Cats Need a Sense of Tradition

Wrapping presents is so much fun! Happy Chanukah everyone....and don't forget to take photos. As for me, you don't have to tell me twice. I've already started my 2007 Christmas album. I've taken photos of the cats near the tree; under the tree; climbing the tree, sniffing out the miniature crèche, not to mention the cats helping me wrap presents, sitting in the wreath; staring out at the snow, jumping into boxes. "Why bother?" my husband says. "Just look at the photos from last year. They're always the same." Which is when I belt out my very best Fiddler on the Roof interpretation of the "T" song: "TRADITION! McDuff loves playing hide and seek in tissue paper I mean, just because we're a small family, doesn't mean we can't adhere to the rituals everyone else practices. Besides, no parents I know take holiday pictures of their children once and let that do for the rest of their lives. Tradition by nature is repetition. The tree is the same, the ornaments are the same....except for the new one my hubby buys me each year, and so are the holiday decorations, which mostly go up in the same places. So, yes, each year may, indeed, look like the last (except for the gray in the cat's hair). But that doesn't mean we should chuck it altogether. My children need this token of stability in their lives. What's more, they deserve to have our family photographic tradition continue to bolster their sense of continuity, family, and ritual, lest they loose their eternal sense of curiosity. McDuff helps Mommy decorate for Christmas And so what if I have 200 photos of Angela under the tree, (with her eyes closed), McDuff sitting in the middle of the wrapping paper, and Sinead jumping in a Christmas box? This year I'll have 250. Besides if my puddies don't see me with a camera on Christmas, they may go into shock. Have a Chanukah or Christmas photo? Share at photos@petside.com then look for it on the photos page in the Holiday gallery!