Christmas tree – Page 3

Trixie Meets the Christmas Tree

We adopted Trixie early in the year so this is her first Christmas with us. We weren’t sure how she’d do with the Christmas tree so when I put it up this weekend I left it without ornaments, just in case she knocked it over.

We have prior experience.

Not only is the tree still upright but so far she hasn’t tried to climb it.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel putting up the tree, I last took it down right after Emma died in January, and she so loved the tree that I can’t help but think of her when I see it. It reminds me too of Templeton, as the day we put it up in 2007 was the day he died. He loved the box the tree was stored in as much as the tree itself. It reminds me of Scout too, when she was young she used to like to climb up into it and sleep near the top. She learned we didn’t want her in it since we kept chasing her out of it, so she’d slink up near the center of the tree as she could then climb without disturbing the branches or ornaments, and she’d sleep in a spot facing the wall where we couldn’t see her. I only discovered her secret spot when I found the flattened branches when I took the tree down.

But nobody loved the tree like our sweet Em.

In the end it made me happy to put it up and see the three cats hanging out peacefully below its branches, and to remember the three cats who are no longer with us. It’s the tree that we bought when we got married and it’s gotten battered by the love our cats have shown it over the years, so we’ll replace it at some point but decided to give it at least another year until we see how Trixie does.

So far so good.

One of My Favorite Pictures of Em

It pains me to think of all the old blog posts that are offline because I love going back and reading the stories, especially of the pets. I have thought of a way I could bring them back, probably should have done it a year ago, but it would cost a little bit of money and time, not sure if I’ll do it. In the meantime I was re-editing this picture of Emma after she knocked over the Christmas tree so that I could put the original post back online and laughed out loud when I read the story, I remembered most of it but had forgotten that as I was trying to get the tree upright, she jumped back into it.

The picture seems to suggest a pride in her handiwork, but that wasn’t Emma, she was walking over to greet me as she often did when I tried to take her picture. She wasn’t a mischievous cat, she just loved that tree. Sometimes too much.

Miss you Em.

All I Want For Christmas

Emma’s struggles continue and she’s in a fight for her life. Her last hope is a chemo drug that she’ll start tomorrow. We weren’t sure she’d make it long enough to start treatment as last night and this morning she didn’t want to eat much. My wife had the brilliant idea to get some baby food and she’s been eating that today. It’s a stop-gap solution but we’re just trying to keep her strong enough that we can see if the new medicine will help.

All I want this Christmas is for Emma to be healthy again. Here she’s sleeping under the Christmas tree, in previous years she’d spend most of the holidays under the tree but now that she’s sick she’s only there occasionally. It’s been so hard to see my sweet little Em slowly waste away.

Silent Night

Sam and Emma underneath the Christmas tree, a slightly calmer scene than yesterday. I was going to title yesterday’s post “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”, but since I recently got a nice new camera I couldn’t do it in good conscience. Today’s cameras really are remarkable. I took both of these pictures tonight, handheld, with the Christmas tree lights providing the only illumination. I decided to try the 7D at ISO 3200 and used the image stabilization in the lens to compensate for the slow shutter speed.

That’s Not the Way We Left the Tree, Em

There’s a reason I don’t put the ornaments on the tree right away.

I thought with another year of wisdom and experience the cats might be kinder to the tree. But yesterday we got home from work to find this carnage in the living room.

The investigation initially focused on two prime suspects, juvenile offenders with a past history of tree climbing, but the discovery of a clump of soft, black fur in the treetop has narrowed the focus. The accused did herself no favors when, as I righted the tree, she climbed back into it before I even had it upright again.

In her defense, the tree stand isn’t the best. It certainly wasn’t designed with the idea of a ten pound ornament hanging from the top.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 24-105 L
🗓️: December 17, 2009

Unboxing Day

Many parts of the former British Empire celebrate Boxing Day after Christmas, a day originally set aside to give gifts to the less wealthy parts of society. While we don’t celebrate Boxing Day here in the States, we do celebrate Unboxing Day in our home, a day set aside to unbox our artificial Christmas tree. This day will always be a day of joy and sadness for me, as it was not only one of Templeton’s favorite days of the year, it was also the day he died in 2007.

But it is also a day of joy, as the cats all love it, Emma especially. I brought the box down early this year but didn’t get the tree out for another week, and every day when I came home from work Emma would be sleeping beside the box. I’m not sure if the smell brought back pleasant memories or if she was trying to guilt me into putting the tree up.

I finally put it up last night, and before I even had the top assembled Emma was sleeping under the bottom branches. Sam was climbing in it before I had the branches spread out, and today it showed clear signs of cats tunneling upwards through the branches. We’ve had this tree throughout our married life but I don’t how much more of this kind of love it can take. Scout used to love to climb in it when she was younger, but being the resident genius she at least figured out how to climb up without leaving an evidence trail behind her.

Last night all three cats were under the tree, and I hoped to get some pictures but Emma woke up and came out to greet me so I didn’t have much time. Snuggle buddies Sam and Scout stayed put so I had a little more chance with them.

Leaning

This is our Christmas tree shortly after we first put it up (thankfully before the ornaments went on), you can see a decided tilt to the tree. The eagle-eyed observer may even be able to tell which layer Sam and Emma decided to sleep in.

Outside Looking In

As the snow falls, Sam watches me shovel the sidewalk from the comfort of his window seat. He didn’t offer to help.

Shelter from the Storm

The forecast for a winter storm held true and we got quite a bit of snow today. The cats seemed rather agitated during the day but by the evening were ready to settle in for their naps. Scout was holding fast on her favorite winter spot, the wooden grate above the heating vent, so Sam took the vacated window seat.

Even as the snowstorm raged on the other side of the window, Sam finally fell into a deep sleep. I grabbed my camera when I saw that I could frame him between the Christmas lights of the neighbors across the street and the reflection of our Christmas tree in the window. The top picture is lit by the lights of our tree and a room lamp while the bottom one is lit only by the tree lights. They each have a different feel but I like them both, I deliberately left the color warm since I think it works best for this scene.

Say Hey There Baby Jesus!

Sam introduces himself to the infant king.