Peekay’s First Christmas
As my readers may recall, Peekay is the resident cat at our home in the Sierra Foothills. When he arrived in the summer of 2024 he was but a wee kitten, part ginger and part Bengal. Six months later as Christmas was upon us, he weighed in at 10 pounds when the two of us stepped on the scales. And with that, he proudly purred “mnrhnh,” and jumped up on his favorite chair with his toy companion Peekaboo for one of his many naps of the day. Cat language is subtle, but I’m pretty sure he had just declared that he was no longer a kitten and deserved the respect that should be afforded a literary cat of some repute.
As Christmas approached, I realized that it would be impossible to have a tree filled with glittering lights and vintage ornaments within Peekay’s reach. With his athletic leaps and long armed reach, he is able to fly through the air like Batcat, reach great heights like Supercat, and send shiny Christmas balls crashing to the ground in one fell swoop. Therefore, our home is decorated on the outside where trees all around the yard and our porch awning above the living room’s high windows are filled with strings of lights and glass ornaments that magically twinkle and delight the both of us.
Peekay and I have decided to name our house “Tall Trees West.” While he would love to explore our woods and scratch each pine, fir, and cedar tree in sight, I’ve explained it is safer for him to explore the closets, nooks and crannies inside the house and where he can look out on the squirrels, birds and deer from atop the table where Kit and used to have breakfast. It’s covered with a cozy horse blanket where he crouches when grey and red squirrels outside the window cavort about in the yard. It is one of the few times he utters a sound— soft little fluttery utterances punctuated by whiskers that twitch with excitement.
On Christmas Eve, I opened a package from my friend Sheila who has long been a cat lover. Her gift was a signed copy of the book Algonquin Cat that she found on a trip to NYC in 1980 and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel. “You would love the hotel,” I told Peekay. “They had a resident cat at that time named Hamlet, and before that, there was one named Rusty. Val Schaffner wrote a book about Hamlet’s adventures and notoriety while living there amongst famous actors and literary figures. It is delightfully illustrated by Hilary Knight who at the time had illustrated over 50 books, including the best-seller Eloise and its three sequels.
Christmas morning was Peekay’s absolute best day ever. He had a stocking filled with cat toys and was given a tiny grey mouse with a red tail that he carried around for most of the morning. It has not been seen since, but I’m sure I will step on it along with one of the plastic balls filled with a silver bell from the stocking his aunt Heidi gave him. He is over the moon with all of the toys, but mostly enjoys them when I stand across the room and throw them for him to fetch. He is a born feline soccer goalie and fetcher with an eye that follows whatever moves with laser vision.
Being a literary cat, Peekay has now accumulated quite a library of books on the subject of cats. In addition to Algonquin Cat, he also received James Herriot’s Treasury for Children that includes the story of Moses the kitten found almost frozen to death, and another about a Christmas Day Kitten. I’ve promised to read them aloud by our fireplace and to have the two of us watch Season 5 of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS when it begins this month. I also gave Peekay a copy of Cat Tales: Classic Stories From Favorite Writers with an introduction by Cleveland Amory—author of The Cat Who Came for Christmas who was “owned” by a white rescue cat he named Polar Bear.
When snow falls this month and flocks the world at Tall Trees West, you will find Peekay and me cozy by the fire with stories to read and the antics of birds and squirrels to watch through our windows that I plan to keep festively lit all winter long. And while I sit in my study writing my blogs, he will be next to me atop a stand up desk patiently waiting for me to come play ball.