Festive Fill-Ins and Rhyme Time

Sorry for yet another late post, friends! I'm back to somehow forgetting to push publish on my posts when I schedule them. I usually try to check in the morning to make sure it's posted, but there was an emergency at work this morning and I failed to check until now. So, here's your Friday post! At roughly lunchtime.

It's a busy and festive Friday. First, let's start with the Friendly Fill-Ins. If you want to join in on the fun, please do so! My co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. _________ made me smile recently.

2. I am looking forward to seeing _________ over the holidays.

3. During the holiday season, my home _________.

4. _________ is my favorite way to get in a festive mood.

My answers are below in bold. This week, I tried to make them all about the furbabies. Because why not.

1. My furry family made me smile recently.

(My kitties and pup make me smile every day. It could be Astrid going on one of her wild runs in the house or yard, or Evan following me around like the momma's boy he is, or Thimble begging for every belly rub she can get, or Eddy announcing loud and clear that she's tearing apart her Christmas tree, or Tonks purring and drooling over how happy she is to be sitting on my lap...or in a Christmas tree. Or it could be any number of the other adorable things they do. My furbabies always make me smile, and for that I am grateful.)

2. I am looking forward to seeing my kitties and pup enjoying their festive goodies over the holidays.

(I always get the kitties and pup new toys and treats for Christmas, and they also of course always enjoy what we receive from our Secret Santa Paws every year. Nothing beats seeing my furbabies happy and excited as they enjoy new goodies for Christmas. I don't mean to make Christmas sound materialistic in this way, I simply mean that nothing warms my heart like seeing my furbabies filled with excitement and joy.)

3. During the holiday season, my home is filled with highly abused Christmas trees.

(My house is a humble home, a very normal one-story that's not all that big, and yet it houses three Christmas trees. This is is no small part because the cats kept fighting over who was climbing the tree. So we got two trees. And then three. And so now there are three Christmas trees in my house, and every single one of them looks like they've seen a thousand better days. Because they have. But the kitties are happy, and that's all that matters.)

4. Watching festive movies while snuggling a kitty or two (or six) is my favorite way to get in a festive mood.

(I can watch the same Christmas movies over and over again, and I very often do. It's because they're festive and make me happy, and I love watching them while cuddling any kitties who show up on the couch with me. Evan always joins me, because he's a proper momma's boy, and so he and I have ended many days lately by watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, and Elf roughly a gazillion times. And nothing feels more festive than that.)

Now it's your turn!

To add your link to the Friendly Fill-Ins Linky list, just click HERE!

You can also click on the badge below to add your link.

You are also welcome to complete the fill-ins in the comments below,

or in the comments on Ellen's blog, 15andmeowing.

***

And now we have for you Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge. A day late. Well, technically way more than a day late, but we'll get to that in a second.

For reasons and things like that, I've failed to share my poems for the past couple of weeks. So what did I decide to do? I decided to gather the past three week's photo prompts with this week's prompt, and to write a poem that melded them all together in some way, shape, or form. So, here were the four photo prompts I was working with.

I wanted a Christmassy poem, and yet I also wanted to somehow include all of those photo prompts into the poem. The result is weird, makes little to no sense, and even includes a cat, because I had to. If you're prepared to cringe a little, read on.

Around the Globe

Christmas Eve was a busy day,
Especially for Santa and his gift-filled sleigh.
Santa was supposed to drive that thing around the entire globe,
Whether it was hot or cold, and whether there was rain or snow.

The older Santa got, the harder it became.
Aging simply made things, well, not the same.
That's why this year a helper was recruited,
That being a festive little elf named Rufus.

This elf named Rufus drove a festive red truck,
Under the moon and stars, through snow, and wishing for luck.
The back of the truck was packed with gifts,
And at every house he passed, through those gifts he did sift.

As he helped Santa deliver gifts on the ground,
Rufus drove admittedly a bit less than safe and sound.
He was, after all, in a hurry,
Driving speedy quick through the flurries.

So fast Rufus was going,
That a police care showed up with its lights glowing.
With a sigh and a roll of his eyes,
The elf pulled his truck off to the side.

The officer walked up to the truck and said,
"Do you know how fast—wait, are those pointy ears on your head?"
"They are," was how Rufus replied.
"I really can't be delayed, officer," he added with another sigh.

"Why were you speeding?" the police man asked,
All while eying the elf's pointy little shoes and hat.
"I'm helping Santa on this Christmas Eve," Rufus said.
"And now if you don't mind, I must continue on ahead."

Not taking the hint, the officer laughed and said,
"Oh, really? You work for Santa?

That's the silliest thing I've heard from Hollywood to Tampa."
"Yes, sir, I do work for Santa," Rufus said.
He could not help but give another shake of his head.

Then Rufus said, "Santa has to fly the entire globe.
That's not an easy thing, nope nope nope.
So I'm offering landbound support,

Delivering gifts down here of all sorts."

"You know," the office said, "my kids visited Santa at the mall.
And you better believe they didn't enjoy the visit at all.
He was big and red and made them cry.
Are you suspicious like him? Perhaps a bit sly?"

Rufus huffed and replied, "Your kids asked for a weird little doll.
You know, that one that looks like a dog?
Except apparently it wears curlers on its head.
That's really what they want form the big ol' man in red?"

The officer frowned before saying,
"I'm bringing over my partner, who can sniff out all sorts of paraphernalia.
Are those gifts in the back of your truck stolen?
Is this some kind of crime you've got rolling?"

Rufus nearly shouted, "Good grief!
No, I am most certainly not a thief."
The officer showed up with—guess what?—a cat just then,

With a badge and a name tag that read, SVEN.

Like a miniature panther, Sven circled the truck.
Rufus hoped to make it out of there alive if he had any luck.
Sven the feline officer sniffed this and batted at that,
And then, believe it or not, curled up for a cat nap.

"Hm," the officer grunted with a frown.
"I guess Sven didn't find anything this time around."
"Well, that's good," Rufus said with a sigh of relief.
"Like I told you, I'm not a thief."

Rufus prepared himself to get back on the road,
But then he said, "Oh, one last thing before I go."
Rufus rummaged through the gifts in the festive red truck's rear,
Saying, "Your gift is somewhere in here."

Finally, Rufus pulled out a little box wrapped in red,
And then he handed it to the officer with a shrug and nod of his head.
Eying the elf, the officer opened the box right then and there.

He gave the poor wrapping paper no patience or care.

Now in his hand the officer held a globe.
But not just any globe, most certainly not, no.
This globe housed in it, well, that exact scene.
The red truck and other familiarities in the globe were exact enough to be obscene.

Rufus said, "You can use this globe to remember this Christmas Eve by.
Too bad you didn't get to meet Santa or see his sleigh fly.
Oh, wait, there he is," the elf finished and pointed to the sky.
The officer looked up and his jaw did drop.
Seeing a sleigh pulled by reindeer across the moon was a bit of a shock.

As he flew overhead, Santa did wave.
And then in a shout he did say,
"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
And then, just like that, he flew out of sight.

"See you later," Rufus said.
All the officer could manage was a nod of his head.
Sven the cat continued to nap as the elf wished the officer good luck,
And then with gifts to deliver, he sped off in his festive red truck.

Oh, and for those who were wondering,

Both the human and feline officers endured no side effects or suffering.
In fact, they displayed that strange little globe all year round.
From it, sometimes Santa's voice even did sound.

***

Now, how about a blurry Eddy fix that shows what happens immediately after I've rebuilt her beloved Christmas tree for roughly the thousandth time this holiday season?

There you go. You can probably tell which part of the tree is Eddy's favorite to climb and abuse. It's right there. Where the branches are no longer where I just put them in their rightful place minutes earlier. And Eddy indeed announces when she's dismembering the tree. Loudly. She's very proud of her endeavors. She also loves that she can walk right into the Christmas tree from her cat tree.

Have a festive Friday, friends! But maybe minus the Christmas tree abuse.

***

Tip of the Day

Today is another one of our tips on how to travel with your furbaby this holiday season, or any time of the year. When traveling with your furbaby, consider how you will be traveling and what all therefore might be necessary. Are you and your furbaby traveling by car? Plane? Train? For a plane, train, or other public transportation, do your research and understand what all that particular company might require for your furbaby to board and travel. Is a carrier required? If so, how small or big of one? Is a health certificate required, and/or proof of particular vaccinations? Look into all of this and plan well in advance so that all can be squared away before you and your furbaby head out on your travels. Of course, this is all also important to keep in mind when traveling in your own car. Proper, safe restraint is important even in a car, of course. Have secure carriers for kitties and small dogs, or leashes and seat belts for larger dogs. Even in your own car it is also important for your furbaby to be up-to-date on vaccines and other medical care, in case you should be stopped and asked for proof of their health status. So, while it is often possible to travel with your kitty or pup, do of course ensure that you allow proper time to find out what all you will need for safe and legal travels.