Son Mark in the Netherlands, 2023

 

The last (and only) time my son Mark visited us here in the Netherlands was in October of 2018, 5 years ago.  Needless to say, it was high time to have him back, even though we had just been with him a month earlier.  He favors the colder weather, so it was a no-brainer to come now.

Thus, from Saturday to Sunday, December 9-17, Mark graced us with his presence!

Don't you just love airport meetups!

Rather than depict each day's activities the way I normally do, here's the overall feel of the week, to show the territory we covered, even though it was rainy most of the time (and still is!).  We all were troopers and did what we could.

Femke and Jeannette, our dearest friends here, always rise to the occasion

whenever we invite ourselves over with my kids.  We all just love it.  Can you tell???

It was a good way to start off the week (Sunday) after Mark's long flight the day before.

After a restful stay-at-home day Monday, Tuesday was a morning-lunch outing to Woudrichem

across the Merwede river from us, ending up as one of our only sunny times all week for 2 hours.

And, yes, that's the nearby Loevestein castle (bottom-right) where we took him last time.

It's an adorable, quaint city we love for our guests,

especially because we can eat on the barge docked off shore.

Sadly, right now the city is so flooded that we would NOT be able to park or walk to the barge.

But that day, we were in heaven.

The next day after lunch, Wednesday, we drove out to the nearby Biesbosch National Park,

to breathe in the silence and beauty of the place.  No sun but also no rain.

That evening was a lovely "platter" meal to meet up with Astrid's son's family,

including both kids and Jaap, Astrid's ex.  Jeroen (age 35) and Mark (age 48) are step brothers, so

 getting re-acquainted was important to them both.  The last time they met, Hailey was just 3 weeks old.

Hailey, now 5, has her own step-brother, Sem (only 5 weeks older), so they, too,

got acquainted with Mark.  Daughter Amy had sent pj's for Christmas for them to color,

which was a big hit...even if it will take them forever to color, even with help.

Our big excursion of the week (Thursday) was the 2.5-hr drive to Cologne, Germany,

not only to add another country-notch to Mark's belt but to visit the Christmas markets there.

Since we parked right at the Dom (cathedral), and it was still rainy, we started with it inside.

It was Mark's first cathedral experience!

By the time we started the markets, the rain had stopped !

Mark specifically wanted a German pretzel, which we all got (and loved),

plus a good sit-down meal with traditional German food (think brats and sauerkraut).

[photo credit:  Mark]

Friday afternoon was our Happy Hour here where we live.

Mark was a good sport to join us, playing 5 Crowns with me to pass the time.

[Truth be known, Astrid, Mark and I played a LOT of 5 Crowns while he was with us that week!]

[photo credit:  Mark]

On Saturday we ate lunch at a favorite restaurant in nearby Leerdam...

after which was our city's annual Santa Run, that we were thrilled to share with Mark.

Afterwards, as we walked through town, he bought 3 apple beignets for us to share 

at home with Astrid's homemade hot chocolate.  What a treat! 

The next day, Sunday, came too soon to say good-bye till the next time, but with the holidays fast approaching, it really was time to bid farewell, knowing the memories would remain...

Mother and son!

By now, Christmas has come and gone,

but the "passing of the years" this week means 2024 is around the corner.

Are we scared, ready or what?????

[photo credit:  Mark--in the Cologne parking garage elevator]

HAPPY NEW YEAR

to us all!

Season's Greetings from the Netherlands

We interrupt this broadcast to share some seasonal greetings from here where we live in the Netherlands!

First of all, remember how we used to have a Christmas tree like this in our apartment?

Every year, that is, until I needed the space for my exercise bike after knee replacement in 2015.

So, both last year and this year, we opted for a wee live tree sitting on the bookcase.

And Astrid is now the one who decorates it...with a bit of help from me.

An exercise bike AND a Christmas tree, just because you need priorities.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

You may also remember that every year at this time our city, Gorinchem, holds a Santa Run for charity.  Astrid and I ran it my second winter here, in December of 2010, when we had...drum roll, please...S N O W.  This year Astrid ran it with her son Jeroen, while I took the pics:

All 3 km of it, over in almost a flash.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, because there was first a half-hour warm-up at the town 

square.  I love how everybody and her aunt and uncle participate.  It's a family affair.
Over 1,000 runners this year raised €28,000.

What a great way to raise money for charity, right?

After the warm-up, I went to one of my favorite spots on the citadel trail to catch them.

That's Astrid (bottom-left) trying to pass the ones in front of her...once she spotted  me.

What a colorful, soulful event, year after year, snow or no snow.

(We can always wish for snow next year!)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

That afternoon (which was last Saturday, incidentally), we drove out into the polder for lunch at our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant.  I wanted to see "the brethren" again.

What is it about sheep!

When I got out of the car, Astrid whistled for the sheep to come over, which they did.
But who expected THIS!  A sneezing fit.  HAHAHA!
It made my day.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Even sheep are easily bored?

Last evening we celebrated a Christmas meal with 30 neighbors here where we live in the retirement center.  Tonight we'll celebrate another Christmas meal with our very dear friends at the Malle Molen (the Silly Mill).  And then on Sunday, Christmas Day, we'll celebrate the BIG Christmas meal at our favorite Greek restaurant nearby.  That's THREE festive meals this year, our gifts to each other.  And why not?  It only happens once a year.

Then, on the 2nd Christmas Day, Monday, (a Dutch holiday), we are scheduled to see the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One, with Femke and Jeannette, followed by some up-close-and personal hapjes (snacks) in their home to end the holiday.

Good God, Good Friends, Good food!

It's like the celebration never ends!  But there you have it...a run-down for this magical time of the year (even without snow).  My wishing cap is on, not only for snow but for magic everywhere to settle things down a bit, all over the world.

So, to you who celebrate it, may there be wonder, joy, health, peace and love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Gorinchem 2010 Santa Run

HO HO HO! All one thousand of us!

When Astrid told me a few weeks back about our city's Santa Run scheduled for Saturday, 18 December, and that for €10 each we could participate, with money going to charity, it didn't take me long to say YES. And am I ever glad I did. I thought Sinterklaas coming to town made me a Kid again...but this was that multiplied by 1,000.

This was Gorinchem's third Santa Run. It started in 2008 with 400 participants, last year with 800, and this year 1,000. My guess its it'll just get bigger and bigger with each new year. We totally missed it last year but will do our best to be there every year from now on.


So anyway, Astrid went to a nearby participating store to pick up our Santa suits and race numbers. Since my age ends in a 5 and hers in a 6, it was easy to decide who got which number.
One size fits all! HA! One size, that is for the adults and one size for the kids.


Once Saturday arrived, we were off to the races! I took pictures of Astrid and she took pictures of me.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, I see. Warm-up started at 10:30 a.m. near the Grote Kerk just 2 blocks away, with the race beginning at 11 a.m. Before we even got inside the Start entrance, a lady from the newspaper stopped us and took our picture (similar to the one above at the top of the post) and info, with Astrid's motto for 2011, "Stay Positive!" We'll see later this week if we're published. HA.

But then, almost at the same time, we bumped into Dries, our neighbor friend who, too, is a city paper photographer (he took the picture of us above). So as we now do, by habit, we take and send each other pictures of each other. Dries says that since he's met us, he'll now have to get a photo album for himself! You know how it is...who takes pictures of the photographer?? Astrid and I do:

Isn't life just grand! What would we do without our friends.

Speaking of which....
Last winter I bumped into Ernie while on a walk around our citadel wall. Ernie also is a photographer, so already there's a big-bridge connection. Since that first bump-into, we have bumped into each other several times while he walks his gorgeous dog, Laika. I fell in love with her at first sight.
How fun, then, to bump into them again at the Santa Run. Ernie had no clue what was going on. All he was doing was his normal walk-about with Laika, minding his own business. Maybe he and Laika will be Santas next year?
And all this happened before the race started!

Speaking of dogs, aren't these the cat's meow!

NOW the race can start....

The funny thing is, several minutes before the race, the Start line was full of all those girls on the top row (above). But at the very beginning of the Run, these 7 boys on the bottom row were on the line and they were the ones that started the race. I couldn't help but think of grandson Nicholas. He would have been in his element since HE's the King of all runners.


What I neglected to say is this was only a 3K run, just halfway around our citadel loop...using 'run' and 'race' loosely, since most of us did not run. Astrid started out running and then came back to walk with me the rest of the way, to take pictures.


We were so very lucky weather-wise!
As you can see, the sun actually came out for part of the time. The temps hovered around 28F the entire time but because we were all so excited, and had the Santa suits on, we were actually almost too warm. I got hit at least once by a snowball from behind. HAHA! If we can't take a joke, right?!


In fact, there was enough tom-foolery to last the entire day.

The Finish line came way too soon, especially once I discovered we would NOT be passing either of our two citadel windmills. I had been fantasizing for days about getting pictures of 1,000 Santas passing by one of the windmills. WRONG. But once I realized it just wasn't gonna happen, no matter how much I protested, I got over it and did in fact cross the Finish line, right in front of one of our favorite Greek restaurants.

I took a picture of Astrid getting her medal and she took a picture of me. How's that for being glad we're both photographers!


At the end of the race, servers were set up to give us hot glühwein, erwtensoep (pea soup...a big-time Dutch specialty) and rookworst...all part of our entrance fee. Tell me this isn't fun!
[You may remember a close-up picture of Astrid and another lady way up at the top of this post. That's Annamiek, who is an old friend of Astrid's, one of the servers in the line-up above.]


You know me. Give me a camera and suddenly I see all kinds of photo-ops. You photographers know this, of course. I am always attracted to the children, especially, wondering what they're thinking during these events.


The ones who stole my heart were these two sisters (I assume). I couldn't get enough of them.


The race was done, the food was eaten, and it was time to go home...but not before the real way-too-skinny Santa made his appearance. Talk about the frosting on the cake.


And thanks to Dries, here's a YouTube of the day.
€25,000 was raised from this event, with €10K going to a hospital for children and €10K going to war orphans. Totally worth the experience!

**********

We were back home by 1 p.m., riding a 'high' that wasn't from the glühwein. I really am a kid at heart. I've decided I'm making up for all the lost time in my own childhood, much of which I don't remember. Someone clearly knew I'd need my chance all over again, which thrills me to no end.

But...we had to segue from the Santa Run to our Christmas dinner celebration with Jeroen and Eva that evening. They arrived at 4 p.m. and everything was not only ready, I even had time to upload and look at all the pictures I took (287). Did I mention I made the main meal the day before, making all the difference in the world?

For the last many years in Atlanta, the Christmas meal had always been one of my kids' favorites from when we ate at G'ma Tiffan's eons ago: chicken paprikash. It's a Hungarian poor-man's meal but has become a celebration meal for my family. Jeroen and Eva (Astrid, too) had their first taste and all agreed we could continue the tradition. I don't want to forget it. It brings me so many happy memories.

Dinner and a movie: "The Family Stone," another favorite...and one that is also connected to my own family. My niece is married to a man who happens to be the cousin of the director (or some such big-whig). So much fun to know this kind of trivia, right?!

With that, Christmas will now come, the day. First, we'll celebrate our Christmas meal here at our senior-living complex tomorrow evening. Then Astrid and I plan to attend a Christmas Eve service at the Grote Kerk on Friday, followed by a quiet day here at home on Saturday, with dinner reservations at 4p nearby. It'll be just what the doctor ordered.

For you, may you, too, celebrate in a way that is just what you need. It comes around only once a year!