The Usual Suspects

It seems that this year the tree is not in danger of being pulled to the ground or marked as trees of Christmases past have been.  It stands elegant and beautiful in our front window.  However, it appears that the tree is slowly being whittled away.  Every day my husband or I come home and find a tiny pile of green needles in a small pool of saliva.  Yes, friends, our tree is being eaten.  My husband and I have different theories as to who the culprit might be.  I present to you the suspects and shall leave the final analysis to your discretion.

The first suspect is Bunny "Baby Face".  She is completely cute and innocent-looking.  However, last year was the first year that the needle munching began to happen, according to my husband, which does seem rather suspicious.  She has also been known to munch tall grass outside like a Guernsey cow. 

The next suspect is "Curly Tail" Blue.  She is a model hound now, but in the past she was infamous for her thieving ways.  This suspect has been known to play pranks just to get the attention of humans, too.  Usually her exploits involve the theft of food, however, she's been known to take the occasional random piece of plastic.  We believe this is mainly done to keep us on our toes.  She seems the least likely suspect, but hounds can be quite devious and you can never be sure unless you see them for yourself.

Our final suspect is "Shifty Sneak" Lilac.  Yes, she is geriatric in greyhound years; she turned fourteen in September.  However, she has always been an unrepentant thief.  While our other greyhounds will hang their heads in remorse at even the thought of being caught in a misdeed, Lilac will stare you right in the eye with a look that says "I did it, and you know that I know that you know I did it, so let's just cut to the part where you forgive me and hand me a cookie."  She was also involved in a rash of thefts from our trees for several years in a row, stealing metal ornaments and trying to eat them.  The suspect hasn't been noticed trying to eat other greenery in quite some time however, so that does hold opinion in her favor a bit.

There you have it, our list of suspects.  I know some people will be tempted to tell us that the cat was involved, but sadly there is no cat here who could have committed the crime.  All three suspects are the only ones know to have been in the vicinity when the crime occurred.  We are still collecting evidence at this time.  If we find out who the guilty party is, we'll be sure to let you know.  Until then, it appears that our tree will be spending time behind bars, or baby gates!