Poppy takes a reflective look back over her year at Christmastime.

"I have had a very busy summer, although the weather was not as good as I, or anyone else, would have liked. I was allowed to play out until 10.00pm when it was still light though, but now I am staying indoors again in the evenings as I am far too precious to go out in the dark.

Once again, I spent WEEKS on frog watch by my pond, it’s a very slow business you know, watching the air bubbles and waiting for the frogs to pop up. They have all hibernated at the bottom of the pond again now, with one or two under the bushes near the edge of the water. I was helping daddy to clear the garden last Saturday and dug a sleepy frog out from under a shrub. It had a very surprised look on its face, and do you know what - daddy took it off me and put it back in the pond! And then a wriggly worm too! Really, he can be such a spoilsport sometimes.

I had a little accident in the autumn. Mummy had bought me the most gorgeous name disc to go on my turquoise collar with the diamantes in it. It was silver and shaped like a fish, with blue stones in it, so my little outfit co-ordinated perfectly. Anyway, I went to play out and came back without it. Oh my goodness - it could be anywhere in the garden (or even in the pond!) and now the leaves have fallen we probably won’t find it until the spring. Mummy said I’m a little tomboy, but she would rather have me without my collar than the other way around, which I suppose is one way of looking at it. Anyway, to get myself out of trouble, I told her ‘Big Ging’, the local ginger tom, had mugged me for my diamonds. He’s a real thug and frightens all the neighbourhood pussycats. Mummy says it must be awful being me; I’ve had such a dreadful life you know. First I  got pregnant with my babies, and now I’ve been mugged, and I’m still only two!

In December things got worse than ever. I got what mummy calls “a bee in my head”, when we pussies get that mad look and our eyes go really big and black, and you just know we are going to do something naughty. Well, I ran from one end of the dining room to the other in first gear, then leapt up onto the dining table and sent the cloth and everything on it, including a very large glass of red wine, flying through the air. The wine went up the wall, the door, daddy’s shirt, on the dining chairs, and splattered over 3 sq ft of the plain, pale green carpet. Mummy said that if she’d asked me to spray it as far as I could, I couldn’t have done a better job! I took one look at the mess, then at daddy’s face, and thought, “Oh dear, I didn’t mean to do that, I’m really in trouble now”, so I crept upstairs and got into my little sheepskin nest out of the way. Mummy had to get a specialist in to clean the carpet at a cost of £50, so that, on top of my lost £10 name disc, meant I gave her a very expensive week. She said it could be worse though, if she had a human daughter it would cost her a lot more, and besides, I’m worth it. Nevertheless, I think they’ll be drinking more white wine from now on.

Daddy and I erected ‘Poppy’s Indoor Christmas Activity Centre’ last weekend, otherwise known as the Christmas tree. I helped mummy to decorate it on Sunday, and for every six baubles she put on, I knocked one off and ran away with it, so you can imagine that the whole process took quite a while. No doubt daddy will take some photographs of me looking gorgeous over the festive period, so he will email them to you for your website.

I must admit, today I have been rather naughty. Reggi, our resident robin who has been in the garden for years, had the audacity to tweet at me, so I killed him! I ran past the window with him in my mouth and mummy found us both under a bush. She was very upset because he was lying dead on his back with his little legs and red breast in the air. He must have been very sleepy for me to catch him at all, because I am wearing a big red bell, red diamante Christmas boot-shaped name disc and red Swarovski crystal collar, so I sound like Santa’s sleigh and you can hear me coming from miles away. It just goes to show, we pussies can look so innocent but we are all wild animals at heart, consequently I have asked Father Christmas for a spear and bow & arrow for my next hunting spree."