A white cat with one eye amber and one eye blue slowly edged through the moonlit garden. The promise of Christmas was in the air, like a perfume from paradise, the scent of good times ahead.

A small snow cat gazed at him with pebble eyes, its golden collar glittering in the soft light. Sam sniffed it, and wished it were real. Perhaps moonlit magic would ignite real life in its still snow heart.

Ellie turned over in bed, dreaming of the snowcat she had built that day. In her dream, it had come to life. She called him Santa Paws. They journeyed to a magic land of cats called Felinia. Ellie awoke the next day refreshed, her dream drifting away like snow in the sun.

She looked out her bedroom window, as horror eroded her happy heart. Kenneth, the boy next door, was jumping through the flattened remains of her snow cat. Ellie opened the window and screamed. Kenneth just laughed and ran away.

Tears stung Ellie’s eyes like winter wasps. Then she heard it. A cat meowing. Below her window, a white feline looked in to her eyes and melted her heart of snow.

A thought itched her mind like a cat whisker: had the snowcat come to life? Then she dismissed the notion; at eight years of age she was too old to entertain such childish nonsense!

Of course, the white cat was none other than Snow White Sam. He stayed with Ellie for five nights, and she slowly forgot about the destroyed snow cat. He knew she dreamt of Felinia, and he vowed to return one day to take her there.

However, he had other places to be, the life of a nomad came with a responsibility to appear exactly where and when needed. It was a special kind of magic that only really cats understood.

Ellie was again distraught. Sam had slipped away as secretly as he had arrived, swallowed by the snow all around, a winter dream melted in the sun.

Kenneth rebuilt the snow cat. “Hey Ellie, look! It’s even better than yours!”

The new snowcat sported a red scarf and two blue lace agate crystals as eyes. Ellie was delighted. “Let’s call him Snow White Sam!” Little did she know that the real white cat sported the same name.

Christmas Day arrived, and Ellie jumped for joy as she rose from bed. Snow White Sam the snowcat was still there, large and real in the garden.

Christmas had dawned white and crisp, a day of feline festive magic. On the local TV news, a grinning reporter stood in front of the town centre nativity scene. “And in with baby Jesus, sleeps a pure white cat!”

Ellie ran to the TV. “Mum, it’s my cat! It’s him!”

“It wasn’t your cat, Ellie. I am sure he has a home he returned to.”

However Ellie was insistent, and reluctantly her parents drove her to the town centre.

The nativity scene was there, however the white cat had gone.

Ellie fingered the cradle gently. There was a white whisker on top of the baby Jesus doll head. Ellie held it wistfully. Back home, she placed it on the the snowcat head. His blue eyes twinkled in the sun.

The next day, the snow had melted. However, on the ground there lay two blue stones and a whisker. Ellie held them to her heart. One day he would return for real, her Snow White Sam.

Far away, a child cried in its sleep. A white cat jumped on to her windowsill, scratching to get in. For every child’s nightmare calls a saviour, often in feline form.

Ellie turned over in her sleep. She was in Felinia again, and beside her walked Snow White Sam, a snowcat come to life. As she dreamt, a whisker fell from her hand to the floor. Feline magic filled the night.

Outside it began to snow again, gentle flecks as soft as cat hair. All over town, cats dreamt of the magical land Felinia. The Christmas spell was complete. May white cat blessings transform your Christmas into a winter dream come true.