Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Bryan, Danielle and Morgan visited in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We exchanged presents and caught up with each other's lives. Morgan is such a little man. Danielle & Bryan gave us Morgan's picture in a frame--he is so cute. We visited the horses, who were a little overwhelming to Morgan.

In the evening, after Bryan and Danielle left, the rest of us fixed pizza, had dinner, and opened what turned out to be a mountain of presents for the kids--Jennifer and Amanda.

The evening ended around nine o'clock.

On Christmas Day, Mom and I opened stocking stuffers that Dennis somehow sneaked into our stockings. People started showing up around 11 o'clock. We will be having dinner early, around 2 p.m.. It will be an abbreviated traditional pasta dinner. We'll have meatballs, but not the spread we used to have. None of us eats that much anymore. We will even have a carload of cookies left over. Early this morning I made canoli cream which we will have with last year's canoli shells. Turned out we had canoli shells, pignolada, and the fixings for canoli (chocolate bits, chocolate shavings, and chopped almonds) in the freezer from last year. Yea.

Cats

We kept the wild kitten, Little Bug (or Slasher) inside the cat house for 3 days, with Dennis catching him with a towel and holding him wrapped up in it while I cooed to him and petted his little head. In the meantime, all the other cats were locked in, too. That's when we noticed that Bob-B's eye was ulcerated. He had been bitten by a snake many years ago and the vet removed the dead skin on this head, pulled up the skin and sewed what was left. Afterward, Bob-B's eye was slanted and looked open all the time. The vet said his inner lid would protect the eye. I guess it did for a long while, but now he has to have the eye removed. It's either that or euthanize him. Bob-B is best friends with Peaches, another old cat, and takes care of her. Also, it's Christmas, so Bob-B lives.

As for Slasher, we took him to the vet to be neutered (turns out he is a boy), get shots, and have his nails clipped. When I called to check on him and Bob-B (both were fine), they said Slasher was "sweet." I think there may have been a mixup. Anyway, they estimated his age at 8-10 weeks. Poor little kitty. If he turns out to be sweet, as they say, I guess we'll keep him.

Getting Better...Slightly

Dennis caught Little Bug two more times and held him in a towel while I carefully petted the top of his head and talked soothingly to him. He is still not happy, but maybe not so frantic.

Mad Cat

Dennis came home from skiing last night and this morning he caught the kitten, Little Bug, who we have renamed "Slasher." Oh, he was not happy. I got a big towel and we carefully cuddled the cat in it, but he was growling and trying to bite and slash with his nails. I hope he can be tamed, but I'm not at all sure. Meanwhile, I bandaged Dennis's fingers.

Cat Cam

When Geno (who works for us) was staying in the guest house last week, he installed a "cat cam" in the cat house. I couldn't get it to work for the longest time, but tonight I was able to see the cats in the cat room. Pretty cool. Ivan is very restless, walking around and around. I think he wants to go out and hunt. I've been keeping all the cats inside so the new kitten gets used to the place.

Craft Room

I really wanted to have the Craft Room finished by Christmas, but I think it will take some time to put away all the beads. I worked on it again today and distributed everything that was tools, jewelry, glass and miscellaneous. Now all I have to put away are the beads. I am extremely tired.

Most Exciting Thing First!

Little Bug

I'm so excited I want to say the last thing first. Tonight all the cats came in the cat house, even Ivan who has been missing for 4 days. So I set up the Have-a-Heart trap for the kitten, Little Bug, and caught him! I picked up the trap and put it in the cat house and let him go in there. Now he's in with his friends and has all the food and water he wants. So, so exciting!

Around 7:30 a.m., I went back up to the Craft Room and cleaned all the glass in the 3 new glass cabinets we bought. Then I picked up Mom so we could get our hair done as planned. Poor Mom had her hair done and then had to wait for me another couple of hours. Too much hair!

When we got back, I left Mom off. I thing she was tired. I was tired, too, so I did a little reading and fell asleep for an hour. Then, back to the Craft Room to put away some of my beads, etc. I think I may be able to get it all done in the next day or so.

Tonight when Dennis called I was working he Google 100th Anniversary Crossword Puzzle that was in the Google banner. Dennis helped me finish it.