Today’s Holiday Guest: Michelle Graham

Well, obviously the world hasn’t ended. LOL Therefore, today’s holiday guest is fellow Sirenista Michelle Graham, with a touching essay about her sweet furbaby cat, Maggie. Please show her some love, because she has a book coming out soon (more about that at the end).

Christmas Without Maggie

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, one of my favourites, in fact. I love the music, the decorations, the expressions on my kids’ faces Christmas morning, and the get-togethers with family. I am looking forward to Christmas again this year, but I know there will be something missing this year.

In the spring, we had to put down our cat, Maggie. She had been with us for 17 years and was a gift to me from my boyfriend (now my hubby) for my birthday, which falls right before Christmas. Maggie was a kitten, but had been a stray, and she was around 8 months old when we got her. She was a gorgeous tortoiseshell kitty, who was very affectionate from the start. She was pretty bold, too and that first Christmas with her in our apartment was an interesting one.

We put the tree up the day we took her to get spayed, figuring that when she came back, she’d be too sore and out of it to pay it any mind. Wrong! She saw that tree and climbed right in. Every day when I got home, I’d find ornaments scattered around. In truth, I never did find all the ornaments, even when we packed up the apartment to move. She must have had a terrific hiding spot. One day I came home to find her curled up asleep in the branches of the tree. She was so adorable!

We had invited some friends for New Year’s Eve and I decided to cook my first turkey. When we set it on the table, Maggie jumped up and tried to get hold of it for herself. My one friend still laughs when we talk about how she had to sit back from the table and hold her plate in the air, while Maggie stared longingly at the turkey. The evening finished shortly after midnight when the cat finally toppled the Christmas tree.

Over the many Christmases since then, Maggie has provided some wonderful entertainment for us. Even as she neared the end of her life, she still had the playfulness of a kitten. She regularly knocked ornaments down and batted them around the floor, chewed on the bows of the presents, and kept trying to snag the turkey. She stopped climbing the tree after the first couple years, but we would often find her sleeping underneath it, nestled in between the gifts.

This will be our first Christmas without her. As I watch our new kitty attacking strings and chasing bits of plastic around, I know we will have many new Christmas moments with him. Still, I can’t help missing Maggie. She really was a part of the family. But even though she’s gone, the memories of our time spent together never will be.

Book Blurb for Landing the Big Ones (Hedon Falls 1)

(Coming from Siren-BookStrand January 16, 2013)

When single mom Serena Keegan finally gives in to her son’s pleas for a pet, they decide that fish are the perfect option for their apartment lifestyle. They quickly discover that they have a lot to learn about their aquatic friends. Thankfully, Dalton’s Aquariums and More! is there to help.

The owners, identical twins Lance and Liam Dalton, both find themselves attracted to her. They are eager to provide her with the assistance she needs, for the pets and for more…personal matters. Serena’s past experience with men has been less than stellar and she worries she and her son will end up hurt.

Despite these fears, she finds herself falling for the sexy store owners, whose talents extend well beyond business. But Liam has a past he hasn’t told her about and when Serena finds out, it threatens their growing love.

* * *

You can find out more about Michelle and her upcoming book at:

http://michellegrahameroticromance.blogspot.ca
https://twitter.com/MichelleGAuthor
http://www.facebook.com/michelle.graham.562114