Down Comes The Giving Tree

My tree decorator and dismantler has disappeared.  Actually he has a bad case of the flu bug, and I decided that catching the flu from him would be far worse than taking my tree down by myself.  Or at least a toss-up.  So yesterday I found a couple of young guys to climb my 25 foot ladder and take down the giant parasol, numerous sea creatures, glittered seaweed, and other paraphernalia hanging from my ceiling. I decided to keep all the birds and owls hanging on their branches for the pure whimsical quality that they add to my living room.  You can't help but smile when you look up at these magical, glorious winged ones.  I am convinced that these are the only birds that could ever co-exist in my home with eleven cats.

Taking the tree down was somewhat anti-climatic, most likely because my friend and his entourage weren't here to add more than a little chaos to the household.  Life at Paradise Ranch seems relatively tame with no crowds, late nights, or red dye number one food.

One thing that slowed the process of dismantling my tree is that many of the oversized plastic bins that housed my Christmas supplies have disappeared.  It is tough to put decorations away when you have no containers for storage.  Perhaps these have disappeared into the same abyss where my socks, gloves, underwear and other sundries have gone.  Who knows?

Except for the flying leap that I took from the hallway to the living room, landing on my knee and shoulder and ending up at the chiropractor's office, no other casualties have occurred.  My animals are bored with the tree and are hoping for another event that might call for tissue paper, ribbon, food, and moving parts with which to play.

In retrospect, as crazy as the process was, I loved my tree!  And the best part of dismantling it was giving away all the dog and cat paraphernalia that decorated it.  In the dismantling, my holiday tree became "the giving tree".  I originally put my own dogs' leashes, collars, and toys on the tree, but that was a mistake.  My three dogs cried when they could see their leashes hanging from tree branches but weren't being taken for walks.  What were their walking accoutrements doing on a tree and not on them?  Would they ever go for a walk again?  They freaked seeing untouchable toys, leashes, and dog biscuits hanging in their living room.  So I put plan B into action, and headed to discount stores to buy new leashes, fancy doggie bag containers, collars, and halters.  The ones I found must have come from Dallas, Memphis, or locations where Dolly Parton shops;  they were total glitter and rhinestones!  Now my animals and friends' animals are all wearing bling!

(click on photos to enlarge)

Here is a picture of my friend holding Miss Daisy, the proud recipient of a new Zebra leash and matching poop bag container. The second photo is of Mr. Bodhi Kenny wearing his new red leather collar from the Christmas tree.

Of course I didn't forget the cats.  For them I had balls of yarn weaving through the tree like garland.  There were also many cat toys,  glittery paper balls, and a few leashes.  My cats weren't as moved by the display because they have no concept of a cat leash.  And to them, any Christmas tree with hanging ornaments and tinsel is exciting and worthy of curiosity.

In dismantling the tree, I couldn't help but think ahead to next year.  I am envisioning no particular theme, but an eclectic Christmas with my favorite decorations throughout the years.   One thing is for sure, and you can hold me to this.  No matter what my A.D.D decorator friend promises, there will be no entourage at my home into the wee hours of the night.  In fact, if he offers to decorate my living room and tree again, I will politely decline and quickly change the subject!!!!

Happy 2012 to all of my two-legged and four-legged friends!

Holiday Tree, Day 7

My holiday tree is looking quite grand.  Several hundred crystals resembling rain drops hang on fishing line from my ceiling.   L.E.D lights hang from numerous branches suspended from my ceiling so the birds perched upon them will sparkle.  Eight plush cats and dogs are stapled to the parasol above the tree so that it can actually be raining cats and dogs.  And for safety reasons and because I am not so fond of heights, more plush cats and dogs have been stapled to a smaller umbrella that I hold in a photo for this blog.

So that the outside of my home could be as hugely festive as the inside, my friend installed a ten foot wreath with flashing lights, garlands, flowers, glitter (and gosh knows what else if I look closely) on the gate at the end of my driveway.  Check out the photo in this blog. I am definitely the local utility company's favorite customer this month!  If there are any neighbors who didn't notice my home before, they certainly have noticed it by now.  You can't pass my gate without the "WOW!" factor kicking in.

I am convinced that the only reason this crazy process was ever completed is because I was leaving for New York City and would not allow the crew to work in my home in my absence.  Thank God I had a deadline, I couldn't function on one hour sleep per night much longer!

The holiday came and went, and my tree was lovely.  Was the crazy process worth my resources?  I am not sure!  Last year when he and I did the Goddess tree I had a huge Christmas party for many friends, and the tree filled the house with warmth and beauty. And this year the tree was for me and for this blog.   Hmmm.....

Now that the new year has arrived, I have to convince my friend and his crew to help me dismantle everything.  The wreath alone must weigh as much as I do.  In order to get them here before Easter, I will most likely have to promise an abundance of paper-wrapped food items and plenty of red desserts.

 

My Christmas tree

Well I thought I had the most amazing idea.... why not create a Christmas tree that reflected my blog?  Raining Cats and Dogs.....easy!  I don't think so!

I mentioned my idea to a friend who helped me last year with my holiday tree.  How quickly my mind forgot what a fiasco my Goddess Christmas tree, also a good idea at the time, had been last year.

Here is the deal.  My friend the holiday tree expert is visionary, artistic, and creative, but a perfectionist that must certainly have A.D.D.  He is  scattered, always running late, an over committer who has no problem arriving at your house four hours later than promised and staying with the friends he brought in tow until 4:00 A.M.  Now that may work for some of you, but I am a morning person who rises around 5:30 A.M. and thus, I am typically early to bed as well.  Staying up until 4 am completely throws off my sleeping schedule to say the least. My friend and his entourage would arrive hungry each night, so I felt compelled to feed them.   But nothing in my pantry would do.  They could have been stoned, for all I know.  I am a bit of a health food nut, and they prefer red dye number one in their food.  So off to a cheap drive thru I would go, returning with plenty of food in paper wrappers and red artificially-colored desserts from the grocery.

As you can see by some of my photos, the resulting holiday tree is way over the top, not to mention the many other wild structures hanging from my ceiling!  This was nothing new for my friend, who used to decorate trees for department stores.  He had a certain procedure to follow, many different layers that had to be done before we could hang the decorations on the end of the branches like the rest of America does.  The tree had four layers of trimmings;  first the ribbon around the trunk, then the lights. then smaller decorative balls and glitter, then other ornaments.  Oh, and because we didn't have our hands full enough already, on the third night one of my cats knocked the tree over.  The partly decorated tree was sitting on a glass table to give it extra height in my cathedral ceiling living room.  The kitty was of course curious and jumped on the table, managing to knock the tree over and smash the glass table into a million tiny pieces in the process.  So after three nights of work, no sleep, and a very big mess to clean up, we began again with the tree on day four.  I was not nearly as excited or motivated at this point, but I did have the presence of mind to use a wood table to hold the tree in the event my curious cat (or any of my others) decided to go for an encore.

After the many layers of the tree were complete, next came netting on top of the tree to represent clouds in the sky.  And then of course we needed a giant parasol hanging from the ceiling from which to hang ornamental dogs and cats.  And with clouds and a parasol must come rain, so countless transparent threads were hung from the ceiling dangling crystal raindrops to complete the process, or so I thought.....

What happened for the following several days is still a blur, but after a revolving door of my friend and his helpers, my house was beginning to look like a cross between Sea World, Disneyland, and a French Cafe in Paris.

Sea creatures hung from one end of my living room ceiling, birds were perched on a branch on another side.  Two heavily decorated hanging branches of white owls were suspended from the other two corners of the ceiling.  My friend's thinking was..... because I had such great Christmas tree decorations from previous years, why not use them all and have them admire  the Raining Cats and Dogs tree?

His work is extraordinary and so very creative, but next year if he asks to help I will suggest he go to Macy's and decorate their tree instead.

3 Divine Dogs

Some days my animals reign over my kingdom. All my life I have done things a bit differently than others.  I guess in many ways I have led my life according to my own drum beat.  Perhaps that is how at this point in my life I am living with 14 animals;  three divine dogs and eleven curious cats!

Not quite sure how I got here from there, but the end result is that my life has much more fun, love, and laughter because of my adopting these totally spontaneous creatures!   They remind me on a daily basis to be "in the moment". 

Living with fourteen animals, I have had no choice but to fully experience the entire gamut of emotions..... frustration, sadness, joy, laughter, anger, worry, fear, and most importantly, unconditional love.  My animal friends are not only great teachers, but exceptional listeners.  

I believe 4-leggeds connect us to all humanity and are bridges to all cultures. They help us with our own connection to Spirit and the earth. Our creatures teach through example how to love being in our bodies and the freedom it gives us.

Through observing their innocence, my own innocence has re-emerged.  I have found myself reconnecting with my own sense of wonder and child- like qualities, previously suppressed in adult life.  I have learned to wag more and bark less at friends and strangers.

I am reminded on a continual basis that humor and patience are absolutely essential to survival.  If something (which it always does) gets ruined, chewed, scratched, broken or lost, I am quick to accept and forgive, knowing that animals, like humans, make mistakes.  The pros far out-weigh the cons in this household.  

Now when people ask me if I have lost my mind by adopting so many creatures, I very happily reply “Yes!...I lost my mind and found my heart!