Saturday, December 16, 2023

At Least the Stockings Stayed Up

My Christmas tree went up yesterday. Then it came down. Then it went up. Then it came down. Then it went up. So far, it’s stayed up since the third rising.

The Cosy Apartment is home now to five cats who have not shared a Christmas with me: three who are too young to have known any Yuletide, and two others who, because of their circumstances, had probably not seen a decorated tree before. To be fair, I don’t know if the tree was laid low once or both times due to being the subject of play, merely incidental to play, or to curiosity about it. I hope in any case the novelty will have worn off by now.

On a related but less destructive matter, the Christmas stockings are up. I actually had to buy another for the seventh beast. Actually, the seventh inherited a stocking already possessed by the household.

Usually, the fanciest stocking goes to the senior cat. That would be Renn, but my big boy has relinquished it, as he has done previously, due to his mancatliness. It’s too fancy for him, I think he would agree. Last year, it went to Minuet, though Madame didn’t make it to December; I thought it fitting, nonetheless, for her to have a Christmas with us. In 2021, it was hung in honour of Tucker, who died a few weeks before the Big Day that year. I believe the baby of the family would have appreciated it. The last time it went to the senior feline was in 2020, when it was rightly claimed by Josie.

But this year, readers may note, the two plain, manly stockings are for the two manly elders here: Renn and Neville. Imogen, as the senior girlcat, will have the fancy one. The new stocking, with the snowflake on it (as difficult as it is to credit, tiny stockings are not common in the retail outlets here, so the choice was limited), goes to Brazil. The smallest plain one is Aurora’s, a plain item for a most unplain cat. The siblings receive the fittingly similar tiny socks.

It’s not long now until the start of the Yuletide. I hope everyone has their preparations in hand. Ours will, I expect, be another quiet Christmas, with little fuss. Unless somecat knocks the tree over again.

16 comments:

  1. I love your tree John, but the tiny stockings made my heart smile. I hope everybuddy gets a little treat inside.

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  2. Your tree is lovely, John, but I'm afraid your story about the tree getting knocked over reminded me of why I don't have one! I especially enjoyed hearing about how the stockings were assigned to each cat. Hopefully Santa will fill each one.

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  3. Ah! Bless!x Certainly brings back memories...
    Christmas without a cat is not Christmas, and
    l shall have my visitors...! :).

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  4. I will wait for another update on your tree. Maybe we need to start a betting pool as to whether it will remain standing, and if not, who went in for the kill, so to speak. Ha.

    I love those little stockings, it's such a wonderful gesture to give everyone their own.

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  5. We just hope all those stockings get a gift in each one for all those sweet cats. Even if the tree comes down and goes back up a fourth and fifth time. It'll be worth it for the holiday fun.

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  6. I was wondering how your tree would fare against an army of kittens! Here's hoping they are bored with it by now. And those teeny stockings are adorable.

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  7. Ah, cats and trees. Maybe we all just need a picture of a tree, though not in 3D else further confusion may ensue. It is lovely each of your felines has a stocking. None will have coal, of that I'm sure, no matter how cheeky they may have been.
    ERin

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  8. I enjoyed seeing the tree so much. And their stockings. Katie has one and it needs to go up today! Admiral's is still here as well. I may hang it in her honor. Your brood will be glad to see these each day until the big day!

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  9. Dearest John,
    Oh, those kitties can have their ways of 'helping' their human Parents with such decorations. Hoping all goes well from now on.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  10. We hope the tree remains upright now, it's very pretty!

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  11. guyz...therz a trout towne furst heer....well, at de gurlz houz any way.. az her act shoo put up a tree for me, mackerull. sew far eye haz been UNDER it, IN it... and eye has been EATIN it....fake greenz just due knot taste like reel greenz tho ~~ ♥♥

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    1. It sounds like quite an event in Trout Towne, Mackerull. And you're certainly taking advantage of it.

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  12. When the cats were younger (and still with me), I placed a hook in the ceiling and tied the top of the tree to the hook. It kept the tree (mostly) upright - the ornaments on the other hand were often still being found under furniture in the spring. I do hope the tree stays upright, but if I were a betting person...I'd say it won't.
    The stockings are sweet. I've never put up stockings for the cats. Thankfully they never noticed. :)

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  13. Those stockings are so cute! I won't hold my breath that the tree stays upright. Flynn was quite an expert and would climb up through the middle without tipping it. Then there was Eric!! He was like a camel climbing trees in the fields, and pretty much the same with the Christmas tree.

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  14. What sweetness; those stockings!!
    I had to giggle at the tree up and down...cats seem to love testing gravity, no matter the ingredients used for such studies! LOL!

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