I would never opt not to have cats in my life, but my gosh sometimes they are a challenge! I was just wondering how Christmas will play out this year with both Archie AND Jimmy experiencing it for the first time. We always have a real tree and it starts out beautifully decorated. Then slowly as if by magic the decorations move to the top half of the tree leaving the bottom as unadorned as mother nature made it. In past years this magical migration was caused by my so called
mature cats, Casper and Ben. Who knows what will happen with a five and fourteen month old added to the mix.
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| Casper is such a good sport! |
A couple of weeks ago I lobbed the idea to Robert about maybe not having a tree this year. After all our little beach house gets very crowded when all the family is over and maybe no tree would be helpful for space management? NOT...Robert wasn't having any of that. So I am thinking that maybe this year I will just decorate our tree with twinkle lights and a star; sort of a minimalist theme. Perhaps a beautiful, fat velvet ribbon wrapped around it for a pop of red and voila "kitten-proof Christmas"! I'll let you know how it works out, but in the meantime I would welcome any suggestions :-)
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| But who will wear the santa coat this year? |
I would like to thank Judi from
Sammy and Andy's Place for making a beautiful Christmas card for my kitties to exchange with their friends. This is our first Christmas in the CB and we would have felt terribly left out without her generous help. You Rock Judi!!! Please feel free to grab our card for your sidebar if you are exchanging ecards :-)
34 comments:
My human's tree (when she chooses to put it up - it is one of those fake ones) usually has non-breakable decorations on the bottom branches: wooden and plastic ornaments, and ornaments made from satin or metal. The fragile stuff goes up high. But then, she has never had a tree the years she has had kittens, and none of us (not even me!) have gone tree climbing.
We now have a fibre optic tree without decorations as they always ended up on the floor instead of on the tree.
My mum refuses to do a big tree - she has a small blown-glass one that sits on the table instead. Boring!
Dear Cat,
I hope the introduction of Jimmy to the group is going well. Yes, Casper is certainly being a good sport. Deiter is the only one of mine who will accept being in costume (but only for a minute!)
We decided that IF we have a tree, it will be natural with no decorations because of the three little kids.
Many years ago we had tried the tree with just the little white lights when our Wizzard was young (she's now passed on). One morning I woke up and the lights weren't working. I looked on the floor and there was a little pile of the bulbs. Wizzard was gently taking her teeth and pulling them out of the sockets! LOL!!!!
Cats are sooo creative!
Good Luck!
It is going to be a lot of fun this Christmas with lots of tree climbing. We used to climb to the top of our tree when we were little. Umm, well maybe one of us still does it, but I'm not telling which one of us it is, and Eric, don't you dare tell anyone it is me either okay.
Years ago when I lived with my mother and we had many cats, her solution to keep the cats away from the tree was to use clementines (with little hooks that you can buy at a craft store) instead of Christmas balls. We didn't think it would work, but the citrus smell kept the cats away and our tree was beautiful!
Cat, my suggestion is that you put all of the sparkly hangy things right at the bottom of the tree. Then we can take them off and roll around with them. Think of what fun it'll be for you to watch us bat them, go hunting for them in the hiding places we've put them, then find one or two on auspicious days all year long! We're doing you a service here, and it's not often we cats do that for peoples. Don't work against us!
Disclaimer: We do none of this for our own enjoyment. That is all.
Good luck with that! I have the same dilemma. LOL.
Actually, I hauled my tree out last night and assembled it. Can't decide if I'll put lights up on it or not....Nicki + wire-chewing = electrocution. Someone (Deb from Deb's Cats, I think) posted she wraps her cords in tin foil, which is a great idea. If I can find some LED lights for the tree, I might try it!
We love the card Judi has done for you - we will take a copy for our side bar thank you. She has done one on our sidebar if you would like to take a copy of that too.
Perhaps if you put lots of crunkly paper on the floor for your cats they won't start their lumberjack activities on your tree until after Christmas!!
We love your card and we've snagged a copy for our sidebar! Fanks.
Love all your Christmas cards on your sidebar. That is so nice. I am going to copy them and put them on mine. Thanks for putting my funny looking one up there.
Also thanks for the suggestion of the Corel Paintshop Pro. I am going to check that one out. That Photoshop is so expensive.
Casper, you really are a great sport to wear your pretty vest around.
Hope all of you have a great day.
A couple of years ago my then 4 yr old niece wanted to make paper snowflakes for the tree. My brother found a pattern online and we all spent about an hour cutting out snowflakes. My SIL and I weren't sure how it would turn out, but it ended up being very neat and pretty!! And in the case the cats got to them (they have 2), all that was lost was a piece of paper. :)
Our Moms didn't get a tree during our kitten years. Now that we are older, they get a small tree, maybe four feet tall. We still knock a few ornaments off, but our floor has carpet, so we don't usually break anything.
We love your card! That is beautiful!! We don't get a real tree or big tree anymore. Mom said that she's tired of them falling down so she gets a small tree to sit up on top of a counter and we can't get to it. We never did anything to one...we never got the chance...it was our earlier relatives that did them in!! Lots of love, Holly and mom
Casper, you are quite the model! Cute Santa outfit.
Our tree has the unbreakable plastic ornaments (the round balls). They look pretty good and are safe.
Your card is adorable!
I love having a Christmas tree, but I have the same problems as you. We have a artificial one and I usually put it up and leave it undecorated for a few days until the cats get used to having it up. When I finally docorate it, no breakable ornaments go on the bottom part (because they usually get knocked off!). Ernie loves climbing in the tree and at 11 pounds, has broken a few branches. I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'll be re-decorating the tree all season!
Island Cats' mom Sue
what fine, furriendly lads you are! we are so glad you haff made li'l jimmy welcome--an' we knows that he an' archie will become good furriends. your bloggie is decorated efur-so-nice, an' we wishes our mom had half a smidgen of the decoratin' talent YOUR mom haffs!
Believe it or not I am Jewish but was formerly married to a guy who was Catholic. we had a tree and our cat (who is now my Angel Bobo) used to shake it like it was a pinata...I could never get mad cause it was soooo funny!! I would come home from work and the entire tree would be lying on the floor.
(He also swatted candy canes off the banister that I had put up, he would swat them off one by one)....
Christmas and cats just go together! lol
I like your tree idea but if the cats are young they may chew on the wire that the lights are on..........
We have a small house so have a small tree but love looking at all the pictures on the blogs of the gorgeous trees. Your mum makes your place look gorgeous.. Hugs GJ x
LOVE the Christmas card. What a handsome kitty family!!!!
I have no good advice for trees. It's a new game every year around here. :-D
None of us really "bother" the tree. Our humans always put some ornaments on the lower branches that we are welcome to whap at!
Our living room has french doors to close it off, so it works well with any cat and the tree - contact with the tree is only under supervision. Also, farbic, wood and other nonbreakables go low, breakables high. I can't climb, so that is a help!
it is exciting to think of all four cats/kittens at your house this Christmas.
Christmas Card is super!
Yes, quite the dilemma about the tree! We're lucky as our three don't really bother with it that much. They sniff it and seemed mesmerized don't destroy anything.
Maybe if you decorated the bottom of the tree with things for them -- actually dangling kitty toys -- that would satisfy them from going any further.
We also put unbreakables at the bottom of the tree just in case, anyways.
Casper is the purrfect subject for that Santa coat -- it looks magnificent against his white fur. However, if you want to get kitties used to getting dressed up, you have to get 'em young. So I vote for Jimmy!
Hi Cat,
My sister sent me the link to this website of kitty Christmas decorating fun.
www.fluffytails.ca/christmas.asp
My mommy hasn't had but a 3 foot tree with fiber optic lights in years, I see to enjoy being in larger ones, MOL.
I want you to know my mommy said that is THE most adorable picture you posted today. Red becomes gorgeous Casper. He's so danged CUTE. Especially that top down view. LOVE it.
We don't have a tree here (we're in Malaysia) but I bet Au and Target and def Boris would looooove to swing from those branches!
Our comment disappeared! We said we'd like to hang off a christmas tree. It sounds real fun.
We put up a real tree and leave the decorations off for a few days until the novelty wears off. I only use non breakables anyway. I wrap the light cords in foam pipe covers or paper rolls and if need be rub something smelly the cats don't like on the lower branches - like Vicks menthol rub. No one bothers the tree and I have had up to 17 cats in the house with a tree! Good luck!
Oh man, cats + Christmas trees = serious trouble. They seem to think trees are the world's biggest and best toys, don't they?
I don't get a tree because I usually visit my parents for Christmas, but they have a strategy for cat-proofing: the tree is anchored to the walls with fishing line to prevent it from being tipped over, and all the fragile ornaments go on the top half while the non-fragile ones go on the bottom. The non-fragile ones are wedged a little further up the branches and, if possible, the hooks are bent so they can't be pulled off. Sometimes the ornaments come away looking a little the worse for wear, but at least the tree stays decorated.
Love your card! Our tree has the unbreakable, plastic and wooden ornaments on the low hanging branches ... just in case any of the furry kids decides they look like toys! ;)
What a beautiful card!
We will be sending our Grete woofie out to the tree farm soon. It's her job to find us a good one. Mom and dad are a bit nervous because it's Figaro's first Christmas and he's young and full of mischief...we'll see what happens!
We love your card, and Casper is adorable. He IS a good sport.
Mommy & Daddy know better than to put up a tree. They would be delusionaly crazypants to think it would remain intact for more than 0.0093 seconds.
What a brilliant card my friends! And don't you look sweet in your little outfit! (uh oh, Rumblemum better not get ideas about dressing me up...)
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