Holiday rush

Or maybe that should read sugar rush, because that's what I spent the majority of yesterday on. Friday morning was a run to the store for baking supplies and a few Christmas presents. Friday afternoon was two batches of fudge and a batch of cherry mash (cherry fudge with Maraschino cherries layered between dark chocolate fudge with pecan bits). Saturday morning was - almost - the last of the boxing for mailing, a batch of cookie jar ginger snaps and mini-shortbread cookies and getting all of the sweet stuff boxed up for the vet clinic, garage, library and assorted other destinations.

T has a cold, so he was banned from the kitchen, but he made the post office run for me, bless him! Haven't touched the cards yet, though.

The cats are thoroughly enjoying the holidays. Although their space under the tree has been taken up by packages, the boxes arriving and going are endlessly fascinating.
This box came from my folks - Yancey, their dog, is a cat-eater (or she would be if she had the opportunity) so when they visit we set up gates and she goes in her crate at night.
The box must have retained some Yancey smell. As soon as it was open Nunu started sniffing the air and as I took the presents out, commenced digging through the packing to make sure it wasn't concealing anything suspicious. Once she'd ensured it was sage, she made herself at home. Mabel checked it out, too, but Snowball just supervised from a safe distance in case the actual dog appeared.

T suggested we just tape the box up and send Nunu to Yancey for Christmas... One of them would enjoy that, the other likely not so much! Apparently Yancey's been checking all the incoming packages on that end for furry occupants, as well - but I don't think she takes naps in the boxes afterward.

The ponies, meanwhile...
Are eating their fool heads off. They greeted me enthusiastically yesterday and left off their afternoon naps to join me at the feeder. I wanted to make sure they could still reach the bale okay, and ended up distributing a bit, not that they really needed it.

We're supposed to have 20's today, so if there isn't too much wind and T's feeling better we may try riding. It's looking pretty gray at the moment, but we'll see how it goes.