Christmas trees are non-negotiable parts of Christmas for us. I can take or leave quite a lot of the other stuff but we have to have a tree. I've not had young cats for an ice age and now we have two 10 month old boys. They've recently discovered that they enjoy climbing the tree in the garden, and indoors they are ricochetting off everything when they chase one another. A big tree in the corner would be irresistible.
We always get a real one and usually an 'old fashioned' sort (the cheaper type!) which are very dense and prickly. We'll choose one that looks as if it's impossible to climb into from the bottom, anyway. Our base is metal and realty heavy though we might look for an even sturdier one. We have too many decorations anyway, so this year I'll gulp sadly and not put out any of the precious ancient glass ones we've collected over the years.
I'm mostly worried about the lights. I haven't caught them chewing lamp flexes but Christmas tree lights have thinner and maybe more tempting flexes. Short of getting really miserable battery powered lights (don't they tend to come in sets of about 40??) has anyone had bad experiences with this? Is there anything I can do to make it safer?
(please don't show me any sad-making photos off Google about wall mounted or ceiling mounted trees! They'd take that as a challenge, anyway.)