To help offset our disappointment of not being with family and friends on Christmas, Megan and I turned to one of Abu Dhabi’s great attributes: excess! And few things in Abu Dhabi scream excess more that Emirates Palace Hotel. Costing more than $3 billion to construct, it is rumored to have the highest hotel construction costs in history. So where better to display the most expensively decorated Christmas Tree in history?!

Costing more than $11 million USD, the Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace is massive. But upon further inspection, the real source of the enormous price tag isn’t really the tree itself (artificial, btw), but the ornaments. $1 million here, $500,000 there….it adds up quickly.

So without further adieu, here it is….