O Christmas Tree

This is my first Christmas with a dog since I was about 10 years old.  I grew up with 3 German Shepherds and 1 American Eskimo (all at different times).  I have had 3 cats while living in my home, but I have quickly learned that one 8 month old German Shepherd puppy has the potential to be a tad more destructive than 3 adjusted adult cats.

In years past, I have had to pick up each of the ornaments that I hung on the bottom foot and a half of the tree off the ground at least 14 times-per day.  It was like Izzie, Ellie, and Peanut thought they were new festive toys with which they should play and bat around! Here is a cute picture I got of Izzie and Ellie the night I decorated our tree:

They have always loved it under the tree.  This year, however, there's a new sheriff in town and Cabbie is her name.  She learned quickly that the kitties like to lay under our tree and she goes directly to the tree and looks underneath any time she is loose in the house. (we keep her on a leash and let her drag it around most of the time.  Sometimes we have to pick it up and keep her with us until she settles down.) The cats, in return, have learned that Cabbie always checks under the tree and therefore never lay there anymore.  

This is good for me, because I might not have to pick up all of the ornaments each day, although I do feel bad that they can't be Christmas kitties relaxing under the tree.

It looks like, though, I will be trading in kitty ornament playing for doggie total tree destruction.

I went to a girl's night at Corso's a couple weeks ago and was inspired to do something different than I usually do with my tree this year. Corso's always has the most beautiful arrangements and decorations.  They had this pretty toole (sp?) going around the trees on display. They had a few different trees with different color schemes and next to the trees were all of the items used to decorate them.  I am a traditional Christmas person and chose the red for our tree! I came home excited to use it and decorate our new, real, Christmas tree!

I spent close to an hour arranging the toole so it fit around the whole tree, was appropriately spaced, and looked right.  It looked pretty good for one of my creations.  Although I truly appreciate beautiful home decor, I am not very good at DIY creations.  I follow a fun blog written by a friend's daughter-in-law.  I think she is talented and has lots of great ideas in home decor-her latest Christmas pictures are so cute. Check her out here: 1551 Transformed.

I try, but nothing ever turns out how I envision it.  This time, I felt pretty good about the tree and the toole. I wish I would have gotten a picture, but I figured I'd have time as it would be up all Christmas season.

That was my first mistake.

Cue destructive puppy.  It only took one trip around the tree looking for kitties for Cabbie to come out looking like this:

Really, how could I get mad? Maybe she thought she needed a scarf?  Who am I to interfere with fashion?

I tried putting the toole back a few times but soon realized my efforts were futile.  So I had to change plans.  I decided to try the trendy practice of draping the toole from the top of the tree and weave it through the branches on the way down.  Again, it has not turned out like so many other beautiful trees I've seen, but it will do for us. 

I like it ok, and so does Cabbie :)

Merry Christmas! Hopefully you will have time to enjoy your family and friends over the next few weeks! 

P.S.  Peanut has not yet made a blog appearance because she has made herself scarce around the house as of late.  She is adjusting the slowest of the 3 kitties to Cabbie and finds various places around the house where she can perch and look down on Cabbie, yet where Cabbie can not get to her.  Here she was today on the top shelf in the closet:

poor peanut :)