pyewacketsworld

It might seem silly to post this, but I just had to. You see, today, in a way was a sad day, not only for me, but for my two cats, Pyewacket and Kissy. No, nothing dire happened, but since it was January 12th, nearly a full month since I got my real Christmas tree, I decided it was high time to take the tree down. Speaking for myself, I hate, hate, hate taking the tree down. What can I say? I’m like a little kid who looks forward to Christmas and look forward every year to getting that real tree. I actually have a neighbor next door that gives me a lecture about getting a real tree too. She argues with me, “How can you sanction getting a real tree, you, the environmentalist/conservationist?” Then she goes into a long tirade of why I shouldn’t get a real tree. I just stand there listening to her yakking away and not offer any comment, I mean you just can’t argue with a “know-it-all” that she comes across as…so I let her lecture to me go in one ear and out the other. You see my philosophy about the whole thing is this: number one, the vast majority of trees that are for our Christmas trees are purposely grown for the Christmas tree market, so it’s not like thousands of trees are being hacked down from natural forests. Two, since the trees are grown on tree farms, what trees are cut down, new ones are planted. Also, my way of thinking is that since they do cut down so many trees by my buying one, I’m “saving it” and giving it a nice home and will cheer up my apartment.

Now before I go on with this story, first I must tell you about one cat I used to have, that I began calling the “Christmas tree Cat”

Willie: The Christmas Tree Cat:

September 24, 1984 ~ March 24, 1997

I got Willie, September 24, 1984. I was coming home from doing some errands, and I noticed this cat in the yard area of an apartment building called Elmhurst Towers, which is a few blocks from where I lived. He seemed to be quite content playing and catching the leaves that were starting to fall in their already splendid orange and red colors. Yes, I could have ignored him, as there were quite a number of stray cats that would make the yard area as their home, but for some reason I couldn’t ignore him. I went into the yard area, as at that time it wasn’t fenced up like it is now. He noticed me and came running over, as if he was greeting a long lost friend. And yes, as you can imagineI took him home. Now to give you the “roll call” as it were of the cats I had at that time: Snoopy, the white cat I’ve already mentioned, Mickey and Tommy, Cindy, Jennie, E.T. and Tippy, of whom I’ve also mentioned here in my blog. So with Willie, he was to become the eighth cat in our apartment. The funny thing is, we never were to call him Willie, but plume, as his tail was thick and bushy, almost like a Maine Coon Cat’s, yet he wasn’t of that breed. Willie was one of those real affectionate cats, and he had one very distinct, distinction. He seemed to love Christmas…especially the tree. He must have somehow shared my love for that real Christmas tree, and when I would bring it in, he would have to come over and inspect it, and if to judge whether it was worthy or not.

The thing that was really poignant however, was what would happen when the day came to take the tree down. On my scout’s honor and word, he would watch the whole process of my stripping the tree bare of it’s ornaments and lights, then began the process of hauling the tree out from my second floor apartment to take it downstairs to the outside garbage area. As I slowly dragged the tree out of the apartment, he would literally follow me and the tree, then sit himself down at the door, watching, watching, watching that tree leave. A few minutes after I would come back from downstairs, sans tree. I’d open the apartment door, and Willie would still be sitting exactly where I had left him, and I swear he would have the saddest, most forlorn expression on his feline face. Willie is long gone now, as he went to Rainbow Bridge on March 24, 1997, yet as a remembrance of him, I’ve place a framed photo of him on the wall and near the spot in the living room where I usually have the Christmas tree. And okay, this might sound a bit wacky, but I swear the expression of Willie in the photo looks downright sad whenever I take the tree down.

Which now brings me to today. My two present cats, Pyewacket and Kissy never have seemed impressed with any holidays, yet they do love the Christmas tree if anything, to snooze under it as if it were their own little private forest. What a sorry sight though, the tree had gotten, maybe cause I got it relatively late, on December 16th and maybe it was as fresh. What a difference from my tree last year when it stayed fresh for so long, that I didn’t dispose of it until near mid-February. But the tree looked so forlorn and droopy, so yesterday I took the ornaments and lights off, thinking to myself, that I’ll dispose of it today. The cats must have sensed something, as they once again snoozed under the tree, something they hadn’t done in awhile. Well today I first had to go out and do some errands, but almost the moment I came into the apartment, began the trek of taking the tree down. This time, Pyewacket watched everything I was doing and watched as I took the tree out. When I came back up, Pyewacket was sitting at the spot where the tree had been, and once again it seemed I had a cat, that had a sad forlorn look on his feline face.

Do animals feel sadness over a Christmas tree being disposed of? Who knows, all I can say, I’m just relating something that I’ve experienced in my life, especially that of Willie “Plume” and now Pyewacket. I still have to take the rest of my decorations down…bit hesitant. All the Christmas decorations make my apartment look so festive and lively, once they are down, the apartment looks absolutely bare and naked. And just think, Christmas 2009 is a mere 346 days away….can’t wait!

©2008~Melanie Neer aka pyewacket

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