Roberta passed on in June of 2016, exactly twenty years down to the month since we brought her home. She was a member of our household for quite a while during that time, multiple dogs came and went I finished elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, and eventually got hired at my local library my sister died, which devastated poor Roberta and, my mom became a grandmother and got remarried. We named her Roberta, after a character from the Disney Channel telefilm Not Quite Human 2, which was about robots to this day, she is the only cat I have ever met to be named after an android. Still, when we did bring that second cat home, it took a little bit of adjusting, but I eventually learned to like and even love her. I was kind of hesitant about it we'd had a feline companion once before for a short while, and it didn't go very well. In the summer of 1996, my mom decided to adopt a cat. This little feel-good story is best enjoyed while sitting in a big comfy chair before a blazing fire with a cup of hot cocoa in one hand and a kitty on your lap. I recommend The Christmas Cat for all lovers of animals and the holiday season. Carlson’s humor, which is liberally dispersed throughout the book.

Overall, I liked the plot and I certainly liked the ending though I thought it wrapped up a little too quickly. I could really identify with the feline angle of the story, being a “mother” of 5 (recently down from 7) cats myself. The tale moves along nicely, and I finished it within a day, something I never do. The Christmas Cat reads a little like a Hallmark movie, which is OK with me, seeing as we are coming upon the holiday season. As he carefully follows his Gram’s instructions in placing the cats, he begins to find happiness and his post-Uganda true purpose in life. At this point in his life, Garrison is a bit lost, having just returned from a 9 year stint in Uganda building wells for people who couldn’t afford them. The Christmas Cat is about Garrison, a man in his 30s, who is directed by the strict criteria in his grandmother’s will to find outstanding homes for her 6 cats. I have one word for this little Christmas book-SWEET!

The christmas cat by melody carlson