fun, frisky felines: "do they know it's christmas time?" edition

This year was the kitties' first Christmas with us. It was Gracie's first Christmas ever, but Nicky was 6 months old when we got him in January '07 (the one year anniversary of Nicky's adoption will be the subject of an upcoming FFF) and I'm not sure what his real first Christmas was like in the West Virginia shelter he resided in.

Jesse and I don't get a tree, which is normally a sad thing for me but a good thing this year because of the kitties. They love to climb, so a tree would've been lots of fun for them to climb and not so much fun for me to get them out of there and out of harm's way. In the absence of a tree, I usually string up Christmas lights all over the place (thank God electricity is part of the condo fee), but this year, because of the kitties, I didn't. Gracie loves to put all sorts of things in her mouth (like wood, paper, and plastic) so she certainly would've been tempted to bite on a light bulb.

So the kitties' Christmas experience consisted of not knowing what to make of the stockings I hung, getting into all sorts of trouble while I was wrapping gifts, and lying down on my USC Trojans Santa hat (yes, such an item exists).

I did a lot of online shopping for gifts this year (I stepped into a mall only once this holiday season, for which I am proud) which meant lots of boxes and shipping material. And the kitties LOVE boxes and shipping material.

Here's Nicky exploring a box.


Gracie decided to nap in it once Nicky was done.


Gracie can nap on pretty much anything. She decided to use my USC Santa hat as a pillow many times.




When I put the stockings up, Gracie didn't know what to make of them at first, but she certainly wanted a closer look.


And then she wasn't sure how to get down.


Nicky is my constant companion and is a total Beta kitty so he likes to appear 'helpful'. Playing Hide and Seek in a Macy's bag while I was trying to wrap presents wasn't very helpful though.




I have NO IDEA if they even knew it was Christmas, or if they had any idea that things were a little different for awhile. But the furbabies sure made my holidays a little brighter!