Each Tree Comes With a Surprise Inside

Anyone who has ever seen National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation will remember the scene where Clark cuts a tree down from outside, drags it in his house and decorates it. At one point a squirrel jumps out of the tree and creates pandemonium.

Well, this lady didn't find a squirrel, but another member of the rodent family:

Nipomo - Sheila Kearns had a Christmas tree delivered to her home on Sunday. She says she thought she'd been pricked by pine needles when she reached into the tree while decorating it. But the next morning, she found a bat hanging upside down in her home.

It turns out that the Christmas tree farm Kearns bought from keeps bats around for pest control and that one unwittingly hitched a ride to her home.

Animal control officials picked up the bat, which tested negative for rabies.

Kearns got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, but says she's not fazed. She says she'll keep buying her trees from the same farm.

This reminded me of something that happened to us back in our early years of marriage when we still bought real trees. I had a friend who worked in the Christmas tree growing business and he offered to get us a great tree from his lot in Santa Ana. He brought the tree to our house still bundled up and we cut the twine and opened the tree in our small living room. Later on we started noticing a bunch of strange beetles and other bugs in the house. Because the tree hadn't been opened at the lot, whatever was in the tree when it was cut down and bundled was still there when we opened it at home.

Fortunately, no squirrels or bats.