Christmas with Chitties

Christmas is a calm enough affair with Haley. Here she is sitting in her favourite eggplant tray, watching A Miracle on 34th Street.

Yesterday I put together my Christmas tree. I've had it for more than ten years, and very little damage has ever been inflicted upon it by Sherry, Nombly or Haley. Years ago I attached fake cranberries and pine cones to it--thinking these safe from kitty paws--and I always put the least breakable decorations on the bottom, where the cats can bat at them.

But we all know this won't be enough for Evil Minion, right? As I was piecing the tree together last night, Minion walked around it in awe, saying: OF ALL THE CAT TOYS THEY'VE EVER GOTTEN ME, THIS IS THE BIGGEST ONE OF ALL! WHY IT'LL BE FIVE FEET WHEN IT'S DONE!!

She got to work straight away, chewing on the branches.  Then she sat hidden inside the fake tree's box, where some of the branches were waiting for me to put them up. And I heard this...

CRRRRUNCH! Munch munch munch. 

CRRRRUNCH!! Nom nom nom.

When I opened the box, I found her cracking the hard shell off the fake cranberries.

 

I've had to remove them all from the tree and throw them out, so she won't swallow any pieces.

A little while later I heard a KERPLUNK. She'd pulled off her first branch. There's the poor corpse lying on the floor.

This morning started off peacefully enough... just sitting under her toy.

Then a little munching, here and there.

 And finally a little climb up the tree, looking for the tastiest branches. She even arched her back, and looked back at me with Cheeky Expression.

The tree isn't even decorated yet.

The Fairy on the Christmas Tree

I got Fernando an alarm clock that lets you record your own wake-up sound. So I recorded a piece of this song on it.

Series: My Best Reads of 2010 #2

BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2010 - PUBLISHED IN 2010


Fiction #2:

Room - Emma Donoghue - Irish-Canadian author (September 2010)

About the life of a woman who's been held captive in a basement for over five years--and what saves it from being a horror story is that it's told from the point of view of her son, who's only ever known this life in Room. And tension results between them when they escape and the mother has to deal with her feelings of anger, while Jack just longs to return to Room and Rug and Table. Most pleasant surprise: Because of my Hollywood Clichés Training, I kept expecting A Big Scene to erupt during Jack's transition, but the story just carries on at an ordinary pace.

Special Relationship: The tenderness between Jack and his new step-grandfather, whom his mother hasn't yet accepted.

Did I get teary? Yes.

Further Reading: I haven't read any of these, but I'm guessing Room falls into a similar category as The Lovely Bones and Still Alice. That is, sad topics dealt with in interesting ways. But if you want a totally awful, horrifying and cheesy approach to Kidnap & Children then read Flowers in the Attic! Brrr. Disgusting and unputdownable.

Woman feels no fear

CBC STORY:

"The 44-year-old mother of three, referred to in the journal Current Biology as SM, has a rare psychological impairment due to a genetic disease called lipoid proteinosis that left holes where her amygdala — the brain’s danger detector — would normally reside.

The patient felt excitement, but never fear in a series of threatening scenarios monitored by researchers."

BEST COMMENT:

Mookie665 I'd like to hire this woman to clean out my fridge.