Pancakes and a Movie!

Travis suggested this morning that we should go out to the IHOP for Grinch pancakes, and then go to the movie theatre to see the new Grinch movie. We haven't done much in the way of family holiday stuff, so we did. And it really was fun!

Travis was the only one to actually order the green Grinch pancakes, but he says they were very good.

And the movie was cute. I'll admit that I had my doubts about a Grinch-remake -- the Boris Karloff cartoon has seemed perfect to me -- but this one has its own charms. It is too long, and I could have done with less of Cindy Lou and her gang -- a bit too much of the "Hallmark Holiday Special" element -- but Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect, and Max is just wonderful. As Katie said, the problem with the "old version" is how unkind the Grinch is to Max, and this version fixes that problem nicely.

(See! Katie Does smile!)

As I said, we hadn't done much in the way of holiday activities as a family, but last night Ed and I went to see the play, "An Old Salem Christmas Carol," for what has become our monthly "play night." That is, we've been going to plays. There are several community theatre groups in the area, and so far all the plays we've been to have been well acted and produced. Last night's was, as you'd guess, an adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol set in Old Salem, and it was really nicely done. I did notice that the actor playing Scrooge developed an "English" accent over the course of the play, which made me laugh. Apparently an English Scrooge is just too much a part of our mental furniture to be thoroughly altered!

In other news, Finny is making an excellent recovery. His ears are almost down to their usual slender floppy selves, and his nose is steadily de-puffing. He still has some skin irritation around his nose and mouth, but for the most part he's looking his regular sweet self. The benadryll that he's now taking along with prednisone is making him pretty sleepy, but the weather has been rainy and awful so he wouldn't be getting much outside play time anyway. And I'm delighted with our new vets' office (I think they have five or six vets, and we've met two so far), where he was diagnosed in a snap and treated effectively and with love. 

And speaking of treating animals with love, Katie bought Gus her very own sweater. Poor Gus seems to be having a bit of an allergic reaction to ... something. Either the tree or the tree stand or maybe her plastic claw caps. We're working on it, but in the meantime she's lost quite a bit of fur on her sides, so we figured she might be cold. She actually likes wearing her sweater, and she looks awfully cute in it.

And, just so they don't feel neglected, here is Kali lying on the stairs (and she does Not move when people go up and down the stairs, either), and Livy on the couch. A bit spoiled, but they really are nice cats.