Our family, cats included, loves to watch the birds and squirrels in the yard. Keep you little furry and feathered friends happy this Christmas, by making them their own x-mas tree.

Step 1: Make the Tree.

Ours is sort of a Charlie Brown X-mas tree on steroids.

You can definatly get a real X-mas tree and set it up, but we just had a big ice storm and lots of branches fell down in our yard. We figure, why waste them. My husband jammed them into an X-mas tree stand, tied them together and screwed the base to the deck.

Step 2: Bird Cookies

Now to make some treats for the birds.

Make some toast, cut it into shapes with cookie cutters, spread on some cricso, and cover with bird seed. Feel free to use lard, or suet, but we're vegetarians, and I couldn't think of anything grosser than melting down some suet and spreading it on toast.

Poke a hole through your ornament, and put some twine through the hole.

You can also do the same with pinecones, apple, or anything else lying around that you think the birds might like.

DO NOT USE PEANUT BUTTER. I've read that bird can choke from peanut butter because they don't have saliva. I don't know if this is true, but why risk it?

Step 3: Popcorn Garland

Now you can make some garland. Pop some popcorn (plain popcorn in an air popper) and with a needle and thread string the popcorn, some cranberries, some bits of leftover toast, etc.

Step 4: Decorate

I put some LED x-mas light on my "tree", and tied on the ornaments and garland.

Now sit back and enjoy the nature show.

Do this in the AM!

I made the mistake of decorating in the evening, and when I woke in the AM, the tree was bare. I think some racoons enjoyed the treats, which is fine, but I wanted to see the animals. Decorate in the AM, so you can see the bids and squirrels get them.

You can also make more ornaments and enjoy the show again and again.

Note: this is not a project for people with bears in the woods, unless you want bears on your deck.