Happy Holidays!

Helpful Flynn

Thanksgiving came early this year and, with it, the holiday season. True to our tradition, we got the Christmas tree and decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving.

Last year, because we had two beasties who hadn’t been through a Christmas season with us (Domino) or ever (Dusty), we were careful not to put anything breakable too low. Given Dusty’s nature of ‘tasting’ anything she can reach (shoes and ink pens are particularly delectable), we put nothing at all on the lower branches. And because we took such precautions, they contrarily paid no attention to the tree or any packages we put under it.

This year, a different scenario unfolded. Before we even got the first layer of the tree in place, the newest member of the family, Flynn, decided he loved Christmas trees.

We’ve never had a cat who was so enamored with a Christmas tree. Our older boys, Bub and (the late) Scrappy, liked playing with low-hanging ornaments. Bub particularly likes lying beneath the tree on the tree skirt. Other than that, they pretty much left it alone.

We thought about shooing Flynn out so that we could put on the lights, cranberry strings, and ornaments. But we decided to let him have his fun with it for a week or so before we did anything else to it.

At first, he was all over it — up, down, in, and out. His interest waned after a couple of days and we thought he was over it. But the last two days, he has decided that the tree is a fantastic place to nap. He drapes his body over several limbs and hangs his head down and snoozes. (He’s always had an ability to nap with his head at awkward angles. Must be a cat thing.)

So this weekend, we had to make a decision. Do we somehow prevent him from climbing the tree (like we could) and decorate it as usual? Or do we put up what we can — lights, cranberries, and a few unbreakables — and let him have his fun with tree?

We’re realistic enough to know that we’ll never be able to keep him out of the tree. The most we could do is discourage him with a squirt from a water gun. It might deter him when we were watching, but what about all the other times we aren’t watching? It would just frustrate all of us.

So, we decided to do what we can and let it go. Who cares that we won’t be able to hang the crystal icicle ornaments? Or that the ornament my grandmother gave me 25 years ago stays in the ornament box this time? Trees, ornaments, and decorations don’t make the holiday season special for me.

It’s the excitement in Flynn’s eyes when he sees a Christmas tree for the first time in his life. It’s the spark in Dusty’s eyes when you give her an early present of a new puzzle toy to play with. It’s the warmth of Domino’s little body curling into the small of my back when he dives under the covers on the first cold morning. It’s Bub, lying on the red tree skirt under the Christmas tree, looking as handsome as ever. And it’s Mel, humming Christmas carols as she putters around a warm kitchen, cooking something yummy on a rainy December Saturday.

Those are the things that matter.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Family, General, Holidailies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.