We were awaken at 4:20 this morning by a loud noise in the living room. It wasn’t the kind of noise that wakes you up and you lie there and think, “Hmm, I wonder what that was.” This was a sit straight up in bed and yell, “Holy S%#!, What the H*#! was that?!” kind of noise.
Rose thought Puck jumped up on the china cabinet and knocked her porcelain stocking holder down… again. Unfortunately, that was not what happened. We got up to discover our Christmas tree lying on its side and Chris and Puck standing next to it like they were as surprised as we were. I don’t know who was responsible but those two tend to get frisky during the night and take turns chasing each other around the house. I’m sure one chased the other into the tree.
This was not how we wanted to take down the tree. We planned on getting a plastic box or bag designed for Christmas trees since I threw away the box it came in (the glue attracts cockroaches), but yesterday was Rose’s birthday and she didn’t feel like dealing with Wal-Mart, the only store near us that would carry such an item. I didn’t blame her, Wal-Mart is always a huge hassle.
The first thing we had to do was get as much broken glass up as we could before someone cut their foot. I missed a piece that Chris found and picked it up and started chewing on it. I tried to get him to drop it but he wouldn’t so I had to pick him up and shake him until he let go. Later, when we picked up all the candy canes, we discovered many had been chewed on. I think Chris was chewing on candy canes while we were putting ornaments away. Perhaps he thought the broken glass was part of a candy cane.
If there are any readers out there that have never had children and are considering it, I would suggest you get a couple of cats first for practice.
Bad Cat Chris 
Oh dear Lord. That had to be a harsh way to wake up in the middle of the night. On the other hoof, I’m so glad someone else’s tree got *tired* and decided to lay down. Ours did this last year. I have no clue what happened – just like your purr things. Looks around innocently. XOXO – Bacon
I think the “mysterious” tree fallings are quite common. Next year I am goung to connect it to the wall somehow.
Snorts – good luck with that. Mom/dad didn’t have a tree this year. They elected for a Christmas Mickey Mouse lamp pole – long story. But it didn’t move one iota – even when I used it as a scratching post – snorts. XOXO – Bacon
Hmm… I must learn the secret of the lamp pole. 🙂
Snorts – it has a very heavy base. And of course it’s Mickey Mouse so it is strictly off limits to us anipals here at the Hotel Thompson. That helps to know that mom put the fear of death in us about that pole – snorts. XOXO – Bacon
I’ll try that fear of death thing but I don’t think Chris gets it. He is very smart but at the same time cannot learn to change his behavior.
Snorts – yeah one of our purr things here – Hemi – is like the fear factor cat. He does things to show he has no fear. But he’s not touched that pole lamp – snorts. I guess mommy got through to him. Good luck! XOXO – Bacon
Thanks 🙂
Well, that wasn’t a good way to wake up, was it? The mom says she’s surprised we haven’t knocked our tree down…yet. 😉
What are you waiting for? 🙂
Oh, you are so fortunate your tree remained upright as long as it did. We don’t even try to put one up in our house.
Every year I argue for using our 18 inch porcelain tree as our main tree but the boss (Rose) won’t hear of it.
Now that’s what I call a “rude awakening” !! Thank heavens nobody was hurt (except obviously that broken glass could have been a disaster for sure) but what a scare that had to have been. You have a whole year to figure out some safe way to secure the tree before next Christmas rolls around…..GOOD LUCK!!!
Sammy
Thanks. I think I will try to anchor it to the wall next year. I can’t wait until technology allows me to put up a hologram tree.
When I first got an indoor cat, we learned to fasten the tree to the wall so that didn’t happen again. 🙂
I should have learned that lesson by now.
ROFLMTO!! Thank goodness we only had one that was 24 inches…fake…Savannah would never do anything but Sage…she likes to be up high! Glad you got to it before those litter twits had any more time to find stuff to chomp on
That is a good point. If the tree had fallen while we were at work, things could have been very bad. I wanted to get a little tree (or just use our little porcelain tree) but my wife would not hear of it.
At least it wasn’t a real tree with water in the base! Our Autumn knocked down a real tree last year. We had a flood.
I can see how that could be a problem. Did you have a real tree this year?
Oh, no! Two years ago, our tree fell down a LOT. It scared most of us, all but the two who kept climbing it. 😉 Last year, though, no one bothered the tree at all. This year, we didn’t even have a tree because we have a 1-year-old foster cat (read: kitten-like youngster) and didn’t want to deal with it.
When our mommy was growing up, her grandpa always anchored the tree to the ceiling and the wall, as well as had it in a floor stand. If it was in the middle of a room, it was anchored to the ceiling and in a floor stand. That helped considerably!
Glad you got Chris to give you the piece of glass and no one got hurt!
Thanks. I need to anchor the tree next year.
so far we haven’t had a cat knock down a tree. guess we are very lucky
Yes you are. We were lucky too up until the other day.
It’s been many years since Mom had a kitty knock down a tree. She is thankful for that.
This is our first tree knocked over. We usually just have ornaments pulled off.
So the question is answered..if a xmas tree falls in loungeroom and nobody is there…yes it does make a noise…rotters !!! lucky they didn’t get hurt..ours has been left unmolested..the only time we had problems was with foster kittens…seven or eight little monsters at it …argggghhh good luck with the solution…no idea 🙂 hugs Fozziemum xxx
Thanks Fozziemum. I have almost a year to think about it (or forget about it).
I say FESTIVUS…hahahaha 🙂
I haven´t m,aneged to knock our CATmastree over (yet 🙂
You don’t have much time left. 🙂
I’m glad I never tried having a tree in this place! I hope there weren’t too many things broken?