What Does an $11M Christmas Tree Look Like?

(CBS/AP) It isn't exactly Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.

A Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi checks in a lavish $11 million, dripping with gold ornaments and gem-studded bows.

Because when they deck the halls in Abu Dhabi, they deck them. Hard.

The tree is the latest status symbol at the hotel, which boasts its own marina, heliport and a vending machine that pops out small gold bars.

For all those fans of the spruce smell of a fresh cut tree - this one might disappoint - it's a fake - all 43 feet of it. Perhaps they can save a bit of money if they use it again next year.

Hans Olbertz, the hotel's general manager, told local newspapers Thursday that the faux fir has 131 ornaments that include gold and precious stones such as diamonds and sapphires.

Olbertz told Dubai's Gulf News that he worked with one of the jewelers in the hotel to create a "unique tree and experience for our guests this year." The hotel may later contact Guinness World Records for a possible bid as the world's most expensive Christmas tree.

The Guinness web site lists a $10.8 million tree put in 2002 in Toyko with 83 pieces of jewelry from Piaget Japan.

Christmas spirit is not rare in the United Arab Emirates, which is officially Muslim but hosts a huge foreign population. Malls are full of carolers, Santas and piped-in yuletide songs.

But not everyone's jolly. Some Emirati officials worry about threats to Gulf traditions from the wave of Western culture from holiday celebrations to Hollywood movies.