You may wonder how a gift can be a surprise when one signs up for a gift exchange, but when I was entering my exchange preferences, the only thing I could think of was that there are a lot of people (and cats!) that need things more than I do.

My partner and I just adopted a cat in October, and we wanted to give a home to a senior kitty that needed some love. It's heartbreaking to think of any pet not having a permanent home, and senior cats that aren't very snuggly would have an extra hard time finding a place to live out their golden years.

So, I asked my Santa to donate to the rescue agency where we got our cat instead of buying me anything. The rescue agency recently had to stop intake of new animals because they are over $45,000 in debt to their vets. Even so, they've still taken a few animals in because otherwise they would've been left to die. I've told my family that all I want for Christmas is donations to the adoption agency (Zoe's Animal Rescue, in Edmonton, AB), because they're a shelterless, foster-only volunteer organization that takes incredible care of the animals they rescue.

My Santa sent me a message the other day saying they'd made a donation to the agency, but that they were also sending me a gift! I'm so thankful for the donation to the rescue agency, but also this gift is AMAZING. It's a beautiful cat mom mug that's white and orange, just like my sweet old man cat.

Thank you so much, Santa, for your generosity to both the kitties and for the adorable mug <3 :)