Indoor animals never cease to amaze. Recently at a holiday party, our sons gravitated towards the mischievous Meeko, a beautiful and friendly fluffball of a cat who, you'd never guess by looking at, is currently on parole from the county D.A. Meeko suffers from a Napoleonic complex and compulsively picks fights with very very large dogs. His last fight landed him in hot water with the authorities and he is now miserably confined to the house. He wants out worse than a teenage girl at a family reunion.  

A few days before that, I attended a get-together where the hostess and her hunting dog, Milhaus, remained remarkably calm about an uninvited guest. The party crasher was a flying squirrel who hitched a ride indoors via the Christmas tree. As the squirrel scampered from tree to couch and back again, guests shrieked and Milhaus, who as I mentioned is a dog bred to hunt, used his keen nose to pinpoint the exact location of dropped cookies and pretzels. The squirrel evaded all attempts at capture and eventually made his way to the highest branches where he stayed, like a living breathing Christmas tree topper. 

Neither story has an ending yet. So let me leave you on this Christmas morning with the latest vignette in the shop. It is named "Meeko Behind Glass" and I created it as an homage to animals everywhere wanting to get in and wanting to get out. Ho ho ho, woof woof meow. 

Photos by Renn Kuhnen.