I read that there is going to be a new preschool series based on the Beatrix Potter tales of Peter Rabbit starting on Nickelodeon on 12/14 7 p.m. EST. I picked up a Christmas themed Watership Down DVD a couple of years back that I watch each year along with other holiday favorites. If you loved the Watership Down book and movie, the Christmas one is cute as well. Another thing to ask Santa for if you didn't know it existed is there is a second Watership Down book that the author wrote more than 20 years after the original. It is called Tales of Watership Down. It contains short stories, most with a moral in them, with some of the original WD characters and some new ones to meet.
Many clubs are having their Christmas parties which is always great fun. It is a chance to enjoy each other's company without being totally focused on rabbit club business and planning the next show. Most are potlucks and have a Yankee gift swap. One important part of club business not to be missed is to make sure your club is renewing its ARBA charter and afilliation with any State or Regional clubs this month.
This time of year rabbit breeders tend to get phone calls/emails asking for pet rabbits for Christmas gift giving. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on whether to sell or not at Christmas. I prefer not to as it is just too hectic a time to introduce a bunny to a new home. At any time of year, it is a big adjustment for a bunny to leave the rabbitry and get settled with new owners, a different environment and usually changing to a new food as well. Many are first time bunny owners, learning to pick up and handle them confidentally and get to know them.
Many years ago I did sell to some very smart parents who had planned it all out. Their idea might work for you too if you decide to sell at Christmastime. Their daughter was about 10 years old and had wanted a bunny for over a year and talked about it all the time. On Christmas Day she found a cage, feeder, shavings, bunny toys and water bottle under the tree. Along with that was a rabbit care book with a "treasure" map inside with a little "new bunny owner's certificate". Her parents had drawn a map to my rabbitry. (Nowadays Mapquest directions and rabbitry website would probably be used!) The weekend fell a couple of days after Christmas which gave her time to read the book, set up its new home in her room and anticipate getting her new bunny (the anticipation is half the fun anyway, right?). That Saturday she gave her dad driving directions following the map telling him which way to turn, which streets to follow etc. They arrived here with plenty of time to spend learning things not in the book, the proper way to pick up and handle bunny, baggie of food and feeding instructions. All without the distraction for her and her parents of Christmas activities going on and still time during Christmas school vacation to get bonded with her new bunny. It all worked out so well and everyone was relaxed and happy. Me, the parents, the little girl and the bunny included.
Closing that as Paul Harvey used to do on his radio show with ".....and now you know the rest of the story", I'll let you know the rest of the story...... I had raised minilops for a few years but this was the very first pet holland lop bunny I sold out of my precious first litter of hollands born 9/1/85. Yes, I'll never forget that day or how much that first litter meant to me! Probably as much as that first pet bunny meant to that little girl. In that first litter I raised a beautiful (by 1985 Holland Lop standards, probably a big normal doe by today's standard, LOL) tort doe that went on to win Best in Show! I thought to myself, gee these Holland Lops aren't that hard to raise good ones. OH BOY, was I mistaken, it is never easy with Hollands!!! And on that note and chuckle, I'll sign off for now.