Christmas Before Christmas

Actually, this post was supposed to be about the Christmas markets in Köln, Germany, from when we were there a couple weeks ago, but...too much has happened since then.  Köln can wait...till next week.  HA!

Christmas starts in the Netherlands on Sinterklaasdag, 5 December, which by now you know, surely.  In fact, Astrid squirms if I have the Christmas tree up before the 5th because, well, you're just not supposed to do it.  The kids, you know.  Gotta pay attention to the kids and what they expect.

So, speaking of the kids....

...early morning on Wednesday the 5th, we heard a racket outside.

The elementary school across the street had visitors:  Sinterklaas and his Black Peters.

See how handy that 300mm lens is from the walkway out our front door!

On Sinterklaasdag this year I celebrated  my 3rd anniversary of arriving in the Netherlands.  That means this is my 4th Christmas here!  And every year I say the same thing:  I LOVE that the day of gifts, December 5, is a different day from December 25th, the birth of Baby Jesus!

So, though Astrid and I usually give each other "only" our Christmas meal out on the 25th in our nearby Greek restaurant, overlooking the big canal through town, this year we did in fact give each other gifts:

From Astrid to me, the 3 Van Dale dictionary books for kids!

And my New Year's resolution is to start studying them in earnest.

Small steps will help, you know.

2 of the 3 books Astrid bought on sale through the Dutch Bol.com site, similar to Amazon.com. 

From me to Astrid:  2 tickets to a Christmas concert at the St. Martinuskerk in Amersfoort (ca. 30 miles away) though the Dutch VakantieVeilingen auction site...where I got the tickets for €21+€5 fee=€26, a fraction of the real price.  The thing is, Christmas concerts are NOT free in Europe.  Tickets can cost between €45-75 each.  So this was a good deal!

And look at what we saw (too bad you can't also hear it):

 We got to the church an hour early and once the doors were opened, I had a chance to take pictures.

But before the concert started, a kind gentleman said to just not take pictures during the concert.

(Hold that thought!)

This was a concert with 2 well-known Dutch pianists:  Cor Bakker and Louis van Dijk.

AND a vocal group called CALL.  Yes, you got it.  The Vocal Group CALL.

It's led by Pieter Jan Leusink, who's in a couple images above.

Now, skip to the intermission (remember, no pictures during the concert).

Cor and Louis and some choir members went to the back of the church to sell their CDs.

I moved in as closely as I could get!

Cor is the tall one; Louis is the one with the red scarf.

And luckily I got some close-ups of some choir members.

All this while the rest of the concert-goers could enjoy refreshment.

And then it was time to go back to our seats....at which time Peter, the PR man for the concert series, 

came to me offering a trip to the organ loft in the back of the church to take pictures from on high.

Are you kidding me?  I was a kid in heaven!

 Look what I saw from up there!  And thank God again for the long lens.

(The bottom 2 right images are back down on earth!)

After all that, both Peter and Gerard (the church's PR man) asked me to send them my images.

I did.  And look what Gerard did on his church's website!

Click further and you see he included all my collages!

SO, how's that for really getting into the Christmas spirit!  WOWSER for me.

We even had some snow on 2 different days....

...enough for someone (???) to make a snowman in our courtyard.

Goed Gekeurd = Well Approved (the sign on the snowman).

 After Sinterklaasdag all the goodies go on sale and Ginnie stocks up.  I'm no dummy!

We LOVE speculaas "windmill" cookies with our evening koffie after supper.

At €,25/package, we have enough to sink a ship last awhile.

The ones I normally buy are the little ones (bottom middle).  Look at the size difference!

And did I mention with almonds???!!!

And finally, last but not least....

...guess who was the Rummicub Champion for the second year in a row!

Speaking of size difference, everything is looking up this year!

(click on any image to enlarge)

Now, barring something unforeseen, next week I hope to take you to the Christmas market in Köln, just before Christmas!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

All our hearts are broken over the shooting in Newtown, CT, last week.  I had just written the draft for my Vision and Verb post today and was stunned by how it all fit in....

 Please join me there for the conversation.

The Dash Between the Bling-Bling

It's my turn again at Vision and Verb, talking about this week between the bling-bling of Christmas and New Year's Eve. You'll understand more about why I chose this image there.

Since I last wrote, the 2 days of Christmas have come and gone. Did I tell you that the Dutch celebrate Feestdagen = Feast Days, plural, because both the 25th and 26th are Christmas holidays. It used to be that all stores were also closed on the 26th, no matter what day. Now some stores are open but the tradition is to have both days off. However, if they happen to fall on the weekend, like this year, tough luck. No Friday or Monday holiday off for the workers. Life goes on as usual...as happened for Astrid on both last Friday and Monday, today. No extra days off.

But I've digressed. See the church image above? On Christmas Eve, this past Friday p.m., we joined 600+ residents of our city for a communal service in our nearby Grote Kerk. It's not anything like the huge cathedrals we have entered across Holland this past year, but it's definitely European and not at all like what I grew up in. It was a sweet service with many carols, all in Dutch (of course) and many of which I did not know. There was a nice flute solo from Bach's ''Weihnachtsoratorium' as well as a homily from a female pastor.

Since we had already celebrated Christmas with Jeroen and Eva a week ago, Christmas Day came quietly and was just what the doctor ordered. The only agenda was a 4 p.m. dinner reservation at a nearby Greek restaurant. We woke up to a gloriously sunshiny day, so Astrid said she'd like to take me for a car ride out into the countryside where I could see the fresh snow. This was, after all, the 6th time in 100 years for our central part of Holland to have snow on the 2 Christmas days. We needed to whoop it up a bit.

But what Astrid didn't tell me was she had planned all along to take me to Kinderdijk, the city of 19 windmills (see my blog header above!). She wanted me to see the windmills in the snow...and we did!

Right there on the spot, I told Astrid that if I die while still in Holland, I'd love my ashes to be scattered somewhere there amongst the mills.
It's the most soulful place I can ever imagine being.


You know us, both taking pictures of each other all the time...since we are, after all, part of the landscape, right?

But kijk. Look at this.
Have you ever eaten windmill cookies...or what the Dutch call speculaas? This willow tree stump is the kind of wood from which they make the forms. Isn't that cool how it sits out there near the path so that all the tourists going by can get their education.

Kinderdijk will always be my heaven on earth. It was the best Christmas gift Astrid could possibly give me! And besides, it was our first time to try out the TomTom, our GPS gift to each other. It works!

The fun thing on top of all that was what we saw both before and after, driving back-n-forth...this time seeing the same things but surrounded by snow. Nothing quite looks the same after it's covered by the white stuff!

We saw sheep staying warm...and some acting like dogs, with snow snouts....




...and horses minding their own business....


...even at Kinderdijk! I wonder if they love the windmills as much as I do.


More weather vanes coming and going....

...another water tower, or one already collected but with glorious sun this time. See how much Granny Towanda loves the snow. Astrid bought her some snow tires this past week so that she can now drive the 2o km back-n-forth to work without worry...and so we can drive to Den Bosch on Saturday to be with The Girlfriends, no matter what the weather. Granny knows we always want to be prepared. She agrees.

We arrived back home with just enough time to get ready for our dinner reservation...after such a wonderful outing. When was the last time I told you the Dutch just have to be outside, whenever possible, especially if the sun is shining!

One last image after I remind you again of my Vision and Verb post today...about the dash between the bling-bling:

As Astrid says, more Dutch you cannot get...a typical Dutch countryside house.

And so I close by saying, from our house to yours, may you have the best of these remaining dash-days of 2010. Like last year, there will be fireworks all around us as we celebrate the new year with our neighbors here at our senior-living community.


(image taken from the internet)

Small Pleasures

First of all, I'M HERE! I have made it safe-n-sound to the Netherlands. The landing on Saturday morning was so smooth, I didn't even know we had touched ground. It felt like a good omen...and I smiled knowingly.

Little by little I will tell you the important things, of course, but today I have to start with food items that have delighted me to no end! Since I'll be the chief cook and bottle washer, my biggest goal for yesterday, Monday, was to find the grocery store, check it out, and then compare it to Monday morning's outdoor market (once a week, just 2 blocks from the apartment!). I needed to get the lay of the land.

In the top photo, I was like a little kid who had died and gone to heaven: a 3-pak of Grote (BIG) Speculaas cookies left over from Saturday's Sinterklaas day and reduced half price. I have them next to one of Astrid's windowsill plants for scale. €.30 for the pak, or €.10/cookie (the equivalent of $.13 each). Guess how many paks I bought? N I N E of them. You need to understand...this is one of the best-tasting cookies I've ever had and even grew up on them in Michigan as a child. We called them windmill cookies because they're usually shaped like windmills. These will keep forever and will be what we'll use when people come over for coffee/tea (very European). One cookie is big enough for 4 people!

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

At the outdoor market I then found a kilo box of dates and once again was in heaven. I kid you not: these are things that take me back to my childhood as though they were in my genes. I can't remember when I last bought dates, can you?

It doesn't take much to make me happy!


If you have a spouse/children who like the same thing you do, you'll understand why I got so excited over finding Brussels sprouts in bags like I was able to buy in Hannover and Amsterdam (but had to eat alone). Does Astrid like Brussels sprouts? YES. So it will be a real treat for me to whip these up in olive oil and garlic. Talk about hog heaven!

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

On Saturday we bought a printer and a chopper/blender and today I bought a toaster. This is the time to buy the things we need before Christmas when things are on sale. It would have been nice to bring over some of my small appliances but with the different electric currents between America and Europe, it didn't make sense. That's why the estate sale was so important. Sell appliances, get money, buy new appliances.

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Wait till you see the pictures of churches I took today...just minutes away from our apartment. Actually, wait till I tell you all about this charming city of Gorinchem (35K pop.) south of Amsterdam. I find I want to tell you everything right now! Am I excited or what!

It really doesn't take much to make me happy...which is, after all, why I find myself here right now. These are the things I ponder in my heart....