Christmas Cat Crazies & More

Once upon a time, Kimmy came up with this amazingly brilliant idea that we would get Mom a cat for Christmas. What we didn't know is that Dad had already found one that looks so much like Mom's old cat... Perfect! we thought. The fact that she lived up at our aunt and uncles' farm in Idaho was only a minor setback. Heh... minor.

So Kimmy and I made our various preparations for giving Mom a Christmas Cat. We bought all the necessaries (food, box, litter, collar, and a really cute cloth carrier...) and made preparations for our new arrival. I called our aunt to make sure that things were set; we met in Malad, Idaho (a half-way point for both of us) to make the transfer on the Sunday before Christmas. She was about 3-4 months old and slightly crankie, as she'd been traveling in a box. She cried off and on all the way back to my apartment, but in general was a fine traveler. I kept thinking - GREAT! This is going to be SO easy flying to California with her. I took a few pictures with my phone, and after talking to Kimmy for a bit, named our new little calico bundle Calypso.

Calypso grew up on a farm, so living in my apartment bathroom for a few days was quite the new adventure. She had not previously been litter box trained, so her quick acceptance of "the box" impressed me. I gave her a bath the night after she moved into her bathroom and she did just fine with that too... No problems.

We went to the veterinarian on Tuesday morning to get her rabies shot and health certificate so that she was legal to fly to California. She did so well at the vet - she even started purring after she had the rabies vaccination shot into her butt!

She had a little minor accident in her carrier on the way home from the vet, so I took her inside (letting my car air out), put her carrier in the washer, gave Calypso her second bath in 12 hours, and headed off to work. I left work early as we were flying out that night and I had some stuff I still needed to take care of... Calypso was clean and smelling wonderfully. We were completely ready to go when my home teacher came to pick us up.

And then the crazies started...

We hadn't been gone from my apartment more than five minutes when a strange aroma (again) starting wafting from the back seat. My home teacher grew up in eastern Utah on a farm; he caught a wiff of the new smell and said, "Seriously, did it just duke in my truck?!?!" I was mortified. She'd done so well all the way from Idaho! Calypso was not pleased with the fact that she was stuck in her carrier with her own personal gift. We were dropped off at the airport (after many "Thanks" and "Sorry"s) and went to wait in line for 20 minutes to pay for Calypso's airfare. (Ironically, they didn't even look at the health certificate...) $150.00 later, we headed for security...

Calypso by this point was really mad, as she was now covered in her own stuff (you'd be mad too!). I asked the security attendant how I was supposed to take Calypso through, and he told me to, "Just carry her through like a passenger... but you'll need to send the bag through the scanner." Luckily I had the forethought (or maybe a helpful nudge from heaven) to bring a towel with me on the plane. I wrapped a very lovely smelling kitten in the towel and managed to get her through security with only one set of scratches. We then proceeded directly to the women's bathroom...

...where Calypso had her third bath in 24 hours. Many of the women in the bathroom were terribly excited to see "Such a cute little dear" meowing her head off in one of the bathroom sinks. After a lot of hand soap and some paper towels (I'd put the hand towel in the bottom of her carrier), Calypso went back into the carrier and we went out to wait for the plane.

The plane ride was a special experience. Anyone who has ever taken a cat on a car ride can only imagine the adventure of controlling a cat that looked out the window and realized it was not only moving, but no longer on the ground... We'll leave it at that.

We were both exceptionally glad to be on the ground in Oakland... and even happier when Kimmy was there waiting for us. We left the airport and Calypso spent the next 24 hours at one of Kimmy's friend's house. After we said our goodnights to Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve, Kimmy snuck out her bedroom window and ran over to her friend's house to pick up the now much happier Calypso. She kept Kimmy and I up most of the night being adventurous and playful... while we were trying to sleep.

At 6:30am I couldn't sleep anymore. So I woke up Kimmy and we took Calypso, now clad in a black bow, to Mom and Dad's room. We set her down on Mom, who woke with a, "Oh my lans, what is this?!?!"... something that I don't think I've ever hear Mom say when she's awake.

Calypso was our big Christmas present... She really kinda trumped everything else that was given and gotten, in all good ways. She was also the epitome of a Christmas Cat. This picture is our Christmas tree, and if you look closely, you can see some black and orange fur near the top...

I think everyone adapted really quickly to having a new little one around (except Dad's cat O'Malley, who is rumored to still be having issues with the little fur ball that chases him around the house). I think Calypso finally got over her "I've traveled too much" laryngitis right before we left to come back to Utah... (Mom said, "Oh she does talk!" :0) When I got back home and my home teacher asked me with a chagrin how the rest of the trip went, I simply replied, "It was worth it."

Christmas was otherwise amazing as well. I got lots of fun things, the highlights being a stove-top popcorn popper, a microwave, a marbles board, and a wind-up sushi roll (I'll update the sushi roll after I go buy something at Kohls... ;0). I also had fun making things for everyone (except Mom - but I think she was okay with what she got). Julie and Kimmy got new hand bags, Dad and Spencer got tool kits in a towel for their trucks, and Caylee got this fun new out fit! (I admit that I'm getting addicted to sewing!)

For the rest of Christmas and up until New Years', we played lots of games and just in general had some awesome family time.

Our New Years' highlight was spending some quality time with my Mac Book...

I think, as is normally the case, the best Christmas gift was simply the time I got to spend with my family... almost two weeks and I think I could have fought for more! I'm so grateful for the special times we share as a family to celebrate the birth of our Savior and for all the fun memories that we create each year. I'm so looking forward to next year when our entire family will be together for Christmas!

I've enjoyed hearing about all of your fun holiday adventures and am glad that the New Year seems to have come in with a lot of good! Here's to an amazing 2009!