A Life, Lived

Cuteness Overload

Jake and Lucca having a nap.

Indoor Cats

Our two are a bit like this.

Who Me?

Cat owners will understand this immediately. Others, well, you may need to borrow a cat for a bit.

How to be a Good Cat

The Sofa

Cat owners will understand this dynamic . . .

Travel Memories in Christmas Ornaments

Jake and Lucca are not always like this:

In fact, even at four years old they view the Christmas Tree as just another extension of their world of toys. We thought that they might have grown out of it by now - all of our other cats had. Anyway, it means that the very fragile and breakable ornaments remain packed away for another year. One of these years the beautiful hand-blown Santa that I bought for Paul while we were in Poland will make an appearance on the tree.

In the meantime we make due with our non-breakable travel ornaments (and there are PLENTY of those). Here is a selection from the 2021 tree.

Norwegian straw wreath. It is traditional for Norwegians to decorate with straw that has been woven into intricate shapes and tired with red ribbon or yarn.

Tugboat from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Buoys from Stonington, Maine. Home of one of the largest lobster fishing fleets on the east coast.

We bought this unusual Santa at a Christmas market when we spent Christmas in New York. We were drawn to it because of the use of blue instead of red. Perhaps it was meant to be a Democrat Santa?

Red and white are two of the three national colours of Norway. They feature in many Norwegian Christmas ornaments. Here a handstitched felt reindeer. Interestingly, I rarely saw blue, the other national colour, used.

The Queen of England's Christmas Tree. Purchased at Buckingham Palace. Given what we paid for it the golden coloured thread might have been real gold. LOL Whatever, it is a nice, none-breakable ornament for our tree.

The famous lighthouse from Savannah, Georgia made into a Christmas ornament.

God Jul means Merry Christmas in Norwegian.

 

Advent Calendars

An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many Advent calendars, especially those that are reusable, often begin on December 1, although those that are produced for a specific year often include the last few days of November that are part of the liturgical season. The Advent calendar was first used by German Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries.

We always had an Advent calendar when my sister and I were kids and we would take turns fighting over who would get to open the door and eat the piece of chocolate behind it. It was a tradition that has really caught on in recent years and now you can find Advent calendars for almost anything.

Here are our Advent calendars this year:

I have two cheese ones. If I had purchased a wine Advent calendar life would have been perfect! :-)

The two chocolate ones are for Paul.

Of course we bought Advent calendars for the cats. We hadn't intended on buying two but you can see from the one on the right happens when I buy a package containing freeze-dried liver bits and don't hide it away immediately. I know, bad Jerry. In my defence, I had to go to the bathroom really badly. By the time I had finished washing my hands the damage was done. Of course I had to buy a replacement which might have been their Machiavellian plan all along.

The countdown is on . . . the stress is rising!

Christmas stress for cats . . .

Cat Psychology

Cat owners know this to be true!

Cat Disappointment