December greetings to you, and to all Buddy’s buddies!

Buddy is doing great this month. The mysterious scratches on his nose have healed, and the steroids he was on have been discontinued. (Insert joke here about him now being able to pass an Olympic drug test.)

Every year after Thanksgiving, when Black Friday comes I spend the afternoon away from the stores, and in the suites at Tabby’s Place. Of course, one of those stops was in the FIV-positive suite to see Buddy, my ol’ pal Charlie, and the rest of the gang.

Despite an early taste of winter weather, the solarium was where I found most of them. Lester, Newman, and Mona were cuddled up on the hammock, while in an igloo Wolfie was curled up with Buddy. But soon Buddy decided to join the three already on the hammock. It’s not as though there was a lot of space for him, but Buddy was rolling around ecstatically as though it was as big as the entire state of New Jersey. Quiet tortie Mona in particular was out of sorts, trying to hang on to her small space in the wake of the resident whirling dervish. About the only other cat besides Wolfie who held back was Cisco, who’s still getting used to things with his new suitemates. Even so, I’m going to say he too was tempted to join the fun, watching intently from his own igloo.

These days, a sign of the season in the solarium is the tarp that covers the chain-link fence to keep out the cold wind. Another sign is a three-headed extension cord, each head connected to a heated bed, quite likely the reason the two igloos and the hammock were so popular. However, I knew that Charlie and I were going to have some good Quality Time somewhere else, so in anticipation I had picked up a blanket in the laundry room to put between me and the chilly concrete floor.

As Charlie purred on my lap, Buddy went back to bouncing from one end of the solarium to another like a furry butterfly. He stopped next to me just long enough for me to give him a few pets with my other hand, and then off he went again, generating warmth wherever he goes.

Before I go, since it is the season, Tabby’s Place has a wish list at Amazon.com. Their little list consists not only of food and other necessities for the cats, but also office supplies for their human staff.

And please, don’t feel you have to spend as much money as Drake is for is-she-or-isn’t-she-his-girlfriend Taylor Swift’s cats Meredith and Olivia. They have nothing on Buddy, whose good life is possible thanks to your much-appreciated support.