November 26th, 2024

As you can see the Christmas Tree is up and decorated.  Before Thanksgiving?   Yes.  We took a look at the calendar and were shocked at the realization of how little time there is until Christmas.  So much to do and so little time in which to get it all done!  

Today, November 26th is less than a month until Christmas Day!  Yikes!  We are only 2 days away from Thanksgiving and right now just  4 days outside of December.  Holy Cats!  Then, just to make things more interesting, somehow, nearly every weekend day between now and Christmas is already spoken for.  What the what?  Not quite sure how that happened, but there it is.  Things seem ot have gotten away from us so in a desperate attempt to get control back, we put the tree up over the weekend.

There was a little trepidation with regard to the kittyboys.  As you may, or may not, recall, last year they were so excited about the tree that they literally broke it.   They loved the tree to death.  We were smart enough to only put unbreakable ornaments on it (thank goodness) because every night they undecorated the tree.  Every morning I redecorated it.  We had to pluck errant kitties out of the tree repeatedly and despite our explanation of how they are not fruit and therefore do not belong in trees, they persisted.  After Christmas once the decorations were safely repacked away, we threw out the broken tree.

To be fair it was a super cheapo tree.  We bought it on sale at Big Lots and I believe that it was the cheapest tree of it's size anywhere and it's longevity actually surpassed our expectations even without cats as part of the equation.   We bought it our first year here and as we were fully invested in the myriad renovation projects that our (at the time) new to us home required, we spared very VERY little for a tree.  The old tree was never intended for the weight of, even at that time, 6 month old kitties frolicking amoungst its branches. 

So this year, buying a new tree, had us debating.  what if the boys haven't grown out of the Christmas Tree destructo phase?  We didn't want to invest a great deal of money in a  tree that may or may not survive the season.  On the other hand, what if they behaved like perfect little kitty gentlemen and leave the tree alone?  We didn't want to be stuck Once Again with a crapppola tree for years to come.  Decisions decisions decisions.

So we checked out all of the local places that might possibly have fakeyfake Christmas  trees at a variety of sizes, shapes, colours and price tags.  We saw many!!!  And one of the first things we learned was that, much like everything else, the cost of Christmas trees -even artificial ones - has skyrocketed.  Dang.  Well it is what it is so we ended up with one that wasn't the cheapest one available but also not the most expensive. We came home and set it up and left it undecorated just to see what those little fellers were going to do.

Turns out that after sniffing it thoroughly, they have mostly left it alone.  Well Wyatt did have to be reminded a time or two that Christmas tree lights are not edible.   Brysco mostly just likes to lay underneath it. And they both love to just gaze at it at night when the lights are on.  Great!  So next up was decorating.  All those enticing little bits and bobs just dangling, practically begging a kitty to play with it.

To be on the safe side, once again, we put Only Unbreakable ornaments on the tree and no garland.  More kitty sniffing followed shortly thereafter.   To our great surprise, they have mostly left it alone.  We have seen a few paws tentatively touching, but very gently.  I have picked up exactly 4 ornaments now and replaced them which, compared to last year, is nothin'.  We did have to to get after Wyatt a few times when he insisted that the tree lights were edible and we insist even more firmly that they are not.  Once we saw a few branches bobbing rapidly but never saw which kitty was the culprit.  Still, especially compared to last year, we are impressed with their maturity and restraint.

 Things went so well with the tree that I went ahead and very bravely put up a few other house decorations and those have been completely ignored. I mean not even kitty sniffs!  Maybe they haven't noticed them yet?  Not sure what it's all about but it seems as if the decorations are safe. At least so far.  It's quite the departure from last year's and I'm not sure I fully trust it yet. But, what's life without risk eh?  The tree is up and decorated, the house is as decorated as it's going to get and we are ready for the next thing on the gotta-do list!

In case you are interested, here are some of the other decorations:

oh and one more photo, this is Brysco absolutely mesmerized by the lights on the tree.  Totally get that one.  I feel the exact same way.

​Anyway, Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day on Thursday and we'll catch up next week!  Hope your Turkey Day is fun and delicious!