Things About Christmas That Are Great Vol. 2

So, Hubby thinks I'm a bit strange with all of my Christmas decorations. When we first met, he was quite the grinch, but he's warmed up a lot since then. He still thinks my level of Christmas decorating is a bit absurd though. What can I say? They give me the warm fuzzies. Thing is, I never full understood my own fervor for Christmas decorations until very recently.

You see, just about every decoration and ornament either has a memory attached to it, or suits my (now our) personality in some way. Let's take a walk down Christmas memory lane, shall we?

These two ornaments I just bought 3 days ago. I like the piggies on the motorcycle ornament because the motorcycle looks exactly like Hubby's. I don't like it, though, because I do not ride on the back of Hubby's bike. I ride my own. More on that in another post. Anyway, I like the beer one too even though I do not like beer myself. It's the thought of it that counts. It's also punny.

These two ornaments I got last year. I got the polar bear because Hubby is a polar bear. Seriously, the amount of body heat he emits is astounding. I get home from work and I'm freezing cold. All I have to do is crawl into bed and cuddle with him, and I'm toasty within about a minute. The heart one I got because it was our first Christmas together as a married couple. So now, when I pull this out every year, I get to think about that Christmas. :)

This one my mom got me 2 Christmases ago. Love it. To say that I'm a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean universe is an understatement. It even talks although it says generic pirate things instead of actual Captain Jack Sparrow quotes.

I've already told you about how much my Grandma loved Christmas. One of my aunts gave these to everyone in our family two Christmases ago. I couldn't make it to the family Christmas dinner that year, so my mom gave me mine on Christmas Eve, about 2 hours after Hubby had proposed to me. I lost it. It was kind of a little reminder that she was there for that moment even though we couldn't see her.

Since I'm going in reverse chronological order, next would be the tree as a whole. I already told you I got it on the cheap because I worked at Target, but the reason I had to get a tree that year is because I left the pole to my previous tree in the shed at the house I lived in before. We even snuck over to that house to try and retrieve the pole, but the shed was locked. Woops. So anyway, it's not the highest quality tree ever, but it's the first one I ever bought. All previous trees were inherited from my mother.

The fireplace is brand spankin new for us, so that's not where the memory is. It's the green garland with the white lights intertwined in it. My mom came up to visit my junior year of college which was the first year I lived off campus and therefore the first year I could really decorate for Christmas. We bought all the makings of this garland for like 10 bucks total from The Dollar Tree and I've found some way to use it every year since.

Yep. This is a University of Tennessee ornament. Back in my days of junior high and early high school, I was fairly determined to go to UT for college. Unfortunately, as that day got closer, reality set in and there was no way I could afford the out of state tuition. Anyway, this ornament was a gift from my mom because she was always supportive of my goals.

As previously stated, my mom and I would occasionally make our own ornaments. I remember doing this a couple of times, but these are the only ones that are still surviving. So every time I pull these out, it reminds me of all the Christmas fun I had with my mom. Good times.

I actually made this particular ornament myself. It's a little doggy sticking his head of a stocking. Isn't that adorable? I made it in 5th grade which makes it 16 years old. I'm amazed every single year when I pull it out and it's still completely intact.

No, not the kitty. I have year-round memories with him. The focus here is the tree skirt he's laying on. I LOVE that tree skirt. I always have. My mom got it Christmas of 1992 which now makes it 18 years old. This old tree skirt has a lot of memories attached to it. Some good some bad. There was even the year my dad had claimed he threw it out with all the other Christmas stuff, but he was lying. I retrieved it ASAP, and I haven't let go of it since. It's my goal to have this under my tree every Christmas until the day I die.

Finally, we have reached the oldest Christmas decoration I own. This little bear ornament is from Christmas of 1991 which makes it 19 years old. Someone in my family had these made for each of us with our name and the year written on it. I remember that Christmas rather distinctly. My aunt, uncle, and cousin were in from Las Vegas. A long lost cousin came with us, and my mom's car blew up or something like that so we had to stop at a weigh station which at the time I thought was spelled way station and my uncle from Vegas came to pick us up and asked "who wants to ride with me in the car that might blow up?" or something like that. See? Memories.

So there's my second post on things about Christmas that are great - the memories attached to the decorations. And now, a couple gratuitous shots of our kitties.

Emo Christmas Kitty.

These are all for me, right?

The Adventures of Captain Jack

Eventually, I will introduce you to all of our kitties, but today, I thought I'd give you the story of Captain Jack since he's now been away for 2 days and we miss him so much.


I actually acquired Jack from an old blog buddy in Wisconsin who shares my appreciation for pirates, and especially Captain Jack Sparrow. This is how Jack got his name. We met just outside of Chicago so that I could be united with my new son. This is one of the first pictures I ever took of him:

At the time, he was a tiny little guy, and very adventurous, but sweet as can be.

Very quickly, he started to grow, but he still didn't get past his curious/adventurous stage.

Now...he's full grown, and a very big kitty indeed.

This photo is not a trick. There are no weird angles involved. He is laying right next to one of his sisters who is 7 years his senior. At last check, he was 15 pounds. Like I said, he's a big kitty, but we love him so much.

One of the many times Daddy has forced Jack to cuddle. Jack is not a cuddly kitty. He has some rare exceptions, and they always occur in the same manner. Right after my alarm goes off, but before I get out of bed, he crawls up next to me towards the outside of the bed, because if he goes up the middle of the bed, Daddy might make him cuddle with him, and he's not having it. Anyway, although he's not cuddly, he is still stinking adorable.

Awww. He also still hasn't lost his sense of adventure.

He especially enjoys laundry hampers.

Mommy sometimes makes him do ridiculous things.

 

But he still loves her.

Children

Yep. My third post in the span of just a few hours. Why? Well, like I said, lots of stuff I've been meaning to write about. Mostly though, I'm trying to stay awake.

As I've said before, I've been married for about a year and a half. Surprisingly, there hasn't been TOO much pressure for us to have kids, but I definitely get asked if I'm pregnant all the time. If I mention I have a craving, someone asks me if I'm pregnant. If I mention I'm not feeling well, someone asks me if I'm pregnant. It really pisses me off, which just makes people do it more.

Anyway, in a manner of speaking, we already have children. Our three wonderful kitty cats Jack, Jasmine, and Lilly. 

Captain Jack

Princess Jasmine

Pretty Lilly

I know some people think it's absurd for people to refer to their pets as their children, but that's what they are to us. We very much want to have human babies, but not yet. Parenting humans is far more involved than parenting kitties, and if we were to reproduce, one of our career goals would have to fall by the wayside. It would most likely be mine as the idea of schlepping around a 30 pound beach ball attached to me at the belly while carrying another 20 pounds in my backpack on campus makes me cringe. So in the meantime, the kitties are our children. Period. Don't make fun. Don't roll your eyes. We love our cats dearly.

This became abundantly clear to me over the past couple days. Jack, our youngest, had some urinary tract issues about two weeks back. We took him to the vet, he prescribed some medication. We gave it to him. He sprung right back to normal in a couple of days. However, 2 mornings ago, I got home from work and he was acting very odd and lethargic again. We got up for class a couple hours later and it hadn't changed. I gave him some of his medicine only to return a few hours later and find that he had puked it all up. That night, when I got up, I tried to give him his medicine again in his food, but he wouldn't eat it. This worried me, but I had to go to work. Thanks to facebook friends and internet research I found out that Jack could be obstructed which could cause his kidneys to fail and toxins would increase in his bloodstream which could eventually kill him. I proceeded to freak right out.

My Jack. My little boy. I could lose him. Suffice it to say I was quite distraught all night. We took him to the vet first thing in the morning. He was obstructed. He would have to have a surgery of sorts and stay for the weekend. :( A lot of people might not give a rip about their pets, but we do. I would be devastated if anything happened to any of our cats. Now, we're not like crazy cat people with 30 cats floating around. We have 3. I brought 1 into the marriage, Hubby brought 2. We just love our cats very, very much.

I'm not sure what my point is with this. I know a friend just found out that one of her cats has cancer on her liver and won't survive more than a few months. She and her man are just as crazy about their cats as we are. So for those of you out there that see your pets as members of your family, you're not alone.