'Twas three nights before Christmas...

It's Christmas week!

I've finished all of my Christmas shopping, including for the four-legged furballs in my life. Since the next few days will be busy with family, fun, and overeating, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak now of my gifts for the four-legged furballs. Of course, I'll post more pictures of the furballs and their Christmas celebration when all is said and done.

I recently showed you the cat tree I got the kitties as an early Christmas gift (although I will soon share new pictures of the kitties playing on it, as it has been moved to a new location where they can see out of a number of windows while on it). All of the rest of their gifts are for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (Sorry, furry babies, but only one early Christmas gift!) I'll admit that none of their other gifts are as big or exciting as the cat tree, but I just couldn't help but let them have that one early. It was also a saving grace for the Christmas tree, which had been getting worked over pretty heavily by the kitties until the cat tree arrived.

Now, I already showed you the "Princess" bowls I got for Rosie and Thimble. Remember?

Both Rosie and Thimble will be getting one of these royal bowls for Christmas.

I also got each of the four kitties a new catnip toy. I'll first begin by explaining that for years Rosie has had two particular catnip toys -- one shaped like a banana and one shaped like a chili pepper -- that are very potent (as in, even after years of use they are still very effective at giving kitties a catnip high). The four kitties are constantly trying to steal these two catnip toys from Rosie. So, I got four catnip toys of the exact same brand as Rosie's, one for each of the kitties. Each kitty gets one of a unique shape, and I chose each one specifically for each kitty.

Each kitten gets one of these catnip toys for Christmas. There are four different ones -- a carrot, a boomerang, a fish, and a snake.

My little Thimble gets the carrot. While I'd like to say it's simply because every girl needs a karat, it's also because my little Thimble isn't so little anymore. She loves her food, and this mommy may have to put baby Thimble on a diet once she gets out of kittenhood. So, as a head start, I got Thimble a carrot catnip toy.

The fish is for Toby. Toby loves watching aquatic life. I know this because, although I somehow forgot to mention this until now, there is also a frog in this family. Long story short, Toby is good friends with the frog and is content to sit and watch the frog for hours. Since Toby loves aquatic life so much, I got him a fish catnip toy. (As a side note, my sister -- Toby's mom -- got him an artificial fish tank for Christmas.)

Talon gets the boomerang catnip toy. Why? Because I call Talon my little hero, and every hero needs a boomerang. And why do I call Talon my little hero? Because his adorable black mask earned him the nickname Batman, which I call him frequently and to which he responds to just as well as Talon. Come Christmas, my hero Batman will have a boomerang to call his own.

I chose the snake toy for Trapper. This is because while Trapper is a very sweet, affectionate, and handsome little fella, he is also typically the sneakiest and orneriest of the four kitties. He is usually the first one to sneak into Rosie's favorite area and to steal her catnip toys, and he will do this repeatedly, no matter how many times he is told no and no matter what type of barriers I try to build to keep him out of Rosie's safe haven. So sneaky Trapper gets a snake.

This next picture is Evan's Christmas gift. I did not get Evan a catnip toy because roughly 99% of the time Evan ignores catnip, so catnip toys are nowhere near his favorite. Instead, some of Evan's favorite toys are his mommy's hair ties. He will bat them around, carry them around in his mouth, and talk to them (very loudly). Well, this Mommy wanted her boy to have an actual cat toy that he might find as fun as his mommy's hair ties. So, I got him these:

I don't know if Evan will like these as much as his mommy's hair ties, but I hope he'll find them close enough to be fun. If he seems uncertain of them, I just very well might let him see me wear one in my hair for awhile.

Now, for Astrid. It's difficult choosing a gift for Astrid. This is because she already has so many toys, and even things that don't belong to her she turns into toys (such as kitty toys, shoes, toilet paper rolls, etc.). But something that Astrid always loves getting new are chewbones. I am most trusting of the Nylabone brand of chewbones, and Astrid seems to love these. So, for Christmas I got her a ginormous Nylabone of a flavor she loves -- peanut butter. I would love to take a picture of it to show you. However, Astrid is sitting right next to me, and the chewbone is currently safely in hiding. If I retrieve it now for a photo shoot, Astrid will know what I'm doing the second I lay hands on the chewbone, and she will relentlessly beg for the chewbone all the way until Christmas finally arrives. Therefore, unless I can sneak a picture in later, you may have to wait to see it until after she gets it on Christmas.

Astrid only has to wait a couple more days for her gift. In the meantime, she'll be watching out for Santa.

I did not get any new toys for Rosie. She has her favorites -- one being an old, tattered, discolored canvas mouse that she's had almost her entire life -- that she uses primarily as pillows. Past that, she doesn't play a whole lot (unless you give her a ribbon, but she already has a whole stash of those). So, she'll get her "Princess" bowl, and I'll fill it with as much yummy food and treats as she wants on Christmas. I know she'll be very happy with that.

Rosie's gearing up for her Christmas feast with lots of snoozies.

I hope everyone is having a merry time gearing up for Christmas!