Surviving Christmas with a Maine Coon Kitten

Surviving Christmas With A Maine Coon Kitten

See our Christmas tree?  

Oh, the garland, the lights, and handmade salt dough ornaments from years gone by.  How I wish I could tell you this is how our tree looks this year.

I could tell you that.  

But, it wouldn't be true.

You see, last year our Maine Coon kitten was only a few months old.  Patches was still fascinated with toys on the floor.  The laser pointer was a gift from heaven.

This year, it's a different story.

Can your see the gray and white blob jut under my husbands arm?  

Yeah, that's a 13 pound kitten in our tree!

(Wait!  But, didn't you say she was a kitten last year?

And, how can a kitten be 13 pounds?)

Well, you see Maine Coons stop growing around age 3.  And, since they are a very large breed of cat, you wind up with a rambunctious ball of  kitty energy with mass enough to do some real damage.  For. Three. Years.

Spray bottles do not deter them.

Maine Coon cats love water.  

Seriously.

This year we simply can't keep her out of the tree.  We gave up on the garland and lights a few weeks ago.  One by one it became evident that even the inexpensive ornaments didn't stand a chance of staying on the boughs.

We really couldn't imagine a Christmas without our salt dough ornaments so I dug out my Command Strip box.  (No, 3M isn't giving me a penny for this post.  And, yes, I really do have a box full of little plastic hooks of all shapes and sizes.)

I wanted the hooks or our faux tree to be somewhat even but I was too lazy to pull out a ruler.  So, I used a Post-It Note to space them out.  (Seriously, why are they not a sponsor of my blog?  Even our stocking are held up with Command Strip hooks.)

And, voila! We have a tree.  Don't you love that backwards letter E right above Rudolph?  And, check out that fireplace which has been hot glued together time after time.

Our Ornament Tree is truly the closest we can get this year and we're OK with that.  After all, Christmas isn't about the gifts, or even the tree or salt dough ornaments.  It's about being with those you love and appreciating the time you have with them.  And, sometimes...when she's napping...even appreciating a 13 pound Maine Coon kitten named Patches.

Merry Christmas, everyone!