Saturday, December 10, 2011

How Did the Cat Eat the Grindstone?

.... Little by little, they say. And that's how we're getting ready for Christmas. The flight of die-cut metal angels has returned to its usual spot. The tree has been wrestled into place.  The Christmas pillow covers have been brought out . . .
Once the branches have relaxed, the lights will go on then, come Sunday, we'll string popcorn and cranberries and proceed to decorate the tree.

I have a real feeling that Willa is going to be a challenge -- we may end up leaving the lower part of the tree bare
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15 comments:

Victoria said...

Vicki, the tree is beautiful, even though it's not decorated yet. I usually decorate the bottom quarter of the tree with plastic, unbreakable ornaments. However, I only have to deal with wagging dog tails and curious cat paws. I don't think any kind of ornament would stand up to chomping jaws, if Willa is a chewer.

And we always wire the tree to the ceiling so it can't be tipped over by climbing cats!

Ms. A said...

I agree, the tree is beautiful, even without the decorations! Do you have any kiddie partitions you could put around the lower part? Victoria had a great idea to wire the tree to the ceiling, to keep it from tipping!

Martin said...

Better to exercise caution. We wouldn't want your next post to be 'How Did the Dog Eat the Christmas Tree Decorations?'

Merisi said...

Beautiful tree - is it a Balsam fir?
I love how the Christmas decorations appear one by one.

jennyfreckles said...

Decorating by degrees is such a good idea - less stressful and means you can savour each treasured decoration in turn. I think my daughter ought to have wired her tree, as Victoria suggests. Theirs already fell over once!

Pat in east TN said...

Your tree is beautiful and I'm anxious to see it all done, no matter how you decide to decorate because of Willa. We are careful with our Wally and always put unbreakable ornaments towards the bottom, but so far, so good.

This year we're also doing our decorating in steps, and I'm kind of liking it that way. It's not so overwhelming.

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

You may have to do like Sterling North did for Rascal, build a chicken-wire fence around the tree. I like your Shaker boxes. We have a couple of nests of them, one I bought and the other a gift from a woodworker friend who made them. And we, too, string popcorn and cranberries, and put the strings out for the birds after Christmas. Jim

Kathryn Magendie said...

We have to put our tree on the porch here in the cove - our little log house too small and the tree too near the heat to put in our living room - but we see it from our window and have become used to it out there - squirrels are fascinated by it, as are the birds :-D

Lovely post.

Brian Miller said...

ha we thought we would have the same problem with our new cat...he has done well actually...we are there i think...all the nutcrackers are out, the tree up...

Brenda said...

LOL!! The year we had kittens, the Christmas tree was on the front porch instead of in the living room! Looking at your photo, I swear I could smell that fresh pine scent. Mmmmm.....

R. Burnett Baker said...

As jaded as I am about Christmas, (you know, retail and all) your posts make me remember when all the trimmings actually meant something! And the still do, as you have shared!

NCmountainwoman said...

We are so glad that we can do it little by little now. I recall many years rushing to do all the decorating over one weekend, heading back to work on Monday absolutely exhausted. Our dogs never bothered the tree. But we have to be very careful of wagging doggie tails.

Vicki Lane said...

I have a bunch of cloth ornaments that we have always put at the bottom of the tree since they can't be harmed by wagging tails . . . unfortunately they can be chewed up and they look a lot like toys. . .

Jim, I've been thinking about that chicken wire barrier . . . we had a raccoon as a pet years ago and I read RASCAL back then. It's all true -- at least Willa's not quite as bad as a raccoon.
My husband made the Shaker boxes.

Our tree is in a corner and is always secured by a stout black rope tied to the two walls. With all the dogs and cats, it's the only way.

The lights got on the tree today -- tomorrow should see more progress.

Merisi, the tree is a NC grown Frazier Fir.

Kath said...

We too put cloth and wooden ornaments on the bottom of our tree. Cats who don't chew but do bat-bat.

Love to know if you come up with a solution for Ella, or if she surprises you and just admires the beautiful tree.

Kath said...

We too put cloth and wooden ornaments on the bottom of our tree. Cats who don't chew but do bat-bat.

Love to know if you come up with a solution for Ella, or if she surprises you and just admires the beautiful tree.