The Importance of a Tree Skirt

This is not my house. At my house, the cat wouldn’t want to sleep under the tree. I won’t even put presents under it. (This is my father’s house, and his adorable Tazzie cat taking a nap.)
You see, here in the PNW, it is wet in the winter and my dogs don’t really like wet. They have to be chased off the step in the back yard to go do their business. But then, Christmas comes, and it comes for doggies too, because Mom and Dad give them the greatest gift ever- the gift of indoor plumbing.
Not really, of course, be we learned that first Christmas that the dogs did view the tree as an indoor bathroom. The importance of the tree skirt was that it could be picked up and washed, as many times as needed. It saved my carpets.
Its been a learning process. The next year we bought a fake tree, figuring it would smell less like outdoors. The dogs still peed on it, but less. Then we stopped putting on the lowest branches (figuring the dogs might be able to detect the scent of piddles past and decide to piddle present). Now, the tree doesn’t go up until Christmas Eve, and is down by New Years.
Besides the changes to what we did, yes, we worked with the dogs on not peeing on the tree, but with it not being a regular thing, they don’t always remember. So I still always make sure to have a tree skirt. Its my Christmas present to my carpets.