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The Cat's Christmas Tree

Legends surrounding the origin of a cat's holiday tree are as numerous as pine needles on the rug after Christmas. Since the days when tree-loving Celtic cats first scaled sacred oaks to claw down the magic mistletoe, a tree has been something cats looked up to with special reverence.

During their celebration of Caturnalia, ancient Roman felines brought forward a tree of life, decorated with woven greens, twigs, dried figs, coins, nuts, shells, and carefully selected bird's feathers.

Medieval kitties festooned their trees with apples, ribbons, dried herbs, bits of broken armor, magical symbols, and straw mice.

Victorian cats favored trees that blazed with the light of real candles and were hung with decorations such as intricate glass baubles or colorful garlands.

Today there is no rule of dress for a cat's christmas tree. Beloved heirlooms brought down from the attic, slightly tarnished silver bells, Victorian glass balls, birds carved of birch or fashioned from bright feathers, catnip filled canes, red satin mice, strings of light that flash, and homemade chains of nostalgia all nestle in the branches harmoniously.

A Cat's Tree-choosing Guide

Reprinted from LiteraryCats.com

There were a lot of branches coming off the trunk, so climbing was slow and difficult. I went about halfway up the tree and stopped. I couldn't reach any of the decorations from where I was, but some of the lights came right up to the trunk so I could reach those. I started batting at a pretty red light, and it seemed to dance up and down as I played with it. The branch the light was on danced up and down too, as I batted at the light, and I could hear little bells tinkling from all over the tree. I started pawing harder at the light, trying to trap it in my paw, pretending it was a tiny mouse that I wanted for lunch. In fact, I got so carried away imagining that tasty mouse that when I finally caught the light in my paw, I bit right into it!

OUCH! I got such an electric shock that my fur was standing straight up! I jumped away from the light, completely forgetting that I was in the middle of the tree. I landed on the end of the branch and the tree swayed slightly, then began to fall. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for the next few seconds. I could see the tree falling. I could hear the bells ringing. I could see Dad running through the back door, moving quickly toward the tree, but I knew he wouldn't be quick enough. I could see Amanda and Andrew outside the door, their eyes as big as saucers of milk and their mouths hanging open. And I could see the ground, rushing toward me so fast that I thought I could already smell the carpet. Then, at the last minute, it finally occurred to me that I had better move fast or I would be part of the pattern in that carpet, and I leaped to one side.

Reprinted from Charlie's Great Adventure by C.A. Goody

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Her people had put her outside the door. She was so excited! There were so many things to see, smell and do she didn't know where to start! She was aware that there was a lot of activity around her home, with all the people coming in and out, but she had too many things to explore to take much notice. She had stood at the window many times looking out and now she was here!

She chased a few squirrels, played in the leaves and even tried climbing a tree for the first time. Just when she was beginning to think she didn't ever want to go inside again, she heard a loud growl and turned around. There was a large brown thing coming at her! She hissed and took off running with the brown thing right behind her. It was almost on top of her when she came to a tree and used her new found tree climbing skills to escape. Whew! That was close!

The big brown growler stood at the bottom of the tree for a long time, but it finally got tired and left. She stayed in the tree until she was sure it wasn't coming back and then climbed down to the ground. Just when she got to the ground, she heard another loud noise. This one was louder and coming faster than the last. It was huge and spewed smelly fumes.

It narrowly missed her as she ran across the street. She was scared and wanted to go home. Outside wasn't fun after all. There were too many bad things outside. She went to the door where her people lived but everything was quiet and still. She cried pitifully but no one came to the door to let her in.

It was getting dark and still no one came. She could see lights coming from all the other windows but there were no lights in her own home. She was hungry and cold and wanted her nice warm blanket! She hid under the stairs and shivered until morning.

For the next few weeks, each day was a frightening struggle to survive. There were some kind people who would leave food out but she was too small to fight the big cats, who took all the food. Then there were the big growlers who chased her up trees. One almost caught her and left a cut on her little paw. She hid under the stairs and licked her wound wondering why her people had left her. Had she been bad?

One day the weather turned especially cold. She decided to go to all the doors in the building and cry as loudly as she could -- no one came.

Finally, at the top of the stairs, a door opened. It was a woman who bent over to pet her. She stood on her back paws and rubbed her little head against the woman's face. The woman went inside and came back with a bowl of food and a warm blanket. She was so grateful! While she ate the food, the woman stroked her little head. When she was finished eating, she snuggled in the blanket until she was warm and went to sleep.

Everyday, for the next week, she came to the woman's door and waited for her food. Everyday the woman came outside and brought her a bowl and petted her while she ate. Finally, one day the woman picked her up and brought her inside. She was so happy. It was warm and cozy and she rubbed the woman's ankles purring. If only the woman would let her stay she would never go outside again!

She began to explore this new place. In one room she found a tree. It wasn't like the trees outside -- this one was smaller with low branches and shining things all over it. It had shining boxes all around it too. She walked around the tree sniffing. The woman wasn't in the room and she wondered if she would get in trouble if she climbed this tree. Her curiosity got the better of her and she started up the trunk. She went out on an upper branch and sat there feeling very pleased with herself.

The woman came back in the room and started calling her. Would the woman get mad at her for climbing the tree and make her leave? She got scared. Just then, one of the shiny balls fell off the branch she was on and hit the floor with a crash. The woman looked up and was face to face with her in the tree. She just sat there and purred to let the woman know she was sorry. She was so afraid of being put outside. She let out one tiny little meow and the woman, who had been staring at her with her mouth open, started to laugh! The woman reached out and took her off the limb. She snuggled in the woman's arms as the woman stroked her smooth little head.

"Merry Christmas little one!" the woman said. She blinked her big yellow eyes and purred.

Reprinted from FromTheHeartPostcards.com

"...and Kitty lay sleeping
Under the tree
While visions of catnip gifts
danced through his head..."

Yuletide is near, and The Cat's Meow is helping Dear Old Saint Nick hunt for all the best goodies for you and your cat! We've joined with CardFountain.com and MakeMe Smile.com to provide Talking Holiday Cards, holiday ecards, and snailmail cards with matching giftwrap that ship in only 2 days! See the cards NOW, so you can pick out your favorites to email or order in time for use this year!!! We'll be emailing a special notice when our Holiday Marketplaces are online, next week. We'll have a sleigh-load of toys and catty goodies for you, as well as wonderful toys and supplies for Kitty. BUT -- that's not all we have in store! We'll have Christmas Cats Clipart to share, and Christmas Emoticons, too. We might even hunt up some recipes for goodies that make great gifts.... Watch our homepage for the Holiday Cats Clipart! And, Have Yourself a Merry Catmas with The Cat's Meow!

In the lounge there's a gift for me.
I heard them call it a Christmas tree.
I'm not supposed to know it's mine,
But I've caught a glimpse and it's divine.
They shoo me away to keep me out,
But I know what it's all about.
Despite their attempts at secrecy,
They can't keep anything from me.
They know how I love to climb and play
So they've bought me a tree for Christmas Day.

It's really very sweet of them,
I've glimpsed it shining like a gem.
It's such a wondrous pretty sight,
Weighed down with toys for my delight:
Glittering balls and tinsel strings,
And lots of other tempting things.
How magical that Santa Claws Left such playthings for my paws.
I'll climb its branches soon, you'll see...
After all... it is for me!
They know that I'm a special cat.
But a Christmas tree... well fancy that!

Reprinted from Cats Protection

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