This year marked the first Christmas for our newest indoor cat, Jellirabbit. In fact, if not for that, we probably would not have had a tree up because of various circumstances which likely will be unburdened here in later weeks. But the primary cat lover in our home wanted the little guy to have the full holiday treatment, so the tree was brought in.

Jellirabbit seemed to have a good time checking the gifts under our tree, but believe it or not, he did not climb the thing as did his cousin, Charlie, who now lives in Carlsbad in San Diego County with our daughter, two granddaughters and their dad. He likes it there, by the way, and has become a neighborhood character on their cul-de-sac.

As for our Illinois Valley family, we ate Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, as we wanted to have an outing on Christmas Day. That was the plan. And it mostly worked.

The Eve beef meal was good; even with Jellirabbit and Flinty acting as feline sharks under the table. Well, mostly under the table; a couple of leaps had to be stymied. Then on the morning of Dec. 25 we went to our son’s home in Cave Junction to see the Yule tree he and our granddaughter had decorated. We took Jellirabbit with us to hang out with their feline, Wildcat. The latter yowled nearly the whole time we were there. He doesn’t like visitors, especially other kitties.

Eventually we got home again, and prepared a picnic lunch. Beef sandwiches (leftover meat from the day before), a Thermos of hot chocolate, and a pitcher of decaf. And off we went. Almost got out of the driveway before Jan remembered that she had left her gloves in the house. I got the gloves and off we drove. Got as far as Sauer’s Flat when Mike discovered he didn’t have his car keys with him. I turned around. Back home again, he found that he had left them on the front seat of his unlocked car on our driveway.

Off we went again. Actually made it to Prospect and took a hike to Mill Creek. It’s a pretty place, and we enjoyed the scenery, the walk and the snow. We decided to have a hot beverage in the car, and discovered that somehow, the hot chocolate had made it. But the decaf was still at home. Everything in Prospect was closed, so:

We (one of us especially) decided we should continue our outing by driving on to Union Creek to see what we could see. What we saw was plenty of snow. The drive on an icy highway was beautiful with the trees on either side of the road covered with “the white stuff,” as some weather reporters are fond of calling it. The drive was like being in a postcard.

At Union Creek we discovered that Beckie’s Restaurant and the Country Store across the highway were closed. So we parked and ate. After I ate my sandwiches, I was told why there had been some snickers (laughing, not the candy bar) while I was eating. It seems that while my sandwiches were being prepared, Jellirabbit had stood on my bread. Didn’t bother me; I didn’t get sick, and there were no hunks of kitty litter mixed with the mustard, so it was fine.

And that’s how we spent Christmas. (Next week: How I survived bronchitis and some weird malady that has kept my nose clogged and my body and mind in more disarray than usual for two weeks.)

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