Tagged: holidaze

The place we stayed at in the Netherlands is in a little dangly bit of the country that hangs below the rest of Holland like a pom-pom poodle tail. To the left is Belgium and to the right is Germany and about 3 kilometers up the road from the apartment is the place where the 3 countries come together. It’s called Drielandenpunt, or “3 Country Point” and it has its own website (though not in English), and is located at the top of the highest point in the Netherlands, Mount Vaals. The hill is just over 1000 feet high (322...

I like castles a lot. What’s not to like? Oh sure, they’re often drafty, and probably a nightmare to maintain and let’s not even mention the heating bills, but imagine! Living in a castle must make you feel like the aristocracy whether or not you actually have any drop of royal blood running through your veins. When we lived in Europe and traveled all over the place, we always visited castles. When we visit my brother in Bavaria, invariably a castle sneaks on to the agenda. In Wales for a week while Anders went to a class, when Martin was...

The last day of vacation was both a lazy one and a busy one. I slept in super late, after waking briefly around 9 a.m. and then dozing off again. The sun was shining most of the day and it warmed up nicely in the afternoon. Martin and I completely cleaned out his room in preparation for Anders to start the re-decorating work. I went to the grocery store, did a load of laundry and baked & decorated a cake. Tomorrow is a crazy day: I’m sure work will be frantic and stressful, though I hope it’s not too bad....

If you are sad, we wish you joy. If you are sick, we wish you health. If you are lonely, we wish you friendship. We wish you peace and love and cookies! May this holiday, whether bright with sunshine or smothered in snow, be the start of a year full of blessings for all our family and friends, wherever they may be around this great glowing globe.

The children are lying all tucked in their beds. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and there has been too much cookie-eating in this house and not enough carol-singing. I plan to sing carols all day tomorrow except when we are actually at my sister-in-law’s house since I know my kids will kill me dead if I try it there. 😛 Most of the presents are already wrapped and under the tree, except for the super secret Santa ones and the stocking stuffers. Tomorrow is the last (thank the baby jesus and his red-nosed friend) julbord of the year. We are contributing...