Christmas Lights

We had a holiday cocktail party at our home, with some of my work colleagues and local friends. The Christmas lights looked nice on the house, although many of our neighbors (in the 40's area) have gone quite overboard. Entire streets are lit up, with strings of lights criss crossing the entire block. Our get together was pretty well attended, which was a pleasant surprise.

We put up the family tree, which is already preinstalled with lights, but it actually takes a lot of time to connect all the lights. And then we got all the ornaments down from the attic to place on the tree. The cats like to sit under it and look at the shiny globes.

At the party, we announced to everyone that J. is due with twin girls, sometime this spring. The timing is for April, but with multiples its not as predictable as regular single babies. So we are excited, and getting ready for a house full of craziness.

Unfortunately, both cats are ill, refusing to eat or drink along with being listless. We've been at the vets for hours each day, where they are get fluids and medicines transfused and are force fed. They have something that is viral and bacterial, although we are unaffected. They are sitting here sitting in front of the fire on their (now early) Christmas present - an animal heating pad. It's a foam pad that has a pressure sensitive warmer underneath. It turns on when they are resting on it, and even then, only on the parts under them. This Amazon dispatched item goes to a mellow 102F. They love it, especially when they are not feeling well like now, but I think it will be good for their arthritis in general.

[Addendum - after a week of IV infusions twice a day and 4-5 other random medicines - the feline nation is feeling much better]