A Merry Thankful Thimble Thursday

Hello, friends! With this being my last day of work until next Tuesday, I promise to do better with posting on time for the Christmas weekend. In our next few far more properly scheduled posts, there will be lots more festive furbaby photos, and festive new doodles. Our poem for Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge will be posted on Saturday, its illustration being our Christmassy Caturday Art. All that rambling aside, let's get to Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop, shall we?

Today, a little tabby named Thimble is grateful that she's gorgeous and festive even when the lackadaisical photographer around here can't bother to get the lighting or angle right.

Thimble and all of us here are wishing everyone a day that is merry and bright!

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Last but not least, let's share the festive fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. My favorite holiday tradition is _________.

2. On Christmas (or Hanukkah) I plan to fill up on _________.

3. 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house _________.

4. _________ is the best way to spread holiday cheer.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

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Festive Flashback Doodle of the Day

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Tip of the Day

Over the past couple of days, we've been discussing how to ensure that your furbaby is safe when you leave home or otherwise leave them unattended this holiday season. We've already reminded you to unplug Christmas lights and to remove the ample Christmas snacks from their reach. Now we want to remind you about those gifts under the Christmas tree. To begin, we've mentioned in previous tips the danger posed by items such as ribbon, tape, and even wrapping paper itself. After all, consumption of these items can lead to any number of issues, including intestinal distress, blockage, or other damage.

It's not just the outside of the gifts that can be hazardous, though. First and foremost, if any wrapped gifts contain food, whether it be yummy treats for a human or treats for a furbaby, keep those gifts well out of reach of your furbaby at all times. As you all know, kitties and pups have a darn good sense of smell, and some furbabies might feel compelled to chew or rip their way to any food they smell. This can be bad news not only for the gift itself, but also of course for your furbaby, especially if the food they find includes chocolate or other toxic components. Though it's obviously not toxic, also refrain from hiding gifts containing catnip beneath the tree. This could lead to a destroyed or stolen gift box, as well as to the potential dangers that result from eating gift wrapping material.

There are plenty of other considerations to make on this topic as well. Are any of the gifts you wrapped small? And is your kitty or pup one to slap around, run off with, or eat small items? Are any of the gifts large? Or are multiple gifts creating a large pile around the Christmas tree? Is your furbaby a jumper or climber or otherwise at risk of knocking over large or piled gifts? Are any of the gifts fragile? Is your furbaby simply a chewer who will eat their way through a wrapped gift just for the sake of it?

The long and short of it is to always be aware of the temptations as well as the dangers that wrapped gifts can pose to a furbaby. You know your furbaby best, and you, or perhaps someone else in your house, knows what is contained within those gifts beneath the tree. Keeping all of that in mind, treat gifts accordingly when leaving your furbaby unattended at home. If that means hiding all gifts rather than leaving them beneath the tree, then find a safe and secure hiding place for them.