Always nice to be appreciated

George and I have really enjoyed buying things for the kitties, and it is really nice that when you buy them two new beds for Christmas, they appreciate it and actually sleep in them.

There are so many nice things to say about our kittens!

Have a great day.

Simba with his beloved hook

The hook

This Christmas has been marked by a certain cat behavior. Every once in a while, the kitties disappear, especially Simba. It is very quiet, which usually means trouble. Simba will hunch over something on the floor with rapt attention, then pounce and push the "prey" under the rug or a chair. Safari sometimes joins the fun, but it is Simba who loves wires. This has been happening over and over, several times a day. It seems that Simba had found his own stash of large Christmas tree hooks. I didn't know where he was getting them, and even after I found an open box on my beading table, he still seemed to have another secret stash.

This morning, I got a picture of the kitties being playful with the contraband. They just love these hooks, and no matter how I try, I can't seem to find all of the hooks they have hidden around the house.

Last weekend we moved some furniture in the den to make room for our new recliner. There, under the corner of the couch, was Simba's secret stash. A bent up Christmas tree hook, a twist tie, a 3" piece of beading wire, and a small piece of yarn. And I still haven't found the source of the hooks!

Have a great day.

Naptime

Simba spilling out of his bed

My helpers

Undecorating

Earlier in the Christmas season, I was listening to several people talk about how they cut their own Christmas tree, and always buy a fresh tree, and that the smell in your house is so much better. I even talked to someone who grew her own greens in her backyard so she could cut fresh holly and greens at Christmas time. I was a little envious. We have a large fake tree. It is a very nice tree, and cost over $200 at Lowe's, and I thought George was very generous to shell out that kind of money for a Christmas tree, so that we could have a nice full tall one, but it doesn't smell like pine. Even with the little drops of pine fragrance that I bought for it, it still doesn't smell really good.

Today I am un-decorating the tree, and, frankly, I am very grateful that we have a "fake" tree. There are a multitude of reasons for my gratitude, including the fact that I don't get scratched with pine needles and get red welts on my hands, the needles aren't falling all over the floor and getting caught in the floorboards and window sills, and the tree makes it easy to take the decorations off. This year I had a kitty proof tree, and almost all the decorations were unbreakable. I hung them with ribbons, and had a soft yarn and felt garland that was easy on the hands, and came off the tree like a dream. There's something to be said for a kitty-proof tree. The ornaments are indestructible and harmless to animals...and to me.

I can remember years when the tree turned brittle and the branches drooped. My pretty Christmas balls dropped off the tree and smashed, and when bits of the dried up tree would get caught in the hooks as you tried to take them off. Trying to get a dry falling-apart tree out the front door of the house was a crisis. I am not envious of that experience. I also don't miss feeling bad about that poor dead tree in front of the house, when it had been so fresh and beautiful in the forest just a month or so before.

This year, I am also grateful that I can un-decorate any time I want, and there is no emergency to get the tree out before it cracks apart. Yes, it doesn't smell as good a fresh tree, and the experience of getting the fake tree out of storage is not nearly as festive as going out to a snowy field to cut your own tree, but next year I'm going to look at the process all the way through to the end...and celebrate the good points.

Have a great day.

One hour after the chair arrived----naptime!

George's Christmas Present

George's new recliner arrived a few minutes ago. We had to push things around a bit in the den, but overall, it was a good addition to the room, and the chair is incredibly comfortable.

I'm going to start counting the number of naps that will be taken in this chair and make a little chart. Thousands I'd bet.

Have a great day. Time to take a nap.

Christmas Continues

Yesterday George and I went shopping to see what we could see, and found a Christmas village. It helped that all the pieces were 50% off. I never really thought I would like a village, but here it is in my den, and it has little lights and is really charming. There is something to be said about decorating the house a day AFTER Christmas. Even though it sits in front of the window where the kitties sit, they aren't bothering it. They just neatly pick their way through the buildings and little trees on their way to their view. Nice kitties!

Tonight we are baking, getting ready for company tomorrow night. We are making gingerbread boys and girls, (and chickens and sheep) and these are George's Oatmeal raisin cranberry cookies. In the oven is a lemon bundt cake for a birthday guest tomorrow. Lots of yummy stuff going on here.

Have a great night.

Safari watching TV

Simba -- Through a looking glass....

Safari as a kitten

Simba in the platter