Cape Cod Times - Gifts of Christmas Past

Excerpted from the article "Gifts of Christmas Past"

By K.C. MYERS

Cape Cod Times

December 25, 2011

The magic of Christmas isn't all about toys. Or so we tell ourselves, until we remember the one toy that met all our hopes and dreams. We asked readers to tell us about a favorite Christmas present that still evokes feelings of joy decades later.

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SOUTH DENNIS — From Day One, Mitzie could do no wrong.

The stuffed gray and white cat given to 8-month-old Tish Murphy on her first Christmas was an instant hit.

"She was always with me," said Murphy, 58, of South Dennis. "She was just a favorite of mine. My mother had asthma, so I couldn't have a cat of my own."

Tish got her hair cut every year after school before her family left New York City for vacation on the Cape. One year during the annual ride to the Cape, Tish gave her favorite cat a haircut, too.

The kitty definitely looks a little ragged.

At some point, her face had to be embroidered again. The pink fur inside her ears is shredded, she said.

But looks don't matter.

"I think I took her to college with me," Murphy said.

Mitzie is still with Murphy "though she doesn't look much like a cat anymore," she said.

Cape Cod Times photo