We have two new members of our family: orange tabby kittens Tigger and Leo, shown here just arrived and looking out of the cat carrier at the small room we’re going to keep them in for now, until our older cat Katie gets used to the idea of having more cats in the house.

A few weeks ago Ellen’s hairdresser Kelly told Ellen about some kittens at her house that needed homes. Kelly had a stray female cat, a gray and white tabby, that made herself at home in Kelly’s barn (she has two horses), and gave birth there to four kittens. It was late in the year for it, they were born on October 14th. Usually kittens arrive in the spring or summer. Kelly’s barn is not heated, and her husband was not willing to have cats in the house, though he did eventually give in to having the one female kitten, which was adopted by Kelly’s teenage daughter. The other three, all male, had to go, though.

Ellen came home and told me about it, and I thought it might work. For a long time I’ve been saying that if we did adopt more cats, I’d like to get a pair of kitten siblings, either two males or two females, so they’d have each other for playmates and company. Ellen wanted them too, but was unsure if Katie would accept them. Katie loves being our only cat, having outlived three other cats, and lives a life of pampered ease. Two weeks ago we brought home two of the kittens as a tryout, to see what might happen. Katie approached the cat carrier, hissed at them a few times, and took off to sulk under the bed upstairs. The kittens were still pretty young, and when we took them out of the carrier, they quickly fell asleep. For the last two weeks Ellen has been wavering back and forth on the adoption issue. One day she would tell me she’d decided to take the kittens, the next she decided she couldn’t do that to Katie. So it went. Finally, today, we had a long talk about it, and decided to go ahead. We called Kelly, and while one boy kitten had found a home, she still had the two we had wanted. We drove over and picked them up.

We’re calling this one Tigger, my name choice. He seems to be the more adventurous of the two, and it didn’t take him long to come out exploring. He’s already been around the room a few times, and playing a bit with his toys that we brought along. Leo (Ellen’s name choice) is more cautious, and hasn’t come out of the carrier yet.

“I hope that litterbox isn’t too high for them,” Ellen said. Tigger showed her it wasn’t. And so, we embark on a new feline adventure. There may be some tricky moments ahead with Katie, but so far, as long as the kittens stay behind the gate in one room, she’s okay with it. She still has most of our attention, and we’re making sure she gets a lot.

Kittens in December. Should be our best Christmas present in years.