I usually refuse to put up any Christmas decor before December 1. But honestly I’d rather skip Christmas decor altogether and just have extra-long Halloween. Maybe I’ll just do that this year. I mean it’s 2020 and there are no rules anymore.
That brings the totals to 4 and 10, respectively. The first tree I put up was the bell tree — a gold metal tree decorated in only bells that makes a cacophony of ringing and jingling when you give it a little jiggle. After first putting it up, I stood back to admire my work and thought, “Dear god, you’ve erected a seven foot tall cat toy.” The kittens were on this thing like white on rice, batting at the bells. With 9 more trees to go, I figured I was doomed. The kittens showed interest in tree #2, and a bit of interest in tree #3, but mostly they wanted to play with the bell tree so it was actually working in my favor. By the time I got around to trees #4 and #5, they barely gave a passing glance to new trees going up. They have all been remarkably good in leaving everything alone and I’m almost done with the decorating now. Stockings, decor, and eight of the trees are complete. The final two trees are up and fluffed and just need decorations. I’ll do the big one sometime this week; the countertop one will wait until mid-December when I’ll decorate it with edible ornaments (gingerbread men, gumdrops, etc).
Overwhelm them with dozens of trees until they wave the white flag. It’s a tried and true method that works.
