I know everyone is super busy right now, just two days before Thanksgiving! Yikes! So Much To Do! But maybe you have time for one quick, funny little story before you dash off to get done the next thing on your gotta do list? As you can see by the photo at the top of the page, I already have our tree up. Yeah, too early, even for me. BUT still there it is. Up and bright with lights and beautiful in the way that all Christmas trees are. If you recall, I haven't been able to put up a tree for two Christmasses with all of the Construction and related ish-kabibble that was going on. There was just no room to squeeze in the tree. Literally no room. There was barely room for us in this house for two years! Therefore, I have been looking forward to putting up our tree since that last lick of paint went on the walls in the Family Room (formerly known as the project room) and all of the furniture went back to where it belonged. What a relief to have it over! I was so excited at the prospect of a fully decorated house With A Tree! I am actually kind of impressed with myself that I waited this long to put the tree up. But I restrained myself. Originally the plan was to put it up the day after Thanksgiving thus following my own policy of "One Holiday At A Time Please". But then I remembered that Thanksgiving is on Thursday and the great Christmas Cooking Bakathon begins on Saturday and if I put up the tree on Friday I will be Toast by Saturday. Crispy! Thus dimming the pleasure of anything else. Therefore, I wisely decided that the Friday between Turkey Day and Cookie Day be a day of rest. Which means either putting off the tree for one more full week OR putting it up early. You already know which one I choose. Sooooo Sunday past, Tim helped me put the tree together. It 's still a wierd thing getting used to a fake tree. It's handy, I will give it that. Just a quick as anything, the tree was constructed, the electric cords all connected (carefully covered and cat proofed) and plugged in and tested (yes! it still works) and we took a moment to consider what happens next. As it was, the kitties were showing GREAT interest. No shocking at all. Cats are notoriously curious. The cutest part was once we plugged the tree in and the lights went on. They went from curious to mesmerized! Tim and I put a lot of thought into what decorations should (and more importantly should not) be used this year. Out of deference to the baby kitties, we decided that only unbreakable things would be on the tree, We knew, no wait, we KNEW that ornaments would be batted around and possibly gnawed on a bit from many previous kitty owning years. Once the boxes of ornaments came out, we sorted through carefully and only choose things made of fabric and leather and yarn and wood and, well you get the idea, things that are, generally speaking, unbreakable. We had enough of them that, while the tree was not nearly as heavily decorated as usual, was good enough to appear finished. Yay! Good Job! We even found the Christmas Train to put under the tree! Tim and I put all of the bins and boxes away while Brysco and Wyatt sniffed around and checked things out. In general, their attitude seemed to be very paws off. They were interested but only mildly. Brysco took a little nap underneath and Wyatt showed even less interest than that. : All in all, we felt like we got really lucky. We have spent many a Holiday season plucking kitties out of Christmas trees and cleaning up broken stuff. I even considered that perhaps soon I would take a chance and put out some of the other Christmas stuff. You know what I mean, the pretty little (mostly breakable) things that sit on table tops and in surprising little corners, Ultimately, as it was nearly the end of the day I decided to wait and give it an over night think before I acted. Thank goodness! We woke the next morning bright and early to discover that during the night there had been a terrible train wreck: Oh, the humanity! Train cars scattered thither and yon! Then through my sleepy eyes I noticed an ornament on the floor near the train. And another. And another. And..... Oh dear, the violence of this train crash obviously caused an avalanche! When I squinted through my not quite awake peppers, I slowly (I'm not too quick on the uptake first thing in the day) realized just how many ornaments had fallen. And they were strewn around the family room and, I later realized, into the living room and beyond. Wow, that was some Crazy Avalanche eh? I asked the kitty boys if they knew anything about this little collection of ornaments and, as expected, initially they professed their innocence. But when I later caught them in the act, they had to confess, yes it was them. However, in the way of cats everywhere, they showed no remorse whatsoever I suppose that to their way of thinking, we obviously put the tree up for their enjoyment, right? Otherwise, first of all, why would it be there at all? They were feral kitties, they have climbed a few trees in their short little lives, trees are for climbing! And secondly, all of the dangling little objects in the tree clearly are intended to be played with. I mean, otherwise, what is the point at all? Why would those enticing little bits be hung in the tree? I collected all of the ornaments as I found them throughout the day and debated. Should I bother putting them back on ? Should we take the tree back down? In discussion with Tim we decided that A) it's their tree too, leave it up. Thus far they haven't managed to actually knock the tree over (though it's not for lack of trying I assure you) B) It was a cheapo tree from Big Lots and we've had it for 7 years now. It's not like it's valuable or precious in anyway. C) they are still babies. In a few years, they won't be as frisky or silly or fun. So we decided that when they nap in the afternoon, I would put the ornaments (which I have collected through the day) back on the tree and during the night they can, if they choose, once again have the fun of taking them back off. During the day they don't seem to bother with the tree much other than to sleep under it. The undecorating and train destruction are strictly night maneuvers. Which means that, foolishly, after the first night, we thought, maybe they got it out of the system and tonight will be different. HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Silly Humans. I woke this morning to yet another train wreck and about half of the tree undecorated I'm not sure, of course, but I suspect that the goal is to denude the tree fully. It's important to have goals. I think I have found most of the ornaments now. A few were inside the kitty tunnels, under furniture and behind things but still they were found with only a few fang marks marring them. Later today I will, once again, put the ornaments back on the tree and tomorrow we will do the dance again.
Some of the branches in the tree are looking a little worse for wear too. While the boys are indeed babies - only 7 months old after all, they are BIG babies. I measured Wyatt when he was sleeping and from the top of his head to the tip of his tail he is over two feet long. They aren't cats as much as they are mini-panthers. I'm quite sure that this cheapo tree wasn't intended to carry the weight or length of kitties this size. (or probably at all though that is naive - everyone knows that cats are the arch enemies of Christmas trees) The rest of the ornaments, the table top things, the Father Christmas, the snowman collection and so forth, will stay in their boxes and bins this year. This tree, such as it is, will be our one and only decoration this year. Right now they are sleeping the sleep of the righteous and innocent and they look so dang cute. Later they will wake to wreak chaos and havoc once again. And we wouldn't have it any other way. Happy Thanksgiving!
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
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