Not a creature was stirring . . .

. . . not even the mouse, because he had a warm place to sleep.

Lydia and I visited the nursery/garden center that is the source of so many items in my garden. They have a Christmas display with an electric train that circles a miniature village. I stepped closer to the display to get a closer look at some of the houses, when I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. It was a little brown mouse! It ran away from me to hide underneath a puff of cotton (fake snow).

When I stepped away, it came out of its hiding place and ran back to sit next to the electric box that controls the train. It curled up in a ball and fell asleep. I'm sure that box was a warm and toasty place to sleep, with outdoor temperatures hovering around freezing. As we watched the mouse, I noticed a cat not far away. There are cats at this nursery and I always assumed they were around for rodent control. The cat didn't see this mouse, however. Rather funny, since it was in plain view!

About an hour later, after Lydia had finished up the kids' crafts class she was taking, we stopped by the display and noticed the mouse, still sleeping next to the warm box. An employee happened to be passing and I asked her why the cat hadn't caught the mouse. She laughed and said that they'd just been discussing that amongst themselves. Apparently, the cat is an experienced mouser, but she hasn't yet found this mouse.

We're going to return to the nursery sometime in the coming weeks, to buy some poinsettias. We'll see if there's a little brown mouse around. If it isn't, we'll know what happened!