Mikulàš, Anděl a Čert

In many European countries, the arrival of St. Nicholas on December 6th heralds the start of the holiday season.  It always did in my family, probably because it was the one thing from the holiday's that we celebrated at home.  Because we didn't ever spend the holidays at the house we lived in.  So, when St. Nick arrived on the morning of December 6th, I have very fond memories of waking up and running to see what St. Nick had left for us in the night.

If you don't know about St. Nicholas - who he is (not Santa), why he is celebrated, and how the tradition started - you can read it here on my old blog.  If you already know, you can skip the history lesson and perhaps learn a bit about how St. Nick is celebrated here in the Czech Repbulic.  Because though the man is the same, the celebrations are a bit different.

Known as Mikuláš (pronounced Meek-uh-lahsh) here in the Czech Republic he is still the bishop, St. Nicholas.  But, there is an added twist.  In a few countries here in Central Europe, he does not work alone.  Rather, he is accompanied by an angel (Anděl) and the devil (Čert).  The three of them visit the children in their homes (usually a few family members dressed as the characters - though these days you can hire college students to do it for a small fee).  Mikuláš asks the children if they have been good this year.  If the answer is yes, the angel rewards them with a small treat (fruit, or candy).  But if the answer is no, the child gets a sack of raw potatoes or coal instead of a treat.  If their behavior was truly horrible they will be threatened with being put in the devils sack and taken back to hell with him.  I guess that is one way to scare them straight!

Here in Prague, the afternoon before their big night, you will find the trio wandering the streets of Old Town Square, stopping the children they meet to ask if they have been behaving this year.  Most stare at the mythical figures come to life in wonder.  Many will tell them a small poem they have learned and earn a small treat.  Some run screaming from the devil, so he doesn't have time to catch them and put them in his sack.  Guess it is easy to tell which have the guilty conscience.

We didn't have a chance to make it down to the Square this year because of prior commitments but we did have a chance to celebrate St. Nicholas in our traditional way.  Early this morning, I was awoken by feet running down the stairs and then squeals of delight when the girls found that the stockings were full.  They came straight back to my room to beg me to get up and come downstairs so they could open their presents.   I told the girls that they had to wait until I could at least get a cup of coffee into my hands.

And that is almost exactly what I got (I need to remember they are very literal beings). No sooner had the mug been put down on the table, and the paper was flying.  The pets got in on the action too, with a little help from their humans...

I snapped some pics.  Of course.  Enjoy!  And happy St. Nicholas.

 **And yes, I realize I have more pet pictures than people pictures.  Let's just say they cooperate better.  And even Fidget got in on the action - albeit unintentionally.

Adding to the Zoo

We had just moved to Chile when we brought Dulce home.  MadHatter and Stinkerbell were over the moon to have their very own puppy.  They played with her every free second they had.  And Dulce lapped up the love like any puppy would.  But it became obvious, very quickly, that Dulce was Stinkerbell's dog.

MadHatter wanted a pet that she could call her own.  A kitty.  We were not ready to add to the animal population quite yet, so B promised her that when she turned 7, we would get her a kitten.  He was sure that since that was still 4 years out, and that she was only 3, she would forget.  I still laugh about his underestimation of the memory of a 3 year old child when a new pet is promised.

Flash forward to her 6th birthday.  One of the first things she pronounced was that it was only one year until she could get her kitty.  Mind you, this was not the first time we had heard about her kitty.  Ever since the promise was made, there was no respite from the weekly update on how long it would be until we had a puppy and a kitty.  Or how the kitty would sleep with her every night.  Or the musings on what we would name our kitty (which changed every hour).  We have talked of what color she would be, where her food bowl would go, and who was allowed to pet her (Stinkerbell had to ask permission first.  It was MadHatter's kitty after all).

But with all the talk, we had to start doing some planning.  We were getting closer and closer to the big day.  I started asking around as soon as we landed in Prague.  I tried social media; I researched the local shelters; I asked our vet.  The consensus was that it was going to be pretty hard for us to get a kitten here in Prague - unless we knew someone giving them away.  Why?  Because the shelters don't really like adopting out animals to expats.  Expats tend to love their animals while they are in country, and then either give them away or drop them back at the shelter when moving on.  Nothing we could say (even our story about how much we went through to bring Dulce 6000 miles to be with us) would convince them that we consider our pets part of our family.  But we weren't discouraged.  Our vet agreed to keep looking for a kitten for us, and help us with the adoption.

And then one day B says to me, "Why don't you just adopt a kitten at a shelter when you are in the US this summer, and fly her back in the cabin with you?"  I dismissed the idea outright.  At first.  But the more we talked about it, the more it seemed to make sense.  It is much easier to get a kitten from a shelter in the US.  The cats are almost always sterilized, have shots up to date and are in good health.  And having flown with our cat, Shiraz, for years, we knew that getting them in the cabin with you was a LOT easier than shipping them under the plane.  Suddenly it didn't sound like such a horrible idea.  Until it was.

We had not been in Austin for 24 hours when MadHatter picked out her kitty.  Our newest baby was given her sparkly, purple collar, settled into her new animal print carrier and loaded next to MadHatter in the back seat of the car.  Where we proceeded to banter about names for the newest addition to the family on our 45 minute drive home.  Some of the suggestions were cute, some were crazy but none fit.  Until MadHatter said that she looked like Pepper.  And Pepper it was.

That was the easy part.

We quickly found out that flying her home with us was going to be impossible.  We tried to get around it.  We tried to figure it all out.  But the fact was that our tickets flew us through London and the only way she could go through London was in cargo.  But it was the middle of summer and we were in the middle of a heat ban.  Meaning they will not load live animals in the sweltering heat.  Absolutely understandable.  It was why we wanted to fly her with us in the cabin.  Though somehow we seem to have forgotten the fact that London is on an island and all islands quarantine any animals that come through their airspace - even if just connecting to another flight.  The earliest they could get her to us would be October when they lifted the heat embargo at a small cost of about $4000.  Add to this the fact that our vet had never shipped an animal overseas and was asking for paperwork and blood tests and confirmations that we really didn't need and I was already regretting this "great" idea.

I could make this a very long story.  But long story a bit shorter, we had to leave Pepper behind with the promise of bringing her home as soon as we could.  Thankfully, Nana and Grampa love kitties so she had a great place to stay for the interim.  And thanks to Nana and Grampa, Pepper showed up on our doorstep two weeks ago!

We were all super excited to see her.  Well, except maybe Dulce...

And we were all super excited to get an extra visit with Nana this year!

Welcome to the family Pepper.  I think you will be our last addition for a  long long long long while.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 10

Daring kitty trying to eat Dulce's bone

Make yourself at home...