Thursday, December 29, 2016

Thankful Thursday: A Pawsome Christmas

Mommy here.

My family Christmas for the past two years hasn't been all that great, with my dad in the hospital just the week before in 2014, and my mom recovering from a heart attack last year. I spent this entire holiday season with my fingers crossed that everyone would remain unscathed, and it turned out to be one of the best Christmases in awhile.

Mudpie told you all about our amazing Secret Paws package yesterday, and today I wanted to show a few other meaningful gifts we received from our dear online friends that made this a Christmas to remember.


It's no secret that we're huge fans of the artwork created by The Menagerie Mom and for months I've wanted to ask her to do something just for us, especially when she posted that she would send a piece of her mixed media art as a thank you to anyone who donated to her favorite rescue group. Earlier this month she posted a picture of a bookmark she made starring her kitty Thimble sitting on a stack of books, reading "A Christmas Feral".

That did it. I *needed* that bookmark! I emailed Lorianne and was blown away when she told me that I was the inspiration behind the bookmark because she knows how much I love A Christmas Carol, and she was already in the process of making me one with a tortie reading the book!!! And her handmade card stars an artsy version of Mudpie too! The talent and generosity of our blogging friends never ceases to amaze me.


Remember the lavender sachet we featured in our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Tortie Lovers? Did anyone really think I'd be able to resist buying one for myself? Well I couldn't, and as a thank you for featuring her shop on our blog, the wonderful owner of The Velvet Cat sent me BOTH of the tortie twins, one to be Angel Truffles and the other to be Mudpie. She also enclosed a Catnip Perogi on a rope for Mudpie, and I don't know what they put in Canadian nip but that girl has lost her mind over it!!! On Christmas day my Dad was swinging it around for her and she went bonkers. (Silly Mommy here kept snappy blurring pictures instead of filming a video.)


Lastly, earlier this month I signed up for the Second Annual Holiday Cat Book Exchange hosted by Cheshire Loves Karma where each participant was paired up with another to exchange a book about cats, by cats, or featuring cats. We enjoyed it so much last year that quite honestly, if Cheshire's mom Robin hadn't decided to continue the tradition I probably would have taken it over myself!

My exchange partner Jennifer and her cat Indy (who has his own YouTube channel!) sent me two books from my Amazon wish list and I can't wait to read them!

Tell us about your Christmas! 
Did you do anything or receive anything extra special?

20 comments:

Summer at sparklecat.com said...

What lovely gifts! The Cat Blogosphere is so thoughtful and generous.

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

THose are such special gifts!

Lone Star Cats said...

Pawsome gifts!

The Menagerie Mom said...

I am so, so glad you like the bookmark and card, Melissa and Mudpie! And the other items you feature here are phenomenal. The little tortie from The Velvet Cat is just too purrfect! And now we also have two more kitty books to add to our to-read list!

We had a wonderful Christmas as well! Because I let myself fall far too behind this year and was worried I wouldn't have time to send out cards to all those signed up, we ourselves didn't sign up for the card exchange this time around (we plan on changing that next year!). Yet, we still received several cards from fantastic blogging friends, like you! Thank you, Mudpie and Melissa! What a wonderful, amazing, pawesome group of friends we have in this blogosphere, and we couldn't be more thankful!

The Island Cats said...

Those really are some special gifts. :)

Unknown said...

What amazing gifts! Cat bloggers are the best (in my humble opinion). Glad to hear you had a better Christmas than the past couple of years :)

Hairballsandhissyfits.com said...

As a trio of Canadian cats, Frodo, Zulu and Amarula were delighted to hear about how much you enjoyed the Canadian 'nip! There is something about the snow or the Canadian profusion of politeness that infuses the nip with something extra special! As you know, the cats got some amazing Christmas sweaters. They will soon be blogging about some other gifts (including another Amazon box to add to their collection!) Only cats could love receiving an empty box!!

Two French Bulldogs said...

Being that the package was secret bet it came from the real Santa
Lily & Edward

Anonymous said...

Awesome!

The Swiss Cats said...

Those are lovely gifts ! Purrs

da tabbies o trout towne said...

mudpie...yur mom DID gt sum reel lee awesum gifts !! YAY !!! we iz buzzed happee for her ~~~~ ♥♥♥☺☺☺

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

Those are lovely gifts! It seems there are a lot of exchanges that we didn't know about. We only knew about Secret Paws, and not the holiday card or other exchanges.

The Florida Furkids said...

Super gifts! We had a good Christmas too (although we ALSO kept our paws crossed). December hasn't always been the best month for us.

The Florida Furkids

Brian's Home Blog said...

Those are sure some amazing gifts and that bookmark is super cute. I hope you have a totally wonderful 2017. Thanks for joining the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

Sweet Purrfections said...

We know what you mean about holding your breath during the holidays. We ended up having a great year, too.

pilch92 said...

WOW! Those are great gifts. Lorianne made me a beautiful card with my Angel Lucy on it, I am going to make it into an ornament.She is so thoughtful and talented.

Cathy Keisha said...

Great gifts. Is that my Twitter pal Indy?

Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty said...

Those are beautiful gifts! Glad you had a nice Christmas :)

Purrs xx
Athena and Marie

Unknown said...

Oh, I adore that artwork from the Menagerie Mom. That little one totally does look like Mudpie. And it's no wonder. Her face is really inspiring!

Jean from Welcome to the Menagerie

Ingailly said...

Hello! I am the author of some new web blod on educational topic and i would like to offer to each of you to visit my own web site: draftify.me