There's just something about Christmas that brings out the curious streak in children ... not to mention, kittens (or puppies).

My little Ragdoll kitten, "Homer", is no exception.  When we dragged out the Christmas decorations, it wasn't even five minutes before the little kitten stood up on its hind legs and was trying to poke his quivering, pink nose into the box.  He wanted to see what was inside.

When we started pulling out the lights, he thought that they were a giant string: a kitten's plaything, perhaps.  That was when Des (my husband) grabbed him right around the middle of his furry belly and put him into the other room and shut the door, so we could decorate the house in peace.

It wasn't long before Jenna, our thirteen-year-old daughter, begged to let Homer back into the livingroom; she couldn't handle his plaintive, piercing mews much longer.  Des and I put our feet down.  No, we told her (and her younger brother, Kale); we were not letting Homer into the livingroom because he could very easily get into trouble.

Maybe when we were through decorating, we would, we told the children, but not until then.  And when we did, we told them it was their responsibility to keep a close eye on him because little curious kittens like Homer could very easily get injured (or worse) if they (or he) weren't more careful.

Four and a half hours later, we were through.  The tree was up and decorated, and the wreaths now hung on our front and back doors.  We had the holly strung along the fireplace mantle (well out of reach of Homer's busy paws), and soon Des was in the kitchen with Jenna and Kale, where they were busy baking Christmas cookies.  Meanwhile, Homer meowed constantly during all this time.  He never shut up even once!

Sighing, I let the imprisoned kitten out of his "cell" (the hallway).  He ran under the tree, where he began sniffing the branches and the lights; he then walked around, sniffing the boxes and the other decorations.  His little nose wiggled constantly, and every so often, his tail would fur out whenever he poked himself with a light or a branch.  He'd bat at the decorations and then run crazily away when one of them fell to the floor.

It was funny to watch.  Whoever said that curiosity kills the cat certainly knew what they were talking about when they coined the phrase!  LOL

To be continued.~