PHOTO: Police Share Photo of How Not to Drive With Your Christmas Tree

The responsibility of owning a real Christmas tree in your home begins the moment you haul one off the lot after making your purchase. Sudbury, Massachusetts, police officers made an example out of one driver to demonstrate how not to drive your tree home.

The department's website posted a photo of their ridiculous discovery from Black Friday on Facebook, captioning it with: “Sudbury PD would like to remind you to transport your Holiday trees responsibly."

For starters, a driver should be able to have clear visibility while driving.

https://www.facebook.com/SudburyMAPolice/photos/a.281718282184488.1073741829.265388067150843/505372796485701/?type=3&theater

An officer spotted the enormous conifer dwarfing the blue Sedan along Route 20 in the town about 25 miles west of Boston. The branches embraced the windows on all sides of the minivan, even extending further down obscuring the rear license plate. But instead of issuing the driver a traffic ticket for his evergreen violation, the officer gave a warning "in the spirit of the holidays," and even offered to help secure the tree properly with caution tape.

The viral post stirred up some criticism aimed towards the careless driver, but also towards the police department for its political correctness in referring to the tree as "Holiday trees." One comment read, "You mean Christmas trees! Still a stupid way to transport. Reminds me of Clark Griswold."

Another commented, "I wanna know how the officer got them to pull over, could they see the lights through that thing? And kudos to the PD for giving a warning and some help instead of a ticket- that's the Christmas spirit!"

One positive comment read, "Kudos to the officer for not ticketing what is obviously a very enthusiastic Christmas family....and also for helping them to secure the tree better and more safely for transport! Good job! We need more compassionate stories of the officer's who know how to do their job and work WITH the communities they serve!"

While some questioned the height of the family's living room, some joked that the massive tree was actually headed towards New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town.

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H/T - boston, twitter, huffingtonpost, facebook