The vote was unanimous: no breakable ornaments on the Christmas tree this year.
Those eyes! That face!
Our growing kitten, Tessa could hardly believe her luck. Were we really putting up a tree in the house?
We have an artificial Christmas tree that we set up in our living room the day after Thanksgiving. With the boys home from school and Mike off work, the four-day weekend is the perfect time to trim the tree.
Mike may have needed a bandage after this encounter
Mike and Tessa exchange looks
Like most kittens, Tessa’s curiosity peaks at the sight of anything new. So after assembling the tree, we let her explore. She wasted no time climbing into the tree for a little adventure. As Mike sat on the floor opening the branches she jumped up, climbed down, rolled around and peered out at me with excited eyes.
I’ve got my eye on you
From now on, when I hear the expression “lit up like a Christmas tree” I’ll think of our tiny terror frolicking through the limbs. Who needs lights when you live with Tessa?
Well…we still wanted some lights. Once she lost interest we strung the lights and the boys carefully chose the soft, unbreakable decorations to hang low on the tree. I gave it a second pass, and moved up anything that hung too low. You have to think like a kitten. We unplug the lights when we’re away, and nearly two weeks in, all is well.
Tessa gymnastics
She may never come down from the tree
If Tessa’s likeness were a tree ornament, they might look like this.
Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, do you also decorate a tree?
The End
Gardening Nirvana 
Is that tinsel? Or a TAIL!
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🙂 Best tinsel ever…it’s attached to the cat. Thanks for the smile!
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LOL! Wait until she gets Mouse up there!
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LOL is right. The tree would topple over for sure. Thanks for commenting, Laura.
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I was wondering about the tree toppling.
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Tessa is so lucky to have landed in a household that understand cats. 🙂 I can’t get over her markings!
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Thank you, Sue! How nice of you to say. And yes, her markings are extraordinary.
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Me neither – just noticed Tessa’s twotone face!
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She is TOO adorable!
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Isn’t she something! We rescued her from the battery compartment of my husband’s Tesla.
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You are a master cat psychologist. I can’t believe how she climbed up in it and rolled around!!! Well, I hope you enjoy it through the season without mishap.
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Thank you, Lisa. I was surprised that she stayed in the tree so long. I figured she would climb up, jump down, give it the ‘ole sniff test and be done with it. She surprises us every day.
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My tree is very different! Also artificial, but it’s like a bare-branched birch tree; it’s white bundled fibre-optics so the end of each twig twinkles with light. I hang it with silver and bright pink baubles, shiny, pearl and glitter finish, and a silver star on top. The rest of the decorations are also pink and silver. I’ve had them for years, and as there are no cats in this home (boo!), they’ve lasted very well. I’d have to rethink things a bit if we had a fur kid, I’m sure.
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Oh, Kate, what a unique tree. I hope you’ll blog about it one day, or at the very least give us a peak. I don’t think I’ve seen one like it.
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What a fuzzy loving moment this has been just reading it! My face is covered with a huge grin. You may be forced to leave that tree up all year with various soft ornament for each season so Tessa continues to have a place to play. I’ve saved her photos to make me smile on gloomy days. 🙂 What a delight she is. And so worth the cost of the rescue, I would bet. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this happy post.
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Too cute. If I had a cat I would follow your example and let it decorate the tree. Funny story, last year we put a mixture of soft and breakable items on the tree. Completely forgot that Jack loves soft toys, and so put the soft, squishy Santa at Jack’s eye level…..well, luckily, we caught him in the act of trying to remove the toy Santa!
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I’m sure Jack figured it was a new game: catch the Santa! So cute. Thanks for sharing that story.
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🙂
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Fun post! Our house is really pretty tiny to have a large tree, but I was thinking about it anyway…then remembered our puppy. It would be a disaster! We have a 4 foot tree on a table and it works perfectly! Our four-legged friends do change our lives in so many ways…love it!
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That they do. I like the idea of a table-top tree. (Not that that would stop Tessa). 😉 Thank you, Michele.
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Isn’t it the most wonderful thing that you have a Tessa – and allow her to have fun in the tree!! I remember when Orlando was young and used to spend his evenings dislodging all the low hanging ornaments until fully one half of the tree was bare. Nowadays he is content just to sit beneath it purring and harrumphing, in full belief that the tree has been erected and decorated just for him. I love all our blogging pets ❤
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Her tail is almost as cute as her face Alys! What pretty markings! Glad you got your tree nice and cat-friendly. I just decorate some branches closer to Christmas as a tree would drop all its needles in our cosy house! Have been thinking of getting an artificial one too though… 🙂
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I can’t imagine a more beautiful tree ornament than Tessa. She looks so blissed-out that I’m half-tempted to climb into a Christmas tree myself, just to see what all the fuss is about. 🙂 As for Esteban’s and my decorations: We used to have a little indoor Norfolk pine we would “dress up” for the season but never replaced it after it met an untimely demise in the jaws of our friends’ dog Lenny. But as we’re settling into our new home I’m suddenly getting the urge to decorate again — maybe with a string of lights on our balcony? Though as you know, the *real* magic of the season comes from spending it with loved ones, both human and feline. So glad you’re having that opportunity! xx
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“You have to think like a kitten.” I love that line. It’s obvious that you did!
I should have thought like a pup the year our daughter’s puppy peed on the just-decorated Christmas tree. Instead, we searched for the source of the smell for days.
Doesn’t Tessa have the most remarkable face? I’ve never seen a cat-face like that before.
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I can’t get over that cat and her remarkable coloring! My sister had to opt out of a tree this year–she has two kittens about the size of Tessa and she simply couldn’t face the shenanigans! But what fun to see the fun Tessa was having!
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Tessa is adorable! Pets are such joy but sure do keep you on your toes. My sister just adopted a rescue dog and she has a thing for paper. Unfortunately she has taken a liking to chewing on books. I can’t for the life of me figure out how she gets them off the shelf (they’re wedged in tight)! I’d love to set up a secret camera to watch her one day but I can’t reconcile the entertainment value over the loss of good reading material 🙂
On another note, how did you get ‘snow’ to flutter down from the top of your post? It’s so festive!
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Ah, those photos of her peeking out of the tree just make me totally melt…what a sweetie!
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What a fun way to decorate a tree. We have a “Wrecker” so we have to put all the ornaments up a just a bit higher so they don’t get tail whacked off the tree. Of course gifts under the tree are subject to crushing by enthusiastic bursts through the room so they must be pushed to the back. These days he mostly just lays around observing as his hips hurt him more and more. Thanks for sharing.
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Looks like hours of entertainment, Tessa as she explores, and you, as you observe. Have fun!
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Tee-hee, I’m sure it was entertaining watching Tessa have so much fun. I’m so happy she’s brought you so much joy. You got great photo’s there too ! Clever girl with ‘The End’, LOL
We just brought up our tree on the weekend. Nothing on it yet, I usually let the kitties get used to it a bit before I decorate. Yesterday Petals tried to chew on a branch. What a nut. I put Blossums green basket under there for her, she likes that. Who needs TV when you have cats to watch 😀 xoxo K
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Keeping kids and cats out of the tree is futile. Smart move with the unbreakables! No tree for me since I’m always out of town for Christmas. New Mexico is my Christmas decoration. Haha
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Well, that is one of the most beautiful cat faces I’ve ever seen! I really prefer calicos over other colourings. My last cat was a calico. My cousins have a 2 year old cat, so they have not had a real tree since Spooky showed up as a starveling 4 week old. He can climb to the top of bookshelves that are over six feet high, so a real tree will have to wait a while. In the meantime, I gather they have a small tabletop tree (for some reason, he doesn’t ever climb on the table).
I do like to decorate for Christmas, with the tallest possible real tree and all hand-made ornaments, strings of popcorn and cranberry (those go out, still on the tree, to feed the birds in January) and tiny white lights when I have electricity. The only artificial decorations I have are icicles and the lights.
When I was growing up we always had a cat and a dog, and a baby and toddlers most years, too. Dad would set up the tree in a corner and run fishing line to both walls, fastened to cuphooks. That at least kept the tree upright! But I remember one year when the tree was set up in the baby’s playpen to keep it safe.
Lovely pictures of Tessa; thanks for sharing them. I’ve never seen such a distinctive face.
Warm hugs. ~ Linne
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I bought my Christmas tree in 2004. It’s made of metal, is a gold colour and small enough to sit on a coffee table.
I started out with baubles in various shades of brown (shiny, golden sheen!) but over the years we’ve collected other items, such as homemade felt figures and wooden mice, which actually sit at the foot of the tree. Just as well we don’t have a cat, eh?
Happy Christmas, Alys 😄.
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