Thing #1 that I love about living in the Netherlands

The husband has a thing against flowers. Not the flowers themselves, I should note, but the ultimate waste that they embody. Nevermind that they brighten up a room, your day, your soul... The fact that they take up a large area of arable land, a lot of water and die so quickly means that they are environmentally flora non grata in our household.

There's a loophole, though. It's absolutely the height of poor manners to go visiting in the Netherlands without a gift. This usually takes the form of wine, or cheese, or, if I'm lucky, flowers. Yesterday, I was lucky enough have a visitor who brought a bit of environmentally wasteful joy into my house and I thought I would share a picture...



(Apologies for the poor quality, it was taken with my Mac photo library since the husband was away and had the camera.) (Also, apologies for the abacus. Toys are unavoidable in my house.)

'Tis the season

I don't believe that it's Officially Christmas until I hear Do They Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid (it has to be the 80's version, thankyouverymuch). The catch, though, is that it has to be played independently. I can't play it for myself. Rather, I have to hear it on the radio, in a store, in someone's car... There are years when it comes down to the wire (the tinsel?) and I really think that there will be no Official Christmas, but the song has always come through at the last moment.

This year, though, I cheated. I was too excited to share it with the Dude. I've been playing all sorts of Christmas carols for her, by everyone from Nana Mouskouri to Boney M to random children's choirs in order to indoctrinate her. Sinterklaas just has such a following here; no one is really representing Santa and I've been working overtime to make sure that she gets in the spirit, or as much as a two year old can. She's been enjoying the carols to some degree, but nothing so far has really grabbed her the way that Sinterklaas songs had. Until. Until! Until....I played IT! We listened to it over and over and over this morning, and we were both in heaven. It makes me wonder if it is possible to pass an 80's gene on to your child?