Chapter One: A Kitty in the Cold
The snow was so cold and so white that little Kimberly Kitty Cat almost lost herself in the cold whiteness of the snow. "It is so cold and so white," she meowed to herself, "I wonder where my home is."
Kimberly's little nose was beginning to run and every few steps she made little Kitty sneezes.
"Meowchooo, Meowchooo," sneezed Kimberly Kitty Cat.
Not only was Kimberly Kitty Cat beginning to sneeze, her little Kitty paws were becoming very cold, cold like the cold white snow.
"Oh, my poor cold little paws," cried Kimberly Kitty Cat.
The worst thing was, the colder Kimberly became, the harder she found it to walk and the harder she found it to walk, the longer it would take her to find her home and the longer it took her to find her home, the further the sun would set, until it would set so far it would be below the horizon and the world would be dark.
Kimberly Kitty Cat was afraid of the dark.
"Oh, I don't want to be lost in the cold dark." cried Kimberly Kitty Cat.
Even kitty cries cannot slow the setting of the cold winter sun and even as Kimberly's little kitty tears turned to ice as they fell sadly from her kitty eyes, and even as her kitty whiskers grew cold in the chill winter breeze ("So cold," thought Kimberly, "they might break if someone were to touch them!"), the sky grew darker.
"Ohhhhh," cried Kimberly Kitty Cat.
She cried again and again until she forgot about everything but her tears and the cold which surrounded her like a blanket of ice.
Kimberly cried for what seemed like an eternity (and eternities are very long for little kitties who are only on the first of their nine kitty-to-cat lives). Kimberly cried and cried until, suddenly, she felt something grab at her belly, felt herself being lifted into the air.
Kimberly tried to see what was happening, but her little kitty eyes were too puffed and tired from crying and all she could see was darkness and night.
Kimberly started to cry all over again, certain now that she was being stolen away by catnappers.
But what was that smell?
Kimberly lifted her kitty nose and a sniffed again. A warm and friendly smell! The smell of Kimberly's home.
"Meowary!" Kimberly purred with joy, realizing that she was in Mary's warm little girl arms and Mary stroked Kimberly's belly and said everything would be alright and that Kimberly would be warm and content in no time.
Chapter Two: A Kitty by the Fire
Now wrapped in a warm cotton blanket, lying in front of a roaring fire and sipping gently from a saucer of milk, Kimberly Kitty could hardly believe that only a few scant minutes before she had been cold and helpless in a winter snow storm.
"This is perfect," she thought to herself between sips of milk. Mary was in the kitchen helping her mother with the Christmas dinner and alone before the fire, Kimberly began to feel very tired.
The cold and fear and now the warmth and joy had exhausted Kimberly and stretching herself out on the blanket, she decided to wait for Mary to come back from the kitchen.
Flames leapt from the fire like fiery dancers disappearing in puffs of smoke up the chimney and into the night.
Kimberly stared at the flames so long the flames began to flicker and fade and the burning log became nothing but a pile of red-glowing embers. Cold air began to drop down the chimney and, for the first time since coming in from the snow, Kimberly Kitty began to feel cold.
She looked around to the kitchen and saw nothing. Every light in the house had been turned off and Kimberly realized she was surrounded by darkness. She listened for the sounds of Mary and her mother preparing dinner.
She listened with all her little kitty cat might.
She heard nothing.
The house was so still and dark that Kimberly thought she was in a cave.
Kimberly Kitty Cat started trembling just a little.
"Now steady yourself," Kimberly told herself, "you must just have fallen asleep in front of the fire place and now it's late, the fire's gone out and Mary has gone to bed." Kimberly said this to herself again and yet again. She said it to herself and even as she said it she began to think something terrible had happened.
Kimberly crawled out from the cotton blanket and took several tentative kitty cat steps to the kitchen door. Not a sound could she hear, that is, she heard nothing until a howling gust of wind fell down through the chimney and jingled the ornaments on the Christmas tree. The wind was so strong it hurt little Kimberly's eyes and she had to squint to see anything at all.
She heard a rumbling from the fireplace and as it grew louder she felt the hair on her back begin to stiffen. The rumbling became even louder until it seemed as loud as an earthquake!
"Oh no!" cried Kimberly kitty cat.
"No, that's HO! HO! HO!" hollered a booming voice from the chimney.
First, two booted feet appeared from the top of the chimney flue, then two big legs, then one big belly and soon arms and a bearded face.
"Kimberly Kitty?" said the stranger as he crawled out from the fireplace and stood up.
"No, don't hurt me!"
"Why do you think I'll hurt you, Kimberly?"
"Because you're big and loud and..." and Kimberly Kitty paused for a moment. "How do you know my name?"
The big bearded stranger laughed a merry laugh and said, "It's cold in here," and with a snap of his fingers, a flame lit up in the fireplace the entire room was basked in a cherry glow.
"Oh!" gasped Kimberly.
With another snap of his finger, a big sack appeared at his side.
"Who are you?" asked Kimberly Kitty.
"Why, I'm Santa Claus."
"Santa Claus?"
"Santa Claus!" and before Kimberly could meow a content kitty cat meow, a hundred presents appeared beneath and around the Christmas tree.
"Now Kimberly, I must be off. But before I go, here's a little something for you." A little flash and there, right in front of Kimberly, was a saucer of the warmest, sweetest milk she had ever tasted.
Kimberly wanted to go wake Mary, but the room was so warm and Kimberly was so happy sipping her milk and looking at the fire, that she thought she'd just lay on her blanket for one more moment before waking Mary.
Chapter Three: A Kitty Kat Christmas
The fire was cold when Kimberly looked up. Where was Santa? The bowl of marvelous milk? Gone. "No, not gone," thought Kimberly to herself, "it was all a dream."
Kimberly began to feel sad.
A little kitty cat tear began forming on Kimberly's little kitty cat face. "Oh," Kimberly, "everyone would have been so happy."
Then, from a far corner of the house, Kimberly heard Mary running down the staircase.
"Kimberly! Kimberly! It's Christmas!"
"Oh, poor Meowary. She'll be so disappointed when she learns it was only a dream."
Mary burst into the dark room all smiles.
"Oh, look!" and Kimberly turned towards the tree and saw a few presents lying there.
There were fewer presents than in Kimberly's dream, but Mary seemed so happy.
Mary's parents quickly followed Mary and soon Mary's father had set a roaring fire in the fireplace.
"Daddy," Mary said, "this is for you," and Mary handed her father a small wrapped package.
Mary's father beamed with joy and Kimberly learned something.
Christmas is not about how much you get, but about how much you love.
Kimberly had never felt so happy in her life.
THE END
