Mum has asked me to put paw to keyboard and write about my Christmas memories for the Mewsletter. Not sure I have very many really, but here goes!
I know I was born around this time of year in 2011 as Mum told me I will be 5 human years old this Christmas time, so of course I don't remember much about my first one, except being snug and warm with my furry family at the 24-hour kitten milk bar.
Fast forward to 2014 - that was the summer when I moved in with my new mum, who was the lady living next door to my old family. It was a mutual arrangement - I'd made good friends with her when Mischa died (her last cat before me), my family had to move away and sadly couldn't take me with them and they offered me to her rather than put me behind bars for "New Home Auditions". I mounted a real charm offensive, and the rest (as you humans say) is history.
I do remember that first Christmas in my new home - there was a real panic over the Tree! Mum got it out of the cupboard - oh my, it was lovely and quite big, and I remember thinking " that will make a great climbing exercise" (well, I was younger than I am now!). Mum set it up, plugged it into that funny white thing on the wall that we can't go near, and pressed the switch after a countdown to me (Mum loves space and rockets) - and nothing happened! Mum then started flicking all the switches in sight before conceding defeat - something about the bulb had gone, and with 2 weeks to the big day, no chance of getting another bulb (we have something called a "fibre-optic" tree so no decorations to worry about). Mum hot foots it to the local shops, and comes back with a much smaller version which works, but is way too small for climbing (and no others in stock) - oh well, guess she won't have to worry about it when she's at work!
Talking of cats climbing trees - there is a great video on You Tube that Mum plays every year from Shorty and Cody (2 cats in the US who have their own channel called "Sho Ko") about us doing what we do best at this time of year - "helping" to decorate the house and of course, climbing up the tree, and it even has its own specially written song to go with it. The video and song are called "I'm climbing up the Christmas tree neow" and it is funny - well worth checking out.
Christmas 2015 wasn't as good as usual - I do know Mum was unsure whether to put the tree up or not, but I guess this "redundancy" situation had a lot to do with that, and she just wasn't in the mood as much - this year the tree went up 3 weeks ahead which is 1 week EARLIER than Mum usually does it - so I guess her new job must be going well!
Mum is also very busy at this time of year with her Choir at Church - they are always singing at every service, longer practices and they even go around local hotels on Christmas Eve (before the Big Guy visits) to sing something called "carols" for charity - and they get plenty of mince pies which I am assured are delicious for humans (if you like them, of course) but not good for us cats. There seems to be a lot of food around at this time of year, so I'd like to finish with a friendly warning - don't overeat or try and sneak un-offered titbits in case it gives you a poorly tummy (or even worse), and whatever you do, DON'T chew the lights and stay away from Christmas plants or flowers - Mum assures me that the lights and some human food and plants can be VERY dangerous for us, and may even result in a 1 way ticket to Rainbow Bridge.
And of course, we would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year 2017.
Denver (and Mum Helen).