Commentary By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Ever since I helped my sister put up her Christmas tree last weekend, it has been quite entertaining watching her try to keep the cat out of it.

It started the very first night. We had just put the finishing touches on the tree when the cat, named O’Mallie, came slinking out of the bedroom to have a closer look.

At first he just sat in front of it with the tip of his tail swishing back and forth.

I’m sure that to him, it looked just like a tall, glittering, custom-made kitty toy.

And sure enough, he could not contain his enthusiasm for long. The next thing we knew, he was under the tree swatting at one of the low-hanging ornaments.

My sister, Becky, was on him like a flash, spanking him with the fly-swatter.

He than retreated to the hallway to glare at her, ears laid flat against his head.

Becky looked at the clock and predicted that he would be back in the tree in four minutes or less. She knows him pretty well.

She then issued an official decree throughout the house that nobody … NOBODY … is to let the cat sleep upstairs until after Christmas. He is to be upstairs only when a human adult is also upstairs with him.

When asked if it’s not too cold for him to sleep in the basement, she said, “That’s why he has fur.”

The second funny incident (and no, Becky didn’t think it was funny at all) came Sunday night.

She and I were sitting at the dining room table, with her husband standing in the kitchen. Becky’s chair was only about four feet from the Christmas tree.

Suddenly a noise beside her caught her attention. She got an “I’m going to kill that cat” look on her face, and very slowly turned her head to the right.

The cat was lounging under the tree again. This time, he had the exact same ornament stretched out and was noisily chewing on it.

Becky swiftly went for the fly-swatter again, but alas, O’Mallie was just a little quicker.

It’s a good thing for the cat, because the plastic fly-killing instrument broke when it hit the wooden floor.

But the cat got the point, at least for a little while, because he disappeared into another room and laid low.

This was all just a part of the holiday festivities for my family.

It will continue next week when we all gather to put up the Christmas tree at my mom and stepdad’s house. We all make a very big deal out of putting up the tree, with my mom making supper and her three daughters heading up the decorating committee.

My stepdad and brother-in-law do their part too. One of them usually puts the tree up and one puts the star on top. Other than that they try to watch football, although we’re in the way of the TV and playing Christmas music so that they can’t hear what’s going on.

Holiday traditions like this aren’t the full meaning of Christmas, but they’re an awfully good part of it.