Christmas Eve afternoon in the early 1970s at Okla. City: Co-worker Robyn has a friend with a girl Siamese kitten. It’s free, can be picked up that day, and is in the far southwest part of town. Hubby Bill volunteers to pick up the kitty because it’s sleeting outside, and he doesn’t want me driving in that bad weather. Also, we hadn’t been married very long.

The little kitty girl was a Christmas gift for my son, Nicky, who was about five or six years old.

He wanted to name her Friskie, but we’d already had two run-away Friskie cats. So, we told him he should give her a new name He named her “Christmas,” and the two were inseparable.

Years later when Christmas was sick I called Mr. Babiak during a Hennessey school board meeting. I was crying when I told him to tell Bill to come home right away because I was afraid Christmas was dying.

I overheard General Babiak giving him the message, then he said, “Barb, he’s gathering up his notes right now.”

We lost Christmas-the-Cat years ago, and now Tuxedo another-girl-cat, is my bestee.

I’m remembering years after we’d moved to Hennessey, and I was sitting in the middle of the living room floor surrounded by cookie sheets, icing, and sprinkles. I watched TV while I painted the beard and put coconut onto the Santa Claus cookies. And, yes, those were the days when I could sit frog-style on the floor, and was able to get up without any help.

Our friend, John, stopped by that evening.

Right now I’m thinking about that comfortable feeling I had while half listening to Bill and John talk about cameras, guns and politics as if I wasn’t there. That’s a warm and fuzzy Christmas memory because it must have been a night when they didn’t have debates, or maybe they just talked about guns, and not politics that night.

••• The other night during a meeting of the board at Town Hall I was reminded that we used to have the Lion’s Club visits with Santa in that meeting room.

It also made me think about when Santa used to stop at the then Gritz Insurance Agency (North of Wong’s back in the day) after the Hennessey parades. I believe we also had Santa at Stan’s Automotive years ago. Then more recently the jolly old fellow was at Kirkpatrick Oil, but his recent appearances have been at The Mercantile.

One of the first Lions Club actors helping during those Santa visits was Harry Moore when we moved to Hennessey in 1978. I’m also thinking that Don Pacula was also a helper, and of course, Danny Bossa. I am certain if I left someone’s name off that list someone will let me know.