Knockin’ around the Christmas tree
Bret and I have been together six years in December, and we’ve never had a Christmas tree. Or a Yule tree, or whatever. The closest we’ve come was a metal cardholder tree, which was lovely but NOT a true Christmas tree. There’s always been a reason, but no excuses this year! We ARE going to put up a tree, by Jove.
Which presents a HUGE problem, because we have three cats. In all honesty, only one of them will be a problem because Lynksis can’t even hoist her fat kitty ass to the top of the cat tree (we do have her on a diet), and Mouse will probably be terrified to go near a Giant Green Thing standing in the corner. But Data … Data is a concern. My fear is that the very first day the tree is up, we’ll come home to find the living room strewn with shattered ornaments, shredded ribbons and piles of pine-needle-studded cat poop, Data yodeling triumphantly from atop the trashed tree. Or worse.
So I ask you, my fellow cat owners present or past, how do you keep Christmas in a feline-friendly household? What techniques do you employ to keep Kitty Claws from turning your holiday decor into his own personal Disneyland? And what’s the worst holiday cat-astrophe you’ve survived?
And on the subject of Yuletide, my family battles every year over the gift exchange quandary. Some want to draw names, some want to skip the presents altogether. The ones who ignore the agreed-upon spending limits upset the ones who respect them. The “gift grab” game offends some of us, as it seems contrary to the spirit of the season. Every year, the same squabbles. A few years ago, we tried doing the homemade gifts thing, but for several of us it turned out to be far more costly in both time and dollars than purchasing gifts would have! And when you’re a working person on a budget, those factors are more important than you’d like them to be.
This year, my imaginative niece Brenda came up with the idea of giving each other memories. Each of us will share with each family member our personal favorite memory involving that person. How we choose to gift the memories is up to us. One relative is writing the memories in story form inside handmade cards. Another is choosing from among her possessions small gifts related to each memory to give the individual. Being the shutterbug I am, I’m giving each person my favorite photo of them, captioned with why I love it, incorporated into a graphic design I’m creating specifically for each person. I can’t even tell you how much I’m looking forward to all of us sharing our memories on Christmas Day!
I’m thinking this may be my most favorite Yuletide ever.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I love love love the memory idea! :-)
I have never had a tree with my two cats but this year I want one. One of them eats sweaters and one of them eats my mail. Maybe they will be distracted by sweaters and mail and ignore the tree?
Here’s hoping!
sizzle´s last blog post: Wealth of My Heart
November 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Our Data never climbs the real tree when we have one, but he does batt at the ornaments all day long. I just pick up the ones he has knocked over during the day and put them back. I try not to have the too nice of ones near the ground!
kilax´s last blog post: Behaving at the Buffet
November 21st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
De-lurking to say Wow, the memory sharing is a wonderful “gift” idea!
And, btw, you look great and are quite an inspiration!
November 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Sizzle: As long as you don’t decorate your tree with tiny elf sweaters or mini letters to Santa, it may survive!
Kim: Most of my ornaments are unbreakable, luckily. But I can’t imagine our Data NOT climbing the tree - she loves the high spots.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I love the idea of giving memories! I would love a gift like that - one that I know someone put a lot of thought into.
As for the cats and the tree - I don’t know. I had a little pre-lit tree (just 4 ft) that I don’t decorate. I duct-taped the stand to the floor so she couldn’t knock it over. It wasn’t a huge problem.
I have a rambunctious kitten now, though. I’m guessing the duct tape isn’t going to hold up. I plan on putting up the tree when I’m home for the weekend, so that I’ll be here to squirt her with the spray bottle when she messes with it. Hopefully she’ll get it out of her system. I’ll let you know how that works out :)
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November 21st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Cap: Interestingly, the GUYS in the family are less thrilled with the memories idea. I guess it’s because they’re not into crafty creativity like we girls are. Do let me know how the kitten-tree thing goes.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:56 pm
i’m pretty excited for the memories sharing idea, too. especially since i’ve read what some of the other family members are doing.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Juli: Wow, you came out of Twilight Euphoria for a brief moment!!! Love you, my baby girl.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 pm
The memory idea is great! I’m in a Christmas gift quandary right now because my sister will be here for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas so we are doing Christmas early with her and I still don’t have a clue.
We may forgo the tree altogether this year because of the new puppy. I’m not sure I want to add more reasons to shout “No Sasha!” to my day!
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November 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
This is TOTALLY why I can never have a tree.
November 28th, 2008 at 6:59 am
I was sure I’d commented on this…
I love, love the gifting of memories idea. Beautiful.
As for the cats and the tree issue: Winston used to climb the tree when he was little, but now that he’s a big lazy fat cat, climbing is not an issue. We put the breakable, precious ornaments towards the top of the tree and the non-breakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree, because both cats like to bat at what’s hanging down at paw level. And we make sure there are no surfaces around the tree that the cats can climb on to and then jump to the tree…
Hope that helps :)
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