Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Holiday Crush

In our tiny house, space is a premium. With the arrival of our daughter, free space is becoming a scare commodity. The bookcase full of over-sized kitchen items has been replaced with a pack-n-play, a swing, and a stroller. In the past Christmas decorations, especially the tree, pushed each room in the house to it's functional limit. Dottie's bouncy seat, a magical device that calms her fussy moods, occupies the same spot that, in the past, is where the Christmas tree went. So Christmas tree, where do you go now?

Currently the top three places are 1) in the dining room since we never eat dinner at the table anymore 2) in the front corner of the living room supplanting the cat's favorite perch, one of the few comforts he has left after we kicked him out the baby's room/guest room and 3) back in the attic until we move to a bigger house. The problem is I hate all of these ideas - the tree looks terrible in the dining room; I'm loath to take away yet another comfort from out cat; and if we don't celebrate with a tree I'm sure I'll scar our daughter for years to come.

Honestly, removing the cat's favorite perch and sticking the tree there is the only real option. The reason I'm loath to do it is because it's exactly what every baby book said I would do: devalue a pet's once lofty place place in the family. Reading those books, I rallied against that idea, thinking "No way. I'm not going to do that". Yeah, well, too bad. It's time to Think Again.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Don't feel too bad for kitty-cat, maybe he'll enjoy sleeping under the tree. Our two neglected kitties have claimed the tree skirt as their number one sleeping spot.