The Infamous Christmas Squirrel Story
My mom and dad used to get a real evergreen tree for a Christmas tree. Not anymore.
Christmas 1993 my dad noticed that the Christmas tree they got and decorated would occassionally shake. He thought it was because of the heating vent behind the tree kicking on and blowing the tree. He was wrong.
Christmas Eve day they noticed that the tree was shaking again. They discovered that a squirrel had a nest in the tree – just like in the movie Christmas Vacation! It was loose in the living room! They tried to open the front door and chase it out. Instead, it ran downstairs apparently into the crawlspace.
We have a Christmas Eve party every year. People were coming over with a squirrel loose in the house. My dad asked the neighbor to send his dogs into the basement crawlspace to get the squirrel. The dogs weren’t any help. We ended up getting a squirrel trap and set it up in the basement with nuts for bait, and proceeded to have the party. Overnight, we slept in the bedrooms with the doors closed. Christmas morning…still no squirrel. We opened Christmas presents and got dressed….still no squirrel. We went to Christmas mass at church and back home…still no squirrel.
We went to a Christmas Day party away from home and my brother went home and discovered an angry and growling squirrel had been caught in the trap! He called my dad to tell him, and my dad went home and brought my uncle, an outdoorsy hunter with guns, with him to handle it.
They were concerned that if they let the squirrel out of the cage that it would either turn on them and attack them, or would try to get back into the house.
They decided to try to drown the squirrel. They filled up a garbage can with water and put the cage into the garbage can, but the cage was a little too big and the cage stuck out of the water enough that the squirrel got wet, but could still get air at the top.
Now they had a wet, cold AND angry squirrel on their hands!
They decided to shoot the squirrel with a pellet gun. The pellet shot hurt the squirrel, but didn’t kill it. Now they had a wet, cold, injured and VERY angry squirrel on their hands.
Finally, my uncle shot the squirrel with a low gauge gun, putting the squirrel, and my dad, out of their misery.
Back to the party for a Merry Christmas with a classic and unforgetable funny story to tell.
Have a Merry Christmas!
