Jingle Kitty -&- A Morning Surprise

Well, Mickey Kitty has discovered the silver tree, and he just loves it. The tree sits on a marble-topped table in front of the floor-to-ceiling living room windows. That table is flanked by two antique chairs, and Mickey Kitty has found that if he sits on the arm of either chair, his little paw can jiggle any one of the lowest branches of the silver tree. And if he reaches out with his little jaws, his teeth can even pull out one of the branches and he can place it on the chair and inspect every inch of it.

The branches just fit lightly into the silver trunk of the tree-- sort of like putting toothpicks into a sandwich-- they're that easy to insert and remove. So far, Mickey Kitty has removed two of them, placing them gently on the chair and trying to remove the ornament hung on the aluminum branch. The silver tree makes a unique crinkling noise, just like aluminum foil, so as soon as he touches that tree, I can hear him if I'm close enough to that room.

I rolled up a piece of newspaper yesterday and I keep it near the tree. If I see Mickey Kitty get too close to it, I take the newspaper roll and bat the floor with it. Cats don't like that kind of noise, so he runs away quickly-- first giving me his "you're hurting my kitty-feelings" look. I hit the floor with the newspaper this morning, and he hasn't bothered with the tree since then, so I'm hoping that his fascination with it has worn off. (From my lips to the Christmas-tree gods' ears....)

We had a surprise visit this morning from our young teenaged friends C and L. They were out riding their bikes to the neighborhood yard sales and decided to ring our bell and see if we were up yet. I think it was 8:30 when they stopped by, so of course we were up. I told them that they're welcome to come by any day, any time, but if they ring our bell before eight o'clock in the morning, they'd better be bringing us breakfast. Knowing C, I fully expect her to try that one of these days.

The girls were out riding for a little while before they stopped here, and both of them looked a little chilled, so I made them hot chocolate. L was wearing a Santa hat, and my husband happened to notice that when they walked up to the front door, so he quickly grabbed his own Santa hat and the girls thought that was a neat surprise when he opened up the door.

C has already asked two of her friends to come to our Christmas party, and they've accepted her invitation. I had told her she could bring 4 friends to the party--- not counting L and her brother, since I've already sent L's family an invitation of their own. C is always thrilled when she gets to invite her friends here. That little girl is such a joy.... I can barely put it into words. She walks into our home and gives my husband and I such body-crunching hugs that it just makes me wish she'd stay a little girl forever.