Package open! – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
We’ve posted this over on the Secret Paws 2015 web site where you can see and share in all the excitement that came with sending and receiving our Secret Paws packages! Thank you, Truffle and Brulee for hosting this year’s Secret Paws gift exchange!
So, we received our Secret Paws package days upon days ago and after careful consideration, thought, “Sure! Let’s let them open it!” Ever the polite boy, Quint let Tessa pull everything out of the box.
There was pretty, pretty wrapping paper and sniffing and interest…
Tessa bogarting the wrapped gifts – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
… and then Tessa horned in, pulled out all the gifts from inside the box, and settled in for a long winter’s smell-fest or something.
Tessa goes in for the kill – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
But then, without hesitation, she went in for the kill! Teeth were flashing. There was biting and witnesses described the scene as, “Attack-like,” and “Horrifyingly crinkly!” One went as far as to say, “Whoa!”
And Mom swiftly stepped in to rescue the gifts from the Jaws of Death, also known as Tessa who cares not that Santa’s helpers might be watching and reporting back to the big man himself on who is naughty and who is nice.
Clearly, this called for a brief intermission. One that lasted for over a week!
Thank you for all the wonderful cards! – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Oh look! Pretty holiday cards! So many beautiful cards, we decided to move them from the mantel where that pesky snowy owl threatened to un-décor our décor, to the buffet where we think they look that much prettier. For those keeping score, the cats received 34 cards. The humans got 1, as should be expected.
Last night, on Christmas Eve, the Secret Paws package excitement resumed.
Ruby picks up where Tessa left off – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Since Ruby prefers to stay in her room all the time and often misses out on things, we let her unwrap most of the gifts. As if on cue, she picked up where Tessa left off. So many good whiffs! So many good rips and tears!
Viola checks out the gifts – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Everyone had one two things on their minds to request for Christmas: Greenies and mousies. And guess what? They got Greenie Treats and mousies! Lots of mousies! LOTS and LOTS of mousies! It’s like, mousie world around here! Brown mousies, gray mousies, mousies with feathers on their tails!
Viola sees her favorite – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
And when Viola saw those mousies with feathers on their tails, she made up her mind right then and there she didn’t want anything else.
Looking at ingredient list – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Viola checking the feather-tailed mousie ingredient list. Or maybe she was looking to see if her name, and her name alone, might be somewhere on the package. “Please tell me it reads, For Viola Cole only!”
Miss Newton surveys the goods – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Miss Newton proclaimed the Greenie Treats and mousie gifts the best ever. And while doing so, Viola sure kept an eye out to make sure Miss Newton didn’t get any funny ideas about HER feather-tailed mousies!
“I dunno,” she said. “Is it just me, or does the adorable kitty on this card look like he’s reaching for my feather-tailed mousies?”
Miss Newton reads the card – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
… which prompted Miss Newton to say, “Hey! Didn’t anyone read the card? All these great things are from… Ducky! Oh, I love that Mancat Ducky! He’s a ginger too, you know. So suave, so handsome!”
Viola worried for a moment that maybe suave Ducky might want his feather-tailed mousies back, especially if he found out she liked them so much. “Maybe I just ought to keep close to those mousies, just in case anyone else decides to take off with them,” she said.
Olivia might like the feather mice too – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
So when Olivia pawed and sniffed her way through the Greenies (“Yums!” she said) and all those wonderful mousies, Viola’s sharp eyes made sure Olivia kept her nose away from her feather-tailed mousies.
“That’s right, panther sister, sniff those mousies. Sniff ’em good. But I’m watching where your sniffer is at and these here mousies aren’t the mousies you’re looking for.”
Pia and Viola showdown over feather mice – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
It was a little different story with sister Pia, who loves mousies with feathered tails, even though she had never seen feather-tailed mousies before. What we had here was the classic stare-down, a master starer and the young apprentice starer. Your guess as to who won. It’s safe to say multiple girls LOVE the mousies, especially the feather-tailed variety.
Grumpy Tessa – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Back to Tessa, who more than likely was creating havoc elsewhere during all this excitement, came to the party late, and though thoroughly loving the Greenies (“More PLEASE!” she insisted), was not terribly happy that she alone was not allowed to open the Secret Paws gifts.
And so, she sat off to the side and was grumpy. To which we added, “When isn’t she?”
Patrol Sergeant Zuzu’s papers – 2015 © Colehauscats.com
Even though paper was flying and gifts were being sniffed, crunched, batted, and battled over, Patrol Sergeant Zuzu was in patrol sergeant heaven! She liked the Greenie treats and approved of the mousie hoard, but it was the wrapping paper that caught and held her attention. She pulled the beautiful paper bits together into a pile and sat surrounded by it for hours.
“Papers, please,” she requested with a smug look on her face. How could we refuse to give her what she wanted the most?
Thank you so much, Ducky and Mom Janet, for participating in Secret Paws and sending us the best, most wonderful things everyone here wished for. Kisses and hugs, squinty eyes and soft purrs to you and Ducky!
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day and a great weekend!
