Merry Christmas and Hoppy New Year!

Bring On The Man In The Red Suit!

I *heart* opening presents!  And it's only just begun!  Only three more sleeps until Santa Paws comes!

We were part of the Secret Santa Gift Exchange on Bunspace again this year.  We got a box filled with really great stuff from our friends Kibbles and Zenith in Tennessee!  It had a blanket, some delicious papaya treats, American Pet Diner Apple Pie Cookies, a hay treat bag, a willow basket filled with treats and toys and seeds to grow our very own wheat grass!  Mom says she doesn't have much of a green thumb but she is going to give it a try.

It's been a very busy Christmas this year with lots of gift bags under the tree for me to chin and nibble on.  And Miss Binks has been very busy peeling the gold glitter lettering off of Scooter's stocking - funny enough, his is the only one she goes after.  I don't think she has yet forgotten the big fight they had a long time ago - and his stocking is paying the price.  Mom keeps snatching it from her.  "Miss Binks!  That's not nice!  You leave Scooter's stocking alone!"  Then she picks it up and repairs it with more gold glitter glue.  It dries by morning - good as new!

Here's me checking out my Christmas Booty - look at all the stuff!  Wow, I was actually kinda worried if I'd get anything.  I mean, I do try to be a good little bunny but sometimes I am overcome with Bunny Misadventure Urges.  Like when I jumped into the bin of vinegar.  Or when I took off on Mommy and ran all through the neigbourhood.  I thought for sure that one would put me on the Naughty List.  I guess I was good enough the rest of the year to make up for it.  Or charming enough.  Or a little bit of both.

I know there is a big bag of something for Binks and I under the tree.  And I can smell stuff in my stocking too!  Something yummy!  So for now I am going to focus on being a very good bunny for at least the next three days.  And while I await Santa Paws' arrival, I shall hunker down with my sweet girl Binky, cozily tucked away in our willow tent and send a very special Merry Christmas and Hoppy Holidays to all of my peeps out there.  And in case I don't see you until then, Hoppy New Year, too!  From our house to yours...

  
Love (from left to right), Miss Binks, Ella, Timmy Angel, Scooter and that very handsome dude at the end, me.

Fluffy

Until We Meet Again, Timmy....

It's 10 days before Christmas and it's very sad at our house.  My little hamster brother Timmy crossed the Rainbow Bridge Monday morning.  Mom thinks he had a stroke.  It all happened very fast, which is a blessing in many ways, but it's left a big hole in our hearts.

Timmy's mom was rescued after being dumped at a flea market with a bunch of other hamsters.  Three days later, she gave birth to Timmy and a litter of his brothers and sisters.  Not long after she weaned her babies, she crossed the Rainbow Bridge herself.

Timmy started his life in a loving foster home and came to live with us not long after Lucky passed away.  He was such a funny little boy!  He loved to dig in his litterbin and was fastitious about using it.  Mom made him a great hamster playground filled with all the toys she couldn't fit into his cage.  This is a picture of him in his Circus Tent - it was his favourite.  He would circle inside of it and rub his scent all over the inside, and it would slide across the floor as he did so - silly hamster!

Sometimes he would come visit us downstairs and roll around in his ball.  He never really got the hang of grooming my fur through the air vents like Boo and Lucky did, but he sure did like to park next to me and give me a good long sniff.  Sometimes we played together in the Stupid Blankets.

This was Timmy on his first birthday about 6 weeks ago.  Mom made him a little banana cake with raisins which he loved.  He got some nut sticks for a present and loved to nibble on them.  Mom says the saddest thing is the fact that he won't be here at Christmas to open his presents - Mom bought some great stuff for his playground and she cries at the thought of him never being able to use them.  His stocking full of nuts sits under the tree, his name in gold glitter on the front - he'll never get to empty it and stuff his cheeks with walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts.  He never even had a Christmas with us....

Mom and Dad say having hamsters is getting harder and harder - they don't live very long.  We have said goodbye to three hamsters in just under 15 months and it really breaks Mom's heart to lose them.  Mom called Timmy her little bear and it's during the evenings like now that she misses him most - his digging in the litterbin, his ball rolling along the floor and into the walls and furniture and the sound of the bells ringing when he knocks them around his cage late at night.  Mom and Dad would be able to hear it all the way from upstairs and it would make them giggle in the dark.  But not anymore....

So little Timmy, please remember how much we love you.  Your sweet little spirit will live forever in our hearts and you will never be forgotten.  Say hi to Lucky and Boo up there at the Bridge - they will take care of you and you will have lots of fun with them.  Mom sends a truck-load of smooches and a heart full of love.

Until we meet again....

Fluffy

Bells and Stockings and Shnookums

It's that time of year again.  That time of year when the big green tree goes up and Mom hangs all of those little sparkly things off of it.  It's called a Christmas Tree.  Christmas is Mom's favourite holiday.  In fact, the tree has been up for a month already.  Yup - a month.

"Fluffy, Mommy loooooooooves Christmas!  And it takes a long time to decorate the house, so I might as well get it done earlier and then I can enjoy it for longer!"

"But Mom, next door still had their pumpkins out and you already hung up the Christmas lights!"

"Well I can't help it if they are 'late' taking down their Halloween decorations..."

Mom and Dad brought us up to play in the living room - unfortunately that also included Mom putting the dreaded "Bell Collar" on me.  See in the picture?  That's me sulking with Binks under the end table.  You can just make out the red and white collar with the gold bells as I had my head shrunken into my body in a serious pose of disapproval.  Every time I moved, those stinking bells would ring!  Even Binks did her best trying to pull them off of me - finally Mom got her stupid picture and I got to take them off.  THUMP.

Here's me under the tree.  All of our stockings are under there - they no longer hang by the fireplace in our room because a few Christmases ago Mom hung them there and I managed to chew off all of the glittery letters that spell our names.  So now they're upstairs under the tree where she can watch to make sure I don't eat them again.  Shnookums got mad at me for peeking.  Shnookums is the Christmas Stocking Guard Puppy.  He is sitting in a little pink cup over on the left of the picture.  It's his job to bark at anyone who tries to peek.  He lives for his job.  He might be a little stuffed dog, but he has one heck of a bark.  He growls too.

I got to work chinning everything under the tree.  Then I was busy chinning all of the branches I could reach - sheesh, what a job!  But it's done, so I declare everything under the tree to be MINE.  I even chinned Shnookums.  He wasn't too pleased, but then again, I'd rather have him on my side than not on my side.  Perhaps I need to distract him with a treat and then check out my stocking!  It's worth a try!

Fluffy