2007 was my first year with Chessie and Casey. It was also my only year without a Christmas tree. The following year, I decided to put the tree up in my upstairs home office since the window faces the front of my townhouse and the door can be closed to keep the cats away from the tree. So, I got the lights on the tree and, with no ornaments on it, let the cats in to see how they would behave. Chessie went up to it and just stared up at it wide-eyed at all the little lights, which on that tree were 900 with an 11-light star. Casey went under the tree and started rubbing against the trunk, causing the whole tree to start swaying from side to side. At that point, I decided to keep the cats out of the room until the tree came down in January.

In 2010, I adopted Smokey after losing Chessie. I already planned on not letting the cats in the room with the tree, especially since Smokey tends to get into everything to check things out. So, that December, I step out into the hallway and shut the door to the room behind me. Only thing was, the door didn't latch. Smokey was up there and began pushing on the door. I turned around just as the door popped open, and he went trotting right in. I ran in after him and grabbed his back half just as his front half was starting to go up into the fully decorated tree. Luckily nothing happened, and since then, I'm very careful going in and out of that room since he still wants in from time to time and tries coming in as soon as the door starts to open. I also make sure the door is latched shut. Thankfully, they can't turn doorknobs.

Kevin