Everyone wants to know, deep within, that their time on earth meant something to others. That their being here mattered. They mattered. It is human nature to want to leave your footprint on the world for others that come after you to see. For some, it is through their betterment of the immediate world around them. Think Mother [...]
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
To Show That They Existed
Posted in Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged collective memory, existence, expat life, Expatriate Archive Centre, expats, family, friends, hospital, illness, leave your footprint, legacy, love, making the world a better place, memories, mortality, Mother's Day, parents, remembrance, rootlessness on May 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
That Second Minute
Posted in Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Holidays, Netherlands, United States, tagged Americans, Arlington Cemetery, civilians, Dodenherdenking, Dutch, honor, Memorial Day, military, Netherlands, remembrance, Second World War, service members, service to their country, silence, soldiers, Tomb of the Unkown Soldier, tribute, Trilogy to the Dutch, two minutes of silence, ultimate sacrifice, United States, World War II, writing on May 6, 2012 | 10 Comments »
When this week began, little did I know that by the end I would be writing what has essentially become my own personal Trilogy to the Dutch. I’d enjoyed all the excitement and revelry of my third Queen’s Day, stuck again by how virtually everyone gets involved in what is essentially one big party. There’s something about an entire [...]
Happy Queen’s Day
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged bands, carnival, celebration, drink, Dutch, Dutch national holiday, food, music festival, Netherlands, orange, picnics, Queen's Day, Queen's Night, street parties, The Hague, yard sales on May 3, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Never let it be said that Dutchies don’t know how to party. Seriously. Never say it. I’ve written about Queen’s Day before, and having celebrated the Dutch national holiday for the third year running, I can only say that it continues to amaze me. There’s something about it that makes me happy, and I’m not even [...]
Sandwich Generation, Expat-style
Posted in Blogging, Change, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Travel, tagged children, elderly, expats, needs, parenting from afar, parents, sandwich generation on April 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Recently I caught up with a couple expat friends, enjoying koffie while sharing the latest on comings and goings. Spring is in the air, along with blooming trees, blossoming flowers and plants, and the necessary but dreaded pollen. Students are getting antsy, ready to break free of their daily grind (oh, if they only knew!) of classes, course [...]
Love, Peace, Action
Posted in Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged 2012, call to action, Christmas, family, friends, holiday season, love, New Year's Eve, peace, resolutions on December 30, 2011 | 12 Comments »
If you’ve come looking for a succinct list of New Year’s resolutions, you’re in the wrong place. I wish I could be of more help, but unfortunately I’m not quite there yet. Believe it or not, this is actually one of my favorite times of the year because to my mind, it truly is a [...]
An Unexpected Change in Plans
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged brain surgery, brain tumor, Carolina pines, chemotherapy, Christmas, family, friendship, loved ones, planting a seed, radiation, writing on December 24, 2011 | 19 Comments »
It’s Christmas Eve day. The aroma of my Jamie Oliver-inspired gravy wafts gently throughout rooms regaled in ornaments, decorations, pine boughs and tiny lights. Another half hour and I’ll start lighting some candles. Carols are playing softly in the background while Daughter and Husband work diligently on a holiday puzzle. But this is not the [...]
Balancing the Holiday Scales
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Culture & Customs, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Netherlands, tagged appreciation, celebration, Christmas, Christmas tree, decorations, family, friends, holidays, New Year's, ornaments, rituals on December 22, 2011 | 6 Comments »
It’s been a fairly typical ten days for Yours Truly’s family here in Nederland in the run-up to Christmas and New Year’s. By that I mean lots going on: some of it getting done, some on its way to completion and woefully behind on a fair bit as well. Given that Christmas comes on the [...]
Thanksgiving Gratitude
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Holidays, Writing, tagged appreciation, giving thanks, gratitude, Squidoo Thanksgiving Magazine, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Deconstructed, turkey, writing on November 22, 2011 | 3 Comments »
It’s always interesting trying to explain the important holidays of your culture to others. Some carry over easily, such as religious holidays like Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah and Ramadan, even if the specific ways in which they are personally celebrated differ a bit from country to country. Many countries recognize various aspects of society on [...]
Halloween Holland Style
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged candy, Gry Tina Tinde, Halloween, jack-o-lantern, The Netherlands, trick-or-treating on October 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Have I ever mentioned that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year? Outrageous costumes, pumpkins, witches, trick-or-treating, chocolate, candy corn, ringing doorbells, accumulating a candy haul of momentous proportions, little boys and girls proudly displaying their costumes, bobbing for apples, dried cornstalks, dressing up, jack-o-lanterns, deciding who you want to ‘be’, parties, [...]
Twenty Three Days
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, United States, tagged adult, child, college, grow up, mature, rite of passage, university on August 2, 2011 | 23 Comments »
Twenty three days. Twenty three short days. That’s the amount of time left until Son reports to university and begins his college career. He won’t be living at home and commuting to school. Nor will he be moving out into his own place to attend college nearby. He’s not even moving across the country. [...]
Halfway Through 2011
Posted in Change, Holidays, Life Balance, tagged 2011, accountability, midyear, New Year's Resolutions on July 31, 2011 | 12 Comments »
It’s the end of July, which means summer is more than halfway over (gasp!). More importantly, at least for purposes of this post, it means that we’re more than halfway through 2011. If we go by months, we have only 5/12 of the year remaining. Damn. Dag. As I think about 2011 and what this year has brought, I’ve found myself [...]
Happy Fourth of July!
Posted in Expat Life, Holidays, United States, tagged Fourth of July, Independence Day on July 4, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Today in The Netherlands it’s Monday. Just an ordinary day, the start of a new work week (or vacation if you’re fortunate). For Americans, it’s much more. July 4th is Independence Day, the day we celebrate our nation’s birth. We recall the sacrifice of our forefathers in throwing off the chains of tyranny to become [...]
Mother’s Day
Posted in Change, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, United States, tagged aging, Mother's Day, parents, unconditional love on May 8, 2011 | 17 Comments »
I’ve been thinking about my mother. No surprise there. Today is Mother’s Day in the US. I’ve been thinking about her, looking back on her presence in my life. When I was a little girl, and a teen, then in college. When I began to make my way in this world. First job, then another, [...]
The Fred’s Koninginnedag Makeover
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged Frederik Hendriklaan, Koninginnedag, the Fred, yard sales on May 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Today, the day after Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day), I thought it might be fun to do a little ‘before’ and ‘after’. As I’ve mentioned before, I live around the corner from the Frederik Hendriklaan. The ‘Fred’ as it’s lovingly referred to, is a stretch of several blocks of the greatest mix of everyday and unusual stores, [...]
Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day)
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Holidays, Ladies and Gentlemen, ..., Netherlands, tagged bachelor party, Dutch Circle Party, improv comedian, Invader Stu, Koninginnedag, Queen's Day, stag party on April 30, 2011 | 6 Comments »
[Credit: Miguel Cruz, http://travel.u.nu] Well, for those of you up early, you’ll notice that you’re receiving a second post today. That’s right, I’ve been a busy little beaver. Just tap-tap-tapping the keyboard of my laptop to bring you more fun and merriment. If truth be known, I have two reasons for this second post: 1) [...]
When It All Comes Together
Posted in Change, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged birthday, book, critique, ego, one-woman show, performance on April 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Two days ago I wrote on the Honesty of Ego, based on Niamh Ni Bhroin’s recent post in which she interviews Ego. Yesterday I took a well-earned rest from blogging and all manner of work. I enjoyed an absolutely wonderful day with my brother and his family who are visiting from the US. Het was mijn [...]
April Fool’s Day Foolery
Posted in Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, United States, tagged April Fool's Day, baby, joke, prank on April 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I realize that I am a day late, since yesterday was April Fool’s Day. But being of the ‘better late than never’ tribe, I wanted to share my most vivid April Fool’s Day memory. Why? Because it’s seared in my brain. No, it’s not the time Husband and I hosted a party. A fun, [...]
Divining the Deeper Meaning
Posted in Change, Culture & Customs, Expat Life, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged celebration, expats, holidays, meaning on March 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Every once and awhile, you hear something that seems to stick in your mind. It might have been something said in earnest, or merely in passing. Perhaps you overheard it. But it lodges in the back of your mind and stays. Tumbles around and around like a load of clothes in the washer. You know it [...]
Christmas Preparation Redux
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged Christmas, Christmas lights, Christmas tree, decorations, wreath hangers on January 8, 2011 | 4 Comments »
You’re probably blinking and rubbing your eyes, wondering if you’ve read the post title correctly. Surely Yours Truly isn’t so daft as to write a Christmas-related post. What with the new year begun and all. Well, the title is correct and you’re wrong. I am that daft. And absent-minded as well, it seems. Back in [...]
Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Holidays, Travel, tagged 12 grapes, 2011, Food and Drink, Happy New Year, holiday, travel on December 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Taking a bit of a break (on adventure). Here´s a clue – we will eat 12 grapes at midnight. Here´s wishing you a happy new year! Out with the old and in with the new in 2011! Back soon…
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