Unusual Holiday Happenings

Most years, the most exciting part of getting the Christmas tree home is untangling the light strand(s) and fighting with the tree strand. Here's something that doesn't happen, well for the most part, ever:

A small bat, hidden among the branches, hitched a ride on the tree and soon found itself in Kearns' Cypress Ridge home after a short trip Sunday from Holloway's Christmas Tree Farm in Nipomo.

While stringing lights on the tree branches, Kearns said she felt a sharp pinch and noticed a wound on her arm, but she assumed it was from a sharp pine needle.But the next morning, Kearns noticed a “strange, brown lump” on her living room wall.

“It took me a few minutes to register that that's something that shouldn't be there,” Kearns said. “It was very strange-looking.”

Kearns' husband quickly realized it was a bat and called the San Luis Obispo County Division of Animal Control, but not before the family took a peek at their unwanted guest.

“It was hanging upside down, with its wings tucked under it so they were barely visible,” Kearns said. “He had a little monster face with his fangs showing.”