Getting ready to hog-tie that Christmas tree and wrestle that little doggie out to the corral? If you're not careful, and if you didn't pre-?giftwrap? it in plastic, you're going to be finding pine needles for a long time. But you can skip the mess and a heap of trouble with pine needles by just rustling up some paper grocery bags and grabbing your pruning shears out of the barn. First, take down the fancy lights and stuff and put a sheet or dropcloth on the floor, underneath the tree. Then snip off branches, one at a time. Cut them into small pieces and stuff them. Soon all you'll have left is a bunch of bags that are easy to wrangle and a plain old tree trunk you can drag out of the ranch house without leaving a trail of needles behind you. And that's the On The House tip for today.