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As we were leaving the zoo, we poked our heads inside the Giraffe house, and found Daddy Giraffe - easily a third to one-half larger than the females - pacing around his tall cage, and eating voraciously. What follows is a series of photos I couldn't stop myself from snapping over the course of five or ten minutes.
The coolest thing about going to Wild Lights at the Denver Zoo is the rare chance to 
see the animals at night. For the first time ever in my 20 years in Denver, I saw the two Arctic Foxes MOVING. Until to
night, they'd always been curled into the darkest corner of their den, like mere patches of dirty-looking snow. Tonight they were perfect round white balls of fur, delighted that winter has finally arrived.
One of the most beautiful things I saw was a white swan dozing. 
The shape of its body and the purity of its feathers caused me to be cruel by using the flash on my camera, but the swan did little more than move its slender head deeper into its feathers.
The sea lions are always fun to watch. You can hear their loud burps from all corners of the zoo. The chance to wander among thousands of tiny lights strung in the tall cottonwoods, and animal scenes lit up outside their various buildings, with a small flask of something to nip at to keep you warm is simply an unbeatable way to bring Christmas in.
Here are some more photos of wonderful animals photographed in between the light-gazing and nip-sipping. 
No Wild Lights celebration is complete without a ride (or two) on the old carousel with its brightly-colored 
animals and calliope music blaring Christmas carols. Here is my sister Lori, our friend Becky and Becky's mom Cathy.
And below is my husband Dave, on the eve of his birthday.
And fortunately for all of you, there's no photos of me as I'm always the one behind the camera.
For the second year in a row, I was talked into preparing a Christmas Eve raclette dinner. Raclette is special type of table-top grill with space underneath it to broil little dishes of things like potatoes and asparagus covered with cheese. The grill is named after the swiss cheese named "raclette." It didn't take long to figure out why it was named after the cheese - not all cheese melt the same, and nothing we've tried works better than raclette itself. Our grill was a gift from a friend from Spain who lived with us for several months.
It's not that I didn't want to do it - it's a wonderful way to socialize over food and wine, and to eat slowly and savo
r each morsel, but the preparation beforehand and the clean-up afterward is time-consuming, and until I got started it all seemed overwhelming. When all was said and done, the long, leisurely meal, which I AGAIN forgot to photograph, was delicious, and a success enjoyed by all who partook.
The day was spent shopping, cutting, preparing, cleaning (unless you have 5 cats - or even 3 kittens - you can't begin to believe how much dirt they create......) and constantly looking out the back patio doors to make sure the kittens had not slipped out front. They always do, at some point, and the big excitement of the afternoon was when a dog running loose chased Java and Smokey WAY up in our neighbor's maple tree. I was glad to see how fast they can run and that they are not afraid to climb much higher than was necessary.
Brewster ran underneath the cars in the driveway, and wasn't quite sure just what had happened. He is, I'm afraid, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he is the biggest, clumsiest, most affectionate lover of the three.
For the raclette, I had prepared chunks of elk tenderloin, chicken marinated in teriyaki, salmon, sea bass, shrimp, scallops and pieces of bacon - important to grease the grill - plus sliced potatoes, asparagus, red pepper and portobello mushrooms. All of those meat 
and fish smells were all just too much for the poor kitties to bear. I was concerned they might go berserk once we sat down to eat, but 
they were on excellent behavior, apparently having had their fill from grazing the kitchen floor.
After a wonderful meal, we rushed out of the house and over to the Denver Zoo to see Wild Lights. We did this last C
hristmas Eve, and I think we have established a new Christmas Eve tradition: raclette and then Wild Lights. I will do a separate post with photos of the thousands of lights and some of the animals, who are much more lively and frisky at night.
Smokey (and Java, Brewster, and the Old Ones, Phenix and Rajah) all say MEEOWW, which can mean:
Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah.
Seasons Greetings.
Happy Holidays.
Blessed Be to the Winter Solstice.
Whatever phrase rocks your boat, or even if none of them do, I wish everyone who reads or stumbles across this blog a wondrous last two weeks of December. 
I have so much more I've wanted to say this year, and hundreds of photos I've wanted to post - and actually still intend to go back and post - but until that time occurs, I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays. To those who read my blog regularly, I have paid for another year here at Typepad, and so I'm hoping to be more prolific in 2006.
To my friends Roz and Windy, both of whom tragically lost kittens this morning, my heart bleeds for you. I cannot think of yours without thinking of mine. May all kittens, cats, puppies and humans stay safe and healthy at this hectic time of year.
Smokey thinks she is a Christmas present, and indeed, the kittens have most definitely been the biggest gifts of the year. 
They just turned six months old, and are boundless bundles of energy and joy. My wonder at their endless curiosity only grows by the day.
Happy Winter!
Once in a very very great while, there is a perfect snowfall where every twig on every branch of every tree is completely coated with snow. On December 10, Denver received such a snow, and I spent a blissful afternoon driving through my favorite old neighborhoods, photographing the beauty I found with every turn of my head. Enjoy this photo essay that shows one reason why winter is one of my favorite seasons.
Happy, Wondrous, Beautiful Winter Solstice.
My dear friend Natalie is recovering beautifully from the double mastectomy she had last Thursday. With her positive outlook and endless energy she'll be back to normal in no time.
Here she is with the flowers that our Spanish class bought for her. She received so many beautiful bouquets, but I think ours is one of the pretties
t - along with these amazing roses her husband gave her.
I gasped when I saw the way the sunlight was hitting these roses, and fortunately I had my camera with me. I snapped and snapped, finally capturing the big wonder of my day in the photo below.
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