Getting Ready For Christmas at Our House

Christmas isn't far off now, and in the spirit of the holidays, we like to decorate the house, like many folks do. However, we learned the hard way, when you have this many cats, a tree just isn't going to make it. Even if you suspend it from the ceiling, cats can jump pretty high. So my solution is to do things they aren't interested in, or set up things they can't reach. I have strung lights here and there, but our only "holly and ivy" contribution is the wreath on the front door.

It's an old wreath, one we've used for years, but it's always been pretty plain. So last year I decorated it, too. It's now our Memorial Wreath, full of the ID tags and rabies tags of the pets who are no longer with us. Inevitably, in any shelter, there will be pets who never get adopted, and that's been the case here, too. Although we are a no-kill place, they do die after a while. They get old, or if they came with a medical condition, it can shorten their lives.

This wreath is a way to keep them in our hearts at holiday time, to remember the happy times for most of them, and recall how they loved to play and run and purr and cuddle with us.