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It was here. Finally. George and I loved every minute of Christmas Day because the excitement never waned. From the children waking up early– they always woke far too early – to going downstairs to see if Santa had been, lunch, family, friends, and of course today we had the added bonus of the show to look forward to. Our last ever performance. I know we felt the last paying performance was the last one but that was because that was the one where we had all the cast. As expected not everyone could make it today. The dance crew were all in different places, as were the school singers, however everyone else would be there – Vic, Heather, and their group were going to be one or two short but Vic was going to double up on the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’; he was days five and seven, or something like that. Ralph had most of his choir. Of course we were all there, and much to Tommy’s delight, Sienna would still be the angel; her grandparents were staying for Christmas so they were coming to see it. Tommy’s crush on Sienna was so sweet and I kept trying to think of ways to get them together, always the matchmaker. I couldn’t help it, it was in my blood.

I snuck outside and saw that although some of the snow had settled, there wasn’t much, which was good because it meant everyone could still make it to lunch without getting stuck, or skidding too much. Barbara was eating with us today. George hadn’t quite forgiven her yet but I was happy about it.

Harold and her were getting closer and I wondered where that friendship might lead… Not yet, because she was still grieving her husband, but maybe one day in the future. Who knew? Maybe next year I would be Alfie the matchmaking cat again.

For now, I just wanted to enjoy my Christmas Day. It had been an exhausting, stressful, wonderful run up to Christmas and it was going to be the best day ever. I did say that every year, but it generally was.

After the children opened their presents, and Claire and Jonathan made us all a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon, George and I went our separate ways. Although we were going to have lunch with Hana, he wanted to wish her Happy Christmas first. Young love; he couldn’t wait. I was pleased that he had stopped moaning about her and they seemed to be back on track. Paws crossed. I made my way to the recreation ground to find Nellie, Elvis, Rocky, and Oliver there.

‘Merry Christmas,’ I said.

‘Hey, Happy Christmas, Alfie,’ they replied as one.

‘How has yours been so far?’ I asked.

‘Got my usual cat Christmas stocking, can’t complain,’ Rocky said.

‘I got some fish for breakfast,’ Nellie said.

‘I got this toy mouse on a stick, what do they think I am – a kitten?’ Elvis added.

‘I got a new cat bed, which looks very comfortable, but I haven’t tried it yet,’ Oliver finished. We all compared notes and had a lovely catch-up before we returned to our homes for the rest of Christmas.

I was still feeling full of festive spirit. And smoked salmon. It was noisy at home– of course it was, it was Christmas. The children were being wrestled into clothes – they would have happily stayed in their pyjamas all day, but we had lunch to go to and a show to do. Jonathan was about to leave to pick up Clive and Doris; they had coordinated lifts for everyone to the restaurant, which was a bit like organising a military operation, Jonathan said. I thought it sounded as complicated as organising my humans, in actual fact. Or perhaps not quite that complicated! By the time we were all ready to head out, it was beginning to feel as if order was almost restored. As the adults all met outside our house, most carrying presents, the children took it in turns to hold Pickles’ lead. We followed them, and although tempted to jump into Theo’s pram and get a ride, we all walked. It wasn’t snowing, but it was cold and bright.

‘Happy Christmas, Alfie,’ Snowball said, falling into step with me. Harold wasn’t carrying her for once as Marcus had driven him, picking up Barbara and some of the Sunday Lunch Club before meeting us there.

‘Happy Christmas my beautiful Snowball,’ I replied.

‘It’s going to be amazing,’ she said. Her eyes sparkled with joy and my heart filled with happiness. It was already amazing. I felt like the luckiest cat ever.

Chaos and noise returned as we walked into the restaurant. Hugs and kisses were exchanged and the presents all piled up– out of Pickles’ reach, of course. The tables had been put together around the room to fit us all in; there were a lot of us today. We greeted all our friends, old and new, and then snuck into the yard to see Dustbin and Ally.

‘Can’t you take a day off?’ I said, which I pretty much said every Christmas.

‘The rodents don’t know it’s Christmas, so no,’ Dustbin replied, but we all laughed.

‘We are going to come and see the show later though,’ Ally said.