A CHRISTMAS GIFT

When the month began, the little Zoolatry tree was green but bare, 

no sparkle, no shine, no ornaments bright and glittery.  

But as each day of the calendar turned to a new one, the tree filled, 

with cards of friendship and love. 

And a basket on the table soon overflowed with more greetings delivered by post.  

We could not receive a better gift ~ for friendship is the gift that sustains us 

and gives meaning to our lives.  

To each of you, thank you.  

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.

Ann

Maggy, Zoey

DEAR SANTA ~

DING-A-LING, HEAR THEM RING

JINGLE PAWS

A GRINCHY SUNDAY SELFIE

Grinch or Not-A-Grinch

join the fun at CAT ON MY HEAD

for this weeks Sunday Selfies!

CATURDAY ART

A SLEIGH RIDE WITH SANTA

 For Caturday Art, I like to tell how an image was created.   For this one though,

I can't, as I can't remember ~ it was more or less one of those Photoshop "accidents".

I had clip art images of Santa, another of a sleigh, and one of Maggy and

kept playing around with them.  Layering bits and pieces of each picture

onto another, until they seemed to "look OK". 

Then I added some ornaments here and there, changed some of the colors

within the pictures and merged it all onto a dark red background.

Last, a lot of different tools, which ones I don't know (!!!) to give an effect

of a painting or a drawing.  Oh well, it was fun just the same, and

that's what it should be.  Happy Caturday Saturday!

Join Athena and Marie

for more Caturday Art.

Just Click Here.

 

DO YOU KNOW THE ADDRESS FOR HEAVEN ?

If you look just to the right you will see my favorite photo.
This photo has been there for three years, and this is the
fourth Christmas for it to be there.  This year I have added a special
ornament to the picture.  The story of the ornament is told at the end of our blog.
For those who do not scroll to the blogs end, we retell the story here.
~ ~ ~
When we first met, and soon after came our first Christmas together,
there were no ornaments for our tree.
We each bought one for the little tree.
Mine ~ to him ~ had a little bear on it.  Ever after, for nearly 40 years,
he received a new bear ornament just before Christmas.

Often I shopped for these early in the year, always wanting to find one
that was unique and different,
one that was better than the year before.

This is the very special one that remains. 
It will always be on "my tree".
It was to be his "bear" for Christmas 2012.
I haven't yet found out how to mail it to heaven . . .

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

ROCKSTAR

Did you know there were three Zoolatry cats?

That's right ~ Maggy and Zoey ~ and our virtual cat, RockStar!

Last summer, watching me (the ZH) photo-shopping all these cat photos, my grandson

 disappeared to another room with paper and crayons and markers, to later return

with the picture shown at the top!  

"Here Grandma, a new kitty for you!"

Isn't he cute, I said, what's his name?  

"Mmm, RockStar!"

And so arrived Zoolatry's virtual cat.

RockStar really wanted to be part of the holiday season, so he's gotten all

dressed up with jingle bells and candy cane stripes,

a Santa hat and boots for the snow (that hasn't come yet!),

and even borrowed two pair of my stripey sox!

Meowy Catmouse from RockStar

AN "OLD" ORNAMENT HAS BEEN HUNG ON THE TREE

CATURDAY ART and All About Photoshop

For  a gazillion or more years we have worked with a very old, perhaps even the "original" version of Adobe Photoshop.  And even as many years as we've worked with this program, we've still never even come close to learning ~ let alone mastering ~ all the tools available within it.  Yet recently, with upgrading to a new computer, we decided to finally take the challenge and upgrade Photoshop as well ... leaping forward into the 21st century with Adobe Creative Cloud, the newest and most advanced version on the market today.  It is available by subscription, at just under $10.00 per month for non professional users and believe me, it is AMAZING.  If you enjoy doing any graphics, photo manipulation, art and design ~ working with color, type fonts, shapes ~ overlays, shadows, whatever you can possibly imagine ~ this is a program you will love.  It is offered on a trial basis, so you may want to give it a short-term try before committing to a one-year purchase.  I won't deny that there is a learning curve, I expect to be still learning this challenging program when I have one-foot-in-the-grave as the saying goes (or three of them there ...).  But the challenge is fun.  I did have some advantage of working in the earlier version which did help.  But there are online tutorials, books for dummies, and many community colleges offer courses as well.  So I do encourage bloggers with an interest in graphics and design to look into this.  It does beat out any and all free online art programs.

CATURDAY ART

Our Caturday Art today was to create tree ornaments

with images of Maggy and Zoey ... these were done in PSD layers,

colored and textured.  The hanging ribbons were added, colored to match.

The pictures of Maggy and Zoey were done separately, and framed

then added to the round ornaments and warped to fit.  Other tools were

used to give some depth and perspective.

Caturday Art is a weekly blog hop sponsored by

Athena and Marie.

To view more, just CLICK HERE.

FRIDAY FLASHBACK

A once upon a time Christmas in our Florida home.

Zoey was always fascinated by this little musical snow globe.

Sweet memories . . .

THANKFUL THURSDAY and NIP CANES

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is having

furriends stop by.  Sometimes they just pop in unexpectedly, which is quite fun

and I'm always thankful to see them.

So I try to keep my place tidy and nicely decorated!

One friend recently left me this little purrsent, but since I have no thumbs

I haven't been able to open it yet ~ and I've just sent the ZH off to the store to

get me more candy canes.  I like to have a good supply of candy canes on hand

to give to the furriends who do stop by.  They're nip canes by the way, mmm! 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ TWO CHRISTMAS KITTIES

CARING and SHARING

The season of caring ~ the season of sharing.

This is the time of year when many pet bloggers are thinking of sharing a little extra

for pets in need, pets at shelters  ~ a little extra for food, for medicines perhaps,

blankets for winter warmth, maybe even a few toys.

But did you know that within our own community of pet bloggers we have

someone who cares for many, so many.  Who is nearly a "shelter unto herself"?

Our very own Ms Marg, who for many years has never ever turned away 

any cat or dog who came to her door.  But rather has opened the door, opened

her hands, her home and her heart to each and every one of them.

For many, many years has given them all food and shelter and care and

most of all love ~ for as long as they lived upon our earth!

More than we can count have called her home their home.

What a blessing Marg has been, and still is, to pets in need.

So as you take a moment to consider holiday giving, consider 

Marg's Animals, and add them to your list, please.  There could be no better

gift on your list.  You will be sharing with and caring for

one of our own, many of our own.  Thank you.

MARG'S ANIMALS

IF ONLY ...

IF ONLY ...

If only I had thumbs I could put these jingle balls in the box ...

If only I had thumbs I could put the top on the box ...

If only I had thumbs I could tie the ribbon 'round the box ...

If only I had thumbs ...

NAUGHTY (?) MAGGY MONDAY

PS

We're having some difficulty emailing our own

Holiday Cards to furriends 'n' friends.

If you haven't received one, please see our Sunday Selfie post (December 6)

where you can copy-and-paste our card.  HUGS.

OUR HOLIDAY CARD ~ Our Sunday Selfie

Our Sunday Selfie this week is our 2015 Holiday Card ~ please feel free to grab it, copy and paste to your blog if you'd like to do so.  

It comes with our warmest wishes for a magical Christmas season and a wonderful New Year.  We have been blessed by the friendship of so many throughout the pet blogging world and we give thanks each and every day for that amazing gift.  

Please join our many friends at The Cat On My Head and take part in the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop ~ it's a fun place to be each weekend!

CATURDAY ART ~ Our Tree Is Up!

Yes ~ our tree is up!  Up there, on top, on our banner,

just waiting to be decorated with cards from furriends and friends

which we'll be doing today and tomorrow and throughout the days to come.

Please stop back to visit tomorrow if you can,

to see some of Maggy and Zoey's decorations ... and while

you're here, you can pick up a copy of our

Holiday Card for You!

Thanks!

 Join all our friends for

CATURDAY ART

sponsored each week by

Athena and Marie.

SHARING and SUPPORTING

Please feel free to copy and paste this badge to your own blog,

or other social media for the holiday season.

Special Note

This was not designed by Zoolatry, it came to us several years ago,

source unknown or we would gladly give credit where due.  But we do 

believe it is worth sharing.  Thank you.