Dear Shelter Mom and Grandma Jan, We want to wish you and Shelter Dad a Merry Christmas, And a very Merry Christmas to our Foster Grandma, and all the kids in the shelter. A happy Chanukah to our Jewish friends and ferrets everywhere. We are so excited are toes are twinkling. Just when we thought things couldn't get any better here in Charlestown, they did! WE HAVE A BABY SISTER!! Her name is Charity, she is all white and fluffy, and she is so cute. Her little tail is always fluffed out, her little feet never stop running, and she jumps and leaps at everything. She lives in the room next to us, over Beethoven so we get to see her all the time. Foster Mom put her in with big brother Beethoven when she first arrived, BUT, she beat him up. Then she dragged him all around his own house by his ear. He was to polite to say anything, and he is so much bigger than she is that he didn't want to hit her. So Foster Mom decided she would be best living alone. We are thrilled because she is back up next to us. We talk to her all the time, and we get up with her at night. That lets Foster Mom get her rest. We never brought up a baby before, so we are having all the fun while Foster Mom is doing the training. Charity is cutting her teeth on Foster Mom's wrist, and Foster Mom is now speaking a whole new language. As far as we can figure out it goes something like this. In the middle of a chomp, Foster Mom says "No-owww". We guess that means No how, this biting is not going to work. Then she says "Ow-no". Is she saying I don't know??? There is the usual "no,no's," and "We don't do that here," as Foster Mom reaches for another band-aid. Foster Mom is so funny adding more band-aids on top of the strips she has now. We are trying to keep up with the baby talk and trying not to laugh. Dook, Dook. It's hard. Charity doesn't say anything, she just stands there being her own sweet self. She is getting better, she is all potty trained and she knows her name. And, she has already started to help Foster Mom around the house. Yesterday, she opened all the toilet paper and the paper towel packages, and started the rolls for Foster Mom. What a good girl she is. This means there is less work for us to do, and more time to devote to our careers. Shelter Mom, we surfed the web, but we couldn'd find out where baby ferrets come from. Foster Mom just brought her home in the carrier. But, where did she really come from? June saw some white fluff floating down from the sky the other day. We got so excited because it was gathering on the ground outside our window. It looked like pieces of Charity. When she scratches, she sends fluff balls just like that floating in the air. We were wondering, are those flakes outside the window baby ferrets unassembled? Let us know, because we don't have a cabbage patch, we never saw the stork, and she is much to white to have come from the coal bin. This is all for now, we will write more later. Hugs and ferret kisses to everyone, from the gang here in Charlestown. June and Storm, Charity, Beethoven, and cousin Zeke, and Foster Mom. please visit the shelter site at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html or the many faces at Ferret Wise Shelter a 501c3 organization Http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html Please Visit iGive at http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=1890&mid=9535 Where you can anonymously support ongoing rehabilitation and education projects at Ferret Wise by clicking and browsing at their site ! The ferrets will thank you! [Posted in FML issue 2900]