Happy Kitzmas!

Man, I thought I was gonna see festive kittnz...still, this is good.Happy Kitzmas, Tanypteryx!Glad I don't have to enunciate that right now--hard enough to type.

Thanks, Tany. Not doing so bad.

Your neocortex is out of control. And I've been brushing my cats.Yeah, the Kids. If you don't know the Kids, you can't know what it's like to talk to someone like a Dutch uncle. They were in the paper I delivered in the 50s. In my mind, they live next to Fritz the Cat.

I thought they burned all gifts to the gods.Why, just yesterday I burned a gift and thought, this one's for Whoever, if there is a Whoever and Whoever isn't offended by it--a sorta Universal Unitarian benediction.I enjoy the company of Smoke (10 months) and Grace (8 years). Grace was feral, and remained fierce until 2-month-old Smoke arrived--she became a patient, tolerant, playful sister: kittens even charm cats. They play fast and furious and cheer me enormously. They wake me at 5 for breakfast by nuzzling my ears and licking my eyebrows, so I start every day laughing.In other news, cat videos redeem the web.

Thanks for sharing, Jon. I like you better now.

Very cat.My girls never have to escalate like Simon's cat--I'm a kitten-sensitive new age kinda guy. I've learned to leave clear evidence of their breakfast in the sink, because if I go back to bed still half-asleep, they'll try it again in an hour or two in the same sweet way. They just shrug at each other when the two-breakfast thing doesn't work; I'm sure it has worked, or they wouldn't keep trying.Bless their scheming, hypercarnivorous little hearts...