Do Pets Enjoy Christmas?

Your moderator in this discussion is me. I'm Montana, the recognized leader of our troop. I'm a Great Dane and have been our human's pet for the past 10 years. I am the leader, in spite of what Kent says.

So meet Kent next. He is an elderly Yorkshire Terrier who was rescued from a puppy mill several years ago.

"Excuse me. I think you meant to say SIR Kent."

Fine, Sir Kent. Now let me get back to the introductions. Next is Blue, a young Sheltie. He joined us after having been adandoned by his previous human. He's a bit neurotic, but we still put up with him. Then there is Truman. She is supposed to be with us just temporarily. She joined us because she needed to learn house manners so that she would be a good adoptee for a new home, but me thinks she is already home.

Now, meet the two felines. First, as always is Lexie, a long-haired calico, who loves to irritate Truman, just because she can.

"Ohh, that is so much fun. Especially when I get Truman in trouble!"

"Yeah, you get me in trouble, but I'm just waiting for the right time..."

Let me finish, please. Last, but by no means least, is Dolby. He is a white and caramel colored feline. He joined our human shortly after I did so I can't even remember when he wasn't around.

Now that you have met us, we can continue.

"Tell them about the pictures."

Oh, yeah, you will see our pictures throughout this page. In order of the way I presented them here. That's me at the top. And Kent, uh, Sir Kent is here.

Here is our human's situation. She spends all her time on the computer, doing something called Squidoo. Some where in Squidoo, she got involved in a game called Jenga.

"Humans have such fun names for stuff, don't they?"

"For sure. I think they like making up..."

"Is that horse getting too close to the fence?"

"You interrupted me. Stop that or I'll swat your face."

"Who cares? You're only a cat and I have work to do."

Both of you stop. We have to continue. Now, it turns out that this Jenga game is a computer thing where someone tags you and tells you what kind of thing to write about. Our human got tagged by Meryl to write about: What do pets think about Christmas?

"Oh, I just love it when they put up that tree with all the cat toys all over it."

"Ah, I love that part, too. I like it that every morning the human puts all our toys back on the tree so we can have another day of playing."

"Our human is very considerate, you know."

Enough, we have to write this story. As I was saying, when she saw that question, she turned to all of us and asked us what we think of Christmas. And that started it all.

Since not all of us have experienced Christmas, we thought we should explain it.

"That is so easy. Christmas is all about cat toys."

"It is not! It's all about extra food."

"That is so dumb. It's all about that white play stuff on the ground when we go outside."

No, no, no. Christmas is all about a human holiday. Let me tell them, please.

"I smell a mouse. Let me at it."

Kent, get away from that cabinet! There is no mou...

"I smell it, I smell it, I'll get it."

"Will you go lay down next to our human and let the pros take care of the mouse?"

"What pros? You cats just play with it. I'm the terrier, I'm the vermin catcher."

"You are not!"

Enough already. Let me continue. Now, Christmas is a way that humans celebrate a special event. They do this every year by giving each other...

"Ooo, we get those squeaky toys that we get to tear all that paper stuff away from."

"Yeah, and we don't get in trouble for making a mess. Remember when we got hold of that bag of Fritos? Boy, was she unhappy with us for that."

"Haha, I do remember that. A full bag of yummy, greasy chips! She got so mad at us and found pieces of that bag for weeks later. But, it was so worth it!"

"I can't believe the junk you dogs will eat. Have you no pride?"

"Nope, not when it comes to good food."

Stop that! We are going way off topic. Back to Christmas. The humans consider Christmas to be an important time to share with family. So lots of our human's children, grandchildren and relatives come to visit.

"Yeah, don't you just love all those extra hands to pet you?"

"They are strangers. How can I protect our human with so many strangers around. Haven't you ever heard of Stranger Danger?"

"They are not strangers. They are family!"

"But, that one human brings her little dog with her all the time."

"That little dog is just fine. Quit picking on him."

"But, he gets some of OUR treats."

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! We will never be able to tell them about Christmas if you keep going on like that.

"Oh come on! They already know all about Christmas. It's their holiday, after all."

"Yeah, let's go see if we can get our human to give us some treats."

"I'm getting so bored with you dumb dogs. I think I'll just go lay in that sunny window."

Fine, fine. I give up. Let's tell them what we think about Christmas.

Lexie, get off that windsill and come back. We have to get this finished. Our human says she only has 48 hours to get this finished and posted on something called a forum.

"What's a forum?"

"Oh, I bet it's one of those places where if they sit nicely, they get a treat!"

"Humans don't get treats, you idiot! They give 'em."

"Don't call me an idiot!"

"I'll call you an idiot if I want to!"

"Then I'm telling!"

"Go ahead. See if I care."

Stop that right now! We have a job to do and we better...

"A job to do? I'm on it! Is it those horses again?"

"Calm down! Why don't you go lay down on the floor some where? You are interrupting my nap on this sunny windowsill."

"Wait! Did you hear a bark?"

"Yeah, I heard it, too. Arf, arf, arf! We need to let them know we are on duty here!"

Kent, get away from that cabinet! There is no mouse and we have to continue.

"Only if you call me Sir Kent."

SIR Kent, get back over here. Now, everybody stop interrupting and stay on topic. We have to get this finished.

"What was the topic, again?"

So, we are finally going to give you our answer. Really and truly. Now, everybody, all together...

"What was the question?"

"Where's Dolby?"

"He left 20 minutes ago. I think he had to use the litterbox."

Well, get him back in here. No cat takes 20 minutes to use the litterbox. And we are just about to reveal our answer. So we need him with us. We all have to be together for this.

"I'll go get him. I'll just take this short cut across the keybo -uipo'/ po' 9-]2 L; jP#} )WE'2JNOL

"Look at the mess you just made. Clean it up!"

"Not on your life! I do not touch messes."

"The horses! The horse are out of their yard. Alert the human!"

What? The horses aren't out of their...whoa, that black one just ran past the window. Gotta tell the human. This is serious. She won't let us outside if the horses are out.

"Let me outside. I'll round 'em up and put them back!"

"I wanna go, too! What are horses, again?"

Note from the human: The horses really did get out of their yard at this point. So all work on this lens stopped while I put them away and discovered that black one, with her intelligence, had figured out how to open the gate.