I did some housecleaning for Christmas guests a little while ago, and of course, as usual, I had help. I had a parakeet in his cage crooning, screeching, and chortling directions the whole time that I was sweeping the floor, and a cat doing his best to spread the dust and Christmas cheer. For a cat, dust spreading is very tiring work, especially the galloping and skidding across the floor part. He is now lying in a chair resting up for his next big performance. Christmas for him should be interesting…wrapping paper all over the floor, ribbons and bows to play with… cat toys to ignore. Life is good for a feline on Christmas morning.
For those who believe that Christmas is only for the humans in the household, don’t be surprised if your favorite pet thinks a bit differently. After all, animals have traditionally played a part in Christmas time festivities, haven’t they? Think of Rudolph and the other reindeer pulling that sleigh, complete with fat man and big bag of toys…then of course, there are the one horse, open sleighs that we sing of every year. Naturally we shouldn’t forget the turkeys and pigs that get invited to Christmas dinner each holiday season.
So if animals play such a big part in our holiday fun, is it such a wonder that the household pets become so demanding during the Christmas season? After all, they are members of the family too. They expect chew toys and catnip, but mostly they just expect to not be ignored while you are playing with all your new toys. This year for Christmas, we are doing more than just inviting family over for dinner, we have invited their pets as well. That should be interesting…with our three cats, two birds, and their cat and dog…oh yeah, we will definitely be decking the halls this year.
I draw the line at gift wrapping a rope chew toy for a dog though. That is just one of my rules. I spend enough time wrapping the gifts for the people in the family, I don’t wrap presents for the pups of the family too. They don‘t seem to mind, even though sometimes they also like to unwrap gifts. The dogs and cats and birds will just have to understand…I am not really a Scrooge, but I am at times just a hair lazy. It helps to also be a smidge crazy as well. Ah well, bah humbug, and please pass the butterfly net.
The fun part of Christmas for me, is the few moments of sheer and blissful chaos that always follow the call to battle stations, which results in everyone gathering around the center attraction; the Christmas tree, with its pile of brightly wrapped gifts. It is fun to see the lit up faces, to hear the pleased exclamations, and to watch someone immediately start to “play” with their new stuff right there on the spot. The festivities are over way too soon, but the memories do tend to stick with you for years on end. Unfortunately, so do the Christmas cookies you eat by the bucket loads at the umpteen million parties you have attended from the first of December on. If you peer into the empty cookie jar and wonder where they went, just look behind you. They haven’t gone far, but have left a forwarding address.
So, if the chaos of gift-opening and family togetherness is enjoyable to us, why not let the animals enjoy some of it too? My cats always get the wrapping papers and ribbons to play in for at least an hour or so before it all gets cleaned up and thrown away. Of course there are always one or two infidels in the house who insist on trying to clean the stuff up as each gift is opened. With these people around, wrapping paper never actually hits the floor. I am something of an infidel as well, as I tend to want to save and re-use wrapping paper if it is not too badly damaged. People see me coming with that intent in my eye, and they start ripping and shredding paper like politicians.
I am also the camera freak of my family. If a picture happens it will contain every member of the family except for me. I always get inserted into said photo later, thanks to digital technology. This is not a major problem except there is always at least one family member who insists that I send all the photos to him or her via email, an occasion which always requires a patient heart on my part and at least three uninterrupted years on the internet to accomplish. For this reason I have adopted the habit of IM photo transfer. Now if I can just get the photo recipient online at the same time I am…
The pets of the household have learned over the years to become cleverly camera shy. They don’t like the flash going off in their eyeballs, so they always pose so adorably, stare straight at the camera like born models, and then, with precision timing, they always turn their heads away at the very second that I click the shutter. They have perfected it like an art. No amount of finger-snapping, tongue clicking, name calling, or whistling will persuade that cat to look at the camera again. Occasionally, however, I can fool them into looking somewhere near the direction of the flash, usually by having someone stand behind me dancing around like an idiot. Idiocy in humans is a point of never-ending fascination for cats. They can stare at one for hours. Oh well, as long as I get my picture, it is worth it for whomever is standing behind me doing the goofy happy dance while playing the castanets. Well, it is worth it to me, at least.
So, please do yourselves a favor, invite your fuzzy, feathered, drooling or bone chewing friend to the party this year. You won’t be sorry, I guarantee it, as it is just as much fun to watch Christmas in the eyes of a beloved pet as it is in the eyes of a child. Enjoy, and have yourselves a catty little Christmas…..okay, a doggy one too. God bless us, one and all.
