Posts Tagged With: Christmas

Three years in the Netherlands! (Or: Christmas photos)

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Niki

I realized this afternoon that it was the 3rd anniversary of my arriving in the Netherlands (18 December).

2012 post || 2013 post || 2014 post (n/a)

Three years already! Time has flown by. And each year seems warmer then the next. Silly global warming…

Here are some random Christmas photos. A stand for oliebollen:

Christmas lights at Bijenkorf, an upper end department store, in The Hague Centrum (see also last year’s post):

Christmas lights at The Hague, Spui (Centrum), by the movie theatre, across from V&D:

Christmas lights at Bijenkorf in Amsterdam:

Happy Friday, all!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Bijenkorf, Christmas, Oliebollen | Leave a comment

On trees (Or: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas)

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Niki

Here is Marco and I’s Christmas tree this year:

And earlier today we were at his fathers. I spied something on the living room table which reminded me of the National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation movie:

i.e. The scene where the Clark’s family follow him into the woods to get a Christmas tree, walking through knee high snow and driving presumably hours to get there, only to realize they had no way to cut the tree down.

(the next scene shows them driving home, the huge tree bundled on top of the car, tree roots dangling at the end…)

Categories: Holidays | Tags: Christmas | Leave a comment

Eggnog for the holidays (Or: An American tradition)

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Kelly’s expat store for eggnog. This is a traditional drink which is served in Canada and the United States during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It’s a milk drink with egg mixed in. You also have some types with alcohol mixed in as well.

We actually picked up this carton for one of my friends, my “taalcoach” (language coach) from SamenSpraak. I’m actually not a fan of eggnog but maybe he will be!

Categories: Food, Holidays | Tags: Christmas, Drinks, Thanksgiving | 2 Comments

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Or: Wait, what? Really?)

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Niki

Marco and I went to Marks and Spencer for coffee and noticed along the way that the Christmas items were out. It’s not November yet, but I am sure Christmas items have been out by American stores for at least a few weeks. Halloween and Thanksgiving be damned, of course.

I have to admit that the Christmas tree cookie by the coffee was a nice, cute touch:

And the Christmas section included ornaments, Christmas cards and wrapping paper and snow globes and…

I didn’t buy anything. But I do like looking. Marco, the good husband that he is, rolled his eyes politely but came along.

Categories: Food, Holidays | Tags: Cafes, Christmas, Marks and Spencer | Leave a comment

Naga Thai (Or: Ice cream tasting

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Niki

Over the weekend Marco and I went to Naga Thai (you guessed it, a Thai restaurant). I have been there a few times but this was Marco’s first time. We were there for lunch so he was able to try out the lunch menu. I was torn between the two appetizers: a fish cake and a loempia/egg roll — or chicken served in coconut milk with mushrooms. Both are quite good! This time I went for the soup.

For the main course we both had finely chopped chicken with basiculum and red peppers. It was pretty good, but not as good as the non-chopped version in my opinion.

Dessert was three types of ice cream: lycee, coconut and mango ice cream, with a sliver of chocolate on top. Yum! We rounded that off with a small (Dutch size) cup of coffee.

And for randomness’ sake, here is a photo of a discount Christmas item that they were selling at V&D last week. I like it enough to upload it in a larger size, even if I didn’t buy it!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Christmas, Desserts | Leave a comment

Christmas in Chicago (Or: Random photos)

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Niki

Marco, Roger and I are currently in Chicago for the holidays. 🙂 I am currently writing this blog post on my new iPad! A Christmas gift to myself…

Here are some of the photos that we have taken on this trip (but only a few – not all of the photos are on the iPad yet).

Above is a Christmas tree outside of the Best Buy in Chicago on Michigan Avenue.

Double Tree hotel at the Magnificent Mile

Above is a picture of the hotel lobby we stayed at, with Christmas decorations. Of course the advantage to this hotel is the warm chocolate chip cookies – that was all Marco and Roger talked about for months after booking the hotel. Of course we ended up getting chocolate chip cookies with walnuts but they’re testily very tasty so no one minded… Also funny: this hotel is right by Navy Pier but we didnt visit it at all (this trip anyway – last trip to the city we did).

Post Office in Chicago, flat rate boxes

Here is a random photo of a post office display for flat rate boxes. You have various size boxes available and you can ship whatever is in that box for a flat rate (so a small box is always so many dollars, etc). Technically the boxes are “free” but it costs money to ship them. Marco uses these to send Dutch candy to a friend of ours in California.

And here is something for Marco’s mother, who loves tigers. This was for purchase at the souvenir shop at Lincoln Park zoo. Sorry but it did not fit in our luggage!

Categories: Holidays | Tags: Chicago, Christmas, Vacation | Leave a comment

Waiting for your tram? (Or: Play the HTM piano)

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Niki

Imagine my surprise when Marco and I went down to the Spui tram stop (which is underground) and saw a piano available for playing.

The piano was offered through HTM, the public transportation service of The Hague. Pretty neat idea! Read more here (in Dutch).

Categories: Holidays | Tags: Christmas, HTM | Leave a comment

Back again (Or: Christmas tree in The Hague)

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Niki

Marco and I were walking through the Passage yesterday and noticed that the Christmas tree was back again this year. This is sort of a surprise because when Apple moved into the spot a few years ago, they stated in their contract that the Christmas tree (which had been there for years) was no longer allowed. The first and second years the Christmas tree did appear because the Apple store wasn’t open yet. However, the Apple store opened over the summer, so no more Christmas tree, right?

Wrong!

You can see the Apple store behind the tree.

Happy holidays!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Apple, Christmas, De Passage | Leave a comment

Party time (Or: Christmas trivia

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Niki

Today was a holiday party for work. It was held at Restaurant Pavlov in The Hague. That place is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside! The food included things such as cinnamon rolls (that one was new for me, but it was tasty), salmon wraps, wraps with goat’s cheese, pears soaked in cinnamon sauce, pumpkin soup and more.

We also held a round of trivia, including such questions as:

How many desserts are there during a traditional French Christmas dinner? 13 (it represents Jesus and the 12 apostles, according to Wikipedia).

Which country gives London the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree? Norway.

In which country is the Poinsettia plant commonly found? Mexico.

In America there is a Christmas event called “Running of the Santas”. What type of event is this? A bar crawl (visiting many bars to drink).

How do you say “Merry Christmas” in Dutch? Prettige feestdagen (and other ways).

How many points/sides are in a snowflake? 6. (Read the scientific explanation.)

Whose story was used for A Nightmare before Christmas? Tim Burton’s.

Who wrote the score for The Nutcracker? Tchaikovsky.

All in all, a fun event.

Categories: Holidays, Working & Volunteering | Tags: Christmas | Leave a comment

Tis the season (Or: Christmas tree by work

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Niki

Okay, so life has been busy lately. About 10 days to go before we leave for Chicago – and we have stuff to do every night. Hmmm… Though we might be able to sneak out to dinner on Thursday if we’re lucky.

Here is a lovely photo of the Christmas tree in my workplace’s lobby. It randomly appeared last week and actually got me to stop in my tracks since I wasn’t expecting it.

It must be December in the Netherlands – it rains a lot these days, including pouring rain a few hours ago. Hmm. And that in comparison to Chicago next week – it’s been a good two years since I’ve seen snow. I think I miss it. Maybe…

Categories: Holidays | Tags: Christmas, Weather | Leave a comment