YOU would have to really love Christmas to have a tree this big.

So it is just as well that Lorraine King is a massive fan of the festive season.

The tree that dominates her living room is so huge it is decorated with 1,200 lights, baubles and ribbons.

Lorraine and husband Michael always buy a large Christmas tree from the New Forest Wildlife Park, formerly the Owl and Otter Sanctuary.

But this year’s version has turned out to bigger and bushier than ever.

The couple had to have 3ft cut off the top just to get it in their home in Stanley Road, Totton. It now stands almost 12ft wide and 9ft high.

The tree was loaded on to the back of a friend’s flatbed lorry and it was only when they got home that Lorraine realised just how big it was.

It took four adults pushing and pulling to get it through the 6ft wide French patio windows and into the lounge in scenes reminiscent of the film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase.

Lorraine, who has three children and seven grandchildren, said: “We had to cut 3ft off the top straight away and it still touches the ceiling. Michael was saying it wasn’t going to fit, and I just kept saying it would.”

Lorraine, 58, was right – eventually the tree went through the doors and into the 30ft long room. Then the mammoth task of decorating it began.

Three of Lorraine and Michael’s grandchildren, Jack, 14, Paige, 12 and six-year-old Owen helped to adorn the festive fir with lights and decorations that the family have collected over the years including photograph baubles, robins that belonged to her mother and a pink ribbon in memory of actress Linda Bellingham’s battle against cancer.

“At one point I thought we had lost Michael as he was stuck behind it,” Lorraine laughed. “But I love my tree and other people seem to too. Everyone who walks by looks through the window and people are always asking if they can come and see it.”

Lorraine’s love of the festive season means she has already set her dining room table for Christmas lunch for 16.

“We love spending time with all of our family,” she said. “And the tree is just part of who we are – it’s my own spirit of Christmas.”