Our family had a terrific Thanksgiving, full of good food, love of family, and lots of laughs. But I am going to let the really good story teller of the family handle that description. I refer you to the link, Smithbites, the food blog hosted by our daughter-in-law, Debra. Debra and our son, Rod, were the very able hosts for our Thanksgiving celebration, as you can tell from their blog.
The various families present at our Thanksgiving are owners of quite a good number of cats. Debra and Rod, alone, have five cats living at their house. Considering Thanksgiving from a cat's point of view, I don't think they are are very thankful.
In the first place, I doubt there were cats present at that first Thanksgiving held by our Pilgrim fathers. History says that there might have been one cat on those boats bringing those pilgrims across the ocean. But, as hard as that first year in America treated those pilgrims, I wonder if that first cat survived. It wasn't until the 1700's that tamed cats are mentioned again in the Americas.
I know for a fact that Debra and Rod's five cats were not too enthralled with the crowd that invaded their household. Windy took up roost in a basket, trying to look as pretty as possible while still avoiding the possibility of being stepped on. Sparky stayed out of the way in a Scrabble game box lid. Rags just hid in the basement as usual. During dinner itself, they were all locked away in their basement cat room, much to their distress. I'm sure the smell of roasted turkey was wafting down the stairs.
and old, dry food was their only Thanksgiving treat.
Accompanying this blog entry you will see our cat, Frank, waiting patiently for his share of the feast. Alas, it wasn't going to happen. Immediately after this picture taking, he was confined in "Kitty Prison" in one of our bedrooms, where he spent most of the day. This was on Friday, when our children and their families gather at our house for "Leftovers Friday." The name of the celebration pretty much explains itself. Except that granddaughters, Lydia and Avery, did finish decorating our Christmas tree, as has been the custom for a few years now.
Frank never discovered the charm of the day. When he was finally released from prison, he spent a good amount of time smelling all the shoes in the room. Since all our children are cat owners, it must have given him many thoughts to ponder.
The thoughts made him so excited that he must have forgotten that he is an OLD cat, because he attempted to climb the Christmas tree. Either it was his excitement or the fact that Lydia was attempting to take his picture at the bottom of the tree.
Why, he even hissed at Lydia! Now this is a cat of limited vocabulary. He is a very old quiet cat, living in a household with old, sort of quiet people. He has a quiet purr which he employs while being cuddled in an old person's lap. He has a funny noise he makes when he carries a stuffed animal in his mouth. It must be some kind of ancient hunter's call.....I don't know. Then he has some cuss words that he utters when he is released from some place like a closet wherein he has accidently been locked! Ohhh, he can be one grouchy cat.
Anyway, while all the humans in the family had a perfectly wonderful holiday. the cats are delighted that things are returning to normal. Normal being that they pretty much get whatever THEY want.
I forgot to mention that the Cincinnati family have a cat who has taught himself how to unlatch the window and let himself outdoors. Daughter-in-law Elaine has a video of said cat caught in the act. Randy kept wondering why Elaine would get up in the mornings while he was showering and open the window, then go back to snuggling in her warm bed. (Insert picture in your mind of one wet, towel-clad husband shivering in the breezes while wife sleeps warmly in bed.) Randy was very irritated with Elaine until they discovered that the cat was opening the window.
Anyway, the cat was left in Cincinnati under the care of a cat sitter who came in daily to check. I hope that he wasn't able to figure out the lock that they put on the window. If he did, he may have had an especially interesting Thanksgiving.
Now, one cat in the family may have had a feast worthy of mention. Cheryl and Jon have the queen of all mousers, Ditto. Ditto goes outside in the mornings, runs to the field across the road, and HUNTS! Every day they find multiple dead mice lined up on their driveway. Now there is a cat who knows how to provide a perfect cat Thanksgiving feast.
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