It’s always been just us four, my mom, dad, brother and I during the holiday season, but Christmas has always been a special time for us, since everyone in our family would be off from work/school and could spend a lot of quality time together.

  When my brother and I were both younger, we would wake up way too early on Christmas morning to be acceptable on any other day out of the year. We would rush to wake our parents, amid moans and groans that ‘it is too early.’ Mom and dad would then head downstairs to make sure the coast was clear.

  Oftentimes, Santa was not yet quite finished getting things ready downstairs. So, we would wait in anticipation on the stairs, inching lower and lower until we found ourselves on the bottom step. As soon as they said Santa had gone, we burst around the corner and were immediately overtaken by the magic of Christmas.

  As we have since grown older, the lens through which we view the holiday season has shifted from that of children to adults and the magic of the Christmas season has waned a bit, as it sometimes might for adults.

  We still enjoy watching the Christmas classics, of course, like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer and Elf, but we do not necessarily anticipate the season as we once had as children.

  I find we are amazed that department stores begin preparing for the Christmas season around Halloween, which is exasperating. As we have aged, the Christmas season has sped up, rather than dragged along as it once did when we were younger. Before we know it, it is December 25 and we are not prepared at all, having been distracted by everyday life and its many distractions.

  However, for the past few years, Christmas has become extra special for us once more. Like new parents getting to watch small children take in the magic of the season in the form of lights on the tree and specially wrapped packages underneath, cookies before bedtime and stories about Santa, my family has recently gotten to share in that magic again, albeit a little differently.

  In 2014, we adopted two kittens. In 2015, another kitten. In 2019, another two kittens. Each of those Christmases and every one in between has been filled with a special type of holiday cheer.

  Nothing perks up and excites a kitten more than blinking lights on a tree filled with baubles that they can bat at and knock off the tree. Kitten tree toppers were not in our best laid plans for the season, but alas, we now had state of the art tree toppers that latch onto the tree and can’t be removed, despite any amount of straining and pulling on our part.

  Many a time have we come home to a downed tree and cats lounging nearby ready to pin the blame on someone else.

  All season, we retrieve ornaments to put on the tree that somehow get found back on the floor within a matter of hours.

  On Christmas Day, I am not sure who is having more fun — the cats or us. When the wrapping paper flies, the cats go into a frenzy, jumping, tearing, biting and chasing.

  They seem to have more fun tearing up the wrapping paper than playing with their countless new toys that Santa delivered.

  After the routine of so many years, having our five [relatively] new additions join us in our Christmas traditions makes us appreciate the holiday season a bit more and allows us to laugh again at the antics of our kittens acting like small children. 

  At this point, I can’t imagine a Christmas without an assistant or five helping me wrap (or unwrap) presents, decorate (or un-decorate the tree), or attempt to sample any of the many holiday dishes prepared.

  I look back on the years before the kitten additions to our family and realized that I simply became absorbed in looking at the holiday season as adults might. I may have truly forgotten to just be happy about the holiday. Now that I am looking at this time through the eyes of five cats thrilled at what the season has to offer, I can once again begin to look at Christmas like a child and learn to delight in the little things once more.