364 days 'til Christmas

Ahhh... Well, Christmas day is come and gone. It was another good one. The kids had fun (the important part) and got lots of goodies. Andrew made it to FL safely and Chris and Ryan are still trying out new toys and games. Nana (my Mom) came up yesterday and will be here 'til tomorrow. Jim, Petz and the kids are coming over today. Chris got a new stereo for his room. As soon as he got it set up him and Andrew had "Stereo Wars". Andrew won. He bought his own stereo a while ago and I have to admit... it BLARES! Ryan got some new play sets... Spiderman's fortress, Dinosaur Mt. and an airport to go with the train set in his room. Where will we put all the stuff he got??? I DON'T KNOW :). We also added an addition to our petting zoo... A new kitty. After both Cheryl and I sitting around saying, "When these cats are gone... NO MORE!" Well, that went right out the window. A few weeks before Christmas, Cheryl came home one day and said that she almost brought a kitten home. Well, I guess that opened the door for me, so I suggested Friday night that we get one for Christmas. So, I started calling around, found a store that had some and off we went. Cheryl, Ryan and I. Sure enuff, we came home with a little girl fur ball... Ryan named her "Santa". She's doing good. She seems to get along fine with Simon (our existing cat), but she not to sure about the dogs yet (she's getting better tho). The dogs really don't bother with her. They're used to sharing their space with the feline race, but when they come around Santa gets all defensive... Back arched, hair up, claws out and the hissing starts. It is getting less and less tho. Gwen, our other cat, passed away about 3 weeks ago. I'm sorry to say the kids didn't even notice. She wasn't a sociable cat and spent 95% of her time sleeping in the basement. The few times she did come upstairs, she would sleep on top of our entertainment center. It's really high (above even my head), so even when she was there she mostly went unnoticed. I guess with Gwen gone that gave Cheryl and I an excuse to get little Santa Claws.