Cat Tales-A Christmas Tree for Tangerine

 

Once upon a time there was a funny little calico cat named Tangerine.  Tangerine didn’t have a home and lived outside with a group of other homeless feral cats (feral meaning not used to human contact).  One day in the summer Tangerine decided to hide under the lounge chair where a girl sat outside reading books and giving love to some of the other cats  that Tangerine knew.  Tangerine would sometimes bat at the girl from under the chair, as she was a very silly and playful kitten.

 

She was starving and skinny and needed some help because her fur was falling out and she had sores all over.  She was pretty much a mess.  So she reached out to the girl, who helped her get to the Veterinary so she could get shots for the sores.  As time went by, and with regular feeding, Tangerine started to grow all of her fur back and gain weight.  She was becoming a healthy kitty.

 

She lived outside with the other cats until one day the girl saw that she had been injured and was limping.  Something had really hurt her shoulder and Tangerine did not act well.  So the girl helped Tangerine get to the vet again where she was treated and sent home with instructions to be brought indoors to heal (away from the other cats) because of her fever.

 

At first Tangerine cried a lot and was afraid to leave the hallway by the back door, because she was not used to being inside.  So the girl got a blanket and pillow and slept by the back door with Tangerine where she felt safe.  Within a couple days of resting, Tangerine got all better and started to feel safe inside the house.  The girl couldn’t personally adopt another cat (because she had already saved a mamma and her 2 newborns), but the girls parents loved Tangerine and decided she would never live outside homeless again.  So goes the story of Tangerine’s adoption.

 

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Now it is December and Tangerine is about to have her first Christmas!  “Tangie” , as she is also called, is a very VERY active, playful cat now.  She is also very curious.  So of course, when the Christmas tree went up she was very VERY curious about that.  At first Tangie went up to the tree and gave it a sniff.  “Hmm , she thought.  There is something odd smelling about this tree.  I have never smelled a tree like this before.”  So she decided she must taste the tree to further investigate.  A nibble on this branch, a nibble on that one… “Hmm she thought again. Quite curious.  This doesn’t feel or taste like the trees I remember from when I lived outside. ”

 

 

While Tangerine is very happy to have a loving home, I think she sometimes misses the trees and the plants, and all of the things a little cat can explore in the great wide open.  Tangerine was very happy to see a tree inside the house!  🙂  Even if the tree was not a real tree, it still looked like a real tree and brought back memories of her climbing days.  So after prancing around it for awhile, sniffing, and nibbling, Tangerine decided to climb that tree!!!  Now luckily, the humans had not put any ornaments, lights or garland up yet.  She was spied, just barely visible, climbing right up the center part – clear up to the top!  It is not a short tree.

 

The girl laughed and said, “Tangerine!  You silly cat. Get down from there!”.  And then she came, lowering herself down, not unlike Old Saint Nick safely and slyly descending down the chimney.  “Do you like Christmas so far Tangerine?” , asked the girl.  Being the very chatty cat she is (she “talks” more than I do!), she answered with the usual high pitched “Brrrrppp?” (which always sounds like it has a question mark on the end of it).

I think it is safe to say that so far Tangerine is liking Christmas.  At least-the part of having a tree inside.  She is hiding underneath it now, lying below the branches.  And while there are no gifts under the tree just yet, there is a little cat called Tangerine lying there instead. As the girl sat and mused, she thought to herself how it seemed quite fitting for little Tangie to be sitting under the tree in place of the presents at the moment.  For just a couple months ago the girl lost her long time furry friend Tasha in a very unexpected (and kind of traumatic might I add) way.  It was Tangerine who came to the rescue and spent those first few hard and lonely nights right by the girls side, just as the girl had spent that first hard night right by Tangerine’s side (after she was hurt) while Tangie adjusted to her new surroundings.

 

So as the girl sat and mused at the presently “gift-less” tree, she smiled and thought to herself, “Thank you God for the gift of Tangerine.”  Sometimes the true gifts in our lives come in unexpected ways.  And sometimes-the best gifts in life are free.

 

 

The End.    (well not really..it’s just the beginning for Tangerine, but it is the end of THIS story 🙂 )

 

While I could not catch video of her when she went up the tree (wasn’t prepared), I did catch some video of her nibbling and exploring it, along with some of her “answering” my questions.  So if you want to see a video to go along with the story, just view below or click HERE to be taken directly to YouTube.

 

Food for thought-What gifts or blessings have you noticed this Christmas?  Please answer if you can, in the comments below or post a gift or blessing you have noticed on the We Live Inspired! Facebook page HERE.

 

Hope, Love, and Light to you,

Rebekah

 

story is © by Rebekah at weliveinspired.com