It was a cold and frosty December morning. Mum had put the Christmas tree lights on making the whole room look beautiful in the winter gloom. The tree decorations were glistening and the smell of fresh pine needles filled the room. She was tidying things upstairs but had left the patio door slightly open. There was a cold draught shooting through the house. At this point, it seemed like a really good idea to bolt for the door. I sprinted through the door and out in to the cold morning air.
At first, it was very quiet outside but then I spotted Trixie and Bella, my cat friends. They were both sitting on the shed roof talking to each other quietly. Trixie is quite a lot older than me and always behaves thoughtfully but Bella is another matter entirely. I like her as much as Trixie but she is always making fun of me just because I am a dog. Well, a dog I may be but I am also a Lhasa Apso. Need I say more. Neither cat had seen me yet so I trotted down the garden path to meet them. Bella was the first to see me.
It was obvious at this point I was never going to be able to climb up to the top of the shed. They often torment me because I’m sure they know this. After a short conversation involving a few barks and a couple of meows, they both sauntered down from the shed to join me.
We all walked slowly back up the path to the open patio door. Perhaps I shouldn’t have but I invited them into the house. I wanted my friends to see our lovely Christmas tree. Trixie and I both sat quietly on the rug admiring all the decorations but Bella moved closer to the tree. Then without warning she jumped up and tried to pull down one of the little presents hanging from one of the spiky branches. Unfortunately, when dad put the tree into the stand he hadn’t made sure that it was completely secure. Typical. The tree came crashing down onto the floor, breaking some of the coloured baubles and a few of the lights. It made a really loud noise.
My first reaction was to get the cats out of the house and take the blame myself. I wasn’t fast enough. I looked round to see mum at the front room door with a shocked expression on her face. We were caught red-handed and looked very guilty sitting amongst what had once been Christmas decorations. Mum was not happy and picked up the telephone. Two minutes later Trixie and Bella’s mum appeared in the room. Both humans looked at the tree and then straight at the three of us sitting in a row. After that they started laughing and quickly put everything right. Mum had got lots more baubles and some spare light bulbs. Soon the tree looked perfect again. In fact, it looked even better than before.
Of course, dad got the blame for his careless work when he put up the tree. He always gets the blame when things go wrong. When both cats had gone back home, mum and I sat on the settee together eating treats. The toppled tree was never mentioned again.
Another festive tale next week.
Leave a Comment