A mum has been left “fuming” after her elderly cat mistook the snowy Elf On The Shelf scene she created for her kids for a litter tray.
As many parents up and down the country will know, unique and exciting ‘Elf on the Shelf’ ideas can be quite hard to come by, but mum-of-two Katie Wright hatched the brilliant plan to create a snow angel scene by simply spreading sugar across the kitchen worktops and placing the mischievous elf in the middle to surprise her children.
But they ended up with a little more of a surprise than they were expecting.
It turns out the Elf On The Shelf wasn’t quite as mischievous as the family cat Tilly though, who mistook the sugar for her litter tray and left a poo on the worktop, leaving Katie and the kids to come downstairs to an “overpowering smell” in the morning.
Katie might not have quite seen the funny side of it all, explaining that she was “fuming” her Elf on the Shelf plans didn’t work out, but thousands of people on social media certainly got a laugh out of it.
After taking to Facebook to share some rather grim photographic evidence of the ‘surprise’ left by the cat, Katie’s post has since gone on to amass well over 25K interactions, and thousands of shares and comments by people all across the globe who were entertained and disgusted by the incident both at the same time.
Speaking to The Sun about the unfortunate event, 34-year-old Katie – who is mum to Oscar, four and Kiera, two – said: “It’s only my first year doing the elf as my eldest is only just four,”
“Oscar has really enjoyed it though and we’ve taken it easy knowing we probably have a decade of elf placements ahead of us. So when I saw online someone do the snow angel elf, I thought that would be nice and easy.
“It only took five minutes so I took a picture and headed off to bed.
“In the morning Oscar came running into my room asking to find the elf and raced downstairs, but the minute we walked through the dining room, the smell was over powering. My first thought wasn’t that is was anything to do with the elf – I picked Oscar up, worried we were about to step in something.”
Katie explained she finally found the source of the smell and burst into hysterical laughter.
“The smell got stronger and I saw it… a giant poo with the elf,” she said.
“I screamed but my son luckily just laughed and shouted ‘poo on the kitchen.’ I was a bit frantic [and] I knew Kiera was on her way in and there was a giant poo to keep them away from, so I was flapping a bit and all of a sudden the cat jumped back up and started shuffling the sugar and I thought ‘oh god she’s going to wee too’, so I chased her out the cat flap and suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
“Oscar thought I was crying and started saying ‘it’s ok mum’.”
Katie Wright / Caters News Agency
Not expecting the post to go viral social media, Katie said: “I posted online and it went mad. I suppose it is funny – it looks as though my Elf on the Shelf for the day was a giant poo.
“Not exactly mother of the year as I had to swear Oscar to secrecy when he went to school later that day.
“Tilly, our cat is a diva – she’s really not liking of human company.
“She was ok and would accept the odd cuddle pre-children, but she’s really never forgiven us for having the children. It didn’t help that we’ve been renovating this big house and have just moved in so she’s had a litter tray for a month.
“She was probably just desperate and really, she’s just an old lady that wants to be left alone.”
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Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025
Emily Sergeant
Rochdale has officially been named Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture for 2025.
Taking over the reins from Bolton – which held the title in 2024 – and following in the footsteps of Stockport before that, which held the title in 2023, and even hosted a massive ‘Town of Culture Weekender’ festival with 50+ free events to celebrate and bring its title year to a close, it’s now the turn of the north-eastern Greater Manchester borough of Rochdale.
Rochdale’s year will build on the town’s already-rich cultural history and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement.
More than 35 arts organisations will be bringing together an ambitious programme of festivals, exhibitions, events, and performances throughout the year.
Unfamiliar with what the ‘Greater Manchester Town of Culture’ title is all about? It’s an accolade that’s handed out every year to different boroughs across the region.
Bury was the inaugural title-holder 2020 and held onto it in 2021 too due to the COVID pandemic, before being followed by Stalybridge in 2022, Stockport in 2023, and of course, Bolton in the year just gone.
The title celebrates Greater Manchester’s culture and heritage.
As well as getting a new title to shout about, it also sees the towns given a grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture fund to help develop a programme of cultural events and activities throughout the year.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
In Rochdale’s case, you can expect the ‘very best local talent’, as this year is promising to put ‘people power’ centre stage, with residents helping to plan, develop, and deliver a lineup of creative activities, alongside a number of major events.
This includes the popular free days out for families, an exciting new urban arts festival, two different food and drink festivals, a lantern parade, the Ignite Fire Festival, a Pride parade, and so much more.
You can also expect live music performances, a new people’s gallery, and even some major international collaborations that are yet to be announced.
Rochdale is taking over the reins from Bolton, which held the title in 2024 / Credit: Rochdale Council
“Rochdale is a place with a rich cultural history, so it is great to name it Greater Manchester’s town of culture as it’s town hall and town centre enter a new era,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as the borough was crowned this week.
“Rochdale submitted a fantastic bid for this which, was incredibly exciting and ambitious, while being firmly rooted in its local talent and deep history.
Emily Sergeant -
21st December 2020 
