Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Ta-ta for now, tree!

Well, we did it. We started our Christmas deconstruction this past weekend. Although I planned on starting with the smaller decorations and letting the tree continue to reign for a bit longer, that ended up not being the case. When ornaments started regularly falling from its Eddy-assaulted tired branches, I figured it was time to give the poor faux pine a rest.


Honestly, look at that poor thing.

Do you like its lovely aluminum foil? They say aluminum foil wrapped around the base of a Christmas tree can help deter kitties from climbing and scratching it. At our house, that means certain kitties (ahem, Thimble) have some fun and sparkly silver stuff to rip off the tree and strew about the house.

Oh, and how about that cardboard down there, all shredded and thrown about like festive confetti? I usually put cardboard down to protect the floor, to put it simply. I would cover it with a tree skirt, and I used to do just that. But, these days, I have yet to find a tree skirt that my paralyzed (and pawesome!) Evan can't undo and drag off with him as he goes on his merry way. So, we just let the tree go nude. Evan doesn't mind one bit, as he loves the taste of the exposed cardboard, not to mention the way it feel beneath his claws.

And that's all not even mentioning those little green needles. Don't you like how well they're decorating the floor? I vacuumed the entire house after bidding ado to the tree. I practically combed through the place with a toothbrush in my attempts to evict all of those poky little buggers that like to stab you in the feet and get stuck in your socks. But, even through to this morning, the needles still seem to be everywhere. Everywhere. Can I really blame the poor tree for any of this, though? No, no I can't. After all, if I had a cat (ahem, Eddy) flying halfway across a room just to land on me, I'd be a little worse for the wear, too.


Oh, Evan and Thimble, don't be too hard on Eddy. She's young and full of spunk, and she just really can't help but get in that overzealous Christmas spirit. (Eddy, for the record, couldn't stand to watch the demise of her beloved tree and spent the day snoozing on her mommy's bed instead.)

And so, the tree is now tucked away all snug and safe until the end of this year. We'll miss it, but we only have something like 348 more days until Christmas 2017!


The countdown begins!

And now, since here we are again with yet another Christmasy post, I guess it's fitting that today's art is another drawing I created as a Christmas gift. You've seen what I doodled up for my mom and my sister, and now it's time to show you what my dad got. To preface this one, my dad recently got a black pickup truck. This truck of my dad's is largely in honor of his own father, who loved black pickup trucks, and who passed away January 7th, 2016. My father's truck is a Dodge RAM, and my dad has of course taken quite a fondness for pretty much anything ram. So, I sucked up my complete and utter disdain for drawing automobiles (because, let's be honest, I'm just no good at drawing anything without four legs and fur) and struggled my way through this:


Whew.

Now, I'd say we're all out of Christmas posts for you. But, well, Astrid has a bit of it left for you tomorrow. So, stay tuned for her last festive hurrah!

Warm wishes to all!




***
Our Tip of the Day:
This time of year, please don't forget to be just as careful and cautious when taking down those Christmas decorations as you were putting them up. Be careful of doors opening and closing as you haul the tree and other decorations out. If need be, perhaps keep your furbabies sequestered somewhere safe so that they can't escape during this hustle and bustle. Also be careful of small bits and pieces of Christmas decorations falling off and thereby potentially ending up in your furbabies possession. This might include sharp and dangerous ornament hooks, poky tree branches or needles, or potentially dangerous petals or leaves from plants such as holly or mistletoe. Our furbabies sure do love to play, so be sure that no festive and potentially dangerous "toys" are left behind for them to find!

12 comments:

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

THere comes a time when guests have worn out their welcome. By By tree!

Hannah and Lucy said...

Mum says thank goodness the everything is put away!

Marg said...

You kitties tried real hard to make a mess under that tree. We would have done the very same thing. Cardboard is meant to be destroyed. You all have a wonderful day.

The Island Cats said...

Our tree has been gone for over a week now. The mom is still finding some needles though.

pilch92 said...

I still need to get our tree down, but I love having it lit up at night. Luckily, my cats don't do what Eddy does. They did yack on the the tree skirt though so I put that away after I washed it. I have a folded towel under ours to protect the floor and so far that has been safe.
That is a great drawing, you did an excellent job on the truck and the ram too. And as always, excellent tip. Those ornament hooks could be deadly if ingested. I keep the tree standing in the attic and it is a fight to get it in there without a kitty running in. I don't want them in their because the sides have insulation that is exposed so I don't want them to walk on it or eat it.

da tabbies o trout towne said...

guys...yur momz drawin total lee rockz.....we canna even drawz a tire... less we trace a quarter !!!! ♥♥☺☺☺

Momma Kat and Her Bear Cat said...

I swear ... you think you find the one thing to foil one feline behavior and you create two others in its place! On the tree skirt ... maybe you could get a heavy-ish board and staple the skirt's edges to the underside (where the rest of the skirt covers the top)? Since I've been a cat mom for so long, I anticipate the worst case, which would be Evan dragging the skirt, the board, AND the tree across the floor (and Eddy who's IN the tree and probably wouldn't mind the ride). Or you could just draw the picture of that and recognize that life with cats requires some compromise (we DO NOT have a tree ... or plants ... or anything nice around here) ;)

Momma Kat and Her Bear Cat said...

ps - That wasn't a criticism, I was trying to make a joke about giving up on the tree skirt completely because of the "foil one feline behavior and you create two others in its place" thing ...

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

We took our tree down on the weekend. Our mom and dad were very impressed that we did not attack the tree much this year. We put a mat down under our fake tree to protect the floor, and do have a tree skirt on top. It's one with buttons, as one with ribbon will have the ribbon quickly shredded by one of us.

Connie - Tails from the Foster Kittens said...

oh the things we do for our kitties..

The Menagerie Mom said...

No worries! We knew you were joking! And you couldn't be more right about "foiling" those clever kitties. They're just too smart for us mere humans.

As for Evan and the traveling tree, it's actually happened before. Even despite all of my best efforts and intentions, he will on occasion get himself hooked on the tree's legs and simply start walking off with it. The boy should be a lumberjack.

Melissa, Mudpie and Angel Truffles (Mochas, Mysteries and Meows) said...

You're such a wonderful cat mom :) Our tree still stands...probably until the weekend. It's so sad to see it go; I don't blame Eddy for sleeping through it!