(winston in his moment of glory)

for some reason the holidays feel more hectic than usual this year… possibly because after several years of the pandemic and toning down the celebrations i am totally out of practice. and we didn’t leave town for thanksgiving. we had a nice, quiet one in boulder with all the grandma turkey plates and glassware and recipes from my mother (i didn’t even make a turkey - i picked up a cooked one up from whole foods… i can roast the crap out of a chicken, but turkeys terrify me) and we watched the macy’s day parade (we just LOVE those rockettes!) while we made pies (blackberry, apple and pumpkin - we need to overdo it so we can have pie for breakfast in the days following.) mariah carey was the grand finale and honestly, no one sings about christmas like that gorgeous diva did in her red mermaid dress and CROWN… the BEST! but the highlight of the day was definitely the national dog show, won by none other than winston, THE FRENCHIE!

(those rockettes are unbelievable!)

(mariah also has a fabulous parasol for some reason!)

(our tiny thanksgiving table)

(i love my grandma’s turkey plates)

(i DON’T love live turkeys… i saw these GIANT ones walking around the berkeley marina a few years ago - you can understand why i am afraid to wrangle one of those into my oven)

we LOVE the dog show… there are some with hair that is just bananas… long sheets of silkiness that hang like curtains or thick, twisted strands that look like a mop and it’s hard to tell where the head is or little puff balls that you just want to squeeze. there were so many kinds that we’d never heard of before and the commentators are hilarious, telling stories about their own dogs and giving background on the contestants. lots of these dogs have serious careers - some are in films, one was about to start touring with a musical, others do loads of print shoots like supermodels. a lot of them LOOKED like supermodels and we were worried that they were getting enough dinner. i don’t know how they maintain their figures (they probably just have cigarettes for breakfast)… we could never live with those restrictions. but it did make me think about the possibilities for hank’s career. he DOES come from fancy stock… his father worked the circuit and won his fair share of awards. we sort of considered this for hank because he is SO handsome (even with his wonky teeth) but we had too many concerns. first off, i am the WORST dog trainer… basically, hank is in charge. we walk where he wants to go - in the neighborhood he likes to visit his 7th street friends: louie, his bestie, dharma, the sheepdog who just rolls him around and gladys, the boxer who he is totally smitten with. if we go to the park he likes to make a tour of all the benches and see if any toddlers dropped goldfish or other snacks beneath them. once he’s made his rounds he just drags us home and there is no further walking. my other concern is that kids who are in the spotlight too early almost always have a rough go: drew barrymore started going to studio 54 at SEVEN years old and was in rehab by thirteen, justin beiber was getting so drunk in his teens that he peed in a mop bucket when leaving a restaurant, poor britney spears shaved off all her hair and ended up in a horrid conservatorship and macaulay culkin allegedly developed a habit for heroin. we definitely didn’t want that for hank. now that he is thirty-five (in dog years) and his brain is fully developed and he could probably handle the spotlight without unraveling, he is also too set in his ways and would never just do what i said on that blue carpet at the show. so it is a conundrum.

(just LOOK at the updo on this one!)

(i can’t get over this one!)

(hank and i wanted to give this one a little more purina)

(these guys gave awesome commentary)

(drew rocking out in her jellies - i had those too!)

(justin around the time of the mop bucket incident)

(CUTE britney before things went south)

(adorable little macaulay)

anyway, we watched the proceedings with baited breath  - winston was in the “non sporting” category, which just cracked us up. if i were ever in a pageant i would need to be in the non sporting category as well. of course, he won his class and then moved on to the finals where he was up against a german shepherd and a beagle and some fluffy littles. the queen judge had on a bright blue sequined gown as she checked their teeth and coats and analyzed the way they trotted around the stage. it was just THRILLING when they called out his name.

(winston in action)

the next morning hank and i made sure to put the today show on for winston’s appearance. it was stressful because they kept teasing his arrival and then doing a different story. i had a hair appointment (that i would never be late for) so was worried i would miss him. thankfully he came on with his dapper handler just in time and was celebrated with a well deserved “puppaccino” - it WAS early in the morning. we were so PROUD of our non sporting brother (who has an uncanny resemblance to hank’s dearest friend, louie) for representing us with such elegance and personality. (winston, by the way, has a nice, sturdy physique like hank’s which was also validating as random people are constantly commenting on hank’s girth… we find that quite rude.)

(winston doing the morning show rounds)

(louie is winston’s doppelgänger)

we have now moved on to preparations for sinter klaas (dutch holiday), hanukkah and christmas. by the time we get to january, we will be exhausted, but happy! x0x

* hank had a very strong reaction to the christmas gnomes that were a part of the holiday decor. he took the baby one out and threw him around in the grass and chewed up his hair ribbons. after cleaning him up i gave him a higher perch where he was safely out of hank’s reach. i wasn’t worried about the daddy because he is HUGE (bigger than hank) and has sand in his bottom so he is quite heavy. but then i saw him smashed face down in the mud like a murder victim from law and order. before i could rescue him we had a big blizzard so now he is buried under a giant mound of snow. if hank were to compete in a dog show i worry that he might engage in some underhanded tactics to ensure a win… he obviously knows how to take out candidates he is not fond of.

(this is about how hank and the gnome compare in size… he must have REALLY wanted him out of the house!)

to read more about the holidays click here or here