Christmas Scrooge

I may be a Christmas scrooge. Last week I had no Christmas decorations up and I had no intention of putting any up.

Here is the thing:  I am the only person who cleans up in my apartment!  Alright, its true, I'm also the only (human) person who really makes a mess....  but it just seems that the input is not equivalent to the output, you know?  Its that whole entropy thing.

So if I put up Christmas decorations, I would have to take them down and clean them up. And frankly it just hadn't seemed worth the effort.

Then my hometeachers came over with this:

Okay, so this is a Google image. In reality the plastic pot is silver and the tree is not as well-shaped. But it is about that height (32ish inches) and fiber optic, which you can't really see in the picture either. There are strands that change colors.

I really didn't want a Christmas tree. But Sister Hometeacher busied herself setting it up and fluffing it just so. I couldn't exactly tell her to stop and take back her well-meaning gift just so I wouldn't have to deal with it in a week.

So I acquiesced, said my thank-yous, and tried to look on the positive side: at least it didn't require any ornaments or further decoration!

And then the magic happened. I plugged it in near my bookshelf and as I sat typing on my computer I could see the lights out of the corner of my eye. It brought a little bit of Christmas magic into my heart. It felt nice.

Since I am a conscientious person who never ... rarely...  only sometimes leaves electrical appliances plugged in overnight, I unplugged the tree before going to bed.

And I woke up to this:

Did I say I was the only person who makes a mess around here?  It looks to me like the perfect Christmas tree wall-hanging! I don't know how he managed to get it so perfectly flat. Its like he not only sat on it, but also walked across every branch and rolled back and forth to get them all to lay down in a nice triangle with the berries on the sides.

Have I introduced you to Tobe yet?  No? No worries. Although my Scaredy-Cat doesn't pose well for pictures, I've caught him on camera a few times.

T   O   B   E

 

 

Height: mid-calf when rubbing a human leg for attention; knee-high when scratching
Weight: 12 lbs
Sex: Male
Coloring: Torbie (tortoise shell & tabby)
Breed: Manx
Age: a young and feisty 5
Nicknames: October, Goober, Goon, Bug, Tober, Goose

Likes:

• sniffing women's hair
• pulling hair elastics out of ponytails
• chasing hair elastics (note: supplies can be replenished by sweeping under the fridge and oven every 30-60 days)
• drinking from a squirt bottle
• biting bare ankles
• moving the shower drain cover and reaching his arm in to pull up all kinds of nasty hair and gunk!
• chasing bobby-pins
• string, ribbons, fluttery things
• howling at the door
• opening cupboards and hiding under the sink
• paper bags and cardboard boxes
• the printer ribbon!
• long, frequent naps
• sitting squarely on top of any book I am trying to read... and sometimes the computer keyboard

Dislikes:

• being able to see the bottom of his food bowl (even if it has plenty of food and only a spot in the center is visible)
• toys not attached to string, ribbon or fluttery things
• toys actually meant for cats (prefers all manner of packing supplies and women's hair accessories)
• not having my full attention before anything else happens when I arrive home or wake up
• belly rubs that last beyond 1 rub
• baths
• car travel

Fears:

• men
• strangers
• children

I am guilty of occasionally tying ribbons around him and watching him try to get out of them, but this he did all on his own.

"Cat in a Box"--  any box, any where, any time. Paper bags too.

This is the pose I call the "Venus Cat Trap." He purrs, rolls on his back, looks at you with his big, 'please-love-me' eyes and lures you in for a nice tummy rub. The rules are of this game are deduced only through experience: rub the tummy once and immediately remove hand before it becomes bloodied hamburger meat! 

Merry Christmas Eve to all and to all, a good night!
-Duffy