Apricot's First Christmas Tree Ornaments

Today I put the ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Wary but present (ha ha, sorry about that)

I tried to do it while he was asleep, but you probably already know that doesn't work.

However, while he got down from his napping spot, and spent a lot of time walking in and out of the living room (in both directions--sometimes he headed into the hallway and sometimes into the kitchen) he never went to hide and always came back. 

At first he actually supervised the ornaments from a short distance away (although more than the distance in the pictures) but it got to him after a while and he started having to leave the room to calm down and then come back. It's the only explanation I've got for his odd behavior.

I was very proud of my brave boy. He never hid during the whole tree ornament decking out, and there were a lot of new noises like popping plastic (the ornament boxes that have the molded plastic in two parts that has the bit that makes it stick together), and crinkling tissue paper. I was able to finish the whole tree.

While I was hanging the ornaments up I was trying to explain to him why this was something I liked ... and honestly if you think about it, christmas trees and their ornamentation are a little silly! But it's something I like very much and now I have a nicely decorated tree.

I do however have a rather unusual feature this year in that there is a band of no ornaments from the bottom of the tree up about a foot. The very bottom of the tree has the kitty toy ornaments, but after those the tree is bare for a little while.

Since Apricot has never been around a tree before, and since I have to go to work and can't be around to supervise it 24/7, I'm trying not to tempt him. I don't think I have to worry since he's a very cautious kitty and is rather inclined to ask before doing most things.

He is doing something odd to the tree, though. He is apparently pulling bits of green off it. I've seen him do it (and implored him not to, so hopefully he'll get the idea it's not something you do, just like he used to try to bite the carpet edges when he first arrived but now carpet is just "underneath" to be walked on) and I keep finding single plastic short pieces of green. I do hope he doesn't manage to denude the bottom branches. He'd have to really work at it, so I'm not too worried.

But hey, I now have a decorated house (as much as I plan to decorate this year) as I got some other stuff out for the kitchen, and I don't have a terrified kitty, so happy for both of us!