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The Christmas trees went up, amidst lots of excitement. It wasn’t Theo’s first Christmas technically, but it was the first when he was toddling about, which meant that the trees were in danger from him, as well as the kittens. Actually, between him and the kittens, the tree at Hana’s house became something of a mess, much to their human’s despair. Theo would try to pull the decorations off, which if he wasn’t being watched meant he was in danger of actually pulling the tree over. We all had to keep a close eye on him. This in turn meant that Santa, Holly, and Tiger weren’t really given many opportunities to do anything to the tree either, much to their disgust. At night, the living room door was firmly shut. I noticed that Santa would look especially longingly at the tree, as he was a climber. Holly would have to resist pawing at the tinsel because she loved anything shiny, and Tiger liked to look at his own reflection in the baubles, which he would then seem to fight – I have no idea where he got his vanity from.

Like human children, I’d come to see that our kittens were very different from each other. Holly was the only female cat and although that didn’t mean anything – we cats are not ones for gender stereotypes – Holly was like her mother, gentle, kind, and calm, or calmer than the boys. She was attracted to pretty things and when she was at our house she loved playing dress-up with Summer and Martha if she was there. She was also very good friends with Pickles the pug, and being kind meant that she gave him the time of day, whereas her brothers, like their father George were prone to tease him. Poor Pickles, although he didn’t seem to realise he was being teased, so he didn’t mind too much.

Santa was a hectic kitten, he would run at one hundred miles an hour, or so it seemed, and then he would curl up and sleep a lot, usually on the most expensive blanket or piece of clothing he could find (ask Jonathan). But he seemed to have his own time clock and he would often wake his brother and sister up when he wanted to play, which would in turn wake George, Hana or myself up. Tiger was a bit like his namesake, my lovely Tiger who I still missed every day, he was fearless, and bossy and clever. He was, kind of, the ring leader of the kittens, although he was the one who would inevitably be too busy having fun to remember to do what he was told.

I loved my grandkittens so much but I also felt for Hana and George. I thought parenting George had been hard enough, but there were three of them. Just trying to keep track of them could be a full-time job. Looking after them made me feel nostalgic for the days when George was a kitten, but only for a little while, then I remembered how I used to worry about him all the time, panic when I didn’t know where he was. I have to admit I did lose him a few times, but that’s a whole other story; or bunch of stories. I still worried about George now, even though he was a grown cat and a father, I don’t think parents ever stop worrying.

The children were very helpful with the kittens and they adored them. George was put out at first, at how he seemed to be usurped in everyone’s attention by the kittens, but I had found this when he was a kitten so was able to explain and also sympathise. I said it was a factor of growing up, adults were just not as adorable as babies, or children. It was the way of the world. Summer, Toby, Henry and Martha, loved playing with the kittens and that was just how it was. George didn’t want to even play such games but he still felt put out, although he soon learnt to hide that. I also think that as Hana’s attention was now more on her babies, he missed that too. George was a little fond of attention I know, so I understood but of course, he now had children. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. I was now finding out that being a grandparent was a close second.

The kittens were at our house. Snowball had come over to help me look after them so that George and Hana could have ‘date day.’ They probably just wanted to sleep but at least they could spend some time together and have a rest at the same time. And, well, Snowball and I loved spending time with the kittens, it was always fun. Or, perhaps it’s best to say; there was never a dull moment. All the humans were out, so it was just us cats. The first thing Tiger did was try to climb the tree.

‘Santa, get away from the tree,’ I yowled.

‘Why?’ Santa asked, although we had told him why a million times.

‘Because you might get hurt.’ Snowball – who had much more patience than me – explained yet again.

‘But if I try it, then I will see if I might not get hurt,’ he countered.

‘But then, you might get hurt and where will that lead to?’ Tiger said. He was looking at his reflection in a silver bauble. ‘I must say I do look good in this bauble,’ he added. For a minute I was dumbstruck, and then for some reason, Tiger started pawing at the bauble. ‘Are you looking at me?’ he said, talking to himself.