Christmas/New Years Eve

What you guys usually do and what you gonna do this holiday season? Any special plans or cozy up at home?

hm, sort of same like for some days, year after year:

24th in the afternoon there is a gathering at Jans mom, his bro and sisters and in-laws, most nephews and nieces try to come and two grandchildren
it's busy and nice to see hopefully everybody again, we ate some cake and toast, simple thingies, no big dinner, and then John(Jans bro) always always plays this terrible terrible xmas cd :-)
we all start commenting and/or sing along (whoooaaa, wolf howling included) and mom loves it :-P

and then i rush in my car to go to Eijsden to join John and his mom and spend all evening with her watching tele

Xmas day brunch at the hotel with John side of the family, also busy and the hotel is very crowded but the food is super yummie delicious. It's not intimate at all but we change places to try to talk to everybody.

Boxing day can be different every year, not sure yet but i think Paul and his new dog will come to us then.

we have nothing on the 24th. as my son had to switch from here to his inlaws every year, we decided we'd do it differently this time. so instead they will join us here on the 27th, and also my daughter, her bf, and his 3 daughters will be here. we'll have loads of snacks, some drinks, and a lot of noise from 5 little girls, i bet.

25th we have the family gathering on hedwig's site. brothers, sisters, their other halves, their kids and grandkids. 60-70 persons. NOISE!!!!

and at new years eve we'll be celebrating at my parents' with my little family. everyone prepares a course, so my mom doesn't have to take care of it all. she'll make soup, my niece will make some snacks to go with the aperitif, my sis-in-law and i will take care of the main dish, and my daughter will make dessert.

and after that it'll be all peace and quiet again....

carla, how's things going with the dog? does paul already have a new one? how did it go with zanna?

It was quite emotional and exciting, When we arrived at KNGF Zhanna was very enthusiastic. The woman from KNGF said that all dogs who return there react the same. We met her new family at the parking lot, spend an hour to get to know each other, talk things over. We got a good impression of the man and woman, they have had a senior guide0dog before so they are known from KNGF and used to have an older dog.
Zhanna was friendly as usual, getting to know the people, pulling her nose in their hands, trying to climb the mans lap :-)
But then when it was time to say goodbye first Paul and Jan went to the toilets and then she got nervous, looking at the door all time. They returned and then we gave her a last hug and went away. Not too long hugging or so. Aw man, i got emotional and writing this down i have tears in my eyes again. I really feel like mourning. It does help a bit to know that she'll have a good home again, but still, it was our doggie and i love her and i miss her.

Paul got the new dog this monday and he is training hard now. She is a blond labrador called Umaya.
It's is a younger and active dog again, she'll be two years end of this month and a bit nervous of course. It's a new situation for her as well.

made me cry

me too today telling the story to my neighbor in Brunssum.
I made this picture when we were driving to KNGF, it's killing, couldn't take any other pics anymore

aww, Carla, this is sad... but i hope she will grow to love her new family, too!

omg, look on her face. she knew something was up! big hugs!


as Agnes said, hope she will have happiest life with new owners. but, I am sure she is missing you guys too, now..

Paul has sent some information about Zhanna to her new family, and they wrote back that Zhanna is ok. She also met the children of the couple, they are grown and don't live at home anymore. The woman will take Zhanna with her to her work in the morning hours, so that she won't be alone.
Our doggie has worked hard and has done so many things already, she went with Paul to different places every time that he did a course, then she also had to get used to the new homes of Jan and of me, then moving with Paul to his own place, she'll be ok.

Paul has started the training with the new dog and on saturday i am going to his place, to meet Umaya and also to support Paul, he'll need some rest after this very busy first week

yes, and very stressful too.

I got so sad reading your post Carla

You know, I love Zhanna so much as well. I was lucky to have many memories with her <3 I still remember her and Henrik's relationship awwww.

I am happy she still has a good family and good environment.. Will you be able to see her from time to time? Or is it actually more stressful to keep contact this way?

Wishing you luck with your first meet with Umaya. What's the meaning of the name?

since we have a small baby we are planning to have many gatherings by the fire this christmas-new years holiday ! looking forward to christmas holiday -i need some rest from work !

ps all the best to your dog carla!

oh, carla, what a sad picture!!!
in your heart you know she'll be ok, but it is so difficult to let her go, eh.
i'm sure everything will be fine with the new doggie. but of course paul will have to spend loads of time to train her so she'll gets as good as zhanna.

thank you all, KNGF advices to wait for half a year before we try to see Zhanna again. By then she'll be used to her new life and family. In between Paul can keep contact through email and/or phone.
Sorry for spoiling this thread with messages what belong in mood thread or so :-)

my auntie has birthday 22th of december and we often use her bd as a family gathering already. Now that the nieces and nephews are grown it is difficult to see everybody from two sides of the family or even more now that i am divorced and married again :-). Family getting bigger and bigger.
So we always start before Xmas Eve with gathering already.
No plans yet for New Year's Eve.

you havent spoiled this thread! not at all.
we all love Zhanna and want to know what happens to her and how she moves on.

Hope you guys have a really wonderful time and spend Christmas with your loved ones!

And thank you for being a part of this forum

thanks Indii,


i think it's great that you started this forum and i hope that a lot of people like to read and post and share in friendship the things we want to share, Anathema and all other thingies :-)

Best wishes for a relaxed Xmas

merry christmas everyone!

wow, beautiful wishes and cards!

so glad to see is snowing here!! Merry Christmas to all you!!

yep, bit of snow on the forum.

Merry Christmas Claumirela and to your cool family!

yes! and the snow has arrived here at our place too.

here not yet. they are announcing it, but still nothing.

how do you like it, in your garden and all?

first time snow and the country is panicing again, i am glad that Paul did not have to travel today, for tomorrow they don't expect to have difficulties with the railroads