Bella...Just....Can't....Stand.....it

So as Thanksgiving rolled past, it is time to start getting ready for Christmas.  Thanksgiving weekend, I went down to my storage unit and got the tree out.  Can I pause for a moment and tell you how nice it is to have a lightweight tree?  I can finally do my tree myself!!  Okay.  Back to the topic.  Anyway,  when I adopted Bella, I didn't think much about how to handle the excitement of the Christmas tree.  This girl is beautiful but she was once wild and feral to some degree. And the tree was clearly just a new toy for her to play with.  What a wonderful life size cat condo!!!

So I brought it up and set it up.  Immediately, she was curious.  Even as I took the parts out of the box she was thrilled.  So I decided to just let it sit for a while and see what she did.  Let's just let the photos tell the story.

What a cool cat condo.  It looks so life like!!

I'll start loving it from the bottom.  I can chew it!!

Why are you freaking out Mom?  I got up here
but I am not sure how to get out.

Look at all these cat toys on my condo!!  I don't know why
you will only let me look.  Every time I try to play with the
new toys, I get wet.  (I spray her)

I'm not doing anything Mom.  I'm just hanging out.  I promise.

I know this is a tough test for her.  I rarely provide negative reinforcement but climbing the tree and clawing the couches are two times the spray bottle comes out.  It is quite a challenge because she likes water so the other day, she was so worked up about the tree, I sprayed her so many times, her head was totally wet.  The great news is she hasn't "stolen" any ornaments the last 2 nights.  And the tree is still upright.  This year, the entire tree is unbreakable...just in case.

As you can see, Bella is getting to be so big!!  No longer the tiny kitten she was when we met.  She is in the "teen" years of rebellion and sass.  I am really looking forward to her growing out of this stage.  She is just so aggressive with my senior kitties.  She chases them until they are just so upset.  I think we are in the home stretch of her growing up.  I hope she still stays sweet.  She really is a great cat....kitteness curiosity aside.