'Twas the Night Before ...

... well, you know the rest! And even though we don't have any mice "stirring", our puppies are becoming more active all the time, even starting to interact with each other. I expect eyes will start to open any day now, as Christmas Day is their two week birthday. I doubt they have sugarplums dancing in their heads, but they are certainly content little babies.





We've decorated the house, dressed the tree (real, of course :)), gifts are wrapped and bowed, and the table is festive and ready for Santa. I never get tired of Christmas morning!

Puppies Have Arrived!

We're extremely pleased to announce the arrival of our latest litter. We have 4 males and 1 female (the one with the most white in these photos). Quite the range in size at birth, from 5.2 oz to 9.2, but all are doing wonderfully, and Jolie (Am/Can Ch Shaydeechase Girl Interrupted) is an outstanding mother. Sire is the handsome Ch Lynphil Mirror Mask.

A little camera shy ...




It's very tiring trying to sleep during your first photo shoot ...

Starting to Look a Lot Like ...

I never do my Christmas lights the same way twice, so it's a bit of a Cracker Jack box every year. I had taken a stab at it a week ago, but found some excuse to put off finishing. This past Sunday was bright, sunny, and not a blizzard, which is what we are usually battling to hang our lights. I got home in good time from a terrific dog show weekend with my very good friend Kim (Laureate) and was in a festive frame of mind, so even though I was going solo, and am not the best on a ladder, decided I really had to take advantage and finish the job. Unfortunately, it was not a task that would be accomplished in that bright, uplifting sunshine. I ended up crawling around in the dark (mind you, it was only 5:30!!) trying to find extension cords whose plugs were compatible. It should have been easy, but apparently not all plugs are made the same. Go figure.

The end result, although satisfactory, is really anti-climatic without that first gentle layer of snow (emphasis on "gentle"), which nicely softens the entire affect and makes the whole thing Christmas-y instead of just cold winter lighting. But from most angles, the lights didn't look half bad.