Wow, has my Christmas gotten off to a really wonderful start.

Johnny left around 9:30 last night, so I got to bed a little bit late for me. And I was planning to sleep in — I have absolutely NOTHING to do today!! Yay!! No laundry, no housecleaning, no cooking, no meeting any friends in town for lunch, no errands. No nothing!! Yay!!

So I was going to sleep in a little late.

UNTIL–

At 4:33AM, I slowly awoke and just barely heard a teeny-tiny “meow meow” sound and realized that somehow Huckleberry had managed to get herself closed up in my bedroom all night.

And now she was either asking for a little water, a little food, the litterbox — and likely all 3!!

So I got out of bed, opened the door and let her out and about 10 other cats & kittens came barreling in!

So I got back in bed — with all of them happily pouncing all over me. And I just laid there for awhile, thinking about how happy I am.

(And something else really cool happened yesterday afternoon that it is too soon to post about on the blog, but wow, did it make me feel delighted, gang. I can only say that it has to do with my novel The Guitar Hero Goes Home.)

Anyway, I took my time getting out of bed, but, still, I was out of bed before 5AM. Took care of the many cats & kittens, indoors and out on the kitchen porch. It’s very mild today, so Tiki did not want to come inside, plus she had one of her fluffy friends with her.

But for the first time in weeks — perhaps months, really — I felt totally relaxed, happy, joyful, peaceful. All those great feelings.

And I decided to have my breakfast in the family room, all the Christmas lights on, and get snuggled into all the fleece blankets on the couch, and watch a rerun of “Perry Mason” on TV. One of my all-time favorite shows. While I took my time, for once, and had my breakfast.

It was just so nice. To have nothing to do but relax. I had one of my retro TV tables set up in front of me. A small glass of juice. My piping hot cup of coffee. My bowl of fruit and cereal with plenty of organic milk, on the little TV table…

And then–

Freddie McFee suddenly came leaping up onto the TV table!! Even if I hadn’t had a bunch of liquids on it, it isn’t big enough for him to leap up onto!

And yes!! Juice was in my lap. Coffee was everywhere. My bowl of cereal was a close save. I was so fucking pissed off!

I had to immediately change into a clean nightgown, a dry robe. Throw everything –including most of the previously snuggly fleece throws — into the fucking washing machine.

And begin again.

By now it was 5:50AM and Perry was showing Lt. Tragg and Burger the Prosecutor, who had really done it. So it all happened pretty quickly.

But wow. Merry Christmas. But on we went!!

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Last evening was very nice!

This was the table before the pizzas and salads (and before Johnny arrived), so there was plenty of food!

And as luck would have it, about 10 minutes before Johnny arrived, Saffie decided to go into heat!

Yes. Thank you very much.

She got along splendidly with Johnny but she did not stop her high-pitched yowling throughout the entire evening. (We basically stayed in the kitchen the whole time he was here.)

And then her brother, Cuddles, came into the kitchen. And Angie McGee came in — she liked Johnny, too. And then Bobby McGee came in and he was wild about Johnny.

Even Tiki came inside for a quick bite to eat.

So they were all getting along splendidly. Christmas music and cat-in-heat-yowling. And lit candles, and Christmas lights. And a ton of food.

And then, at the end of the meal, Johnny said the funniest thing:

HE: “Well, I guess I’ve met all the cats now.”

ME (loud guffaw): “Johnny, there are 15 cats in this house. You haven’t hardly met any of them.”

He couldn’t believe it.

That just cracked me up. But, literally, most of the cats hide whenever anyone comes into the house. Which I appreciate because it makes me look like I’m not some sort of crazy cat lady…

But, anyway. We had a really nice Christmas Eve.

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And there is a ton of food leftover, so I don’t have to even think about cooking until maybe Monday.

And this morning, after “Perry Mason,” I watched a couple more Christmas reruns of “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” before heading back upstairs to my totally comfy bed — with another cup of coffee– and I stayed in bed, reading and listening to Christmas music on the Oldies FM radio station, until 9:30AM!!!!

Can you believe that, gang?? It just felt so great.

And now I have no real clue what I’m gonna do, but it’s going to involve a lot of doing absolutely nothing. Upstairs and/or downstairs on the couch (where the snuggly fleece blankets are clean, dry, and snuggly once more!).

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Okay!

I hope that wherever you are, and however you spend this day, you are joyful, peaceful, and happily expecting something terrific to come your way!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I’m gonna leave you with this!

And I’ll dedicate it to my friend, “Shezaboss”!! When I unearthed this song again in 2023, he really helped me learn to just love this song all over again.

It’s a song I wrote in 1984, as an homage to the Rolling Stones, and all those great Glam Rockers that I loved so much in the early 1970s.

My original demo of “Since the High-Heeled Boys Came Home” .

(And the photo below was taken in the hallway just outside the door of my E.12th Street apartment, and the guys in the photo were my band at the time: Suri and Rubin, from Argentina, and Lloyd, from the East Village. And they’re playing on the demo.) (Photo taken by Valerie in Brooklyn!!)

It’s NYC in 1984 all over again. Enjoy, gang!