Cooper and The Christmas Tree

I can't believe it's been a month since I wrote an entry. Life has been going one hundred miles an hour and things slide. I'll have to be better about updating in 2014. Can you believe it's just around the corner?

We put up the Christmas tree last weekend. This is really an outside decoration. I put it up inside for the first time 5 years ago as a kind of joke when I didn't have the spirit or inclination to go get a real tree. I kind of liked it because it's clean and simple yet cheery and you can see all of the ornaments.  But when I posted this picture on Facebook when we first put it up, it was met with resounding snickers and name calling. The 'Charlie Brown Christmas Tree' was referenced several times. 

After dark I took another picture to try and convince  folks that it was better lit up. Let's just say people were still not convinced. 

But once the ornaments are all on, it 'lights up like a Christmas tree' I think. We really like it. There hasn't been a tree up in a couple of years so it was fun to dig out the ornaments. Almost every one is handmade and has a memory of the maker attached to it. 

Why, since we're in the Christmas spirit this year, didn't we go out and get a real tree? This is why...

This is Cooper the Christmas Destroying Cat. He doesn't confine his destroying to just Christmas, however. In the upper right of this picture, you can see  the bones and pelt of a zebra he took down and ate just before this photo was taken.  He's relatively calm when he's sleeping off a big feed. But then, once he's had a nap (which are way too short-lived, lemme tell ya)...

He becomes Devil Cat. You may notice that there are no decorations on the bottom third of the tree. He pickey-pawed them off one-by-one and chawed on 'em so we put them away. And  that tree skirt he's crouching on , contemplating which ornament to try for next, was-moments before this pic was taken-thoroughly soaked  in a magical, 'Spray-This-On-Your-Stuff-To-Repel-Your-Cat' elixir. Works like a charm? I want my money back!

Happy Holidays!

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