Merry Christmas

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just in time for the holidays, The Netherlands got hit with a nice blanket of snow. I know that it won't seem like much to our friends and family back on the east coast of America where they got hammered with a famous Nor'easter, but it was still pretty exciting for us over here in Holland. Kids filled the streets for snowball fights...

...and frolicking dogs filled up the parks. Sage goes completely mad in the snow. Her love of the white stuff must be due to her first year with us back in Maryland when we got over 20 feet in Garrett County. She saw only snow for the first 4 months of her life.



Having snow on the ground also seemed to brighten everyone's mood for Christmas shopping on our little neighborhood winkelstraatje, the Cronje.

Warming up inside the pub is always gezellig. We met our friends Leon and Miranda for a drink at the Rusthoek only to be surprised with Miranda singing when we got there. If she wasn't a busy, working, mother of two great girls under seven, Miranda should have been a professional jazz singer. She has one hell of voice. Unbelievable! We're looking forward to the next gig.

No, this is not a(nother) war entry. We also attended Eva's sweet 16 birthday party at "The Bunker" in Spaarnwoude last weekend. This converted WWII bunker made for a perfect party venue.

She even hung an American flag in the bunker as part of the party decorations in honor of these two old farts. Here in Holland, kids can drink alcohol at 16 (they don't get a driver's license until 18). It was great fun watching them swagger up to the bar to order a drink and I couldn't help but remember all of those field parties back in Ligonier when I was 16 (or younger) and how we were always looking over our shoulders for the cops to arrive. I like the system here much better. It gives the parents an opportunity to teach the kids to drink responsibly rather than just turning them loose to go wild and figure it out for themselves at 21.