If You See Clumps on Your Christmas Tree Get it Outside Fast

If you decided to go with a real Christmas tree this year beware of small brown sacs. If you see even just one on your tree, get it outside immediately.

You might see one or more brown, walnut-sized, pine cone-shaped clumps dangling from branches on your live Christmas. You may think it's cute and simply part of the tree. These clumps are not part of the tree. These are egg sacs for hundreds of praying mantises that if left on your tree, could hatch in your home.

Taylor Swift, who dropped a new surprise album this week, had the task of looking for those little brown clumps on the trees at her parent's Christmas tree farm. That was Swift's very first job.

If you let one of these egg sacs hatch, you could wake up Christmas morning to presents and family, not your family but a family of praying mantises. The warmth of your home will cause the eggs to hatch releasing hundreds of praying mantises into your home. Eventually, they will die due to a lack of food. By that time, the creatures will be all over your home.

If you do see these egg sacs, the best thing to do is to put the tree outside. But if your Christmas tree is already decorated, the last thing you'll want to do after all your hard work is put your tree in the yard to be picked up by your local waste management service. If you don't want to dispose of your beautifully decorated tree, the next step is to clip the branch with the brown clump attached and then dispose of it properly.