Christmas

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!  Winston and I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a lovely time.  We have been so good!   But first some other stuff...

 Our Mom was very busy.  However, she did find some time to go to the park early one morning to take some photos of the hoar frost!   The little round sparkly bits are snowflakes!

 Some red berries on the branches.

 A Christmas light on the bridge.   Mom enjoyed her walk but was very, very cold by the time she finally got home.

 Our Mom had a nice Christmas.  It consisted of lots of visits and some scary driving conditions!   (Thankfully, all her journeys were safe)

 Here are some of the presents that Winston and I liked best:
A cat tree ornament.

 This mug!  Mom says it reminds her of me!  I, Emily, think that I am better looking but it's still nice to know that I am famous!  **happy purrs**

 Here is a photo of our Grandmum with her cat, Pearl!  Our Mom says Pearl is spoiled rotten.   Winston and I say is there really any other way to treat your feline!?   We forgive Mom, though, she is not feeling so well.

 Hi all!  It's Winston and his fluffy tummy!   Yes, Mom is a bit under the weather.  We blame it on coming and going and running about.   We also blame the cold.  Mom is achy and dizzy.   We told her to sleep.  She insists on staying busy, though.

 This handsome orange boy is  Tiggy!  Tiggy belongs to our Mom's sister.  He was posing under the Christmas tree after all the presents had been opened!

 Emily and I need to take another nap so we will close for now.   We hope every feline stays warm, well-fed and adequately cuddled!

Twinkle lights and felines

 Hello Felines.  Winston here.  It's getting close.  This day called Christmas is less than a week away.  I would gently like to point out that in this photo I am stoically admiring the tree from a safe distance!   If you looked very hard, perhaps you could make out a tiny halo?    (Stop laughing,  Mom!)

 Are your people very busy?   Mine is, too!   She says she loves the lights and the music this time of year.  Only everything happens in such a whirlwind.   This morning photo is on her walk to work last week.   It was very cold but beautiful!

 Mom went to visit some friends after work on Saturday.   They had done something a bit different this year with their Christmas tree.  The above photo is a bokeh of all the lights gently falling from the ceiling down to

 the Nativity scene.   Mom has some very creative friends.   Her friend's hubby, played some piano music, including one of Mom's favourites: The Christmas Eve Waltz/The First Noel arrangement by David Lanz.
Mom says it is so beautiful, this musical arrangement, that her heart feels both happy and sad.   I will put a link here to a youtube video where someone plays this song:

https://youtu.be/oy0VjOqhbks

Mom doesn't know how to include the video in the blog but, if you want, you can copy and paste the above link into the  YouTube search bar.

I am a little worried.  Neither Emily or I have seen Mom come back from an outing with anything resembling a gift for us!  She said the vet's office no longer has the toy she was hoping to purchase!  Now what!!  This cheeky black and white kitty lives at the vet's office.  His name is Bogart and he gets into all sorts of mischief.

 Hello now from Emily.  Winston and I are trying to be extra affectionate.  Winston likes to wake Mom up by licking her face.  Now she has 3 alarm clocks instead of the 2!  Also, I, Emily help Mom with her yoga stretches.  The is a fuzzy photo of me getting in the way  helping Mom do her stretches! How much better can we possibly be?!

 Another photo from an early morning walk.  It was frosty and a bit foggy.  The sun was just starting to come out so everything was a bit gold!

 Mom says she hasn't had time to read a good book in a while.  When she sits down to read she ends up falling asleep!

One of Mom's co-workers made this construction paper tree for Mom's finger puppets: Charlie Brown and Snoopy.  The Ballerina hippo is a completely different story!

A Whirlwind of Festive Events

 Hello.   Winston sending greetings to all felines!   We hope you are well.  Emily and I are having our schedules disrupted by Mom's festive activities!   It's a good thing we are all so patient.
In the last few days, she has celebrated two birthdays, gone to a Christmas market, went shopping, toured a Nativity play and then crashed on the couch.

 Mom loves the annual Christmas Market.  She thinks this year's tree is beautiful.   The tree is tall and draped with white lights.

 Mom's mission was to find some ornaments for her tree.  The troll figurines made her smile...but she did not buy them!

  Mom also went to a local church that was putting on a Nativity journey.  Mom said it was lovely.  She could tell that the church put a lot of work into it.  At the end of the "play", there was cookies and hot chocolate AND a drive in this horse-drawn wagon.  The two horses were so big and gentle.

 Hi everyone.  It's snuggly Emily.   This is not the best photo of me cuddling with Mom.  The best photo of me cuddling with Mom shows Mom's Christmas candy cane socks.  Mom felt shy about posting that photo.  (Silly Mom!)

   The lights make Mom's heart happy.

 Earlier today Mom helped another friend (there were 2 this weekend) celebrate a birthday.  Mom and the friend went to a bakery and ordered tea and split an apple danish.  Mom said the tea was wonderful-an aromatic chai!

A Mysterious Morning Walk

 Good morning all.   It's Winston and I'm wearing my grouchy face.   I have been told that my feline breath is a tiny bit   *stinky*!   I'm so embarassed!

 I tried to help Emily with a little grooming and she said , "Eww, no!"   Honestly, what feline do you know that has minty fresh breath!
Mom worked Saturday and had Sunday off.   It was very foggy on Sunday.  So Mom grabbed her camera and went for a walk in the park.

 She said it was eerie.   Everything was shrouded in secrets.  Even the sound was muffled.   All she could hear was the occasional drop of water falling from the branches.  Sometimes a tiny bird chirping.

 Then the sun started to break through the mist.   A soft, gold glow suffused the air

 A small grove of trees...

 Mom said she heard a tiny, metallic chip and saw this inquisitive female cardinal!  Mom loves cardinals.

 Hi everyone!   It's true that I made Winston grumpy.  Mom says that perhaps when he gets his dental cleaning in the new year things might improve!

 Here is a selfie of Mom! Haha!  Tiny little Moms in the Christmas decorations.

 When Mom's walk was over she stopped at a cafe for a gingerbread latte.  She never had one before and she said it tasted lovely.
Are your humans starting to watch Christmas movies yet?  Mom says one of her new favorites is "The Nine Lives of Christmas" produced by the Hallmark Channel.  We are curious to hear what your favorite seasonal show might be

Quick Question--

Hello everyone,
I'm asking on behalf of a friend.  Her eldery is incontient and K was wondering if she should get Choloe a cat diaper.  Has anyone out there ever heard, or made use, of such a thing?
Chloe is otherwise eating.  Gaining weight.  Loves chin scritches.
K was just looking for some advice and I'm not sure what to tell her.
Thank you.

Winston the Good and Emily the Virtuous -Feline Elves

 Hello.  It's Emily.   I'm resting up after another busy, but fun, weekend.  On Saturday we had company!  Our Mom's mom and sister came to help her decorate her tiny Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  They did the usual, traditional things first, though.  They went out to breakfast.  Then they went shopping.  Finally, they came back to our apartment to decorate our tree.   Under our supervision they trimmed the tree!

 Doesn't it look nice and sparkly?  See that it is still standing upright!

 After all their hard work we allowed them some Christmas goodies.  There were squares, muffins, donuts and chocolates. (There was also some fruit but we think that is boring!)

 Guess what?  The tree hasn't been knocked down yet, either.

 After Mom's guests went home she came across another string of Christmas lights.  So now the tree has even more twinkly lights on it.  This is not a photo of us about to have a game of smacky paws.  We were debating whether Mom should have added more lights after her guests had gone home.  

 If Emily gets to wear a ridiculous hat then so do I!  Both Emily and I have been extra cuddly the past few weeks.  Mom says it warms her heart.  Miss Emily is even letting Mom groom her when the need arises.

 It is cooler here but we don't have snow on the ground.  Lots of rain.  Some wet snow.  This photo is snow at night.  Mom thinks they look like little stars.

 Mom wrapped up our festive weekend by meeting a lovely friend at a cafe.  They drank tea and chatted.   Mom's friend, J, gave her this fun gift.  Mom said she laughed out loud when she saw what it was.  Personally, we don't see why.
Emily and I have started stepping up our good feline behavior.   We may have to start napping more as it requires considerably more energy.
Mom wants us to close with this encouraging image (yet again from Pinterest) to help you all start your week!