Through the roof: Iowa family’s Christmas tree turns heads

STORY CITY, Iowa — A central Iowa family’s newest Christmas tree literally goes through their roof.

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The Feldman family’s 20-foot-tall Christmas tree at their Story City home had to be cut into two pieces to fit in their residence, KCCI-TV reported. Eight feet of the tree is situated inside the front porch, while the remaining 12 feet rise through the roof of the residence’s front enclosure.

Whitney Feldman said the idea for the tall tree came from her brother-in-law.

“A tree that he had seen online that looked like it was coming through the roof,” Feldman told the television station. "

It took three days to place the tree properly in the home, Feldman said.

It was not an easy job.

“We had to cut half of the branches off on the back side of the tree to be able to get it through the door,” Feldman said. “And that was quite an experience in itself.”

The trunk of the tree stands in a five-gallon bucket and drinks up about one to two gallons of water each day, Feldman said.

The Feldmans bought the tree, which now holds 1,200 lights and is held up inside the front porch with a bungee cord, from Strautman Tree Farm in Story County.

A worker at the farm said the tree broke a record for being the largest one ever sold at the farm.

“They said, ‘Hey, we would really like a tall tree,’” worker Joe Heintz told KCCI. “And I said, ‘Sure,’ and ‘Where are we looking?’ And they pointed toward one of the really tall trees.”

The tree took a lot of work to assemble and will create a mess when it is taken down, but Feldman has no regrets.

“We’ll have some things to kind of touch up with after we’re done, but it was worth it,” she told KCCI.