Vacation is good. Being with family? Molto good.

But being away from the Tabby’s Place cats for five days is distinctly sub-good. Good heavens, it’s grand to be home.

Yesterday morning felt like Christmas Morning Part Deux as I crept into the sanctuary, eyes wide for happy happenings. Most of my friends (furry and otherwise) seem to harbor no hard feelings over my absence. The single exception is the Peachable One, who welcomed my cuddles and volley of “I love you! I miss you!”‘s by “fussing” and making snarly sounds in Hillary‘s direction.

There’s something rather exciting about coming home to Tabby’s Place after time away. Five days is an ocean of time in the life of the sanctuary, and I’d been asking Santa for some sea changes in our cats’ fortunes.

Be it known that Santa delivers.

First there’s the new face in the Lounge. For the first time ever, the feline population in that cushy spot has exploded to four. This would be charming in any case, but not necessarily Santa-level…except for the fact that it’s Beatrice. I have a soft spot for this confident tortie, so I’ll choose my words with care here, but Bea is…well, she’s a butt-kicker of the first order when it comes to other cats.

At least, she was.

Mittens, Skittles and Raja may not be her BFFs just yet (OK, or ever), but Bea has been jaw-droppingly peaceable – and happy – in their presence. Of course, the steady stream of human beans may have something to do with her restored glee.

Then there’s the magnificent seven. If it weren’t for a December miracle of sorts, this world would now be seven kittens poorer. But the mag seven are now safe from the mean NJ winter, alive and well, fortified with mighty new names like Zeus and Titan. My New Year’s wish for the tiny septet is that their eyes open to the loveliness of being loved. For now, they may be safe and snug, but they aren’t taking their chances with trusting us . There’s some massive cognitive dissonance when I see a nine-ounce puffball hissing like a savage leopard, but I’m confident those hissy days are numbered. Maybe the once-wild Monica and Chandler can stand in as the mag seven’s mentors.

Of course, this passel of midwinter miracles wouldn’t be complete without some new hearts on the Community Room board. Tiny McKenna is the first of her siblings out of the gate, and Renata and Aro have already been fast-tracked for their own forever home together. Apples, whose big round head and “love-me-love-me-love-me” nature whispered of a younger Grady, was scooped up in record time, too. (A good thing, that – my “short list” groans under the sweetness of big-round-headed brown tabbies.)

And this year is not, in fact, over. If five days away could witness such a rush of goodness, what may await us in the last week of 09?

I won’t presume to tell. But I’m sure glad I’ll be here for it. And I’m grateful that you’ll be here to share it with us.

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