Not a creature was stirring…

...except for Mia the cat, who in the middle of the night decided to present her Christmas gift to us a bit early.

Until then, we were snoozing soundly-- I, nestled snuggly inside my giant pregnant-person body pillow that wraps all around me; Jeremy, in plaid pajama pants and socks. It was starting off to be a long winter’s nap, which these days is not so easy to come by around here. We were both particularly exhausted, apparently much more than our lively nocturnal pet who could be heard prowling around the house as we drifted off to sleep, dreaming of sugarplums.

At around two o’clock there arose such a clatter...so of course, I sprang sleepily from my bed to see what was the matter, even though I knew that it was Mia prancing and pawing her way playfully from the floor to the mattress as if on a trampoline. [She has been known to find stray bits of dental floss or random shreds of plastic from the hidden corners of our house, and pulls them out at night to fling them to and fro. Often these items end up on our bed, along with Mia, who rolls around with her treasure for endless minutes until we muster the energy to take them away from her and kick her back out into the living room.]

Last night in the dark, I felt around on the covers, my hand searching blindly for a scrap of paper or half of a Q-Tip. Instead, I found only Mia, sprawled out on the bed, eagerly grabbing my hand between her paws as if to say, “hey, now that you’re awake, I have something exciting to show you!”

Reluctantly, I turned on the lamp...and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Atop our clean ivory quilt, precisely between Jeremy’s side of the bed and mine, lay the remains of a small brown mouse (yes, dressed all in fur from his head to his foot.) Next to him sat Mia – her eyes how they twinkled -- proudly displaying her offering. I let out the littlest scream, almost as a reflex, which woke Jeremy who stared in amazement at the tiny deceased creature laid out before us.

We could only shake our heads and laugh, and applaud our cat for such a monumental accomplishment (she has tried to catch mice before and failed.) While Jeremy scooped our Christmas gift discreetly into the trashcan, I pulled off the bedding and scrubbed my hands in hot soapy water.

This morning we awoke to a new-fallen snow, had oatmeal and coffee, and gave our purring cat a few extra fish-treats in her breakfast bowl.