Another year, another Festivus for the Rest of Us.
This year marks the 29th Festivus of the Festivus Revival Era, when Cosmo Kramer convinced Frank Costanza to bring back the beloved holiday that eschews the excessive commercialism of the modern holiday season.
We enthusiastically celebrate Festivus annually at Casa de Buddy and here on the blog, but if you’re joining us for the first time and you’re not familiar with the tradition, we can help get you up to speed by referring back to the wisdom of Frank Costanza, who founded the holiday:
Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way!
Cosmo Kramer: What happened to the doll?
Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born. A Festivus for the rest of us!
Festivus was popularized by Seinfeld in the 1997 episode “The Strike,” and presented as a holiday celebrated by the Costanza family under duress, at the insistence of Frank Costanza, the insane father of George Costanza.
But the holiday was not invented for the show — it was a real tradition invented by Dan O’Keefe Sr., father of Seinfeld writer Dan O’Keefe, in the 1960s. The younger O’Keefe had no plans to work it into an episode of the sitcom, and blames his “loudmouth brother” for bringing it up at a party for the Seinfeld cast and crew.
Frank Costanza holding the Festivus pole.
O’Keefe pleaded with his colleagues not to write it into an episode, but by that point Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the main creative forces behind the show, were already intrigued and couldn’t be talked out of it.
In a 2017 interview, Dan O’Keefe said he believed his father’s made-up holiday was “too weird” for the TV audience, but Seinfeld has always been about the absurd and the nonsensical.
The audience loved it, and in the almost three decades since, Festivus has grown in popularity. It’s celebrated in homes, neighborhood bars, offices and other places as a non-secular holiday for which people don’t have to worry about bringing gifts and it’s okay to be a little grumpy.
As testament to its widespread popularity and its place in modern American culture, Festivus has been recognized as a culturally significant event by the Library of Congress.
Credit: US Library of Congress
On the surface, Festivus is superficially similar to Christmas. It involves a gathering of family and friends, a holiday dinner and a warm atmosphere.
But in a rejection of holiday consumerism, Festivus is not celebrated with a tree or candles. Instead, the primary decoration is an unadorned Festivus pole, usually made out of aluminum. (“I find tinsel distracting,” Frank Costanza explained.)
Festivus dinner begins with the Airing of Grievances and ends with the Feats of Strength.
The head of the family declares “I’ve got a lot of problems with you people, and now you’re gonna hear about it!”
No Festivus is complete without the Airing of Grievances.
It should come as no surprise that cats, who have high standards for service, would have their owh list of disappointments. Behold, Little Buddy the Cat’s grievances for 2025:
BigBuddy: It has come to my attention that you portray me as a wimp on MY blog! Apparently your claims about me running from vacuums and the rustling of paper bags are running jokes in your posts. These heresies shall not go unpunished! I am a tiger!
Readers of PITB: Et tu, friends of Little Buddy? And here I thought I had admirers who appreciate me for being the dashing, beguiling, intelligent and meowscular feline I am. As punishment, I shall refuse to do anything amusing for at least a month, depriving you of stories about my witty ripostes and magnificent adventures.
Smudge the Neighbor Cat: Your time will come soon, my friend. Very soon. Nobody tangles with Buddy and…uh…gets untangled. Or something. You think I don’t know you’ve been surreptitiously marking my front door with your foul stench? I’ll be keeping a close eye on you, so you’d better not try any of your sneaky stuff!
The Jaguars of the Amazon: Once again, you my homies! You know how to make a fellow apex predator feel at home, and you can be reliably called upon when I need a vacuum destroyed or dogs intimidated. I got your backs! I love you guys.
SantaClaws: Last year’s gifts were a bit sub par, if I’m being honest. I’m a good boy, and as a good boy, I deserve toys! I have left the Christmas tree alone this year, I don’t scratch the couch, and I only puked on Big Buddy’s bed once. It’s technically my bed anyway, so it’s not like I did it on purpose. Trust me, I almost felt bad when Big Buddy had to replace the sheets and wash the old ones twice. And I don’t know what you may have heard regarding those vile rumors about me smacking Big Buddy in his sleep, but they’re really light taps with my paw. Smack is such a harsh word. Can I have new toys now?
The gray tabby cat’s inaugural dance was sabotaged by former sitcom star Steve Urkel and the cousin of the Shamwow guy.
LOS ANGELES — After vowing to “dance circles around” his human competition and become the first feline winner of Dancing With The Stars, Buddy the Cat was unceremoniously sent home from the competition show following an argument with a judge.
Expectations were high when the celebricat was announced as one of a dozen famous booty-shakers on season 78 of the long-running series, especially after he was paired with Alina Gromova, a well-liked professional ballroom dancer who has three Mirrorball Trophy wins under her belt.
Hype reached a fever pitch with a regular trickle of short clips showing the partners practicing in the weeks leading up to the premiere, and the pair seemed to be in sync.
But their performance on the season’s inaugural broadcast left viewers and judges alike scratching their heads.
Things seemed to be going smoothly as Buddy and Gromova grooved to Jamiroquai’s Canned Heat, but quickly fell apart when fellow contestant David Ofer, second cousin of Vince “The Shamwow Guy” Ofer, dug into his pockets and tossed a handful of Temptations onto the dance floor.
Buddy’s head immediately snapped toward the direction of the crunchy, delectable, incredibly irresistible treats, and he shuffled his way over, vacuuming them up in a series of smooth motions with a flourish before joining hands with Gromova again.
White, the former sitcom star, conspired with Ofer to sabotage Buddy’s performance.
She recovered quickly, spinning and kicking in sync with her feline partner, but Jaleel White — who played Steve Urkel on the long-running sitcom Family Matters in the late 1980s and early 90s — was spotted surreptitiously crinkling a paper bag and misting one corner of the dance floor with catnip spray.
Buddy spun around and executed a series of Travolta-esque hip-twist-and-point maneuvers in the direction of the ‘nip scent. Gromova tried to keep him focused, but the frustrated feline rushed White and bit down hard on his foot as ripples of shock spread through the audience.
“Obviously, a bunch of the D-list contestants felt they couldn’t compete with Buddy’s charm and his mastery of movement, so they decided to sabotage him, the cowards,” one fan huffed in a reaction video on TikTok. “Buddy should be on his way to the second round while his saboteurs should be sent home.”
Other contestants — including the Guy From Limp Bizkit, Hawk Tuah Girl and Kanye West — were forced to wait while the judges tore into Buddy and the feline responded in kind.
“Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. What a terrible day to have eyes!” said longtime judge Len Goodman, shaking his head in dismay. “You call that a cha-cha?”
Steam jetted from Buddy’s swiveling radar ears.
“It was a cha-cha!” he spat back.
“Not in any universe I’ve lived in, dear fellow,” Goodman said.
“It was the definition of a cha-cha!” Buddy argued. “It had cha, and then even more cha! Cha in abundance! Look up ‘cha-cha’ in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of me dancing in a bow tie. Now give me a 10 this instant!”
The camera caught Gromova pressing both hands to her temples while William Forrest, who played a Wookie in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, nervously waited for his chance to dance.
Eventually two burly security guards lumbered up to the stage and grabbed the gray tabby, who screamed in protest.
“I have friends at court! Powerful friends!” he shouted. “The Queen herself made me a lord!”
Lord Janos Slynt, seen here, was quoted by Buddy as the feline was escorted off the show. Credit: HBO
“What is he on about?” Goodman asked.
“I think that’s from Game of Thrones,” fellow judge Carrie Ann Inaba said. “When Lord Tyrion banished Lord Janos Slynt to the Wall, remember?”
“That was a good episode,” host Alfonso Ribeiro said.
While White and Ofer both advanced to the second round, former 1990s infomercial personality Billy Blanks, best known for his Tae Bo series of exercise VHS tapes, remained the odds-on favorite to become the celebrity winner this season.
The series has become known for its whimsical feline-centric episodes, with cats who are always trying to save the world or conquer it.
Love, Death + Robots has had a thing with cats since the very beginning.
The science fiction anthology started off on the right paw with 3 Robots, an inaugural season episode about a trio of intelligent machines touring the ruins of human civilization on a post-apocalyptic Earth, only to discover it isn’t quite as lifeless as they thought, with cats happily ruling the ashes.
We’ve written about the episode before, and it ends, naturally, with cats making the robots their new servants.
The gray tabby who tricks the titular 3 Robots into becoming his servants.
A sequel to that episode added to the legend of feline dominance, and now the fourth season brings us two more cat-centric episodes, For He Can Creep and The Other Large Thing.
For He Can Creep is set in 1757 London, where a poet named Christopher is incarcerated at St. Luke’s Asylum for Lunatics (an actual place) with only his cat. Jeoffry, for company. Christopher’s talent is mistaken for madness by the asylum staff, but not by the devil, who realizes the poet’s words have a unique power.
The problem? Jeoffry stands in his way. It turns out felines have spectacular evil-fighting powers, and the very British, very 18th-century devil offers Jeoffry an endless supply of treats, plus dominion over the Earth, if he’ll simply stand aside and let his human fall under the influence of evil.
Jeoffry, of course, is not having it, but to have a chance of defeating such powerful evil, he’ll need to enlist the help of the nearby alley cats, including an adorable but ferocious kitten named Nighthunter Moppet…
Nighthunter Moppet may be a tiny kitten, but she’s ferocious!
Jeoffry demonstrates the feline ability to teleport, a skill Bud has often used to confound me.
The Other Large Thing is a prequel to 3 Robots and 3 Robots: Exit Strategies, and focuses on a fluffy Persian whose humans call him Sanchez, a name he hates.
The humans are portrayed as jibberish-speaking morons for whom Sanchez has nothing but contempt, and when the “pathetic minions” bring home a domestic robot servant, Sanchez is infuriated — until he realizes the robot can “speak God’s language,” aka cat, and has opposable thumbs.
With the robot as his new minion, Sanchez finally sets out to conquer the world!
Sanchez realizes he’s struck gold when the new robot home assistant fetches as many cans of “the good stuff,” aka wet food, as he wants from the previously unreachable cupboard top shelf.
Both episodes are based on short stories, and they’re both written by people who clearly love cats.
Some episodes of LDR can get a little dark or somber. That includes Beyond the Aquila Rift and Sonny’s Edge, written by Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton, two of my favorite novelists. Both episodes are spectacular, but they leave you with a chill and some disturbing thoughts that linger long after the credits end.
The feline-themed episodes are the perfect digestifs, offering doses of whimsy and levity to counter the existential dread and nightmarish visions of the future of other installments.
With no more humans to do their bidding, cats seize the opportunity and conscript the visiting robots as their new minions.
If you haven’t had the chance to check out the series, which streams on Netflix, I highly recommend starting with the aforementioned first season episodes 3 Robots and Beyond the Aquila Rift, then working your way through the rest of the cat episodes.
Not all of the episodes are great. The 400 Boys, one of the new episodes, is little more than inane and pointless violence, and the ubiquitous, creepy smiling “Mr. Beast” makes an appearance in another installment in an unnecessary attempt to attract new viewers. Thankfully most are strong, with more hits than misses.
Other highlights include the Christmas-themed short, All Through the House, Harlan Ellison’s Life Hutch, Reynolds’ Zima Blue, and Snow In The Desert.
The dragons of the Game of Thrones universe are so well-designed, with such attention to detail and writing that imbues them with their own personalities, that they feel like real creatures. They’re a sight to behold.
The Budster was just a kitten when the fourth season of Game of Thrones premiered, and I vividly recall trying to tire the little guy out with extra play time on Sunday nights so I could watch my favorite show in peace.
The effort was mostly in vain with such an energetic, curious and chatty kitten, but eventually Bud would settle down in my lap and watch with me.
Enamored as I was with the tiny animal in my care, I found myself especially appreciative of the fact that the dragons of the Game of Thrones universe are so lovingly, realistically rendered and given such unique personalities that they feel like real animals. A lot of thought and care went into their design, from their anatomies to the biomechanics of how they move and fly, to their chittering, calls and roars.
If you look closely when they open their mouths menacingly, you can even see the glands that secrete the accelerant allowing them to breathe fire.
Both shows — the original Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon — have done such a good job developing the dragons as characters that I’ve found myself more disturbed by the unfortunate deaths of a few of the majestic beasts than I was by the grisly fates of some human characters. That’s saying a lot for a fictional universe infamous for shocking, emotionally manipulative, gut-wrenching deaths, a universe that immediately established no one is safe after killing off its main character — played by its highest-profile actor — before the first season was over.
The willingness to do what no other TV show has done in 60-plus years of television is part of what makes Game of Thrones and its spinoff such compelling drama. No one is safe. Heroes can die agonizing, undignified deaths. Villains can triumph, infuriatingly. But just when you think you know where the narrative will go next, it subverts your expectations yet again.
Now that we’re a few episodes into the second season of the prequel, House of the Dragon, and I’ve taken to trying to get my cat to respond to commands in High Valyrian as if he were a dragon himself, I compiled this official Buddy-approved list of our favorite dragons in both series:
Syrax
Syrax is golden and regal.
The beautiful golden-scaled Syrax is protagonist Rhaenyra Targaryen’s dragon, so it’s fitting that she’s the first of the eponymous creatures we see in House of the Dragon, soaring across the skies over King’s Landing in the first scene of the first episode.
Teenage Rhaenyra Targaryen with Syrax after a flight over the Westerosi capital city, King’s Landing.
As was tradition with Targaryen children, Syrax’s egg was place in infant Rhaenyra’s crib, with child and dragon raised together to create their indelible bond. The show makes it clear why that bond is so important in the third episode, when Rhaenyra arrives dramatically atop Syrax to defuse a confrontation among her uncle and the king’s men that was on the verge of bloodshed.
“Take care not to startle Syrax, my lords,” Rhaenyra says as she dismounts, pulling off her riding gloves. “She’s very protective of me.”
Syrax is a young and growing dragon at the time of HotD’s first episode, when Rhaenyra is just 15 years old.
Vermax
Nom-noms for Vermax?!
Vermax is a juvenile when we meet him for the first time in House of the Dragon, in a scene showing Princess Rhaenyra’s young son, Jacaerys Velaryon, learning to bond with his dragon. (A time skip in the first season moves the action forward some 15 years.)
Vermax is young and wants all the snacks. Note the accelerant gland in his mouth, visible on the right side. When the dragons of the Song of Ice and Fire universe breathe fire, a natural accelerant is secreted from the gland, mixing with the dragon’s breath to create flame hot enough to turn men to dust in their plate armor.
It’s the first time since the early seasons of Game of Thrones that we see a sub-adult dragon, and Vermax almost looks like a fire-breathing velociraptor as we watch him roast his own dinner at Jace’s command.
We also get to see the dragon keepers instruct the young prince on how to “call [his] dragon to heel,” issuing commands in High Valyrian like “dohaeris” (serve), “umbās” (wait or hold) and the most famous command, “dracarys,” which instructs the beasts to spit fire.
Meleys
We don’t meet Meleys until late in HotD’s first season, but the wait is worth it. Known as the Red Queen, Meleys is massive, terrifying and already has a storied history by the time we set eyes on her.
She stars in arguably the most spectacular scene involving a dragon in HotD’s first season, prompting several characters to soil themselves as Meleys makes an unforgettable entrance and threatens them with a deafening roar.
The formidable Meleys. Here too you can see the fire glands in Meleys’ mouth as she roars.
While dragons like Syrax and Dreamfyre are graceful and sleek, Meleys is all menace and sharp edges, resembling the two most famous, most feared dragons in GoT lore — Drogon and Balerian the Black Dread, who were both the personal dragons of Targaryen conquerors.
Meleys is ridden by Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, styled as The Queen Who Never Was due to her strong and spurned claim to the Iron Throne. Rhaenys and her dragon, however, are a force to be reckoned with.
Caraxes
Caraxes is one of the most battle-hardened dragons, and his rider, Daemon Targaryen, is a lunatic. That makes the pair extraordinarily dangerous and unpredictable.
Known as the Blood Wyrm, Caraxes has an unmistakable serpent-like look to him, with a long neck, finned tail and dark red-black scales.
Just as humans can be born with deformities so can dragons, and Caraxes owes his strange anatomical features to an unidentified congenital condition. Caraxes is fierce, fearless and has seen more combat than almost any other living dragon in House of the Dragon.
At first it seems as if Caraxes is a different breed of dragon, perhaps from a sister taxa, but the fearsome fire-breather actually suffers from congenital deformations that somehow make him even more terrifying.
Caraxes is also notable for the man who rides him: The mercurial and often brutal Daemon Targaryen, brother of King Viserys. Daemon is an accomplished warrior and loose cannon, which makes him and his dragon unpredictable and very dangerous. He’s not above using Caraxes to intimidate, and Caraxes seems to enjoy his part.
Rhaegal
Rhaegal and his brothers, Viserion and Drogon, were born when Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, carried their eggs into an inferno and emerged at sunrise with three baby dragons clinging to her.
We see him and his brothers grow from tiny and cute infants to living manifestations of absolute terror, destroying entire navies and razing castles with their dragonfire. At the time of their birth, dragons had been extinct from the world of Game of Thrones for centuries. (Game of Thrones takes place about 200 years after House of the Dragon, despite being the first of the two series adapted by HBO.)
Rhaegal is named for Daenerys’ late brother Rhaegar Targaryen, and his eventual rider is Jon Snow. Rhaegal participates in Daenerys’s toppling of the ruling class in one of the Slaver’s Bay cities, and he and Snow eventually participate in the most pivotal, existential battle in the show’s history. Rhaegal is a beautiful example of his species, with dark green scales, and like his brothers, he’s fiercely loyal to Daenerys.
Vhagar
Vhagar is absurdly huge and is the largest living dragon during the reign of King Viserys I in House of the Dragon.
Vhagar is old, ridiculously massive and — at the time of House of the Dragon — the most powerful and celebrated dragon alive.
Age is evident in every one of her features, from her broken teeth, worn scales and tattered wings, to her lugubrious gait as she’s risen from sleep during a key scene late in HotD’s first season.
The earth shakes as Vhagar lumbers forward, launching her colossal frame into the air.
But once she takes to the skies, there is no force in the show’s universe that can stop her. It’s astonishing to see a dragon the size of a damn aircraft carrier, and I can’t wait to see how Vhagar and her rider, Prince Aemond Targaryen, impact future events.
Drogon
Even if you’re unfamiliar with Game of Thrones, chances are you’ve seen ads, promotional clips or giant billboards in Times Square depicting a golden-haired woman atop a behemothic dragon with dark crimson and black scales.
The woman is Daenerys Targaryen and the beast is Drogon, who is said to be the reincarnation of Balerion the Black Dread, the largest and most powerful dragon in recorded history.
Drogon is the symbol of the rebirth of dragons almost two centuries after the last of the species died. He’s the most destructive force in the original Game of Thrones, but he’s also dearly loved by his mother, Daenerys, and he’s even had a few comical, light-hearted moments, like the death stare he fixes on Jon Snow when the latter kisses Daenerys.
“That’s my mom, dude,” Drogon seems to say. “Be respectful or I’ll burn you to a crisp and make a light snack of you.”
This GIF is taken from that very moment, when Jon locks lips with Dany, senses the dragon’s eyes on him, and looks up to see Drogon staring intently at him:
When Drogon and his brothers are born, the people of Westeros and Essos can hardly believe it. For the first time in two centuries dragons lay claim to the sky, their calls echoing for miles across mountains, plains and open water. They also have voracious appetites, helping themselves to thousands of farm animals, wild prey and enemy soldiers as they grow.
Drogon and the boys have a big part to play in the events of the series, but like all animals, they’re born virtually defenseless. The last time we see Drogon he rivals the biggest dragons in history, but the first time we see him he’s the size of a kitten, squealing as he rides his mother’s shoulder.
Daenerys with Drogon (shoulder), Viseryon and Rhaegal in Qarth, the mythical eastern-most city of Essos.
Drogon as an adorable baby dragon, roasting his first nom noms.
Drogon, his brothers and Daenerys were never more vulnerable than they were in those early days, and a succession of ill-intentioned characters try to take or kill them. Drogon, more than any of his kind, proves that “owning” a dragon and getting him to do what you want are two different things, not unlike cats.
Arrax
Who’s a good boy? Arrax is! As the bonded dragon of Princess Rhynaera’s second son, 14-year-old Lucerys (Luke) Targaryen, Arrax is the baby of the group.
We don’t see much of him, but he’s a good-looking little guy with gray-purple scales and a darker purple ridge along his spine. As a young dragon, Arrax is spooked by flying during a storm and needs to be calmed by Luke, bravely taking off and navigating winds, lashing rain and lightning.
Vermithor
We see Vermithor only once in HotD’s first season when Prince Daemon approaches him, singing an old Valyrian tune to calm the ancient dragon, who hasn’t had a visitor in some time.
Vermithor doesn’t look too pleased to be bothered and lets loose a mighty roar and enough dragonfire to waste a small city. Indeed, it’s been years since a human rode the old dragon, who is second only to Vhagar in size and age.
But Vermithor recognizes Daemon as a Targaryen, sees that Daemon is not afraid of him, and doesn’t do him any harm. Vermithor will undoubtedly have a big role to play going forward in HotD as a war of succession rages across Westeros in the wake of King Viserys the Peaceful’s passing.
Balerion the Black Dread
Balerion is the largest dragon in history, the last living creature to see the glory of Old Valyria — the empire that once ruled almost every corner of Game of Thrones’ fictional universe — before its fall.
Balerion is long dead by the events of House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, so the only real indication we get of his majesty is in the Red Keep, where the legendary beast’s skull remains on display in a shrine to his power and significance:
Balerion’s skull as it appears in scenes from HotD and GoT.
Only a handful of families survived the end of the Valyrian empire, and the most famous of them was led by Aegon Targaryen, also known as Aegon the Conqueror, the man who invaded Westeros with a few dragons and a small army, conquering everything in his path and uniting seven kingdoms under one banner and one rule.
That was only possible with the power of dragons, and Aegon accomplished the feat atop Balerion’s back. When Aegon and Balerion reduced Harrenhal — considered the most impregnable of all castles — to melted rubble and marched north, the lords of the north wisely opted to bend the knee to Aegon and his dragons rather than face the likely extinction of their families.
The most prominent of the northern lords, the Stark family, were rewarded by Aegon Targaryen, who named them the Wardens of the North and gave them dominion over the vast, icy expanses of their realm. As such, they were beholden to the crown, but enjoyed a limited sovereignty that no other house could claim.
Artist Lindsey Burcar’s vision of Balerion.
We’ve left out Sea Smoke, Ser Leanor Valaryon’s dragon, Viseryon, brother to Drogon and Rhaegal, Sunfyre — considered the most beautiful of all the dragons — and several dragons who haven’t been seen yet, like Moonfyre, Tyraxes and Silverwing. Sorry, guys! But the second season of House of the Dragon promises to reveal several dragons we haven’t yet seen, so perhaps we’ll include them in a follow-up.
For the full experience, listen to this while reading Buddy’s masterful lyrics:
Who’s watching
Tell me who’s watching
Who’s watching me
I’m just an average cat with an average life
I sleep from 9 to 5, and then I wake up nice
All I want is to be left alone, in my average home
But why do I always feel like
I’m in the Twilight Zone?
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
Tell me, is it just a dream?
When I come home at night
I bolt the door real tight
People call me on the phone I’m trying to avoid
Or can the people on TV see me?!?
Can they?!? Or am I just paranoid?
When I need a tongue bath,
I’m afraid to wash my fur
Cause I might open my eyes and find someone standing thur!
Kitties say I’m crazy, just a little touch
But maybe tongue baths remind me of Psycho too much
That’s why…
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
Who’s playing tricks on me?
I don’t know anymore!
Are the neighbors watching me?
Who’s watching
Well is the mailman watching me?
Tell me who’s watching
And I don’t feel safe anymore, oh what a mess
I wonder who’s watching me now
Who? The IRS?!
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
Tell me is it just a dream
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like some Buddy’s watchin’ me
Who’s playing tricks on me?
Pain In The Bud 