Ah, the holiday season is upon us. Full of opportunities to eat and satisfy our cravings. I keep getting glimpses of a view of the world where I used to walk outside on the road to burn off extra Tostitos calories. Which, by the way, have recently been complemented with cherry pie before bed.
It’s nice to imagine a winter-wonderland of fields and trees outside. Where the animals romp around in the snow wearing their cozy winter coats. Me…I’m on the treadmill inside instead. Every once and a while I look across the room where the dreadmill is located and see my pending pile of craft projects and imagine creating art to occupy my hands instead of using them to munch on snacks during the long winter months.
The wild pine trees with snow-covered branches are so picturesque in the morning light.
What a lovely scene it is.
I so wish I could paint it like I see it. And burn off calories magically too.
If wishes do come true, then I could paint me in that picture too.
Instead, I imagine what could be. And dabble on treats I probably shouldn’t.
Inside our house, I’m not alone being a dreamer of sorts.
There’s a view of a real budget tree that is way more fascinating. Way more intriguing than a view from the window. And much smaller in size too.
Our tree is a topper cut off of a more expensive one we’re sure of it. This year’s budget tree has delighted us hoomans and our pets alike. Sort of. Can you believe it – we scored this beauty for $10?!!! The top was a tad sparse, but with a clever cover-up, you wouldn’t know it from a distance.
It’s worth guarding and protecting and munching on.
To a cat. Just one of our cats. The other one would rather open the bagged gifts. She’s the tree crasher too, yet to make any successful attempts this year.
But this cat…
is serious about her quests to satisfy her cravings. I wonder where she gets that from?
She chooses a cozy spot to curl up on the floor to lay guard of the potential snacks of tinsel.
She keeps an eye on all movements in the room. Waits for hoomans to disappear.
Hates it when the dog photobombs the scene and gets too close to the tree.
She doesn’t want anything to get in the way of her tinsel cravings which are piqued by sparkles dancing across the branches with each gust of wind created by the ceiling fan blades.
Don’t fall for her adorable and innocent looks.
This morning the hoomans rescued her by freeing a mouth-full of tinsel hanging out of her cheeks – instead of hanging on the branch which she had cleverly cleared.
She’s plotting her revenge for the tinsel being relocated to higher branches.
Stay tuned…
PS – Do your pets enjoy holiday decorations? What do they find tasty!? What are your favorite holiday snacks to eat? How much is too much to spend on a real tree?
That’s a pretty tree, and a great guard kitty. Our cats climb the tree, eat the tree and bap the ornaments off the tree. We only decorate the upper half, mostly opposite the little shelf from which they can reach the branches.
Thank you. Cats become extra creative this time of year. They teach us humans the gift of perseverance. 😉
Loved your post! My 3 cats plus 1 stray live in a separate heated building on our property that we don’t decorate with Christmas things but we often add a lot of other little trinkets around and they love to check out anything new. I recently found that one of my cats hates fish which I thought was weird and all 3 love cheesy popcorn which I thought was strange but interesting and not something I will be feeding them. At this point, I don’t like prices of the Christmas trees but I will pay for a wreath.
Aw, you’re a fellow cat lover!! Hmm…those are interesting cravings. Our cats are finicky when it comes to food. One will eat anything, the other will sniff and turn away and come back later to eat. They are sisters, so rivals I guess. Your porch looks gorgeous with the wreaths and garland. Yeah – that’s why we went with the budget tree. My friend just bought a tree for their living room – $190!
That’s insane! PS – thanks for the follow. I visited your blog to follow you back. I wasn’t able to comment on your portal post about your missing cat. That would have me concerned…it’s Friday, I hope your furry friend returns! Thanks for stopping by – so nice to hear from you!
Thank you! I remember when I thought $75.00 for a tree was expensive. Thanks for letting me know about not being able to comment. I will have to figure that out straight away. Happy Friday, but Ivar hasn’t yet turned up as of yet, the day is still young. Take care!
You’re welcome! Yes, $75 was a lot. I’ve yet to find one (other than a free one picked in our own woods) cheaper than our $10 budget tree. Aw…I hope Ivar showed up. Yes, your comments are fixed!!! YAY – Take care, too!!!
I hope she doesn’t choke on tinsel Shelley. Your tree looks great! 😎
Nah, she doesn’t, but she does require assistance when it exits, if you catch the drift. Thank you for the kudos!!
I understand. Poor kitty, I wonder what attracts her to eat it? 😻
She’s always been a fan of crinkles and sparkles and things she shouldn’t be eating.
Your decor looks great…and what a deal on that tree. We went to an artificial tree years back and have yet to put it up. This weekend, I hope. And I share your winter eating struggles. I swear it’s biological.
The first year we had our (rescue) dog, one of our kids gave us a really cute doggie ornament that says, “Hi, my name is Get Away From The Tree.” We still laugh every time we hang it, although our dog has shown no interest in the tree ever. Well, unless there are food gifts under it – which we quickly learned.
Thank you, Laurel. We were so tickled with the price and it actually has some attractive sides to it. 😉 We have an artificial tree that we bought 29 years ago. We don’t want to splurge for a new one yet, we’re enjoying the scent of the real and the less stress of pulling out all the traditional ornaments and memories of missing loved ones. We’re calling it our transitional years.
Oh, my, the eating…sigh. I’m not baking this year to avoid the extra treats. Except Tostitos, of course.
That ornament sounds so fun. We learned a similar lesson when our Golden Retriever ate an entire gift bag of assorted items, including chocolate, tylenol, crayons, etc. He (we) didn’t enjoy the trip out to the yard with the bottle of peroxide and the next day trip to the vet. Everyone in the family learned that anything with food or consumable was not allowed under the tree. What did your dog eat? Did you do peroxide too?
Chocolate including the foil wrapping. Ugh. Not a huge amount before we caught him, so we let nature take its course. 🤮 He is just a forager and getting worse with age. Paper is his very favorite with sticks and cigarette butts on the road right behind. Luckily, he rarely upchucks. Iron stomach.
Chocolate seems to draw dogs in. Nick ate a whole box of chocolates while we were at church Christmas Eve. It was not an enjoyable experience for anyone of us. And, why is it we buy them the expensive food then?! 😉 Sticks I get, but cig butts?! Eww… Iron stomach is right!
Ohhhhhhh, Cherry Pie before bed or rather, No-Sugar-Added Cherry Pie before bed every other month and … December is the month. And … it is so nice of you to provide a nice shiny cat tree for the youngin’s this holiday season. Looking forward to the next installment.
Ah…a fellow cherry pie admirer!! We’ve finally consumed the whole thing. Now I need to fight the urge to bake cookies. Yes, we’ve provided intriguing entertainment for the cats. It is fun to see them occupied by watching it instead of bugging us for treats. I’m sure there will be another installment. They are plotting – as you know, cats will do so! Thank you for your kind comment and encouragement!
Before she passed, our cat also loved the tinsel. We did not know about “pica” back then but I wonder if she was a ‘pica cat ‘. I think cats and their tendencies toward our trees may be based on whether their DNA carries tree dweller or bush dweller traits. Either way, the tree is lovely and I hope it survives until Christmas.
Aw, sorry your kitty has passed. Dessy mostly consumes food – hers and her sisters if we don’t move it to a high shelf. She’s food obsessed. She also loves plastic and tinsel. Shower curtain liners and bags from Walmart are high on both of their lists. They are weird and may pica as a side gig? You’ve made me wonder more? Hmm. Thank you – I do hope the tree survives too. It’s still standing this morning, so yay! 😉
I am all about cherry pie at bed…great pictures. That really is a pretty cat. Mine use to climb in the tree until we went artificial, guess it doesn’t smell right anymore.
Pie before bed = sweet dreams, right?! 😉 Ours have yet to try to climb the tree. Not sure why?
maybe they are not climbers. My cats were in & out cats so they climbed trees outside.
Yeah, our cats have never climbed trees outside. They may try our tree this year though, they are more interested than I thought they’d be.
This will be our first tree with a dog in the house. Our cats in previous years left them pretty much alone. Your tree is lovely.
Ooh…that’ll be exciting for him and you. Thank you – we’re happy with the quirkiness of the tree.
Beautiful tree! And kitty!
Thank you, Rebecca! 🙂
They eat it so they can poop it out. That’s highly amusing to cats.
LOL – if it comes out it is, when it hangs on, while entertaining, it can be quite messy! We know that all too well!
Where the strand just sort of hangs, and when you try to catch them to pull it out, they run away? That’s all kinds of fun, isn’t it?
You know the drill well. Yep – we’ve had it happen just this week. The look on her face is priceless but hard to capture on film!
my poldest had a tree climbing cat. we’d come home and find her halfway up the fake tree. she thought it made a great place to hide
My oldest’s cat does the same thing. They’ve left the artificial tree branches bent so she knows where to lay each year. The things we do for cats!
Our dog hasn’t ever been interested in the tree, but she does forget its there sometimes and will run around the house getting out her “zoomies” and accidentally run into it! So far no catastrophic damage but every year it puts me on edge 😂 Now we have a baby to worry about, too, who has just started crawling and I can just see a little hand reaching up for something to hold onto and… crash! Fingers crossed we get through the season with tree intact.
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Laura
http://www.areweadultsyet.com
LOL – our Golden Retriever (when we had him) would shake his tail next to the tree and sweep ornaments all over the place. We tried hard to keep him from the zoomies. Oh, my your baby is already crawling……..! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the holidays are full of delight and not a smash of a tree!
PS – love your collaboration post – I’m sure my readers would enjoy it too, so I’m including the link here: https://www.areweadultsyet.com/2019/12/05/entertaining-in-three-easy-steps/
Nothing wrong with nightly cherry pie – it’s fruit after all! You got the deal of the year – your tree is gorgeous and sure doesn’t look like second quality. Hopefully the cat behaves. I have no experience with pets at Christmas, except when I was 10 and our new beagle tried to eat all the ornaments and knock the tree down.
Yes, fruit it is!! We sure did. It’s all about placement of the bad side, kind of like a selfie looking upward toward the camera. We’re keepign our fingers crossed the cats continue to admire and not tear it down. Our dog is too little to even be impressed by the tree. Thank goodness!
Maybe the cats need their own private tree. LOL.
LOL – they are spoiled enough as it is, don’t encourage them ;-)!
We’ve never had a real tree in this house and been here since 1966 – we did have them when I was young as I have pictures with a real tree in the background. Then we went to the horrible silver one with blue bulbs which were all the rage in the mid-60s. I like the Cheezit Classic Snack Mix but only have it at the holidays.
I love your description of the horrible tree. I think we had one of those growing up too. It was real, sprayed with the faux white snow…what a mess! I need to try those Cheezit’s I haven’t had them since the kids were living here!
I have used the picture before at Christmas and we had blue bulbs and a blue spotlight, but that was all the rage at the time and you had only one color bulb and one color revolving spotlight. The branches stuck out straight and your fingers were black from touching the aluminum branches.
Oh, my, that’s more than I remember about the experience we had!
The dreadmill! Genius.
Love all these build up to Xmas posts of yours.
Makes me feel part of the family
Your tree looks great! Putting mine up this weekend…I know, a bit delayed but it’ll happen!
🌲⛄
The big “D” is my calorie burning friend throughout the winter months. Thank goodness I multi-task and get all my books read at the same time.
You’re welcome in our family anytime – your poetry warms my heart!
Happy decorating to you! You’ve still got time. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t buy a tree to decorate until the week of Christmas, and once not until Christmas Eve. So yeah…you’ve got time! xx