67f695396320fe1a34a41489ddea0fac

Hana was running round in circles, Snowball was trying to call order. Holly was sitting still, her eyes wide and Tiger was jumping around. The scene was anything but peaceful.

‘What’s going on?’ George asked.

‘We can’t find Santa,’ Snowball said, as Hana fretted.

‘OK, well when did we last see him?’ I asked, trying to calm everyone down. I couldn’t remember but then it had been so hectic earlier and I just couldn’t think.

‘No one can say for sure,’ Hana said sounding frantic, ‘we thought he might have gone out with you but I had a quick look and he doesn’t seem to be out there.’

‘Also, Santa doesn’t like going out on his own in the dark, which is weird seeing as he’s named after Santa,’ Holly pointed out. I confirmed he hadn’t come outside with us, and Holly was right, he didn’t like going out at night unless he had someone with him.

‘Right, search party time,’ I commanded, taking charge. He had to be somewhere in the house, I just knew it. I sent George and Hana upstairs, and Snowball to the kitchen. I was going to search the dining room and hallway. I told Tiger and Holly to stay put in the living room and although we knew that he wasn’t there I told them to look again, just in case.

I checked the dining room, under things, over things, behind things, but there was no sign. I then tried to prise open the cupboard under the stairs, it wasn’t easy but I just managed to hook my paw into the small gap and pull. Having checked it out – and boy was it messy and dusty – there was no sign of him there either.

We all met back in the living room. Panic was growing, it was as if he’d disappeared.

‘Maybe he snuck out with the humans?’ Tiger suggested. He had talked about doing it, but although George and I had done our fair share of sneaking out with humans in our time, that didn’t mean we condoned it for our kittens – we told them to do as we told them, not as we had done. That’s all part and parcel of parenting.

We all lapsed into silence as we thought that perhaps Santa had gone with one of the children – my money was on Toby or Henry who both had a mischievous side to them. I remembered when Tommy, who is one of our older children now, took George to Church with him under his coat, these things do happen.

‘Hey, Dad, mum, GrandCat Alfie, Snowball, can you hear that?’ Holly said. She was wearing silver tinsel.

‘Shush Holly we’re trying to think,’ George said.

‘Oh no, Santa can not go missing on Christmas Eve,’ Hana panicked again, we were all so worried we didn’t even realise the irony of her words.

‘No, listen,’ Holly said, stamping her paw, and we all lapsed into silence. There was a faint sound of rustling, along with a muffled mew coming from somewhere.

‘Oh no, it’s coming from under the tree,’ Tiger said and he and Holly started trying to clear a path by moving presents.

‘Be careful,’ I hissed. I knew how much humans could get upset if anyone messed with their presents. I’d managed to open one or two when I was young and trust me, that did not go down well. Holly and Tiger worked well together and they managed to find a wrapped box, that seemed to be moving slightly.

‘Santa, are you in there?’ Hana asked.

‘Mew,’ he replied. I looked at Snowball, horrified. We had found the kitten.

Only he was gift wrapped in a box. And, there was no clear way to get the present unwrapped. We all looked at our paws, not as useful as hands in this instant. Holly tried to get the bow off, but she just managed to shred it a bit. We all had a go at trying to open the paper but we couldn’t do it.

‘Mumppph,’ Santa’s voice came from inside the box, and although we tried to be gentle we did manage to bash the box around a bit. I crossed my paws that he’d be OK.

‘Yowl,’ I heard faintly, over and over again. Oh, how I hoped we hadn’t hurt him too much.

After what felt like ages, we all sat and surveyed the box. The wrapping was looking messy, the bow was half untied and a bit shredded but we were still unable to get into the parcel. It had tape everywhere and trust me when I tell you us cats can’t get the tape off the gifts. That’s why cats don’t ever get to unwrap their own presents.

But that didn’t help, because our kitten was in there. What if there was no air? I glanced at Snowball who was obviously thinking the same as me, there was pure fear in her eyes and I could feel the same in mine. George was still trying to get into the box, he was even using his teeth but I knew it was pointless. Tiger and Holly were frozen for a minute and Hana was wailing. I needed a plan but I knew that; that plan needed a human and that was, for once, something I didn’t have. I couldn’t even send anyone off to find one because the carol concert was not even on the same street. I just had to hope and pray they would be home soon.

As everyone grew more panicked and the box was moving around, I knew I had to do something until the humans returned.