Pet Proofing Christmas

I think everyone knows that having pets can sometimes disrupt what takes place in your home. For us, Christmas has always been one of those times in one way or another. In years past it was mostly due to multiple cats in the household that liked to climb up trees. Those years we persevered and continued to decorate traditionally - lost many ornaments in the process. 

The past five years have found us owning 4 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 ferret. The ferret and cats alone cause trouble with trees and ornaments. I collect old fashioned glass ornaments and at one time we decorated 3-4 trees at a time in different rooms of the house. Each tree was themed. Think snowmen, Santa, blue and silver, and handmade. I really loved the Christopher Radko ornaments. After loosing one too many ornaments we changed the decorating plan. 

Over the years we have tried many things to combat the cats and ferret. Real trees instead of fake, because they like to eat the greenery - Didn't work. Securing the tree to the wall with wire - Didn't work. I think you get the picture. 

The past 3-4 years we got smart. At least little smart. My husband built this tree that hangs on the wall year round. We had high hopes of decorating it for each season, but mostly it just get used for Christmas. The star at the top was created out of salvaged wood from a dresser that belonged to my grandmother because I no longer had room for the furniture in our small cabin and it was pretty outdated. The same wood from the dresser was also used to create an advent wreath that sits on our kitchen table. Each year we would put the presents under the hanging wall tree. Well, this past January we purchased two small dogs that eat everything in sight. So the presents now need to be off of the floor. 

In walks the present table that currently holds presents purchased over Black Friday week. One of the biggest changes we decided upon this year was putting up the big fake tree again - only not in the house. I had seen a few houses in our community that were lighting trees and putting them on their porch. I thought this was a wonderful idea and followed suit. So the very first picture you see in this post is our fake tree that has been with us for years with a new life on the front porch. I decorated the tree with ornaments, ribbons, lights, etc. that I knew could handle the weather that may come into play over the next month. So far it is holding up wonderfully.