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So we’re mindlessly staring at the TV for the third hour now, watching as flight after flight from Heathrow is cancelled due to fog. Already 40,000 people are stranded in the airport. My sister, Kristen, and her husband, Chris, are due in to Amsterdam this afternoon if they ever make it off their layover in London.

Today, for us at least, is Christmas Eve. I fly back to the states on Sunday in order to make a Christmas Day shift at the paper on Monday. I’ve been here a week. We’ve planned that on Saturday we’ll wake up and pretend its Christmas, all crammed into my family’s flat here in Enschede. At least now it’s beginning to feel like Christmas.
It hadn’t, not at first, because everyone here has already finished most of their celebrations, with their gift exchanges finished by Dec. 5 before Sinterklaas returns to Spain on his steamship. Naturally.

And the Dutch, quite pragmatically, have two days of Christmas, the 25th and 26th, but the celebrations tend to be more private days, celebrated first with family then friends a day later. Both events are usually separated from the more commercial gift-giving that we usually associate with Christmas. Brilliant I think.

So I have three more days to finish my infatuation with Holland. I’ll be back in May, but that’s another post coming soon.

Before I leave, we’ll finishing shopping, wrap the few last presents, hold a big dinner for family here, have Christmas and brunch then I’ll head off for one last night in Amsterdam before flying out. The family will also visit some friends in Germany next week.

It’s a lot to cram into a short trip, but I’m grateful. Since I flew into Amsterdam to visit my family in the east of Holland last week, we’ve visited Christmas markets in Germany and a few different cities around here. There are also the obligatory Christmas parties. A lot of shopping to do and coffee to drink, it all makes for a good vacation.
So now we’re off for a last bit of shopping now, before ALL the stores close at 5 p.m. And then to a lovely little cafe, not a coffee shop, mind you, for THE WORLD’S BEST cappuccino.

They don’t give it that title, I do. Though they should. Far too many people have heard me rave about this cup of coffee, but I hadn’t done it so publicly online, so here we are. It’s really the world’s best. I promise. Come to Holland and I’ll buy you one. Cheers.