out takes . . .

when the bottom string of lights on your pre-lit tree don't work, you haul out an old box of never been used lights to add . . . the never before used lights have one dead string . . . the 9TS departs for Lowe's

you search for the bad bulb and find a little kitten face halfway up the tree looking down at you

the tree apron smells suspiciously like the poor departed Snoop had watered it last year . . . into the washing machine it goes.

you wonder why the bacon you fried for tonight's bacon cheeseburger's came out like beef jerky and the 9TS is snickering because he can't eat the bacon or the cheese . . .

yesterday, you missed the UPS man and now you have to wait for him to come round the circle again tonight or we'll be short one very important Christmas present.

you've hidden the 9TS's present in the under-the-stairs closet and now he is making noises like we should clean it out for the first time in 15 years . . .

p.s. for the very first time, I kept my hoard of special memory ornaments in their boxes and opted instead for plastic bulbs from Wally World.   Now when Pip bats an ornament off the tree, they bounce and she runs and hides.   I should have done this years ago whenever there was a kitten in residence . . .