The final piece of the cat-resistant Christmas tree stand arrived!

Lights, camera, action — a tree that stays standing, even with 3 cats on it.

In case my pet posts or Instagram wasn’t an indicator, I have 5 cats. Yeah, I might be the Crazy Cat Lady, but they’re a joy to have around.

Alas, cats and Christmas Trees don’t always get along. With 3 kittens, I sincerely doubted I’d be able to have one this year.

However, last weekend, I had a thought: Christmas tree stands are light. Patio umbrella stands are heavy. They usually start at 20 lbs (9 kg) and go up from there. Lowes had just two left: one plastic you fill with sand and this white one.

I opted for the white one. It’s 20 lbs (9 kg) and a combination of cast iron, concrete, and resin.

The stand held beautifully the past week. At one point, Leo was halfway up the tree with the Princess Kittens in hot pursuit.

The only problem was that it’s 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter and the Christmas tree is only 1 inch (2.5 cm). It didn’t tip, but it still wobbled and shook really bad if a cat climbed it. Hard enough to shake all the ornaments off. (I hadn’t put any ornaments on yet.) I sorted through the plumbing sections for a reducer or adapter. No dice.

Then I found an Olympic barbell/dumbbell adapter on Amazon. It’s meant to convert a 1 inch (2.5 cm) barbell to an Olympic regulation 2 inches (5 cm) diameter.

All the measurements lined up, I decided to give it a shot. I selected one that was powder-coated steel. (Every little bit of weight helps.)

It fits perfectly! It slips almost entirely inside the patio umbrella stand. I haven’t tightened the bolts down yet, so it does rotate. However: No more wiggle!