Yuletide Cats

It was a great Christmas visit with my sister & her family. Goose and duck for supper, watching the traditional Yule Log burn on TV (a New York City tradition dating from the 1960s --it's the mayor's fireplace), followed by the 1934 film The March of the Wooden Soldiers with Laurel & Hardy, and finally we went out to see The Hobbit at a cinema. All three of these --the fireplace footage, the old film, and the Tolkien (read as children by everyone in the house) --are strong traditions in my family. My eyes still tear up when Stan & Ollie push the buttons on the backs of the soldiers and THEY MARCH. It was a day just pouring over with old family memories.

Cats informed the holiday, just as they do everyday of my life. Here's my nephew's splendid Maine Coon, Odin, and at upper right is The Cat (as in The Cat and the Fiddle)with "Stannie Dum" and "Ollie Dee."