Kiwi Christmas and the arrival of Angus

 

So it’s Christmas time in New Zealand.  It is very weird.  It is coming full on in to Summer complete with shorts, flip-flops and beach BBQ’s.  The malls are all decorated with pine wreathes and Christmas bulbs, but it all has a very “Christmas in July” feel to it.  I can not help but feel like I’m in an old mall that just hasn’t taken down its decorations yet.

Last weekend we attended a Christmas festival in Avalon Park in Lower Hutt, not too far from our home.  We only knew it was a Christmas thing with some fireworks at the end.  We went with our friends Aaron & Lisa and their kids Sam, Emma, and Sophie.  Sophie could be a dead ringer for Cindy Loo Whoo who is just more than two.

It was a bit of a walk through the park to get to the festival proper where we discovered the festival was really more of a concert in the park.  It was awesome! They had blues, rocking Christmas carols, the Funky Monkey’s (kids performers), and hip hop dancers.  We had two stars from “NZ has Talent” perform and The Beat Girls did a rocking segment on great 60’s music complete with shimmering flapper dresses.  We even had an opera singer from Auss join in on O Holy Night.  It was fantastic.  The fireworks at the end were great, but combined with Feliz Navidad it was an amazing Christmas celebration.  Totally unlike any other Christmas party I’ve ever experienced--all for free and each moment a surprise.

The next exciting thing to happen was the arrival of Angus—a new black/brown long hair cat.  For the whole year we have been here, we have struggled with making a responsible pet decision.  We loved our Lucy sooo much and missed her when we moved, but we knew we couldn’t replace her just be getting another cat.  We also were not sure how a pet might affect our travel ability.  But after a year, we felt we could make room for a pet.

Times are bit tight right now and I have struggled to come up with good Christmas “gifts” for the family.  A cat would be quite special, but any new cat would come with several hundred dollars of expenses for shots, de-sexing, supplies, etc.  But Amy found several listings on our trade site, TradeMe, for free cats.  I know “free ain’t free” when it comes to kittens, but Angus was full grown and his owner was including all his stuff, 3 months of food, and 2 kitty beds.  We thought we should check him out.

.

     Angus is the much loved cat of a Kiwi family.  He is 12 years old.  The woman who owned him, Moira, had been married to an American.  She was moving to Scottland basically to travel and see long lost family.  Her son’s were in Auss or unable to care for him so she had to give him away.  We felt immediately that it was exactly the situation we faced in the US.  We couldn’t take our Lucy with us.  It was mandatory that we found her a great home.  We knew exactly what Moira was going through and we knew we could be a great home for Angus.

He arrived Monday night.  Amy is over the moon to have a purring kitty to sleep with again.  He has adjusted extremely well.  He even flopped on the floor with us last night.  He seems ready to make himself at home.

Amy says that a house isn’t a home until it has a cat in it.  Welcome Home, Angus! Merry Christmas everyone!