Kitties - 3, Christmas Tree - 0

The other weekend I went to the St. Peter's School holiday bazaar and got my Christmas tree like I do every year. I always get a rotund Douglas Fir and it's always perfect and this year was no exception. I brought it home, set it up and spent a glorious Sunday carefully placing the ornaments, skillfully adding the lights and adjusting the angle of the tree so no matter where you are sitting in the apartment, you have a good view of the tree. It's a tedious process, but one that I enjoy every single December.

This year has been particularly challenging, with regards to the tree, with the current group of kitties in the house, Nelson, Frankie and Gus. When I first brought the tree home and set it up, making sure I secured it well in the tree stand, their eyes got so big and glassy, like I just got them the best present ever! Nelson showed his happiness by barfing up some pine needles. Sweet. Gus gets into the tree and I have a minor heart attack. When I was hanging ornaments Frankie looked at me like, "Thanks for getting us this tree and hanging so many toys in it!" You can kinda see where this is going, right?

I get home one night and there is a mysterious pile of pine needles on the floor in front of the tree. Fragments of a broken ornament are in the carpet and some of my ornaments are in different locations. Yes, I am a wee bit OCD when it comes to the tree. Well, the tree had fallen over and I just knew the kitties were 99.7% responsible with the outside chance of it being Stu attempting to slow dance with the tree after a glass of champagne. I readjusted the tree in the stand, clean up all the needles and fixed the ornaments. All was good until a few days ago when the tree fell over, again. This time Tunney was home to save the tree, but the damage was a bit more severe. All the presents I wrapped for my family where underneath it and the water from the tree stand soaked most of them, rendering my wrap job pretty useless. Sigh. My patience with the kitties is running out, but I still can't bring myself to be mad at their sweet, furry faces.

Well, this happened two more times until I got smart and decided since armed security for the tree isn't an option I would anchor that baby into the wall. I Googled directions for " How to Keep Christmas Tree from Falling Over" and got a zillion hits and chose a very simple solution. I took 2 drywall screws, some yarn, and a marker. I marked the spots on the wall about halfway up the tree, tied the yarn to one screw and drilled it into one marked spot. I pulled the yarn tight and carefully wrapped it around the tree trunk and then pulled it taut to the other screw and tight it tightly to it and then screwing that one in. Viola, instant tree anchor! I'm feeling fairly confident in my work, but the kitties are very rambunctious so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tree stays upright until after New Years. Then they can use it as a freakin' giant scratching post for all I care!