Merry Mischief

 

Ah, December. I knew it was coming as soon as Mom started bringing in bags of shiny things. Ribbons, papers, glitter that practically begged to be scattered—all of it perfectly set up on the table like she knew I’d be there to help. Mom called it “holiday card making.” I called it prime entertainment.

It all started one chilly morning when I wandered into the kitchen, stretching luxuriously, when I saw it: the whole table, blanketed in holiday chaos. There were stacks of colorful paper, tubes of glitter, stickers in all shapes and sizes, and best of all—long, crinkly rolls of tape. My paws itched with excitement. And Mom, with her usual warning, said, “Gryzka, don’t even think about it.”

Oh, but thinking is exactly what I do best.

She sat down with her supplies, carefully folding a piece of red paper into a card shape. I perched nearby, my tail flicking as I watched her glue a snowman sticker to the front. And there it was—my first target. The snowman glistened, almost mocking me. When Mom looked away, I reached out with my paw, just grazing the edge of the card. The snowman sticker wobbled but stayed on, so I tried again, this time with a little more force. Success! The snowman sticker peeled halfway off, dangling from the card.

Mom sighed, pressing it back down. “Gryzka, this is not a cat toy,” she chided, moving the card farther away. I played innocent, giving her my best who, me? face. But as soon as she turned back to add glitter to another card, I was already setting my sights on something else.

She opened a tube of glue, and the second she pressed it onto the card, a small dollop landed on the edge of the table. I pounced. The glue was cool and sticky under my paw as I tried to bat it around, my fur brushing against the little bits of glitter Mom had left unattended. Mom gasped, and before she could shoo me away, I flicked my paw, sending a spray of glitter across the table.

“Gryzka!” she groaned, trying to sweep up the glitter. But once glitter is loose, it’s never really gone. It settled onto every card, on the table, and (quite glamorously, I thought) into my fur. Mom gave me a look that was half-exasperation, half-resignation. I flicked my tail, prancing away as though I had no idea how it got there.

A few minutes later, Mom was hunched over another card, focused on cutting out little snowflakes. These tiny, delicate paper shapes were fascinating—thin, light as air, and prone to blowing away with even the softest breath. Mom laid one down carefully, and I watched as it floated to the table, my eyes trained on its fragile edges. I crept closer, trying to look as casual as possible, and as soon as she looked down, I flicked my paw at it. The snowflake soared across the table, and Mom groaned.

“Gryzka, please,” she sighed, giving me a reproachful look. “You’re covered in glitter and you’ve already destroyed two stickers. Let me finish just one card.”

She was practically begging now. I blinked up at her innocently, like I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I mean, I was clearly helping. But I decided, just this once, to let her work without interference. I’d allow her a little peace. So I sat back on my haunches and licked my paw, taking my time cleaning every sparkly bit of glitter from my fur.

Mom relaxed, resuming her work. But then, just when she thought she’d gotten a handle on things, she opened up a new pack of stickers. This pack had shiny stars and little bells that jingled if you shook them. I could feel the excitement bubbling up again. I was about to leap when I noticed something even better—a roll of tape. A roll. Of tape.

Mom placed the roll just out of my reach, maybe thinking I wouldn’t notice. Foolish human. I stretched my paw out, hooking a claw onto the edge of the roll, and with a soft tug, it began to unwind. Tape spun off, inch by inch, until it dangled down like the world’s shiniest ribbon. My paws tingled with anticipation. I couldn’t resist—I batted the roll until it spun across the table, the sticky side landing on my paw.

Mom’s eyes widened. “No, Gryzka! Not the tape!”

I tried to shake it off, but the tape only seemed to stick tighter. I whipped my paw around, sending the roll bouncing along the table, where it latched onto one of Mom’s precious holiday cards. She lunged forward, trying to separate tape from paper and from me, and I seized the moment, scampering across the table to play with a festive string of bells.

Mom managed to free my paw, giving me a resigned pat on the head. “Alright, Gryzka. Clearly, you’re just too involved in this holiday spirit.”

She tried arranging a few cards with glue and stickers while keeping a wary eye on me. But every time she relaxed, I found a new angle. She was barely finished with her next card when I leapt at a rogue snowflake, scattering a flurry of them across the table. I gazed at her, wide-eyed, as if to say, What can I say? They flew by themselves.

“Fine,” Mom said, sounding defeated. “If you’re going to help, let’s do this together.”

Now, this was unexpected. I watched as she placed a blank card in front of me, along with a few small stickers. I gave her a suspicious glance. She wanted me to make a card?

“Well, go on, then,” she said, chuckling. “You seem to have your own ideas.”

Encouraged, I pawed at a star sticker, nudging it until it stuck to the card in a beautifully haphazard way. Mom clapped her hands and gave me a scratch behind my ears. She even added a dab of glitter for me. It was a true Gryzka masterpiece—a single gold star, just slightly off-center, with a spray of glitter that covered half the card and the table.

“There,” she said proudly, holding it up. “The Gryzka Holiday Card. A unique touch for a unique cat.”

I purred, surveying our work. It had everything a holiday card needed: glitter, stickers, and a bit of chaos. Mom went back to her own cards, finally able to finish without interruption as I lounged beside my creation. The sparkles and paper scraps surrounding us were proof of our partnership.