Our first Christmas is coming up!

This will be my first Christmas with cats. I love Christmas and decorating for Christmas. Usually, this includes a Christmas village, willow tree nativity set, garland, and spun glass ornaments on the Christmas tree. Obviously, this means that most of these decorations are going to have to go, at least until the cats are older. My question is, can I still hang garland with cats in the house? And put up my Christmas village, most of the houses are pretty heavy so I'm not worried about them being knocked off, and I'm not overly worried about the figurines. They came from walmart, so I can get new ones. I'm also worried about my nativity set, it's very expensive. How can I deter them from messing with it? And finally, what types of ornaments do you reccommend for the tree? About 70% of my ornaments are very delicate spun glass or otherwise inappropriate with cats in the house. I was considering making some ornaments to save on cost. What types of materials would be appropriate, and what materials should I not use?

Origami ornaments could be fun.  Don't use ornament hooks.  I have stuffed ornaments from when my kids were younger.  I use those.

Any yarn-type ornament would work. Felt, too. And wood ornaments. Unbreakables would work. We have some smaller stuffed animals that our son had when he was little: there's a tiger, a penguin, a couple cats. 

Put your spun glass ornaments around the top of the tree very securely. (Very securely.) The lower you put them, the more secure they have to be.

No snow around your village or nativity. No straw, no garland. Nothing that may intrigue a kitty. I started to put things on a set of pretty holiday placemats. It doesn't look as bad as it sounds. Honest. You could shop for placemats with your nativity set in mind.

No tinsel on the tree (I really miss the tinsel. B.C. [Before Cats], we used to drape it strand by strand on our tree and it was so pretty at night.) Put kitty-safe stuff around the bottom 2 to 2-1/2 feet of your tree. We do put lights that low on the tree, but if you think your cats may chew on the lights or the wiring, don't. We do use ornament hooks on the upper branches, but our really "valuable" stuff is tied tightly to the branches with red ribbon. (Be careful with the ribbon, though, too.) Don't put anything on your tree that is small enough for a cat to try to swallow; it could get lodged in their throat. Larger things work better.

I'd love to put garland up at the top of the cabinets in the kitchen. However, we tried it last year and it lasted all of one day. Mollipop dragged it to the floor. Came home from work and found it. And I know it was Molli because she loved to jump up there to nap. She hasn't been up there in a while -- that we know of, anyway -- I may try it again this year (and see how long it takes her).

Our first Christmas is coming up too and I must admit I am dreading it..I fully expect to come home from work and find my tree on its side..My two little angels will have all day alone at home to destroy it..I thought about getting one of those motion activated santas that sings to put by the tree so it will scare the heck out of them and they won't want to go near it..

fearlessbenjamn said:

 
Our first Christmas is coming up too and I must admit I am dreading it..I fully expect to come home from work and find my tree on its side..My two little angels will have all day alone at home to destroy it..I thought about getting one of those motion activated santas that sings to put by the tree so it will scare the heck out of them and they won't want to go near it..

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thats a good idea.

I used to be a multicat and dog, and bird, and child household years ago, and truth be told, nobody messed with the tree even though it woudl have been safe for them to do so, they would lay under it watch the lights, but nobody climbed it or anything.

With the 4 we have now, I have a feeling we won't be having a tree.  Don't really have room for it anyway.

They sell shatterproof ornaments at Wal-Mart and Target. It might be a good idea to decorate with quite a few of them this year since you don't' know how they will react.

I'm lucky. Abby will only bat at some of the ornaments at the very bottom of the tree. I put up some cat-safe ones just for her. I do put some nice ones higher up. What I do is get floral wire and really wire them to the tree. A hurricane wouldn't take them off by the time I am done. :lol3:

I think it really depends on the kitty so it's kind of try it and see what happens.  All the suggestions about kitty safe decorations are good ones..  Definitely avoid tinsel, kitties will eat it.  Sometimes it goes through fine other times not.  I gave up on a tree several years ago when my kitties were still young.  Even though I had an artificial tree which isn't supposed to be as enticing for climbing one of mine did.  I walked into the living room to see the tree topple over and a kitty run out from under it.

At my house, the kitties are put into their rooms and Christmas Eve and the tree, presents, etc come out. Kitties stay put until festivities are over, which is usually Christmas night or the following day.

With both personal and foster kitties in the house, this is just the easiest for us all around. We do put up stockings, pictures and other decorations that are out of kitty reach the first part of Dec, so it the house still looks festive.

Caya thinks I put this tree up for her. A new toy!