New Year's Eve....

Ashlynn opted to spend New Year’s Eve with her friends; Sara’s mother had just bought an apartment on the 20th floor with sweeping views over The Hague and hosted the gang for a sleepover. Veronica considered going with friends to Amsterdam, but decided just to hang with us.

Jimmy really wanted to see what kind of action was happening in Leiden, so we cycled in around 11 p.m. Turns out there was no action of any kind--it was like a ghost town! Almost all of the restaurants and bars were closed; seems like everyone just went to friend’s to celebrate.

Luckily we managed to get back to Voorschoten in time for the first community fireworks show held in the village; the show was pretty impressive.

Even more impressive was Veronica’s ability to capture clear shots of the fireworks. Think I’ll use this one for the January 2017 cover of Going Dutch.

Christmas...

Christmas morning started with us in our PJs opening first our stockings and then the gifts under the tree.

Ashlynn and Veronica made vegan cinnamon rolls, which were delicious; the girls made this time lapse as part of a new Instagram account they started together (more on that later). We had originally planned to make rotisserie chicken, but after the huge meal the day before, we decided to keep things small and simple. In the olden days we wouldn’t have even gotten dressed, but ever since adopting Kati, that’s no longer an option.

Christmas Eve...

Carlin invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. It was great to see Mark and Rowan who were finally both home from South Africa. We figured this was the perfect time to bring Kent the wine we bought in Amsterdam. Luckily it didn’t just have a great label, but it was also a nice tasting wine.

While Veronica and I helped with some chopping, Ashlynn was immediately put to more serious work.

Although Carlin did make a turkey, everything else was vegetarian or vegan.

After a fantastic meal, we played a very fun version of a Chinese gift exchange.

10th Anniversary in Holland...

November 22 was our 10th anniversary in the Netherlands. This photo was taken at Schiphol on the day we arrived in 2005.

Since Veronica wasn’t back from uni on November 22, we decided to wait until December 22 to celebrate our anniversary with our traditional dinner at La Lanterna in Scheveningen, where we ate on that first night in our new country. In our normal tradition, we made a list of our highs and lows over the past year, which I shared back on Christmas.

The addition of pianos to several of the larger train stations, including Den Haag Centraal, has been a really nice touch. While we waited to catch our train, Veronica entertained us.

Amsterdam Light Festival...

Trying to capture the beauty of most of the light installations was nearly impossible. Luckily, some of my favorites were also fairly easy to photograph. This one, called Infinity, was placed in the canal in front of the Botanical Gardens. Consisting simply of a ring of light between two mirrors, it created an effect of endless reflection.

Canal House was a video mapping project with an 18-meter (60-foot) projection acting as a living painting over a canal house.

This was my favorite installation. We had to wait to see the different jumping men of Run Beyond all lit up at the same time. The artists says this is a work “about the jump we all have to take in our lives: the jump to freedom,” although he doesn’t tell us what kind of freedom so we make up our own minds.

I also really liked Open Lounge, which was “like a ballroom of a palace with the starry sky as a ceiling.”

The Christmas Tree in front of Amsterdam Centraal wasn’t part of the Light Festival, but I found it beautiful nonetheless.

Hashing in Amsterdam...

Since the girls had separate plans to visit the Light Festival in Amsterdam, they didn’t join us when Jimmy and I went to the Light Festival Hash which started at Abbie and Derek’s place.

As to be expected, we saw some interesting things along the trail such as this goofy little car...

...this car filled with Legos...

...and this unconventional wine. In fact we were so intrigued by the name of this wine that we stopped in the wine shop for a tasting and bought a bottle which Jimmy then had to carry for the rest of the trail.

Fun with the Film Crew..

After skating, we walked through the Floating Christmas Market where the girls enjoyed a glass of gluhwein before our lunch at La Place.

After lunch, the girls stopped in the market to buy some ingredients for the vegan pizza that they’d make once we got back home.

By the time that they sat down and interviewed Ashlynn, she was completely at ease. She wouldn’t let me stay in the room, but I listened from upstairs and was very impressed with how naturally she answered their questions.

The final segment was Ashlynn showing off Kati’s dog tricks. Kati was quite a natural TV star.

What an incredible experience seeing the makings of a documentary. It was a long day since it was nearly 6 p.m. when they finally finished and posed for this photo. The nearly eight-hour shoot was condensed into four one-minute clips now available only in the US on the Go90 app from Verizon (you don’t need to be a Verizon subscriber, but need to download the app and set up a free account before searching for WLYG--then scroll through the clips until you spot Ashlynn’s name).