Yatzie and Moët wishes all their friends a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

When Moët enters the forest she takes it over. She fearlessly explores every corner of it, and stops only for short seconds to watch her surroundings. Both the sun and my lens found her one of those seconds. The next she was gone - direction her pointing leg! Fortunately Moët listens very well and she always comes within a minute when I call her  - if she is close enough to hear me call!

The love making is over and Yatzie is dreaming of her sweet Toffee! But she will see him soon again. During the Christmas holidays she will be staying next door to him and I am sure he will smell her presence and come by!

As soon as the Christmas tree was decorated Moët began to explore the interesting animal under the tree - a Christmas goat made of straw! Margit made clear to her that the goat had to be treated with respect or Santa Claus would not bring her any gifts this year.

Today Yatzie had her rendez-vous with her new love Toffee (Barbedoux Toffee Leckerli). Being the lucky date 11-12-13 we expect some very special puppies from this littter!  Read about and see more photos of Toffee here. Now we must wait for 8 long weeks to see the results of this beautiful and strong combination of barbets!

Yatzie is already for more than a week on heat! Today we made a first progesteron test at a specialized clinic using the most reliable technique available (Immulite), to find out if she is ready for the mating. It is not yet time but it is drawing closer! The vet made a spontaneous comment on Yatzie, and said that she is in a very good condition to have a litter!

On 5 december the whole of Holland celebrates Sinterklaas. The evening is also called gift-evening (pakjes avond) and this is for Dutch children like Christmas eve for the rest of the western world! Yatzie and Moët also had their share of gifts of course! They picked them out themselves from the baskets! Last year I made a film of Sinterklaas when he came to our house and poor Moët was so scared, see this link. This year Sinterklaas had already brought all the gifts in the afternoon!

Sinterklaas is celebrated on the nameday of Saint Nicholas (280–342), patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors. Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. He was very kind to children. In the 11th century his relics were moved to south Italy and his fame spread over Europe. Sinterklaas has many helpers with black faces and colourful dresses called Zwarte Piet. During the Middle-ages Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas eve the devil was shackled and made his slave.

An interesting fact that most of us are unaware of is that Santa Claus in the United States, and later our Swedish jultomten, originates from the Turkish Saint Nicholas.

Lazy Sunday morning on the couch. Margot and her sweet friend Lotte grooming and cuddling with the doggies.