In Walks Louka

In spite of a short sunny moment, today turned out to be a dark, dull grey. Three o'clock looked and felt like five.
My mother has been hassling, there's no other word, hassling me to get an idea for what to buy me. I walked into our local mall today, and suddenly, I knew without a doubt.

"Do you know what I would REALLY like this Christmas?"” I asked.
"No, tell me!"
Love, affection, warmth, beauty, personality, laughter, happiness, wonder. I have named:
"A c.a.t." I said in English because my son was there.
Her face lit up. She was sold before I could say cat.
"“He would love it!"” she gushed. "He's been asking for one!"”
Then and there, a new member was added to the family.
Here she is:



















I'm giving myself 48 hours to name her. It will probably be Louka but I like Kahlo too, because the little lady looks like a strong, bright, independent young female.
Yannick keeps repeating: "It's the most beautiful day of my life!" After a while, he amended that to: "It's one of the most beautiful days of my life." But he's so excited he can hardly control himself. He's ecstatic. He's on cloud nine. He loves it.

She played fearlessly for about an hour and since then has been sleeping, exhausted. I'll try to get some pictures but a combination of low light and a black kitten are quite a challenge.

Then I had to introduce her to Fatso and Grumpy. Rather to my surprise, the unflappable Fatso reacted with curiosity but also hostility. I suspect the kitten's smell to be still unpleasant since she's been dewormed, and vaccinated and all that fun stuff. Grumpy seemed to recognise a smaller version of herself and didn't seem to mind as much but still acts uneasy. I'll have to watch like a hawk for the following days, to protect the little one from Fatso's claws and my son's loving smothering.

The Christmas tree is up. So is my collection of Santas. Here's a sample of it. A busy, fruitful day!



I told my mother I expected my present to be wrapped for Christmas but I think my Christmas present will rather work hard at unwrapping and destroying the presents instead. What fun ahead!