American Notes CHRISTMAS

Stealing that pretty little evergreen from a neighbor's backyard and setting it up as a Christmas tree in your living room is a dirty trick. But some enterprising Coloradans are striking back at would-be tree snatchers with a pungent recipe: fox urine, a drop or two of skunk essence and glandular extracts from cats, ferrets or muskrats. Sprayed on evergreens, the Scrooge Christmas Tree Protector, at $6 per pt., raises a stink to warn off tree rustlers. If a "Scrooged" tree is moved into a heated house, the putrid perfume gets really intense. How long before the scent wears off? Says Scrooge creator Major Boddicker: "For sure, by spring it'll be gone."