A Final Festive Day

Hello and happy Thursday, friends! Let's go ahead and start with a final festive poem, shall we? It's an easy thing to do thanks to Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge.

Due to some poor scheduling on my part, for hopefully the last time, I tried to combine the past two weeks of photo prompts into one poem. Those two prompts were these images here:

Given that today is essentially the last official day of the Christmas season (more on that shortly), today's poem is of course Christmassy. It's also weird and wacky like usual, so there's that.

Christmas Every Day

Molly did not hate visiting her Aunt Grace,
Though visits with her were quite confusing stays.
The reason was that, well, Aunt Grace was a bit emphatic,
Such as when it came to her being a Christmas fanatic.

Molly also quite enjoyed Christmas, indeed.
But, well, Aunt Grace celebrated it all year long, you see.
Molly could visit her aunt in January or July,
And Aunt Grace's house would be decorated for Christmas every time.

The new year had already rolled around.
Well into January the world had already bound.
Even so, Molly knew that when she soon made her trip to visit Aunt Grace,
With all things Christmas and festive she would surely be faced.

To feel as festive as she could all year round,
Aunt Grace had moved to a place where snow always did abound.
The trip was cold and, obviously, full of snow.
The temperatures nothing if not lower than low.

Aunt Grace lived so far into that snowy land,
That Molly had to make the last leg of the trip with ski poles in hand.
When she finally arrived, frozen to the bone,
Aunt Grace dashed outside and shouted, "Hello!"

Molly would have responded, in truth,
But she was frozen solid from foot to tooth.
Even as she clumsily approached on her skis,
Molly found Aunt Grace's clan of cats rubbing her knees.
Her aunt was nothing if not a woman who loved Christmas and cats,
And she was really perfectly summed up by just that.

The cats wore festive collars and bells around their necks,
But that sight was nothing compared to what lie ahead.
Aunt Grace's tall, quirky home was decked out.
It was as if out of every nook and cranny Christmas did sprout.
Just like good ol' Aunt Grace,
Her home was an interesting place.

Garland and wreaths hung here and there.
Once inside, Molly found Christmas trees, well, everywhere.
"Merry Christmas!" Aunt Grace did shout as she handed Molly hot cocoa.
Molly replied, "Isn't it more like Happy New Year, though?"

"Molly," Aunt Grace did say with a reprimanding wave of her finger.
"Have I taught you nothing your whole life, you little stinker?
No matter the day, week, month, or year,
It's Christmas every day, my dear.
After all, peace and joy will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day."

***

As we mentioned yesterday, even though the Twelve Days of Christmas have now come and gone, today is what is known in Christianity as the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. This signifies the day when the three kings, also known as the three wise men or the Magi, visited baby Jesus after following the Star of Bethlehem to the location of his birth. The three kings brought baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In some religions and cultures, gifts are exchanged on this day as a representation of the fact that the three kings gave baby Jesus gifts. I do give my family little gifts on this day, and that of course includes the kitties and pup. This year, the kitties get some festive dinosaurs, because apparently that's a thing. And the pup gets an edible Grinch, because obviously. I forgot to photograph those for this post, but I'll grab a shot of them and share them soon. Because Christmas never ends.

Given how thankful all of us here are for the fantastically festive season we've had, it seems the perfect time to move onto Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.

Thimble is indeed here for this day of thanks, as always. Like we've already mentioned, Thimble is still grateful for the festive season, which we're holding onto as long as we can.

On the chair in the background you even get another shot of Blanket Mountain, for which Tonks is incredibly grateful today and every day.

Back to Thimble, though, this tabby girl is still so very thankful for the Christmas tree. Even if it's way taller than her and so she can't reach the top (though this fact may or may not have to do with her complete lack of skill in climbing Christmas trees, but don't tell her I said that).

Thimble and all the kitties are also thankful for the new toys they got on Christmas, even if some of them were purchased simply because they were inspired by one of this here human's favorite Christmas movies and the kitties really don't care what they look like. But I digress.

Leg lamp, anyone? Toby's willing to share. For a minute or two.

We hope you've all had a merry Christmas season! We may still have some festive things to share here and there for the next week or two, and we've even kept some festive photos on the back burner for Christmas in July.

Happy Three Kings Day!

***

Last but not least, we have for you the statements for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My wonderful co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. My focus word for 2022 is _________.

2. This year I want to learn more about _________.

3. I _________ during the first week of 2022.

4. In this season of my life, I _________.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

***

Tip of the Day

Today's tip on caring for ferals and other outdoor cats yet again relates to shelters. If outdoor cats aren't using a shelter you've put out for them, first look it over and make sure nothing is off with it. Make sure it is not too confined or that its entrance isn't too small, as such things might make a cat feel trapped or cornered inside. If need be, such as if you do think an unused feral cat structure is being avoided due to confinement, add extra doorways or in another way make the shelter less likely to make cats feel trapped.

In some cases, outdoor cats just need a little extra help realizing that a shelter is safe and for them. If you have not already done so, put food and treats inside the shelter to tempt feral and other outdoor cats into the shelter. You can perhaps similarly tempt a feral into a shelter with bedding and a heat source, if you have found a workable, safe way to provide that in the shelter. If further tempting is needed in order to get cats into outdoor shelters, you can even try sprinkling some catnip, or silver vine or valerian root, inside in order to entice them.