Shatter Proof Christmas Tree Ornaments

Just over two years ago, we adopted two sweet, playful little balls of kitten fluff. They were just 8 weeks old when we brought them into our family. Of course, being kittens, they played with everything, climbed everything and jumped into everything.

A month later, facing holiday decorating and the chance that these sweet but destructive critters would bring down the tree, we skipped the full tree and put a 2-foot tall fiber-optic tree on top of the piano. The kids had a fit (although I personally loved the simplicity), so last year out came our 7 foot pre-lit skinny tree. I love this tree--it fits perfectly into our small living room without too much re-arrangement of furniture.

The tree went up, we fluffed it, turned on the lights to decorate it--and before we could turn around with the first ornament--there was Sally inside the tree. Hold everything, I said. We put back the boxes of our family heirloom ornaments. I jumped in the car and went to CVS, where I bought two containers of gold and red "shatter proof" ornaments. These were life savers (or, well, Christmas savers).

For the next month, ornaments would fall out of the tree as Sally climbed, slept, and played in what we think she considered "her" tree. All we had to do was re-hang the ornaments. No fuss, no mess, no loss of family history.