Our cat Autumn is very very needy, in a good way. She has to be constantly touching you. I actually step on her several times a day because she is right under my feet. There are times when she will not stop meowing until you sit down and let her have some lap time. She is extremely affectionate and we just love her to death. I started to feel bad that she was home alone for several hours a day while I was at work. So, the logical next step was to get her a friend. First I was looking for a kitten, I thought a kitten for Christmas, for my kids. They would love it and Autumn would get a play mate. Not really sure where to find a kitten, I contacted my friend Jean Jacobs. Jean is a lovely woman that I have known for several years. She is very active in the City of Kingston. She sits on several boards, and  is very involved in cat rescues. I knew Jean would willing and able to help me. She got me in contact with a very sweet couple, Deb and Len,  who had rescued two cats, but was now moving and unable to take the cats with them. One, Ginger, was a severely abused 12 year old female, the other, Goldie,  a 2 year old very skittish female, also abused. The Deb wanted to keep the two cats together. We spoke on the phone a few times and arranged for them to come to the house to meet Autumn. The same night I was contacted by someone who had a litter of kittens, eight weeks old, that needed homes immediately. Now what?? Do I become the crazy cat lady and just take ALL of the cats?? ….well, yeah. We are a farm after all! So, my father and I drove to pick up the kitten that would live at his house until Christmas morning. During the ride my father revealed that he always had cats growing up and has secretly wanted one for sometime now.  (Who knew?!)  Of course the wheels start turning…. I am surrounded by cats, one of them will have to be my fathers Christmas gift. Later that night, the Deb and Len came over with the two rescues. Ginger strolled out of her crate like she owned the place. She proceeded to purr and make immediate friends with my kids. (Smart kitty!) Goldie was another story. She was very very upset with her new surroundings. She turned her back on us from inside the crate and refused to come out. She actually went to the bathroom in there.  Two days later, she finally left the crate and she make her way under my daughters dresser where she stayed. My son tried to coax her out and was badly scratched. That was the end of that!  I contacted Deb who had suspected that Goldie would not take to her new surroundings and they returned to get her. Ginger stayed with us.

Rescue cats are very interesting… I watch both Autumn and Ginger and wonder how or why they would ever trust another human being. Ginger was so badly abused that she was removed from her owner who had somehow broken both of her back legs and did not get her medical attention. Her legs healed wrong and she has a very bad limp. The vet says she is not in any pain, but it looks like a struggle for her to get up and down from the furniture. Her back is also bent. The vet doesn’t know if it too was broken, or if its a result of her broken legs. Yet somehow this beautiful little girl still manages to get on your lap, purr like a motor boat and rub her face against you as if nothing horrible had ever happened to her.

Now, several days had passed since Gingers arrival on the farm, and the kitten arrival to my dad’s. My kids didn’t know about the kitten, and my dad didn’t know about Ginger. But a funny thing happens when you open your home to a sweet furry little creature… you also open your heart. We, my kids and I, had fallen completely in love with our sweet Ginger, and my father had fallen in love with the kitten. Things have a funny way of working themselves out. I talk to my father on the phone every morning on my way to work. In the days leading up to Christmas he kept telling me that if Autumn and the kitten did not get along that he would be willing to take the kitten off my hands…. Perfect!

The day before Christmas Eve I gathered my kids and told them about the kitten. I explained how I got her before we got our sweet Ginger and how Poppy had fallen in love with her. They were all immediately on board with giving Poppy the kitten for Christmas, so we devised a plan. We wrapped a big box with Christmas paper. I told my father that I would leave a wrapped box on my front porch and that he was to put the kitten in the box and carry her into the house for the kids to unwrap. What he didn’t know was that Parker would take the box from him, stare at it,  hand the box back and say “She is for you Poppy, Merry Christmas” The plan went off without a glitch.

Later that night, my father called me. He told me how sad he was on the ride over to my house on Christmas morning because he was about to hand over the little kitten that he loved. He also said it was the best Christmas gift he had ever gotten.

Thank you Jean!