A/N: For Amelia, who asked for Drake cutting down his Christmas tree.

The song chosen for the title is "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee.

Drake took a deep breath before exhaling mightily. "Ahhh. Do you smell that, Gos? The crisp winter air, the slight damp of the coming snow, the tang of pine…"

"You can smell snow coming?" Gosalyn interrupted, studying her father out of the corner of her eye as she tugged her coat more securely around her.

"All true outdoorsman can!" Drake insisted, puffing out his chest and tossing up his head proudly.

Gosalyn smirked. "Well, tell me when one decides to show up."

Drake raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I'm a true—"

"There's not even a cloud in the sky," Gosalyn pointed out. "But you can smell the coming snow?"

"Gosalyn, Gosalyn, Gosalyn," Drake lamented, shaking his head. "I know the snow is coming the same way I know how to choose the best Christmas tree: years of experience, an intuitive connection with everything around me, and good old fashioned knowhow."

"He's right, Gos," Launchpad said. "Snow's supposed to start falling around seven."

Gosalyn cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Drake. "That's awfully specific." She looked over to Launchpad. "How do you know it's gonna snow?"

"We saw it on the news before we left."

"We?" Gosalyn asked.

Drake laughed nervously, gripping his axe in his gloved hands. "Look at all those trees all the way over there. I better, um, go pick the best one so we can get home before the snow hits."

"Oh, we got plenty of time, DW! There's four hours until its supposed to start snowing—"

"Yes, thank you, Launchpad," Drake ground out, stomping down the hill towards the copse of trees he'd spotted.

It didn't matter how he came by the information. It was enough just to know a storm was coming. Really, the news had only confirmed his outdoorsman instincts that told him about the coming snow. It's not like the news was right all the time, anyway. Just look at how they handled the coverage on his crime fighting; namely, there wasn't any. Which, when it came down to it, was the real crime. Think of all the people he could inspire and how many more citizens would sleep better knowing that the daring Darkwing Duck defended the downtown district from dangerous desperados.

But no. They just confirmed a coming snow storm that Drake absolutely totally knew was coming before he watched the forecast.

Approaching the trees, Drake studied them carefully, taking into account height, width, the shade of green, and the shape of the trunk. No one said the life of an outdoorsman was glamorous, but Drake was willing to live the unglamorous life. The outdoor lifestyle was worth it.

Circling around a perfectly proportioned pine, its crisp scent bringing a smile to Drake's beak, he carefully eyed it for any flaws. And when he didn't find any that alerted his keen sharpened outdoorsman instincts, he arranged his hands along the handle of the axe, balancing its weight evenly.

"As any true outdoorsman will tell you," he said to Gosalyn and Launchpad, who had followed him to the trees, "using an axe to cut down a tree is always the preferred method. It's better for the bark and offers more consistency than a motorized tool."

"That's not even close to being true," Gosalyn said.

Drake scowled. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, not being a true outdoorsman yourself."

"I'm not outdoor anything," Gosalyn said, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets. "There's a reason man invented homes; so he wouldn't have to go outside. Can you please just get on with this cutting down the tree thing?"

"You can't rush nature, Gos." Drake swung the axe back over his shoulder. "And in order to become a true outdoorsman," he swung it down, the blade biting into the wood with a solid thunk, "you have to become one with nature." He swung it back. "Learn from her." He hit the tree with a thunk. "Become apart of the surroundings." Swing. "Absorb everything it has to teach you." Thunk. "Why, just from sitting atop a hill or even in a park," swing, "you're already learning about nature." Thunk. "The valuable lesson of the circle of life." Swing. "How you should only take what you need, not what you want." Thunk. "And most importantly," swing, "patience." Thunk.

"Whew!" Drake pulled the axe free and studied the trunk of the tree. "Thought I'd be farther along by now." It had looked so easy in the online instructional videos. He'd recently become obsessed with cutting down their own Christmas tree and decided this would be the year.

But no one mentioned how much work went into it.

That didn't matter, though. Nothing worth having was easily won.

"You know," Gosalyn said. "Negaduck carries a chainsaw with him."

"Oh, really? I had no idea," Drake grumbled, glancing back at his daughter. "Now, if you please, I need to concentrate." Gripping the axe tighter, Drake began cutting the tree down with renewed strength.

In between his steady rhythm of swing, thunk, he heard Launchpad say, "A chainsaw would be helpful right now."

"Right?" Gosalyn said. "He never listens to me."

Embedding the axe deep into the trunk, Drake turned around to face the two, hands on his hips. "You are breaking my concentration! Unless you plan on helping, go stand over there where I can't hear you."

With a glance to Launchpad, Gosalyn walked away, heading for the area her father had pointed towards.

Drake glanced at Launchpad, who shrugged in response. He pointed at the pilot's chest and asked, "You gonna keep your bill shut?"

"If it helps."

"Good." Drake turned back around and yanked the axe free. "Because I need silence to focus on my bonding time." Swing. "It takes the departure from civilization," thunk, "and the silence of the woods around you," swing, "to really bond with nature." Thunk. "Once I fully connect to my surroundings," swing, "I can become one with this tree." Thunk. "Understand it," swing, "down to its roots." Thunk. "See the impact," swing, "I am making," thunk, "by removing it," swing, "from it's woodsy home." Thunk. "Show my," swing, "appreciation," thunk, "for the sacrifice," swing, "that's being made."

When he started the downswing, the axe slipped from Drake's hands and went flying. The momentum pulling him forward, Drake fell flat on his beak in a bank of snow. Launchpad yelped and ducked out of the way of the rogue axe.

Propping himself up on his elbows, Drake spat out a beak-full of snow and glared at Launchpad. "Not a word," he growled.

Launchpad disappeared into the trees after the axe, smothering his laughter.

"You okay, Dad?" Gosalyn asked, jogging back over to him.

"Never better!" Drake exclaimed, leaping to his feet before Gosalyn made it over. "All apart of the process of becoming one with our Christmas tree."

"Sorry, DW," Launchpad said as he emerged from the trees. "No sign of your axe anywhere."

"The outdoors giveth and the outdoors taketh away," Drake said forlornly.

He wondered where he might be able to find another axe. Maybe there was a hardware store nearby. Or maybe he could fashion something out of his surroundings….

"Well, let's taketh this tree away," Gosalyn said, pulling out a small chainsaw from behind her back. "I'm freezing."

"Gosalyn!" Drake said, a hand coming up to rest over his heart, appalled. "A true outdoorsman would never stoop so low as to use a—"

"I'll tell everyone you chopped the dumb tree down yourself," Gosalyn promised.

Drake grabbed the chainsaw. "And after only a few swings."

"Like the great outdoorsmen of old." Gosalyn smirked.

Drake smiled in return as he yanked the chainsaw to life.

If a tree fell in the woods, and no one except his family was around to see it, did it really matter how it was cut down?