Speaking of Christmas....

Another in the "Catch-up" entries....

(NB: if you haven't figured out how to see the private pictures, you will miss a lot on this post. See the previous email or email again for better directions)

For the second year in a row we were blessed with a White Christmas; almost. A white day-after-Christmas would be more accurate. A second shot of the back yard here, with a couple views of the street here and here.

Christmas was a bit funny this time, we went to a Christmas party the second week of December, as is the Dutch tradition. The work-up to Christmas was rather tame compared to the years before; the major reason was that the week before Christmas we went to Rome (I'll post about that next weekend), and we didn't have family this year, but we made sure to get dressed up for Christmas when it counted; both doing little seasonal plays, and at home. Girls both large and small got to talk to Santa...who had a very unusual German accent.

Christmas morning went rather quietly and minimalist compared to many years, but it paid off in the end because when it was all over, we could still get along. We quickly grabbed out favorite presents and were set for the day. No visiting. No big dinners. A lot of quiet.

Yes, Mom. You can come visit sometime.

What more do you need for Christmas, besides a little rest? Some of us took awhile to recover.

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