I always include the birds in our Christmas festivities. They get a special present of their own to open. To be safe, I use paper towels as wrapping paper, since traditional Christmas wrap with its glitter and potentially toxic ink can pose a health risk.

You can usually find holiday-themed paper towels around Christmas time. You can use a little sissle to tie a bow around it!
 
The birds even have their own tree that we decorate just for them. It's one of those small, pre-lit ones about 3 feet tall. I add a string of parrot lights along with parrot themed ornaments.

Voila! A cute little tropical Christmas tree!
 
This year will be special for them since our daughter Valerie will be home to visit for two weeks.
She'll decorate our tree while they watch and we'll all sing along to Christmas carol CDs.

The birds love to chirp in with their “la, la, la, las.” It sure fits right in when we're singing “Deck The Halls!”
 
But we will not only be celebrating Christmas. We'll also celebrate Muggsy's 21st birthday December 26th.

She was 8 months old when we got her. Her birth (hatch) date is  the same date as my dad's birthday. So we named her Muggsy, my dad's nickname.

Dad passed away in 2001, but he was tickled that he had a little grey namesake!

Later we found out that Muggsy is a female. At first, it was hard to refer to her as a female but Muggsy adapted to it well. In no time she quit referring to herself as a boy.

It's funny how she never says "Muggsy is a good boy" anymore.

Now it's "Muggsy is a good girl” or “a baaaaad bird,” whichever the case may be.

But we just laugh at the latter phrase because we know Muggsy could never really be a bad bird!
 
Wishing every birdie a Merry Christmas. Please leave your comments below and tell us how you celebrate the holidays with your birds.

Hope you enjoy the slideshow of Christmas bird photos: