the last of the the great cat proof christmases

Well this Christmas, Chris and I promised each other (possibly whilst watching the Silver Spoons Christmas special of 1983, ouch) that next year we would get a real tree - i.e, the trees that grow out of the ground rather than the the sparkly aluminum variety with the vintage plastic ornaments I have been putting up for the last several years. Not that I never had a real tree- I did, and I also had pretty old glass ornaments and ummm... cats. The tree would almost always go horizontal and my pretty old ornaments would go smash into tiny bits and one day I decided to think cat proof, ie- a silver tree and some plastic or fabric ornaments from wherever I could find them. It was a plan that worked out well- the cats might knock off the ornaments but they generally survived and if they didn't I could take the dismembered parts and generally piece them back together. I love those old plastic bobbles- they remind me of my childhood crush on Christmas in all its sparkly cute and Rankin-Bass tacky enchanted glory. They remind me of watching the cheesiest Christmas commercials in my pajamas and of my grandad, Pap. I don't know if my silver tree or my old ornaments will make it up next year- if so they will be relegated to the upstairs or some other corner. The cats have outgrown destroying every sparkly object and it really is time to move on - I can no longer get my fix from buying balsam candles to give me the hint of the smell of a real tree. However, in honor of my cheesy fake tree and those brave plastic soldiers,I made a mini album.

many santas peeking out of things like toadstools (that totally makes sense). these little mini scenes in a half globe are some of my favorites.

some slightly sinister elves

a cute non-sinister fuzzy red deer

the atomic star (i wish it lit up)