CFA Christmas Traditions

Every year in the late fall, holiday traditions tumble out of attics, closets, cabinets, and corners of our minds.

It seems that every group has its own way of celebrating the season. Consider the difference in families. Do you light Hanukkah candles, follow an Advent calendar, have an Elf on the Shelf? Does your family open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? What is served for dinner on December 25th? Do you cook/ eat at home or do you go out for Chinese food? Do you celebrate with extended family, immediate family, with friends, or by yourself?

CFA is its own kind of family, one that borrows ideas from others but creates its own traditions. Some of these flow from the fact that our CFA family-appropriate activity often has scheduling challenges with modern, tightly scheduled family calendars. Our weekends are spent at cat shows, sometimes causing conflicts with family and friends who do not understand the hold our cats and competition have over us. Our friends and relatives are cranking up for holiday celebrations while we are traveling, grooming, competing, and enjoying our cats.

So how do we participate in the holidays when we are often away from home during that season? For some, the answer is to create our own celebration with our cat fancy family. We come up with our own Christmas traditions and take our celebrations to the shows. Over the years a series of holiday themed shows have blossomed on the December show schedule and become traditional.

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