I first put up my Clark W. Griswold Christmas Tree after first getting my cats in 2008 when I had Chessie and Casey. I put it up in my home office so that I could shut them out of the room and away from the tree when unsupervised. When I put it up, I got the lights (all 900) on it and let them into the room to see how they would behave before putting on ornaments. Chessie went up to it and just stared up at it, probably because all the little lights looked like the laser pointer that he loved to chase. Casey went under the tree and started rubbing against the trunk, causing the entire tree to start swaying. At that point, I knew it wouldn't be safe to let them in the room with the tree and keep them shut out while the tree is up. I can still see Chessie camping out in the hallway and straining his neck to look in whenever I'd go in or out of the room.
When I got Smokey, I already planned on not letting them in the room with the tree. However, Smokey has this thing for inspecting open doors (thankfully not the exterior doors) and sometimes getting a running start to try to get through the opening. So, one day I came out of the office for a few seconds, pulled the door shut behind me, but didn't latch it. Smokey pawed at the door, and before I could stop him, he was in the room. I ran in after him, grabbing his rear half as he was starting to disappear behind the Nativity scene and up into the fully decorated tree.
If anybody is wondering why I call it a Clark W. Griswold Christmas Tree, it's a 6-foot tree with 900 lights, an 11-light star, 60 feet of garland, and 200+ ornaments.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks