Three Cats and a Rottweiler!

Well Friends,

It's Christmas Eve! One of my favourite nights of the year. In my family it was always the night that the whole extended family came over - including any good friends that my brother and I wanted to invite. We would also open ALL of our gifts on Christmas Eve so that Christmas morning was a time of sleeping in and doing NOTHING - other than taking off to the Blackfoot Truck Stop around 2pm for brunch with the truckers. Delightfully it became known amoungst our friends as an open house night and it was always a surprise who might turn up!

As traditions are want to do....they get altered over time, and partially by the person you choose to settle down with. I'm not allowed to open all my gifts on Xmas Eve anymore - leaving me more work than I'm used to on Christmas morn....We are, however, openning our doors to The Friends again this year, as in so many years before. I'm THRILLED! I have been blessed with a "Chosen Family" ( a term some New Ager taught me) that kicks ASS! Tonight we will be ELEVEN for dinner...Most of whom are Loose Moose/ Calgary orphans, plus a few Toronto friends as well. Added to that number of Merry Makers....THREE CATS AND A ROTTWEILER!!!

I'm a little nervous....

First of all, I have terrible allergies - but I was caught up in the "spirit of Christmas" when Albert Howell's sister, Kathleen, asked if we would cat sit "Jack". I love cats, and Bruce loves them MORE....so, I thought it would be fun, so long as I remember to wash my hands every twenty minutes. Secondly....Five of our eleven guests are SLEEPING OVER tonight so we can do Christmas morning together. Fun stuff!!! This, howeve,r translated into a few phone calls that went something like, "Well, I CAN'T leave my BABY at home for Christmas, that would be SO sad."

So....here I sit, enjoying the calm before the storm. Poor Jack has already been traumatised by:
a) being dropped off at a stranger's house,
b) not being allowed to sleep in the bed with us,
c) being forced to interact with two other cats who are WAY more relaxed and at ease than he is
( the other cats( Lester and Dinah Hazelton*) made quite a show of pissing in Jack's litter box when they arrived...when he did nothing to retaliate we knew he was bound to be last man on the totem pole!)

Jack has been M.I.A. for the last hour. Considering that we are living in an open-spaced loft with few places to hide, this is an admirable feat! I can only IMAGINE what will be going through his tiny cat mind when DJ (aka Donna Jo the Rottweiler who LOVES cats and likes to lick them and take them in her mouth to show her affections) finally arrives with "Uncle Derek Flores"!!!

Until then....I'm off for a cup of SoyNog!

Merry Christmas everyone!

* I have been chastised for NOT having mentioned Lester and Dinah by name in my first draft of this Blog entry. SORRY Terra! yes...your cats are the MOST beautiful of ALL cat-babies in the whole world. Truth be told, they are pretty cool cats, but I'm trying not to play favourites. Jack seems overly sensitive. I also forgot to mention that the gang coming for dinner was also the same gang who played a heated round of "One Thing I Hate About You" at Thanksgiving dinner two years ago. Once the wine gets flowing....it could prove to be an interesting Holiday!...but I don't want to jinx it!