Last-minute Christmas presents, last-minute Christmas cards, last-minute Christmas tree – the menfolk are real fans of last-minute culture. So too in Berlin. When Mum has got her Christmas dinner all planned, Grandma has already packed all of her gifts and the girlfriend has proudly personalised the very first Christmas present for her new lover, even the typical Berlin bloke, single and proud three-day-stubble wearer, gets seasonally sentimental.
But the last-minute guys are in luck, because the Christmas shopping season stays in full swing until just before Santa slips down the chimney – which gives our gentleman buyers plenty of opportunities to find the right tree to – ahem – spruce up their feast. Anyone looking for the biggest, bestest or just any tree at the last minute will call in at the main point of sale of Der Tannenmann in Prenzlauer Berg. Der Tannenmann has what must be the largest selection of trees in all of Berlin, on a whopping 1,000 square metres of space that will leave our manly men with a big manly grin on their face.
The trees are decorated – how else? – pragmatic, “manly” and with lots of casual spontaneity.
Look out! Here come the three most masculine Christmas trees in Berlin:
Poor but sexy
Parts of Berlin, especially its students, revel in a poor-but-sexy image. Like Berlin-Moabit, which offers an enormous selection of minimally sized furnished student flats for Berlin’s most modest Christmas tree league: the wall tree. A couple of fir twigs, collected fresh from Tiergarten Park, that string of lights left over from the ex, a dozen baubles all of the same colour, some silver ribbons, and a base ordered quick from Amazon – Christmas can be so… simple. Why go for opulent ornamentation if you’re off to see the folks at Christmas anyway. Thinks the James Dean-wannabe as he checks his high-speed train ticket.
Long live tradition
Respectable, solidly middle-class, a classic beauty. This describes the Christmas trees adorning the fireplace rooms in the villas of Wilmersdorf at the edge of town. The successful professional loves to live tradition. At home in his living room you’ll find a premium specimen of the classic Nordmann fir. Festooned in Christmas decorations from Grandma’s treasure chest, with richly ornamented art deco baubles from Vossberg, miles and miles of tinsel, a brocade angel at the tip, a wood manger from Erzgebirgische Volkskunst Münzberg, and fine porcelain from Villeroy & Boch, this tree is a real eyecatcher and the modern houseman’s pride and joy.
Have a Happy Hipster Christmas!
Neukölln is hip, and so are its Christmas trees. The fresh scent of pines wafts through the air. The men here don’t go out and buy their Christmas trees, they chop them themselves. Freshly returned from Werderaner Tannenhof or Weihnachtsbaumwald Mellensee, Berlin’s hipster embellishes his tree with anything and everything that comes tumbling out of his jute bag: baubles from the last shopping spree at Käthe Wohlfahrt shaped like a hamburger or a big jolly old Saint Nick, crocheted Christmas tree decorations from Etsy and, of course, a garland made of silk crepe de chine.
Still don’t know how to decorate your tree? Then visit the exhibition of Christmas tree decorations at the German Historical Museum or just ask a real Berliner!
STAY | Vienna House Andel’s Berlin, Vienna House Easy Berlin