Castles, Kittens and Uncle Clyde!

Back in the Castle, Anna, invisible to everyone except Willow-Maya, checked out the luscious Catmas decoration. Lego and Domino were running up and down the tree, and suddenly Domino knocked it down by jumping on it in a moment of excitement. "Those pesky kittens. But here comes the hunky one with the hot accent. " said Anna. As Clyde approached the fallen tree, he licked little Domino on the back of the ears and picked up the tree with his supercatural strength. "Oh! Next time, then" Anna said.

"Can you see that love? It´s all about forgiveness. No need to be ugly to others. Look, the kittens are now sitting on his lap and he´s going to read " ´Twas the Night Before Trystmas" to them. and look in this room..." said Willow Maya leading Anna into the study where Arfur, Furrnella and Furrnando were. Anna rolled her eyes as if really bored. e

In the mean time Uncle Clyde finished his story and left the wee kittens on the couch, as they had fallen asleep--or so he thought!
The moment he was out of sight Domino nudged Lego with a paw and whispered, "Come on Brother," as she lept off a cushion and back into the Catmas tree.
Pouncing with 'visions of sugar plumbs' and all, Lego landed on top of one of the gifts under the tree, shredding the wrapping with his sharp lil kitten claws, which made an amazingly loud "Ssshhhcrippppsh" sound.
Domino, from a branch above her brother, paused and then giggled as she slid down the front of a huge present! "Ssshhhcrippppsh," went the wrapping!
The sound was so exciting that the kittens ran round the tree for what felt like hours, pouncing gifts and shreding the wrappings until suddenly they were both so tired they thought they would pass out--as kittens do after such a raucus play time.
Before resting her head on a bow, Domino, being the observant one, suddenly with wide eyes shouted, "Lego!"
Lego looked in the direction Domino's eyes were facing and spied a small tag lying on the tree skirt which read "To Clawdette, my love. From your dearest Clawde."
They both *giggled* and went to work rewrapping, and swapping tags on all the presents.
When Uncle Clyde emerged from his dungeon later that evening, he smiled at the sleeping kittens curled up together under the tree. "Oh the innocence," he whispered to himself. He had to pause and wonder at the dreamy giggle coming from his napping niece, but just shrugged his shoulders and went about his business.....
Arfur was sitting at his desk, going over the books. Furnella was humming "Santa Claws is Coming to Town" as she put the finishing touches on her purresents for her beloved husband and kittens. She looked up at her husband and smiled at his intensity and took a moment to reflect on just how much she loved her dashing husband, Arfur. She placed the gifts under the tree and padded over to him and gently nose kissed him. Furnella purred. Arfur purred, and together they shared in each others love-purrs. Willow-Maya watched the scene and smiled a tender smile and then she turned her gaze onto Anna. who was watching as well. Anna was grimacing, and in a valiant effort to bite back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her once more, she turned to Willow-Maya in desperation, and said, "Get me out of here, I beg of you please, Willow-Maya, get me out of here."

Clawde and Clawdette were in the kitchen stuffing their faces with a selection of Fancy Feast and Whiskas. Tiny Teddy was watching them amazed. He had never seen cats eat as much. Clawdette burped and Clawde laughed and nose kissed her. Clawdette licked his ears back and left Fancy Feast all over them. They both purred happily.

Anna stared amazed. How could they eat like that? But it did look like fun ...and how could they love each other when they were so .. so FAT.

As Furnella wrapped a catmas present for her Arfur, she wondered how to tell him about the "extra special" Catmas present they will both recieve. She patted her tummy and hummed a little tune. "I wonder how the whole house is going to react!"

"How´d the shopping go, dear?" Clawde asked.
"Fine, Clawdey, except that Tiny Teddy had to run back into the shop because he furgot his mittens or something. At least he has mittens to furget now." Clawde smiled and didn´t mention his visit to the cold offices of Mogue, where the poor cats were slaving away. Anna did not seem to be around right then. She might have been off peeing on someone, he supposed, but he had really wanted to invite her to the castle for Catmas. She needed some real fun. He had left her a note and another fruitcake--with anchovies.

Tiny Teddy lay dozing by the fire, groaning with happiness at being so warm and cosy on such a cold day when normally he´d have been sleeping in a damp hedge. Earlier he had slipped back into the shop and spent the tiny bit of money that kind Uncle Clawde had given him on some fluffy toys for the kittens, some ribbons for Furnella, Clawdette and Furnella, and Fancy Feast for Clawde and Arfur. He´d bought raw liver for Clyde. He sighed again happily.