Cats and Christmas trees don't mix.
Billy put the tree together very carefully. He has a lot of patience for things he's interested in. He was very methodical in his work. He'd fit the branches into the "trunk" of the tree and then he'd carefully move the branches so that it looked like a real, full Christmas tree.
We can pretty much keep an eye on Buddy. He's really curious about the tree and would love to get his paws on it and his teeth into it. When he sits with us, though, he'll be on a leash and won't be able to satisfy his curiosity.
The cats present a different problem. We wouldn't want to kennel Amber and Mouse overnight, but that means giving them free access to the tree.
Having an artificial tree is a little easier. Amber and Mouse go around the base of the tree, investigating, but there's no place for them to climb. The biggest danger to knocking the tree over might be when one of them tries to jump up to the window to look out. The tree is directly in front of that window and we really can't move it because our house is now full with "stuff".
The other problem comes when we put the ornaments up. The cats will be attracted to the balls and the dangling ornaments. Every morning, we'll wake up to find the ornaments from the lower branches all over the floor. If it rolls, we can be sure Amber will bat it around the room.
Having a real tree was more difficult to maintain. Years ago I was Kushna's pet. She was a tabbycat who loved to eat tinsel. I should have figured it out and just kept the tinsel off the tree. It looked really pretty to me but would invariably, strands of it would end up in the litterbox. Yuck.
When we lived in Maryland, we had a tuxedo kitty named Paddywack. She liked to climb the tree. We never knew what we'd find on the floor in the morning. One morning, it was the whole tree. That was a big mess! Not only did we have water soaking into our carpet we also had pine needles and ornaments all over the room.
That tree was never the same. The next morning, we found in on the floor again. We ended up tying the tree to the overhead heating vent. It probably wasn't so good for the tree but it was better than cleaning it up every morning!
With winter fast approaching, how do you feel about snow?
I love snow! In fact, it's snowing now. Some places are supposed to get almost two feet of snow. I'm not sure how much we'll get. I've heard anywhere from 4 inches up to 18. We have enough food, enough water, and enough toilet tissue to last through a weekend snow-in. I'm set!
Heidi and Kristin are both invited to birthday parties today ... but they're not gonna happen! If the parents didn't have the good sense to call it off, then I would just because it's not a good idea to get out on the road.
It's a perfect day to decorate the tree and watch some Christmas movies! It's a great day for hot chocolate and cookies ... except I don't really have cookie makings. :( Oh well...
Heidi's going to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol and so I'll update again later! I'm like a little kid when it comes to watching Christmas movies! :)
Posted by Cassie at December 6, 2003 09:46 AM