Our house is filled with pet toys. There are tennis balls and stuffed toys like the raccoon Mom got Missy when she was a baby. The biggest surprise is that she still has that toy and likes to take naps with it. She has a number of types of chew toys and even partially chewed bones. Mom does pick those up, but that is usually after she steps on them while barefoot on her way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know that has happened when I hear her yell.

Neither Sophia nor I have ever paid much attention to any of the toys. I don’t even play with the things I push off the end tables. I just like to hear the sound they make when they hit the hardwood floor. Mom said I didn’t know how to be a kitten when I was a baby. I don’t think old Fred, the dog knew how to teach me to play. He did have one large rope knot that he liked, but other than telling me he had chased a ball or two when he was younger, toys just weren’t part of his life.

Lately, however, I have decided that batting those plastic balls with the bells inside, is actually great sport. I can bat them from the kitchen to the living room and back again. I know Mom doesn’t really like it if I leave them in the long hallway. She usually yells about twisting an ankle when she steps on them. When that happens, I just pick them up in my mouth to carry to another room. If I take them to the bedroom, they all seem to end up under the furniture when my arm isn’t long enough to get them back. If I sit staring at the dresser or wardrobe long enough, Mom will get the broom to clean them out of hiding. That way I can start all over again. Mom has asked me if I’m having a second childhood. I don’t know how to answer that. I think if I’m having fun now, then it is the right time to do it.

In my younger days I liked to climb the Christmas tree as soon as Mom set it up. Some years I delighted in knocking all of the pretty balls to the floor. At first they would shatter on the floor, but later Mom switched those for plainer ones that I’m sure were plastic. There was also the year that she hung red satin balls. They weren’t plastic and they didn’t shatter. They did, however, come unwrapped as I batted them around the living room. There was a stream of red string wrapped around everything. She didn’t hang them on the tree again. This year, Mom used lights, ribbon, and a few bows. I like to sleep under the tree, but I just haven’t had the energy to climb it. Mom says that because I’m still here, I truly am a Christmas present. That makes me feel as loved as when I get to rest on her shoulder. I know I have cancer, which is not good, but I am loved. That is a present for me as well.

Mom just informed me that we will be off-line from now until after the new year starts. She said she wants to bake some cookies and watch more sappy Christmas movies. I won’t really object to either since it means I get to steal some of the dough and then snuggle with her while she sits on the loveseat. I am a much better companion for that then Missy the dog. She just leaves puffs of fur behind.

So, if we haven’t said it before, we wish you all a very Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year. May all of your dreams come true.