Ok, cats. You have won. THIS time.

margecat

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The on-going Battle of the Christmas Tree Skirt...

We've had our tree up since Thanksgiving. Not because I wanted to, but because we had to do some Christmas celebrating with DH's family the next day.

In lieu of a proper tree skirt, I've always used a dark red satin sheet, left over from DH's bachelor days. He only ever slept on it once (he kept sliding out of bed!), and they were too nice to trash (but I don't like sleeping on cold, slippery sheets myself).  Now, if I were smart, which I am not, I would've sewn it into a cute tree skirt. I'm lazy. I just fold and drape it around the bottom of the tree.

Someone PLEASE tell my 9 cats that it is NOT a cat bed!  Every day, I straighten the danged thing. When I come downstairs in the morning, they've dragged it across the room! Actually, TWO rooms, as it's in the dining room, which has a huge opening into the living room.  They make a cute little nest out if it. I also observe several of them laying on it under the tree. I think Gemma is the ringleader, as she's always heading for the corner behind the tree, and I often see the tree shaking. Now that I have the tree in the dining room, at least I won't be startled by 2 yellow eyes peering at me when I'm on the sofa, reading, like last year (Lucie had made a nest in the center of the tree).

I suppose I've spoiled them with all of those faux-fur blankets I buy for them. Now, they expect satin bedsheets!


(What I should do, once my knee is better, and I can bend, is safety pin it in folds and then safety pin it around the tree trunk.)

But, what can one expect when you have 9 cats, including Los Tres Hooliganes? ("The Three Hooligans")?????
 
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margecat

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Thank you!

I should've mentioned the part about their new Christmas season ritual: "The 12 Days of Candy Canes" or, "The Day All Candy Canes Would Die"...I have decorated my tree with candy canes (I haven't gotten around to the unbreakable ornaments yet!). Every morning, I find more and more sacrifices to the Candy Cane God on the floor.  I just throw them out--they have been savaged, broken, and slobbered on (they are in cellophane, but are still nasty to touch).  And to think of all of the trouble I've had to go to to find standard, red and white striped ones that are not made in China (as I take them it to work after Christmas, I won't feed anyone food made in China, after the candy scare a few Halloweens ago). The few stores that had them only had weird colors, like rainbow stripes!
 

mewlittle

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wow every time my family puts a tree up are cats will break every thing on it this one year we put tinsel on it and the next morning there was tinsel EVERY WERE we was even finding it a year later that's how much they spread it ever since no more christmas trees lol 
 

Winchester

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Our kids started sleeping in the tree a few years ago. Amber really loves the Santa tree in the bedroom because the lower branches are nice and heavy. She'll get into the tree and go around the back of the tree, flop down in the branches and take a nap. Pumpkin did that, too; he loved to sleep in the tree.

Our tree wreckers this year are Mollipop, Tabby, and Muffin. We try to put non-breakables at the bottom two feet of the tree or so. That way, there's no harm done when the cats rip the decorations off the tree. We have a basket that we put their "treasures" in. Once they remove an ornament from the tree, it goes into the basket. Last year, Tabby alone removed a good two dozen ornaments, the little brat. And this year, Tabby and Muffin have decided that it's great fun to play-fight under the tree. The tree shakes from time to time when they really go at it, but it won't go anywhere.....we have our Christmas tree wired to the wall!

Many years ago, all of the cats banded together and, not only did they knock the tree down, but somehow the tree ended up down the steps and right inside the front door (we live in a bi-level).....that's when we realized that we needed to wire the tree to the living room wall, for its own protection. If our ceilings were high enough, we'd probably try to hang the tree from the ceiling. I'm serious.

I use a blue bedsheet as a skirt around the base of the Tacky White Tree. We came home from the work and the skirt was in the middle of the kitchen. A couple times we found it wrapped around the base the of the kitchen table. One time, it was in the middle of the living room. We don't have the TWT up yet this year; we're still debating if it's safe to do so.

The older cats don't care one way or another....mainly it's the "kittens" who love to terrorize the trees. I will not give in to the cats. I will not give up my Christmas tree.

Mewlittle, be very careful with tinsel. Cats love to eat the stuff and it can do some serious damage to a cat's stomach. We gave up tinsel many years ago. I still miss the tinsel; I think it adds to the finishing touches of a Christmas tree. But after pulling tinsel out of Hydrox's butt a couple of times, we decided to stop using it.  It's really not good for a cat. (Or a dog, for that matter.) Yes, we literally took tinsel out of his butt......he'd be walking around the house with a strand of tinsel hanging out. We'd grab a paper towels and gently pull.....it never bothered him, but when we realized that he was actually eating the stuff, we stopped using it.
 
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rawrmonster

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That's hilarious. When I lived with my folks a couple years back, we had a cat named Lexus who always took the tree skirt and made it a bed. Then my sister got a cat named Sophie who would knock ornaments off the bottom. My mom got a min pin who would kidnap the tree skirt and drag it around the house. She would also steal ornaments she could reach. Needless to say, there was always something going on with the tree.
 

ibiscribe

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Winchester, you must have miniature pumas, for them to muscle a Christmas tree around like that!

I know it's sort of insensitive, but Christmas Cat-astrophes always make me laugh... I think Ana batted an ornament off once, but it was one of those irresistable ones that dangles from the bottom branches (so really we were asking for it), and other than that they pretty much left the tree alone. Of course, if it happens to me some day I doubt I'll still be laughing, but until then... ;)
 

larussa

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But after pulling tinsel out of Hydrox's butt a couple of times, we decided to stop using it.

Pam I have pulled out a rubber band out of Autumn's butt in the past.  It was a long piece of what was left of it.  I am so careful with strings, shoelaces and rubber bands but I must have dropped it and didn't see it.  I agree with you, tinsel is a no no.
 
 

minka

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I should've mentioned the part about their new Christmas season ritual: "The 12 Days of Candy Canes" or, "The Day All Candy Canes Would Die"...I have decorated my tree with candy canes (I haven't gotten around to the unbreakable ornaments yet!). Every morning, I find more and more sacrifices to the Candy Cane God on the floor.  I just throw them out--they have been savaged, broken, and slobbered on (they are in cellophane, but are still nasty to touch).  And to think of all of the trouble I've had to go to to find standard, red and white striped ones that are not made in China (as I take them it to work after Christmas, I won't feed anyone food made in China, after the candy scare a few Halloweens ago). The few stores that had them only had weird colors, like rainbow stripes!
I laughed OUT LOUD at this xD
 
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