HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026

 

Actually, let's start with a MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE dinner with Astrid's ex, Jaap, at our nearby Metropole restaurant...our 3rd year in a row!  It's a tradition now that keeps on giving, filling all 3 of us with joy:

Plus a meal to die for:  

Venison carpaccio, hare's-leg bitterballs, wild-duck rollade, and dessert.

All for the record, as I say!

Now to HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It started with daughter Amy's arrival at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, from Atlanta, on Monday, December 29.  It's a longer story than this but the flight had been planned long before any of us knew g'son Nicholas would move to Phoenix, AZ, to help open a new J Alexander's restaurant.  Amy changed things up to be with him for Christmas AND with us, with only 24 hours in between flights.  Like I said, a longer story than this.

But Amy's visit, however long/short (Monday to Friday, instead of Saturday to Friday), was an unexpected Christmas gift for us...and New Year's, all wrapped up in one.

After a day to settle in, doing nothing but BEING with each other (eating, catching up, and playing Five Crowns), we spent 10 hours on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, with our nearby dear friends, Jeannette and Femke (J&F), eating, catching up, playing Sjoelen, eating again, toasting in the new year...

and ending with an hour's worth of fireworks.

[video credit:  Astrid]

It was Amy's first experience with how Europe celebrates the New Year vs America.

(Our American fireworks happen country-wide on July 4th.)

The very next day, Thursday, on January 1st, we spent the afternoon at Jaap's with our immediate family here, including all 3 children from Jeroen (Hailey 7) and Marissa (Sem 7) and together (Nova, now 6 months).

In no particular order, let the photos speak for themselves!

[photo credit:  Jaap]

Speaking of Jaap, he's the best Opa ever!

[photo credit:  Jaap]

It was my first time to see Amy holding a baby since her son (Nicholas) was born 25+ years ago!

Talk about warming the cockles of my heart!

[photo credit:  Jeroen]

The very next morning, Friday, at 6:45 am, we drove Amy back to Schiphol for her 10:45 flight back to Atlanta.  

We had a thin layer of snow that Friday morning (top image),

followed by more snow a day later (bottom image) and more snow today, Sunday.

And just like that we've entered the new year, 2026!  Who knows what this year will bring (with the noise of Venezuela, Epstein, Ukraine, Epstein, Greenland, Epstein, and, and, and...ringing in our ears)!  Who knows, indeed!

And yet we all repeat, from the depths of our hearts and souls....

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Visiting Philine, Again, in Münster, Germany

 

Now that we're all getting older (!), we've decided twice in one year is NOT too often!  When we last visited our photoblog friend, Philine, after Easter in April, it was because she had just moved into a senior-living community, following her last apartment renovation and knee replacement.  We wanted to see how she was doing.

And besides, yesterday was America's Thanksgiving holiday and, because I miss that American holiday more than any other, Astrid and I decided to take a 2-night mini-vacation just for ourselves, with the chance to see Philine AND a Xmas market all in one "swell foop."

So, we left mid-morning this past Monday, arriving at our favorite Fletcher hotel, in Lochem, in time for lunch:

It's only 1.5 hours from home and is in the woods.

On a rainy kind of day, we decided NOT to go traipsing about but to stay cozy inside.

It's one of those hotels that has all kinds of nooks and crannies,

and almost no one was there that afternoon.  We had it all to ourselves.

After settling into our room at 3, we later came back down for some 5 Crowns,

accompanied by nachos and beer.  Just what the doctor ordered.

The next morning we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast, not needing to leave until 11:30 for our meetup with Philine in Münster, Germany, at 2 pm:

Whenever Astrid finds a hotel for us, we make sure it has a good breakfast.

It's one of our guilty pleasures when we vacation!

Münster, Germany, is 1.5 hours from the Lochem, NL, hotel, but we gave ourselves plenty of time by leaving at 11:30, knowing we could wait for Philine in their lovely lobby.  She arrived promptly at 2 pm, all bundled up with her rollator, ready to tackle the nearby Xmas markets.

And, yes, she treated us to glühwein with waffles and we treated her to roasted chestnuts.

To be honest, it didn't even matter to us that it wasn't yet dark, especially because

the crowds were still small enough to navigate easily over the cobblestones.

We even got to see plenty of Xmas eye-candy!

We had only TWO hours with Philine at the Xmas markets (we visited 3 or 4 of the 6),

but it was more than enough to get our fill.

We said good-bye to Philine in her lobby at 4 pm, and arrived back at our hotel just before 6 pm, ready for a quiet evening, sorting through our photos and playing another game of 5 Crowns:

Don't worry if you don't know the game.

But Astrid won all 3 of the games we played this trip,

with NO POINTS on that last game after Münster!

That's unheard of (tho' Ruth's husband did it once)!

Anyway, it was another leisurely breakfast on Wednesday morning before driving back home by noon and was just what the doctor ordered!  If I can't have Thanksgiving, I can at least have a Xmas market!  And because it really did uplift my spirit, we may decide to do it every year with Philine, if possible.

And now it's time to trim the Xmas tree and decorate the house for the season.....