Merry Christmas!

Tis' the Season

The holiday season is here and we have a blend of many holidays to participate in.  On November 11th, Saint Martin's Day, there was a nice parade of school children from the Catholic Church with coloful lanterns in the evening.  They then go door to door asking for candy....sounds like similar doesn't it!  Your lights have to be on.  So we didn't have any knocks....or candy.  So it worked out fine.  We will be prepared next year.  Sylvie and Archie looked out the window and waved to the hundreds of children passing by.

We were lucky again to celebrate Thanksgiving with some wonderful friends this year.  It was a mix of Brits, Scots, Americans, and Portugese.  It was a wonderful dinner and the kids actually have a good time playing with the other little ones there.  It was quite a nice dinner with fried turkey.

Then Sinterklaas arrived again in mid November.  He came by boat on the canals from Spain.  We didn't have much participation in it.  Archie had a little party at school and he enjoyed the little cookies, pepernoten.  Sinterklaas left on Dec. 5th and took his boat and helpers (Black Peter) back to Spain.  

Image from wikipedia....visit there for more info if you like!

Pepernoten or Kruidnoojes cookies

And now time is leading up to Christmas.  We have been to 2 Christmas markets, Dusseldorf and Aachen, Germany.  We had a lovely time in both but loved the market in Aachen.  There were many booths with mulled wine, beer, pretzels, sausage, chocolates, and more.  There were also lovely wooden ornaments and other holiday crafts.  All the booths are wooden huts and decorated with garland and lights.  It is such a nice part of the holidays here and we were happy to drive to Germany to see it.  Tomorrow we head off to Brugge to see a market there with our good friend Luke.

 

This is a view down one of the aisles toward one of the cathedrals.  The booths are decorated, there is music, and you can smell the mulled wine!

Some crafts

This was the best chocolate store we saw.  They had a beautiful window display but was too crowded to even enter.

We went to the gym and they have a huge Christmas tree set up.  The kids had a great time checkingout all the lights and ornaments.

Our Christmas tree this year!  It is from the Christmas market.

Some TV time early in the morning!

Sylvie enjoying the Oliebollen!

Every area of Holland has a signature food that is served at different times of the year.  In our area, it is Oliebollen (yes, oily balls).  They are rounds of dough that is fried and then sprinkled with powdered sugar.  So good but so bad for you!  I let the kids have some and of course it was a hit of a dish.

Trying to get a photo goether where everyone is smiling and looking the same way: Fail.

Putting up our decorations

Archie and his favorite toy, Mater.

Sylvie is my wash bucket

And this is a block of Blue Stilton cheese that is being marinated with a bottle of port.  This is what we have to look forward to during our trip to the UK for Christmas.  Not this particular one but a great one that our good friends supply.  I will write another post after Christmas about the good times we have there.