The title above is the song we cats like to sing around Christmas -- there is a human song called "O Christmas Tree" and we used that tune but we made up our own words. From what I hear, the last time there was a Christmas Tree around this place was when the old gray tabby and Black Spooky were the only cats here and, even then, most of the ornaments got removed. (Moi? they would ask). We are sure jealous of cats who get Christmas trees in their houses!!

Yesterday JJ went and rode her blu bicicletta with her friend, MC who is Nikita's Dad (remember Nikita? Tita's sister? The scarediest of scaredy cats in the whole wide world?). JJ says that MC has an argento bicicletta -- actually JJ said silver but WE, the amazing multilingual cats who favor speaking Italian, translated it for her so that now she can say it properly. Well, write it properly. None of us has figured out how to say it yet.

JJ says that on New Year's Day she and MC and some other folks from the Peaceniks Riders are going to go and ride with Polar Bears!!! I am a little worried about that because don't Polar Bears eat human beings? I would hate for JJ to get eaten and for us to have to go to the Orphaned Cats Home -- hmmmmm, I think that is called animal control and... well, cats just don't last too long once they get there -- what, what Tita? Oh, thank goodness, Tita says that she heard that "Where there's a Will there's a Way" and that means KJ is going to make sure we are o.k. if a Polar Bear eats JJ -- or some other terrible thing befalls her -- like, like, the next time she goes off with Molly and Julie they zipline right smack into a big tree!! (oh, oh, I'm having an anxiety attack. i don't like to think about something happening to jj, o.k. breath deep, breath deeeeepppp. i'm calming down now. kitty yoga.)

Thank God for Cat Yoga!! Jinx(sh) taught it to us. Jinx(sh) sure is wise for just being 2 years old. Jinx(sh) still does not feel good. She is a little better but she is not herself. When we listen to our wise selves, we know that we should enjoy Jinx(sh) as much as we can because we cannot know how long she will be here with us in body. Of course, she will always be with us in spirit.

Which brings me back to Nikita!! We were talking to her today, yes via cat telepathy, I have told ya'll a million times that we can do that!! Nikita says that sometimes now, she is so brave that she rides in a basket!!! She saw her brother Alex get in the basket and get carried all over the house and thought, well, heck, I should try it. The first time, she said it was really scary but she said it made the humans feel so special that she just had to do it again and again until she got to where she likes it!! Nikita will never cease to amaze us.

O.K. Tita says I should say Adios (hey that's not Italian, Tita -- what, what Water in the Chocolate). Oh, that Tita is nuts. See you all later. I'm off.

Oregano (the great, in case you have forgotten)

I guess I have been the cat voted "most likely to wear a Santa hat" in our household. I think I have the merriest disposition -- truthfully, even merrier than JJ sometimes!

JJ does not like Christmas too much. We wish she would put up a Christmas tree so that we could play in it. There are some cats up in Canada who get to put up and destroy a Christmas tree EVERY YEAR! You can see them here:
http://www.fluffytails.ca/christmas.asp

Anyway, JJ says that everyone is getting ME for Christmas!! I think she means all the Christmas present money went to paying my vet bill :-)! I don't think anyone minds, though, even the college girls, Molly and Julie who usually get a bill or two from JJ at Christmas. If I want to get all sappy about it, I could say that I got my LIFE for Christmas.

Did ya'll know that JJ is keeping ALL of us???? That is another big Christmas present. Tita is so happy she is flopping all over the place. She runs up on the bed next to JJ and, when JJ pets her, she FLOPS, then she will be climbing on the cat tree downstairs and JJ speaks to her and she FLOPS! That's why "we call her the FLOPPER". Anyway, because Jinx(sh) has a virus that could be contagious, none of us kitties can go to other homes so we are all going to stay HERE!! I've got to tell you, we would MUCH rather have a virus and stay here than NOT have a virus and go live somewhere else!!

Oh, and JJ got some plants put in her mouth! She stayed home with us for two days after the plants were put in. Now we are waiting to see if she will speak flowers or leaves or berries!!

Have we told ya'll that JJ also has a blu bicicletta? Yep. She was off riding it today. It gets dirtier than the rosso bicicletta. We don't know why. Yesterday she was off with the rosso bicicletta then today with the blu bicicletta. If we get any more biciclettas around this house, come spring, we will never see JJ at all!

JJ said she left the rosso bicicletta at her favorite bike shop -- Mock Orange Bikes in Winston-Salem's west end. She just LOVES the folks at Mock Orange because they help her out a lot. Yesterday, they lent Molly (second-cousin) who was visiting from Chapel Hill and Orbea (JJ acted like this was something special but we wonder why there are no bikes called BIG TUNA or WHITEFISH).

So, JJ and Molly got to ride around town. JJ wishes Molly would move here so they could do lots of stuff together. We wish she would, too, because she pets us a lot. She likes that little rat dog Cheewawa, too. (We are mad at the Cheewawa because she has been chasing us all over the house.) JJ says Molly probably has more interesting places to choose to live that Winston-Salem. Oh well.

Sometimes, when JJ comes home from riding those biciclettas or from something she calls "working out" (does that mean she is doing her job outdoors?) she gets really cold blue things out of the refrigerator and puts them under her leg. She says it has something to do with getting old. Well, I'm not sitting on anything cold when I am old, I will be laying in the sunshine and sleeping!!! At my age, I just don't get enough sleep -- Jinx(sh) says 22 hours a day is a good amount and I don't think I am sleeping but about 21.

Jinx(sh)e still doesn't feel too good :-( but she was playing a little on the stairs today.

All of our food bowls got washed today -- hooray!! We love anything that has to do with our food bowls. Did we I tell you that Melody eats on top of the refrigerator now? What is WRONG with her! Do they have medicine for cat anxiety -- or to make her stop being ornery? Probably not. We just try to stay out of her way.

Peace. Tita