Christmas with cats by Lindsay Littleson

My house is looking as twinkly and festive as a cat owner’s house can look.

Tinsel and lights are trailing from the Christmas tree and it’s looking decidedly bedraggled since Roo decided it was an excellent vantage point from which to spy on the birds in the garden. She’s completely deaf, so bells and other noise makers are of no particular interest, but if any glittery object moves when touched, heaven help it.

All my carefully wrapped presents are either squashed, because Roo has chosen to sit on them instead of on her favourite cushion, or have rips in the paper because she took a fancy to the sparkly ribbon and then moved in for the kill. As for the tree baubles…they were doomed from the start. Several are now gathering dust under the radiator and I’m bound to come across one under the couch when I’m doing a proper spring clean, which, to be perfectly honest, may not happen in spring. It may not happen for for a long, long time. I’ve got reading, writing and school work to do!

But annoying as Roo’s behaviour can be, I wouldn’t be without a cat in the house. Earlier this year my much loved cat Dolly died at the vets of liver failure and I still miss her furry, laid back presence. Dolly was no trouble at all at Christmas time. She just did the cat equivalent of a bored eye roll and ignored it all. Unsurprisingly, she had very little time for Roo, and tended to keep out of her way. Roo, on the other hand, adored Dolly and was always trying to impress her with her squirrel chasing prowess and ball rolling tricks.

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Dolly

We all miss Dolly badly. The mouse corpses she used to leave on the kitchen floor, not so much.

Roo is only three and hopefully will be around to wreck the house at Christmas for many more years. She was a very cute kitten and has grown into a beautiful, attention seeking cat. She likes to keep me company when I’m writing, as you can see in the photo below.