Entries Tagged 'Personal' ↓

I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas!

May each and everyone of you have a safe and happy holiday. However you celebrate this time of year, make sure to enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends.

Alright, this post probably isn’t officially going to help you achieve more in life but at least it might make you laugh and that’s got to be worth something. So, in the spirit of the season, here you go.

My wife and I took down the Christmas tree last night. Wait, you say, Christmas isn’t until next week. Yeah I know. Our intention when we set the tree up FIVE HOURS BEFORE THAT was to keep it up until after the holiday but our cats, especially the one named Felix, had other plans.

Setting The Stage

It all started yesterday afternoon about 2 PM when we went to the local Hallmark store to buy some ornaments. We have been doing this since our marriage over seventeen years ago. We pick a couple of their “keepsake” series that we like and get the new ones each year. As we were getting back home from the store I had the bright idea to set up the tree for the first time in eight years. Why has it been eight years?

A Little History Please

Well…eight years ago we adopted our two current cats, Oscar and Felix, from a rescue organization. They were just a couple of months old at the time and when Christmas rolled around a few months later we set up the tree just like past years. We filled the tree up with all of our ornaments and lights and it looked really festive. About midnight my wife hears a noise. She walks down the stairs and sees some ornaments on the floor. She looks up to see Felix staring at her from about six feet up in the tree. He had climbed up the tree to “play”. I tried to fortify the tree in a vain attempt to keep it up. I put chicken wire around the bottom and sprayed the lower limbs with “cat repellent”, nothing worked. The next day we took the tree down, defeated by a 6 month old cat weighing all of 3 pounds.

Things Change, Right?

Fast forward eight years to 2007. We have not put up a tree in all of the preceding years due to the cat “problem”. Instead, we have strung garland from doorways, etc. to hang our ornaments. Felix is now a full grown cat weighing 13 pounds or so. I figured since the cats were getting older and were slowing down a little that we might be safe this year. So, I go down into the basement and bring up the box containing the 7 1/2 foot “realistic” tree with “1000″ tips. I spend the next hour or so placing “part A into pole B” and when I get done it doesn’t look too bad. I struggle to put lights on it and then my wife puts on all of the ornaments. We sit down, proud of ourselves, and take in the tree in all of its glory.

A Repeat Performance

For the next couple of hours both cats ignored the tree. Oscar was not interested in it at all. All quiet on the western front. Then Felix began sniffing around under the tree and looking up at all of the ornaments and lights, transfixed by their bright colors and twinkling reflections. We held our breath, expecting the worst, then he just walked away. Stupidly, I said, “Felix knows he can’t climb the tree, we should be fine”. Right after I said that Felix returned and began investigating the tree again. This time he stretched up as far as he could, using the center pole for support and began batting at the ornaments. Then, he jumped up and managed to climb up a level or two, batting at ornaments the whole time. Doing my best Homer Simpson I said, “why you little &#$?*^!%@?” as I ran over to the tree to keep it from falling over. Felix just climbed back down the tree, sat there and looked up at us with a “boy that was fun” expression on his face. He sauntered off to the couch and sat there and watched as we took the ornaments off the tree, along with the lights. Then I took the tree apart, plastic branch by plastic branch, and put it back in its box where I am sure it will stay forever, never again to make a repeat appearance.

Lessons Learned

We ended up stringing the garland like before and decorating it with lights and ornaments. All in all it doesn’t look bad. What did we learn? Well first off, older slightly overweight cats can still climb quite well. We also got a good laugh from the whole experience and have some great memories that we can keep forever.

So, in the end, I guess we did improve our life just a little bit. Laughter never hurts, and good memories are always welcomed.