Freddie watched as the human made her final preparations for whatever was happening the next day.
“What is happening tomorrow?” he asked.
The human looked up from her task, then down at him. “It’s Christmas,” she said. “We’ll open the gifts that are under the tree and then we’ll have dinner with family.”
He opened his mouth, but she lifted her hand to stop him. “No one is coming here,” she clarified.
He closed his mouth.
“I’m just getting this French toast casserole ready so we can have an easy breakfast in the morning and relax.”
“Is that some kind of tuna?” he wondered.
A gentle reminder of how we do things: 🐱🐶🐦
- Do not troll the diary. If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
- Please do share pics of your fur kids! If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
- Pooties are cats; Woozles are dogs. Birds... are birds! Peeps are people.
- Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. If you’re having “issues” with another Kossack, keep it “out there.” This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
- There are some pics we never post: snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated. If we alert you to it, please remember that we do have phobic peeps who react strongly to them. If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand. Or, paw.
“No tuna,” she said, carrying the casserole dish to the refrigerator. “Just bread and eggs and milk. And sugar. Plenty of that.”
“I can’t taste sweet,” he reminded her, following her and watching as she put her strange dish away.
“I guess it’s lucky you can’t have any then,” she said, laughing. He gasped, dramatically and she rolled her eyes. “You’ll have your good wet food,” she reminded him.
The human made quick work of the dishes, then turned to look down at her cat. “We need to get to bed so Santa can come,” she said.
“That’s tonight?” he demanded, dancing from paw to paw. “You put out cookies? He likes cookies.”
She frowned at him. “Yes, cookies are out,” she said.
Later, Freddie kept watch while the human slept. He was curled up next to her, but with his head up, alert. It wasn’t too long before he heard what he was waiting for.
A distant sound of bells, followed by the sound of hooves on the roof tiles. “Ho ho ho!” came the familiar cry.
Freddie ran to the end of the bed and jumped down.
Freddie hit the bottom of the stairs just as the big man was climbing out of the fireplace. “Santa!” he cried, running directly at him and skidding to a stop in front of his boots.
“Ho ho ho!” Santa laughed, holding his belly and looking down at the excited cat. “Merry Christmas, Freddie!”
“I’m so happy to see you again!” Freddie said.
Santa crouched, more graceful than his bulk would suggest, took off one glove, and ran his bare fingers through Freddie’s fur. “I’ve missed you too,” he murmured, closing his eyes in appreciation as Freddie started to purr. “Let me do a little work, then we’ll have our treats and catch up.”
Freddie watched patiently as Santa emptied his bag and carefully placed cheerfully wrapped packages under the tree. Once he was satisfied, he turned his attention the the stockings. Peeking over his shoulder at the cat sitting on the couch he said, “close your eyes while I fill your stocking.”
Freddie stood and stretched (“Goooooooooood streeeeeeeetch,” crooned Santa), then turned his back on the big man.
A few minutes later, Freddie felt the couch move as Santa sat next to him. “Can I turn around?” he asked.
“Yes. Lets have our treats.”
Santa dug in his coat pocket and pulled out a familiar draw string bag. “Let’s see,” he said, opening it up. “Here we are.” He poured a small pile onto his palm then gently dumped them on the couch in front of Freddie.
Freddie frowned. “This doesn’t seem like as much, he complained.
Santa rubbed the spot between Freddie’s ears the way he liked. “I know,” he said. “But you’re diabetic now. We have to be careful.”
With a sigh, Freddie accepted this. “At least I still get some,” he said.
“That’s a good boy!”
The large man and the small cat ate their treats in silence for a few minutes, the sound of crunching mingling with the muffled sound of bells from the roof as the reindeer shuffled on the roof.
“Your human sure works hard on her baking,” Santa finally said, appreciative. “It shows.”
“She does like to do stuff,” Freddie agreed. He sniffed the couch cushion, hoping to find a treat he had missed. He gave the upholstery a long lick, sweeping up any crumbs that might have been left behind. Satisfied he had gotten it all, he looked up at Santa. “How come the human doesn’t know about you?” he asked.
“She does,” Santa said, licking crumbs off his thumb. “She left me cookies!”
“She doesn't think you’re real,” Freddie elaborated.
“Ah,” he said, understanding. He picked the last cookie up with his free hand, then set the empty plate on the coffee table. "Humans have trouble accepting that magic exists, so they simply don’t see it. Even when it’s all around them.”
“You left all those gifts,” Freddie pointed out.
He nodded. “Yes, but humans will think the gifts are from each other. And that’s fine. I leave the gifts anyway because they deserve magic. Even if they don’t recognize it.”
The human pushed the buttons to preheat the oven, then pulled out the casserole dish she had put in the fridge the night before. The cat rubbed up against the back of her legs, greeting her and asking for breakfast.
“You hungry?” she asked, yawning. “I’ll get your food.”
A few minutes later she set a plate of gushy food in front of him and he happily dug in. She ran her fingers through his fur, then straightened and went back to making breakfast. Once the casserole was in the oven, she quickly prepared a syringe of insulin, then sat on the couch to wait for Freddie to finish his breakfast.
He joined her on the couch a few minutes later, then set about cleaning his face. The human pointed at the tree. “Look at all those gifts,” she said. “Mom must have been hiding those somewhere!”
“Yep,” Freddie said. “That’s what happened.”
Happy Caturday, Peeps! And merry Christmas, if you celebrate! It’s finally the solstice, so the days are finally going to start getting longer, thank goodness.