb water through. When your placing your tree make sure that you steer clear of any heat source like fireplaces, radiators, candles, heat vents, or lights that may put off enough heat to ignite the tree.  Also make sure that the tree is not blocking any major exits in the home.  Its a good idea to make somebody in charge of watering the tree once a day.  
Decorating the tree is the most exciting part and you need to be careful when you are putting the lights on the tree.  Carefully going through your strands of lights to make sure that they are all in proper working order may take a little time but it could mean the difference between a jolly Christmas or a crispy one.  Each year fire departments respond to an average of 210 structure fires that are caused by misplaced trees or electrical malfunctions with holiday decorations.  
Here at Actio we hope that everybody has a safe and happy holidays!

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