Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. So are the cats. And me. But who cares, it’s time for the exhausting exercise of Christmas rearranging, always a fun time at our old, narrow-halled, crooked-stepped farmhouse. By the time this process is done I’ll be ready for the Sports Illustrated cover. Here’s how today has gone so far.
First step – get the wrapping boxes out of the attic. Since we don’t have a gift-wrapping hobby room, the materials must stay in the hallway, and we wrap stuff in the bedroom. We moved two cat beds from the floor found another place for them – one under my desk and one under Husband’s bookshelf in the office. This also required us to remove said cats from the beds. Cats protested this new arrangement.
Since we have no central air, the house is peppered with floor fans to move cool air along. (For how much I love summer, see my other blogs). Right now there’s a floor fan in the way. The floor fan is plugged into an extension cord that is stuck behind the book shelf in the office. I can't dislodge the extension cord, so I have to move the book shelf a bit, displacing Podrick, who has already decided to settle on the bottom shelf bed because hey, new spot. I nearly fell trying not to step on him. I unplugged the fan, and the extension cord slithered away into the darkness behind the bookshelf. We shrug and decide we’ll mess with that in the spring. (Make note that I'll be having a meltdown in the spring when I can't find said extension cord.)
While taking the fan out of the way, we startled Vesper, whose startlement ended up perfuming the entire hallway in a gag-worthy cat fart. Since this happens every so often (she’s old), we keep air freshener nearby…only the air freshener is missing, presumably moved somewhere else to eradicate a previous bout of feline stench. Breathing through our mouths and loudly wondering just what the cat ate last night, we put down the fan and went to the linen closet to procure another bottle of air freshener. I spent more time removing Vesper from the linen closet; she darted in as soon as the door opened and vanished into the sheets and towels. As I disentangled her from the layers, I found an Amazon package we were looking for yesterday. I blame Pod; the sneaky little orange kleptomaniac is always taking our things and hiding them.
I got the attic door open and the ladder lowered to the bewildered wonder of Pod as he watched Mom disappear into the upper regions of the house. I couldn’t get down because he was standing with two feet on the bottom of the ladder, meowing for me to come back. A quick foot nudge by Husband dislodged him, where he continued to stare in amazement. Thanks to the Great Holiday Purge of 2020, I only have to bring down 4 boxes with gift-wrapping accoutrements. Since there is more room than I originally thought, I move the cat beds back to the hallway, to the utter puzzlement of Vesper’s sister, Seneca, because it's 2 inches away from where it used to be, AND the other one is now on top of the hallway bookshelf instead of on the floor like it used to be. Cautious sniffing of boxes and beds now underway by 3 feline checkers.
I haven’t even started decorating yet. Moving the tree into place will be a veritable mine field, as the cats consider the area beneath it their personal clubhouse. I won’t even mention bringing in the boxes of decorations. Curious kitties and Christmas decorations do not mix. I’ll be lucky not to break an ankle.
Wish me luck!
Becca
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