This year's advent calendars

Somewhere in the beginning of November, I start looking for new advent calendars.

Picking a calendar for my children every year gives me so much joy. 

I chose the caroussel for my son and the red robin in the snow for my daughter. These calendars from Germany are so beautiful.

R.I.P. Madiba

 

Christmas market in Luxembourg-city

We paid a visit to the Christmas market in Luxembourg-city.
It is rather small, but really nice.

  
Don't you just love this giant Christmas pyramid?

Perhaps I should buy one of these nutcrackers.

 

We had some mulled wine and "Iertzenbulli mat Mettwurscht" (pea soup).
 

The guard in front of the "Palais grand-ducal". The kids found him very fascinating.

 It got me in the mood for Christmas!

The white stone

I bought this book last week (The white stone by Gunnel Linde) because I want to read it to my daughter.

It brings back so many childhood memories. 

I don't think I ever read the book itself, but I remember

the Swedish tv series about a girl and a boy 

who challenge each other to a series of "dares".

Successful completion of a challenge results in possession

of a white stone.

I loved the series. It was released in 1973, so I must have been 10 years old. I remember I wanted to be like Fia.

I found the intro on YouTube. 

I hadn't heard it in 40 years, but I still feel the magic.

Preparing for St. Nicholas day

Just 7 more nights!

 

 

Christmas crafts with iron beads

Making crafts with the kids is fun.....

and making Christmas crafts is even more fun! 

This year we want to decorate our windows

with stars made from white iron beads.

They really turned out well. 

We are planning to make snowflakes next week.

A special gift

 My father and his wife visited us last month, 

like they do every year, and brought the most

amazing gift for our 25th wedding anniversary.

 I love it!

It looks so perfect that I am wondering if it is a real rose.

 

Amsterdam - Part 2

A cruise on Amsterdam's canals is a must for any visitor. It made me feel like a real tourist.

You cannot leave Amsterdam without having eaten an Indonesian "rijsttafel" (rice table).

We visited the Rembrandthuis. It is the house 
where one of Holland's most famous painters
 - Rembrandt van Rijn -  
lived and worked for 20 years. 
The house was fascinating.

This is the room where he used to work.

I could have stayed and listened for hours 
(but we had an 8 and a 10 year old in the group).

One of the shops you should visit in Amsterdam is the "Knopenwinkel" (Button Shop).

Love the door!

Thousands of buttons!
So inspirational.

There are "brown cafés" (dark wood and smoke-stained walls) on every corner. We tried quite a few of them.

This shop is called "Gastronomie Nostalgie" and

it is FULL of glass and silverware.

Oh my gosh, I wish I could have stayed there forever.

So, so beautiful.

We bought this old silver cookie jar as a 

souvenir of our visit.

And then there is one more shop I liked a lot.

It is called "De Posthumus Winkel" and it is all

about (art) stamps and paper. 

I bought some rubber stamps and

stamp pads in gold and silver to start

Christmas crafting with the kids.

It was fun!

Amsterdam, we'll be coming back.

Amsterdam - Part 1

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last month and we wanted to do something special as a family. We decided to go to Amsterdam for a couple of days. We drove to Aachen/Germany on Thursday morning to pick up the boys and then drove to the Netherlands together. It felt good to be "home" again.

Amsterdam

City of bicycles,

 

flowers,

and bridges. 

 We rented a really nice apartment in the centre,

directly opposite the Skinny Bridge.

I love the beautiful houses along the canals.

Most of them date back to the 17th century.

The houses in Amsterdam are built on wooden stilts and have the tendency to sink over time. They appear to be leaning or somewhat askew.

I especially love this color combination. I'm not sure if there is a special name for it, but I call it "licorice".

 

Second part tomorrow!

Pictures of our home

I love to decorate. I am always moving things around. Most of our furniture is pre-owned. Some of the most beautiful pieces come from my late mother-in-law's attic. I love old family pictures and my great-grandfather's paintings. I love going to flea markets and searching for just the right piece on the internet.

And I love taking pictures!