Hmmm. I’ve always loved a good Christmas tree. One that is glowing with lights and glittery decorations. So this year I was especially excited to get my lovely white Christmas tree out of its box, and to decorate it to cheer us up.

The weird thing is, I’ve never really seen snow, but having a white tree brings snow right into your front room, even on a 37 degree day (100F), makes you feel like you are right at home in the Northern hemisphere, not stuck inside in South Australia, because it’s too hot to venture outside.

I should have known that in 2020, having something soothing and lovely, that reminds you of years gone by, would not be the ticket. Enter Sparkles.

My gorgeous little rescue kitty became entranced/obsessed/fixated on the tree. It became her personal boxing ring, her ‘greatest prize I’ve ever gained’ award (as she carried the decorations off into the house), and having four ferrets to help her stash these prizes around the house proved too much. I must have redecorated the tree three times in an effort to stop her. But it was to no avail.

After a night listening to her attacking the tree while I lay in bed, my muse (hubby) and I gave up. I packed everything away, and that was that.

Hubby couldn’t quite go there though, and bought home a really sad little twig of a tree with fibre optic lighting. The first thing Sparkles did was to try and climb up it. Undeterred, I put aluminium foil around the base, put it on a chair and put masking tape around it, with the sticky side up. All good cat foils, according to YouTube videos.

Well, Sparkles breeched all the above, and climbed the tree. It tumbled over onto the blind, and I saw her fleeing up the corridor like Satan himself had whacked her on her bum. After I removed all the crud from the base of the tree (what’s the point?), I noticed she’s left it alone!

Is there a moral in that? Probably, but for now I’ll take our tragic twig tree and just be happy that I’ve discovered solar lights. Yup, being in the Southern Hemisphere means it’s light for ages, so the solar fairy lights have fired up. Hubby announced the other night, as we gazed out onto the backyard, that at least now the aliens have a place lit up enough for them to land. I have to agree with him.

So maybe the lesson is this. 2020 has stopped us doing things we could normally do that bring us pleasure. But if we look a bit further afield, maybe we can create something new to make us happy. And be part of history when the aliens finally do decide to visit!!