Christmas

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Patrick (traditional Catmis Song)

December 18, 2025December 21, 2025by Stephen J Frankenberry2 Comments

In a recent Facebook post of a bit of good news on my front and amid a number of replies I got one from an old friend, Linda, who, after commenting on said post, added that her husband has been singing “one of my greatest hits” recently and I immediately realized that, shit, I’m a bit late on reposting this “one of my greatest hits” that Linda’s husband has been singing.

Now, the one of my greatest hits? It’s a Christmas tune about their cat Patrick that I will be posting now, all holiday tradition-like, for the fourth year in a row.

Quick history:

Linda posts picture of cat Patrick next to Christmas ornaments four Christmas’s ago with the caption “It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick”
I see post and immediately start singing, in my head, the beginning of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” except with cat Patrick instead and then can’t stop until I’ve written new, Patrick-centric, cat-centric lyrics for the whole thing. I then respond to Linda with “Ok, so you do know that dropping “It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick” is like dropping a gauntlet full of beer and cat nip to a to a crazy cat lady guy who likes to do this sort of thing right?” followed by posting the new lyrics and Bing Crosby’s video of the actual song for her to follow along with
Linda is happy. Responds with a “Wow”, an “AWESOME”, a number of exclamation points and even a Wayne and Garth “We are not worthy!” GIF
I am happy … but only for like 5 minutes as I know I’m not done, can’t be done. I search out an instrumental of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and take that with me into my studio at work and then send home the pieces to mix with maybe a little Christmas production magic involved
Four years later Linda’s husband is singing the tune during the season in anticipation, Linda tells me that Patrick (and his tail Sebastian – apparently it is its own being entirely) are also waiting and I get to enjoy, again, one of the best unintentional gifts I have ever unintentionally gotten someone. Yay! Go me!! hehehehe

It’s fun, it’s catly and it’s Christmassy.

’nuff said.

Cheers to you Linda and your fella and to you Patrick (and Sebastian) as always, you damn good looking Christmas cat … and tail.

‘Tis the season Patrick.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Patrick

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Everywhere Pat goes

Take a look in his snug cat bed laying his Patrick head

With maybe a mouse or two under his toes

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Fur on every rug

Till the monster is need brought out

To suck away all hair’s clout

While Patrick runs no doubt

An extra can can of food or some cat nip for mood

Is his wish as any cat would

Ball with a bell and a knock it to hell

Is new wish across some hardwood

And Mom and Dad do funny dance to not step on cat’s pants

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Everywhere Pat goes

There’s a tree that is soon to rise

Each branch a new cat prize

The hanging kind just waiting for a fall

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Snoozing underneath

And what brings that slumber best

Are the lights not put to test

With Christmas cats now at rest

(break)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Runnin’ cross the floor

To every cat’s Christmas dream

And the presents that will be

Box torn paper all a-skew

Sure it’s Patrick once more … time to puke, time to puke it’s Patrick’s time to puke.

mmm … mmm

Christmas Remembered (a furtive bow)

December 25, 2024December 28, 2024by Stephen J Frankenberry8 Comments

For some reason Christmas has seemed to be a bit more of a thing for me this year, I don’t really know why, it never has in the past, even with it being Dad’s birthday.

I mean it’s nothing new, it wasn’t like it suddenly occurred to us, “Holy Cow!!! Beck, Nick, Mom (when you were still here with us in all your Mom “Oh Bloody Hell you three!!” glory way that I so miss did we suddenly realize that Dad was born on Christmas day and after we’ve raised a glass to him every holiday get together for going on almost 30 years now at whatever table we were sitting at?

From a Christmas Kitten new poem prompt response and that really cute Beck, Nick and Steve kitten time in a house shared to new other poem responses to prompts from new friends to that third year reminder of a Christmas cat song, to even remembering that one of my tunes of Stevie and Tommy and Billy was set at Christmas.

But I found myself being myself being all Christmasy for some reason, and that is not per usual.

Anyway, I thought to then to finish it up and put a holiday furtive bow on this Christmas something that was a bit out of the blue and a stream of conscious thing here, however much making some edits along the way could be considered stream of conscious …

Christmas Remembered (a furtive bow)

One more for the season seems right

after revelry was bought in times nigh

again

preps and reps, you got this says coach

in uniform colored practice of reds and greens and sometimes golds

for team

in gifts from under crowns

tall and short

his number is one

the first

with beasts and straw

and tell all draws

from wide and far

to see all seems right

no crows to caw

crow

just yet

to pick, click, pick, click, pick, click, pick apart in pieces

and lay blame

to color this time of maybe’d holiday magic

any shame

even gifts

in how it should

in greens and yellows and talks of kings

I well wish you

you well wish me

but glory or egg

who came more joyful first

does it matter for

I just want a day

to put this all away

Immediately

and though I can’t quite see

from here

I know there is a star I was told of old

to look to

for

that lights us all into some same fold

of stories on Christmas nights told

but who am I to expect

suspect

wants

like taught the best

known

like I sage upon a stage of a new age

all to just go away

I pray

immediately

from pews of glory and stories and songs of old

from pompous robes in colors of reds and greens and golds on altars

with sashes and smoke

and families across pews fold with daughters who had a feather of blonde hair

Oh my, how could anything be that fair

sung high

that told

and I damned myself at the thought of a kiss

I fear I may be old and just tire

of this old now

and stories

I remember that I just want to put away

immediately

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Patrick (Christmas cat song)

December 13, 2024December 14, 2024by Stephen J Frankenberry9 Comments

Well it’s that time of year for this one again, an annual holiday tradition now for me to post it (if a third year running is enough to constitute “tradition”) if for no other reason, than, as a crazy cat lady guy, I just really like it.

Though I did include it recently in a post with a few other tunes, the fun song stories of my hapless friends Stevie and Tommy and Stevie’s not so hapless little brother Billy, this one needs it’s own singular post.

it’s fun, it’s catly and it’s Christmasy.

Nuff said.

It came from a Facebook post of a friend, Linda, a couple of years ago and her cat, Patrick, from a line of hers in that post that said, with him sitting in front of some Christmas pretty decorations, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick”

I went with it and had a blast.

Cheers Linda and to you Patrick, again, you damn good looking Christmas cat.

‘Tis the season Patrick.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Patrick

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Everywhere Pat goes

Take a look in his snug cat bed laying his Patrick head

With maybe a mouse or two under his toes

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Fur on every rug

Till the monster is need brought out

To suck away all hair’s clout

While Patrick runs no doubt

An extra can can of food or some cat nip for mood

Is his wish as any cat would

Ball with a bell and a knock it to hell

Is new wish across some hardwood

And Mom and Dad do funny dance to not step on cat’s pants

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Everywhere Pat goes

There’s a tree that is soon to rise

Each branch a new cat prize

The hanging kind just waiting for a fall

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Snoozing underneath

And what brings that slumber best

Are the lights not put to test

With Christmas cats now at rest

(break)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Patrick

Runnin’ cross the floor

To every cat’s Christmas dream

And the presents that will be

Box torn paper all a-skew

Sure it’s Patrick once more … time to puke, time to puke it’s Patrick’s time to puke.

mmm … mmm

Maybe This Christmas (poem)

December 11, 2024January 11, 2025by Stephen J Frankenberry12 Comments

A prompt from Dora at dVerse Poets to write a poem, with a holiday tint, using “Despite” and “Still” and so many well worked and wondrous examples of Dora’s inspiration and intent.

//////////////////////////////////////////

Maybe this Christmas

Maybe this Christmas will find

what was left behind

(in one small sock lost back under tree in a crack in the floor

found

maybe by new)

the glee of lights I knew could be seen

above all

on high

as there were none in the whole wide world of our street

that could meet

expectations or faces of Christmas like we

Maybe

just maybe

newer new will find what was left behind

(remodel make old undone amid dust and splinters and curses

of hammered thumbs

that one

now graying sock

fallen through crack)

a gift from Mom’s and Dad’s of memories back

that held promise

of lights they knew could be seen

in child’s dreams

at Christmas

above all

despite

whole wide world’s changed street

through thick dark clouds

now

expectations tougher reach

Maybe

season’s redemptive thought

maybe

newest new will find that once lost behind

(after tear down that faded sock of gifted wonder in rubble

of rebuild

could

maybe

be found

still

full of sparkling memories dusted, cleaned, fancy new)

finally

with chocolates and giggles and little games with hue

of wonder

after so many years

to maybe

just maybe

gift to the latest new

of expectations

anew

seen above all others in this whole wide world’s now angry street

maybe

just maybe this Christmas

Christmas Kitten (poem)

December 5, 2024December 10, 2024by Stephen J Frankenberry10 Comments

So a prompt for the holidays, an Etheree poem (no, I had no clue either) focusing on Christmas trees and themes of such. The full explanation of an Etheree poem and examples and the rest is in the link to the prompt from dVerse Poets here, An Etheree Tree, but it is …

… write in the form of this Etheree which is 10 non-rhyming lines graduating, per line, from 1 syllable in line 1 to 10 in line 10. The only addition to the form was two extra lines of only 2 syllables each at the end.

Now, not the original intent of the Etheree of course, but if you then center the 10 lines on the page and add the two extra lines for the tree trunk bottom you get the shape of a Christmas tree, which, well, just looks cool

It made me think of a favorite couple of pictures from so many years ago of Cal, the kitten, 2004 or so, in a house I shared with my sister and brother then.

Cal, one of the 5 kittens that were kittened to us by a pregnant cat (my brother named her Mia) who just showed up at our back door one day looking for a place to possibly stay. She had surely seen my Benny in his Benny to and fro’s around neighbor’s yards and flower beds and through his cat door and thought to herself in a wanting way, “these are good cat folk and this is just the place to lay my head” and proud, expectant belly in a toweled cardboard box world with lots of human hovering and eventual kitten squirming. She was also the Mom of my beloved “Shoes”, the Big Orange, who I would eventually write of quite a lot over his 11 too short years.

Well, this was from the first Christmas with Cal and Shoes (after we found homes for the others) and I thought they would be the perfect pictures for this.