How the Cat Stole Christmas

I love decorating for Christmas. When I was growing up, my parents always had an artificial tree. The year I moved out, they got a new tree, so they gave me their old one, which was about 10 years old. I used it the first year and contemplated giving it away after that because it was starting to show its age. Being a poor grad student, however, I decided to make it last for another year. So, I used it last year with no problems. I once again thought about giving it away, but I decided to make it last for yet another year.

I live in a small apartment with 4 other people, 2 cats, and a chihuahua, so storage space is a bit limited. I store my tree at my parents' house in the off-season. On Thursday, after Thanksgiving dinner, I loaded the tree into my car and headed home. I set the tree up that night, and I realized that I should have given it away last year. It looked sad and worn. When I wasn't looking, my roommate's kitten, Pumpkin, managed to climb up into the tree, bend the branches, and knock other branches out of place. I removed him and began to string up the lights. He climbed back up and we played this game for over an hour.

I finally got the tree put together with the lights strung up, and then I went to bed. I didn't get around to putting up ornaments until Sunday, and Pumpkin pretty much left them alone. I finished putting up the ornaments on Monday night. Yesterday morning, one of my roommates (not Pumpkin's owner) said that Pumpkin had climbed up into the tree, knocked the ornaments down, and batted them around on the floor like cat toys. Later in the day, I saw him do the same thing, and he even broke one of my ornaments. (Fortunately, it was a cheap one that I didn't care much about.) He kept knocking branches down, and I was so frustrated that I took the tree down and put the furniture back where it belonged.

I called my mom and asked if I could borrow her little display tree that she used back in the day when she sold Christmas ornaments at craft fairs. She said yes. I now have a tiny 1 1/2 foot tree sitting on an end table with 6 ornaments and a string of lights. Pumpkin started batting at that one, too, but then I stuck some peppermint leaves in the tree and he hasn't touched it since. I just wish I had known about that little trick before I took the big tree down.

Oh, and I gave the big tree to the thrift store last night. Hopefully it will brighten someone else's Christmas.