Betcha didn’t expect to see this

Back during my days of working for the local wildlife hospital I raised this opossum from a tiny orphan. She was an educational animal and I would take her to schools to show kids that they were truly valuable little creatures. The kids would be afraid of her at first but she won over their hearts every time.

She was gentle as a lamb and would let anyone pet her and hold her. I never bathed her, didn’t have to, she was a stickler for keeping herself clean and tidy.

One Christmas a pet supply store here advertised they would make a Santa available to have his picture taken with your pet. So I decided to take my gentle TCO (pronounced “tee-coe”) to visit Santa.

I put her in her carrier, the size you would use for a small dog, and off we went. We had to wait in a short line as other regular pets posed with the old guy. Finally our turn came. I put the carrier on the floor, opened its door and took TCO out. Santa was a lot surprised but a great sport.

As you can see from the photo, TCO was more interested in exploring than she was in having her photo taken. The first time Santa tried to hold her, she became very inquisitive about his hair and almost exposed that indeed, Santa was wearing a wig.