When Rebecca Bosworth’s husband Jordan told her the city was going to take their blue spruce tree for Christmas, “I did not believe him.”

“It’s a good tree, but what are the odds that this is happening?” she said. “I said, it would be a great Christmas tree if this was real. He’s like, ‘It is real.’”

There was no more denying it when at 8 a.m. on a frigid Monday morning their block on Smith Street in the Niagara neighborhood was awoken by the rumble of idling diesel engines and the buzz of a chain saw.

They didn’t submit their blue spruce to serve as the city’s Christmas tree, which will stand outside Government Center all holiday season. Instead, the tree is so pretty and perfectly triangular that it was scouted. The city cold-called the Bosworths offering to cut it and take it away, leading them to wonder if it was a joke or a scam.

See more at heraldnews.com.