The Noni & Noah Christmas Tree Catastrophe!

First off, you have to be introduced to my Christmas tree. I waited over 15 years to be able to afford one of those huge 7 & a half foot tall, super strong, super thick, perfectly symmetrical store bought trees! (I know that's not totally traditional but, as we've discussed earlier, when you put your tree up while the turkey's still warm like we do, an artificial tree is your safest bet!) Well, in my opinion, this tree is gorgeous! Nearly all of my ornaments are hand-made and some are almost 20 years old and quite irreplaceable. I love this tree.

Next, meet Noni and Noah. Noni is a simpy beautiful blue-eyed, somewhat Siamese, cat who showed up at our back door summer before last. She was just a tiny kitten and she was curled up with our somewhat German Shepard dog. My daughter, Shanna, discovered her and, needless to say, one look at those blue eyes and we were in love. A few weeks earlier one of the most dainty, delicate, and sweetest cats I have ever owned had been killed. A piece of my heart died with Callie and I promised myself No More Cats! It just hurt too much. Of course, one look at this tiny little, very vocal, blue-eyed kitten and there went my resolution. She has turned out to be one of the most curious, daring, and destructive forces I've ever seen! Or had seen, until I met Noah. My other daughter, Amber, had a friend who had been given this kitten by a boyfriend. We met Noah on Halloween night last year and within a week we were his proud new family. Our lives have never been the same! One curious, destructive cat is almost manageable; two is total destruction! There's not one room in my house that has not been touched by this twin tsunami known as Noah-Noni! When they're not having one of their house-demolishing wrestling matches, one or the other can be found hiding under rugs, at the top of the stairs, behind furniture, even under tablecloths lying in wait for some hapless human to wander into their path.

Can you imagine what my 7 & a half foot tall, super-strong, super-thick, perfectly symmetrical, filled with my hand-made ornaments, long-awaited Christmas tree must have looked like to these two fiends! They alternately used it as a scratching post, hiding place, and worst of all, a very rambunctious King of the Mountain game! We'd hear a rustling of limbs, a tinkling of ornaments and rush in to find my perfectly symmetrical tree swaying as though gale force winds were beseiging us. No winds, just Noni & Noah. Of course, my tree was too super thick to fish two cats out; especially when getting out wasn't their intention. We ended up squirting them with water bottles! It somewhat worked. I have to say, though, last Christmas year was the first time I actually looked forward to taking down my long-awaited tree.

Even though my tsunami twins haven't settled down much in the past year I'm ready for the challenge again. I'm not altogether sure my tree is!

October 1997
Pam

Ed.'s Note:
I absolutely love cats...they've always been a very important part of our family (we've always had at least 6-12 of them at a time!). I know everyone out there has some cute, sweet, or memorable cat story about one of their favorite felines. I thought this would be a great space to feature some of those stories! If you have a favorite kitty story, please email me, with them I will add them here!

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