About 40 years ago a friend and I rented a little house in the woods east of Seattle, in the foothills of the Cascades. Being very hippy and self-sufficient (so we believed) we went into the woods and cut down a ********* tree. Probably illegally. We brought it in, managed with a great deal of ineptitude to get it mounted into the base, then we decorated it, mostly with charming popcorn garlands, pine cones, natural things from around the property that had some color. We each had a young retriever, and the dogs were fascinated by all of this. The next night we had a big ********* party, and with all the people, and the fire in the woodstove, it was warm enough to leave the door open. Some wild thing came in and sheltered under the tree for about two minutes until the dogs discovered it, then the creature took off, dogs giving chase, dragging the tree, having thoroughly entangled themselves in the lights and decorations. The dogs came home that night, but we didn’t find the tree until late the next day, about a half mile down the little dirt road. The landlord (who was at the party) was really pretty understanding about it all, and replaced the broken window and battered doorframe quickly and without too much fuss.