Christmas and Cats. What You Didn’t Know

We were setting up the nativity scene the other night, and Xenia, our cat, was sitting under the Christmas tree. Stretching elegantly ( does a cat do anything that isn’t elegant?), Xenia informed me Christmas was the favorite holiday of cats in many parts of the world. After all if it hadn’t been for cats the Nativity would have been an uncomfortable mess. It was the stable cat, an ancestor of Xenia wouldn’t you know, who made it all work.

The manger in the stable was the bed of Abigail and her five kittens. Abigail was the mother of many litters of kittens and knew all about Motherhood. She meowed that there was plenty of room for another baby among her kittens. Mary looked frazzled after the long uncomfortable trip on a donkey. So, Jesus’ first playmates were cats; probably why he developed into such a wonderful young man. Abigail tried to teach Mary how to clean a baby properly, but Mary never got the use of a tongue down correctly. Abigail took Mary in “paw.” It wasn’t easy with a woman so unclear about how she had become pregnant in the first place. Mary did draw the line however when the kittens brought Jesus his first toy – a freshly caught mouse.

Now, while we are on the topic of Nativity scenes, there is an important confusion needing to be cleared up: there are always those three wise men. In fact, they were accompanying the three wise cats who were looking for a new source of catnip. Not being dumb they rapidly realized that Abigail was onto something with Jesus, who was already changing straw into catnip for aunty Abigail and those rowdy little kittens.
Now you have the straight scoop right from a descendant of Abigail. There’s more, but Xenia says it’s time to take a nap under the Catmas tree.

Merry Christmas to all!