LE PÈRE NOËL EXISTE ET C'EST UN CHAT

This text is best read with music, with the music with which I have written it:

“Flower Xmas Market” - List. Vincent Moustache - LINK

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A XMAS TALE

I wasn't planning to write this article but (anything you say in front of a but is automatically cancelled) B-U-T today Marcel and I have witnessed the magic of Christmas. You may think this story is pure chance but you'd be wrong, that's what Santa wants you to think. What I tell below is 100% real, I have not exaggerated anything, that today is Christmas and I want my presents:

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THE DOG TALK

Yes, get me arrested by the police, I admit it: I'm one of those people who talk to their dogs as if they were human, but don't judge me, it's a lot of hours of living together and this exaggerates and mixes feelings. During walks sometimes Marcel doesn't want to walk anymore, he does the minimum work as a dog and wants to go home without really doing a good walk. To make him happy and to keep walking a little further and come back I manipulate him. I tell him "Let's go see a kitten", then he gets very happy and we go to the museum. “Kitten” is a powerful word in our relationship.

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ART & CAT LOVERS

On the avenue near where we live there are houses with gardens and there are usually cats. We usually go to the house which is a museum. In the garden there are columns and big stones and the cats stand on them as if they were hieratic statues. To get a good look at them, I take Marcel in my arms as if he were a child and, as he is older and can't see well, I show him with my finger where the cat is. He cries in a mixture of illusion, sadness and joy. He doesn't bark, he cries. He is a cat lover of old, toxic and romantic love who suffers from seeing his love from afar. The scene is always cute & I have to admit I love to walk with him to visit cats too, but I don't cry like him, not at the moment.

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THE XMAS MAGIC

I always use the "Let's go see a kitty" hoping there is no kitty, just to get him to wiggle his little dachshund butt a little farther away.... Now it's been weeks since we've seen one, so today I didn't expect to see any cats, with the cold weather, poor things!

Today is December 25TH and I, not to lose the good habit, went for a walk with Marcel at 8 am (I like it earlier when it is still dark, but today is a holiday). While the sky was painted in a beautiful watercolor gradient, the sun came out. There was absolutely no one on the street, just Marcel, some neighbors who were getting ready to leave for a trip and me. Marcel, also as usual, did just enough as a dog and wanted to go home. On the way he tricked me (yes, I trick him and he tricked me) to enter our street and go to a food that someone dropped on the ground. I belatedly realized this and, since I wanted a little longer walk, I started using the "Let's go see a kitty". Today is Xmas day so I personalized the message (I'm a good storyteller even for dog talking) "Come on Marcel - I said - let's go see the kitten Santa brought you". Then the magic happened.

I had not finished saying "Santa Claus" when a black cat walked past us and quietly walked into the front yard. For Marcel it was a dream, he forgot about the food and went with me into the garden. I took him in my arms and pointed out the cat that, escaping our gaze, passed from one garden to the other. In a mixture of hunting instinct (Marcel and I), we went looking for him (or her) until the end of the avenue, jumping between walls, fences, trees and bushes until we lost sight of him, escaped or hidden. Now we both went home very happy. Today we spent the day cooking and watching a series, under the blanket. PERFECT XMAS DAY FOR A DOG & A HUMAN TOGETHER: CATS, FOOD, MOVIES, BLANKET, SIESTA.

Magic and reality have many things in common. One of those things, probably the most important and characteristic, is that both magic and reality don't care if you believe in them or not. They happen all around and you can’t stop them, only let them do their work to make you immensely happy, exactly the same that happens anywhere you can go: your family, your friends, in your jod, custom call center… well, not sure about that last reflection, but we can talk about that.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas day.

Bisous de beurre mon croissant!