Update: #3. buy a real Christmas tree

On December 30, 2015 at 11:00pm, I wrote to Facebook:

Here's a facet of native philosophy by which I try very hard to abide, though it may sound strange to you: See that fire and those branches and that one, long trunk? Those were my Christmas tree. It was a living being that sacrificed its life to be in my living room. I have done my best to honour that life. These branches may end up jewelry or coasters or ornaments or kindling, but they will live out that life and not be wasted. Why throw a plant out with the trash?

Today, I saw to it that I got started on making this happen.

Firstly, I visited my parents out in Pickering, dragging along my tree trunk.

My Dad and I (okay, mostly my Dad - but I helped) sawed that baby into little pieces and drilled some of them for various purposes. Here's a photo montage in Dad's workshop:

The first chunk here was drilled into a candle holder (see photos below), the second set here were drilled to be hand-decorated ornaments and jewelry, the third set will be rustic coasters, and the fourth little set will be for bolo ties, necklaces, or medicine wheels that require no drilling.

Next, I went home to Toronto and brewed up some Fraser fir-based winter potpourri in the oven. It's still baking on low heat and it smells heavenly in here.

For the last of today's creations, I'm attempting to infuse some oils to use for sugar scrubs. One is olive oil / Fraser fir / lemon and the other is coconut oil / Fraser fir / clementine. Both are accented with cloves. I'm eager to see how it goes.

Wish I could also brew some tea with the needles, but Christmas trees are probably sprayed with chemicals, yeah?

[Original goal list posted here.]