Lights? Check. Egg Nog? Check. Garland? Check. Now where did I leave that copy of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas? It's kind of a fairy tale... or is it? Normally, I'd save the sappy stuff for Christmas Eve, but I wanted to give you time to share with your own little elves the magical experience that TaTa and I had last Christmas.Now, I know, we're already sick of the commercials and catalogs by December 1st (let alone the 24th). Heck, by then I'm ready to buy a Holly Hobbie doll just to stop the voices. And by the middle of the month half of us want the holiday over with so we can just dig on cocktails at the New Year festivities. I admit it, last year I was one of you. I was adamant about one thing: What was under the tree for Noodle? End of story. This was especially true since my owners rarely, if ever, wrap their loot. Traditionally, they leave the most important gifts all sprawled out on Christmas morning. I guess it helps play into the whole, "Look kids, Santa was here!" routine. Pfft, whatever. The point is that sneaking a peek was easier than minute rice. The only problem was getting from the family room to the living room.
Stairs have never been my friend. My best bet? Go outside and get back in through the living room window. I naturally felt that TaTa should come along (to help bask in the glow of minced pies and cider). It was a struggle, but I got my buddy into a Ziploc bag, and out the window we went - with full intentions of just merrily plopping in the living room window. But the more I dragged TaTa towards gifty goodness, the more I couldn't help notice how much heavier he kept getting. A little thing called the freezing process had gotten in our way. In short, the water that had engulfed TaTa was now a block of ice.
Stairs have never been my friend. My best bet? Go outside and get back in through the living room window. I naturally felt that TaTa should come along (to help bask in the glow of minced pies and cider). It was a struggle, but I got my buddy into a Ziploc bag, and out the window we went - with full intentions of just merrily plopping in the living room window. But the more I dragged TaTa towards gifty goodness, the more I couldn't help notice how much heavier he kept getting. A little thing called the freezing process had gotten in our way. In short, the water that had engulfed TaTa was now a block of ice.
I could see his little eyeballs looking at me in panic. What had I done? I just sat there and held my frozen friend with the cold-hearted snow falling all around us. In my selfishness, I'd pretty much taken a hit out on my best boy at Christmas. I mean, come on, even The Grinch never killed anyone! Then something kinda pretty happened. That same snow I had just cursed started to blow all around us until there was a large enough hill to run up and jump in the window. In no time at all we were snuggled right in front of the fire... defrosting.
All was quiet. Everyone was asleep. The goods? They never even occured to me. I just made my way back to the family room and unwrapped my buddy from his plastic sarcophagus. As I cuddled into my wood shavings, TaTa once again digging on H2O, Johnny Mathis steadily humming in the background, it dawned on me - I guess Santa actually does wrap the most important gifts sometimes. Call me a foo-foo hamster, but I swear I heard bells out there.
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