Christmas Eve

All afternoon, delicious smells were coming from the kitchen and extra activity swirled in the air. As soon as it was dark, that magical bell rang throughout the house and more visitors arrived at the door. This time it was Uncle Jeffy-Do-Do, Auntie Octavia, and Miss Tiffany. They came for Christmas Eve dinner and ate in the dining room, a place I am still not allowed to go, so I just stayed in the warm kitchen with my playpen fence tucked around my big bed for most of the night, sleeping.
Guess what! Auntie Octavia brought me a present. It is a little stuffed fat man in a red velvet suit with lots of curly white hair that feels funny in my mouth. I like it very much and plan to rip it to shreds by tomorrow morning. I gave her a present in return, a little box that I had helped wrap that looked pretty nice if you look past the bite marks on the corners.
If dogs had signs indicating where they could find food and shelter there would be a such a sign over Auntie Octavia’s head, reminiscent of the carved hobo signs during The Great Depression. I think there was one for Kind-Hearted –Woman, and that would be appropriate. She catches all the neighborhood stray cats with her bare hand and takes them to the vet, no matter how nasty their disposition, clawing, hissing and screaming, to have their ills tended and their wounds mended. She sets them free again when they get home, but when it rains they all end up together on her porch to weather the storms, even if they are sworn feline enemies. Of all the available houses on that modest little street, for some mysterious reason the Rottweiler with a broken leg that had been hit and tossed by a runaway car finds it’s way into her backyard. Even though it is in great pain, poor guy, somehow the dog allows her to read his collar and notify his People. His Man came right away and drooled and slobbered and cried in the driveway, filled to overflowing with such gratitude that his beloved dog been found alive. Auntie Octavia really likes animals, and the animals really like her back.

Unfortunately, the only down side to the evening was that I peed on the floor again in the foyer. I’m doing so well with the house training, but there is just something about meeting new people that sends me over the edge. I don’t know why, and it really bothers me. I was so excited to greet my new friends, but I am still so little I ended up sleeping through the entire fancy dinner and didn’t get to play with them very much, so I don’t even know what the big deal was anyway.