Artificial or Real? Let the Cats decide

Christmas 2005

With the month of December soon upon us, it is time for family and friends to come together and celebrate the Yuletide season.

In my family we include our four-legged friends in the celebration. Gifts are purchased and given for each pet-child and the assortment of dogs, cats and guinea pigs participate in family festivities. For Mr. Leo, it is a special Christmas tree, decorated with photo ornaments of pet cousins. Sophie and Bixby dress in Santa Claus costumes complete with red Santa hats. Shadow is included in the sending of holiday cards. In my home, the cats participate in the decorating of the household Christmas tree.

At one point in time, I had a nine foot artificial tree. It was easy to set up and dismantle; no needles to sweep away. Then Sundance came into my life and he discovered during his first Christmas how much fun it was to climb to the top of the artificial tree. As he climbed, the ornaments came crashing down. I removed all the glass ornaments, leaving behind the more durable plastic and wooden ones.

Remembering how much fun he had the previous Christmas, the next year, Sundance helped me with the assembling of the artificial tree. Once again, he climbed the tree, pulling the branches out of the stem as fast as I could insert them. I finally gave up, leaving an empty tree standing in the living room for the holidays. What was the point of decorating if the tree needed to be re-assembled every day?

Eventually, I gave away the artificial tree, replacing it with a live tree from the local farm market. Live trees presented a new set of problems. Not satisfied with the two large water bowls set aside for drinking, Gabriel decided that fresh, resin favored water was tastier. Every morning, I found the big black and white cat curled up under the tree, the tree bowl empty. No amount of cajoling or wrapping the tree base could keep Gabe from drinking the water. The poor tree suffered from drought and Gabriel found a new water source.

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is time for the annual trip to the farm market to select this year’s tree. Will it be a tall, slender douglas fir, the tree I selected last year or a return to the traditional blue spruce? Maybe I should take Gabriel with me and let him decide. After all, it is his tree too.