Christmas Lights in The Hague...

The next day we headed into The Hague for the long-overdue celebration of our 13th anniversary of living in the Netherlands. We had missed the Christmas market, but still found plenty of festive lights in town including in front of the Mauritshuis.

Loved the reflections in the ornaments of the museum and the Prime Minister’s office.

Also loved this stork I spotted above a door of a random building.

The girls were thrilled to have a chance to get oliebollen, traditional deep-fried dough dipped in powdered sugar.

The Grote Markt was also very festive with a large tree and lots of lights. In the foreground you might spot a statue of a fat man. This is Haagse Harry, a character from a local comic strip. Apparently Harry is unemployed, smokes pot all the time and is rude but has a heart of gold. Harry’s creator died before the statue was made and supposedly his ashes were incorporated into the clay.

We enjoyed the view from the rooftop terrace at Bleyenberg, but it was too cold to actually sit outside so we had our cocktails inside instead.

Amsterdam Light Festival...

It was disappointing that there was no dedicated area for walkers at this year’s light festival (as opposed to people paying to take boat tours of the route). However, there were still some cool installations that could be spotted along the canals including Midnight Summer Dream made out of old washing machine drums.

As always, Veronica really got into trying to catch the best angles.

I’m much more simplistic, but still managed to get this nice shot of The Starry Night made out of nearly 1,400 illuminated acrylic tubes.

Light a Wish was both sweet and funny. It was sweet as it depicted the carriers of our deepest desires and dreams. It was funny as it also looked liked flying tampons.

I failed to catch the name of this funky installation built across a bridge, but figured it might have driven its neighbors mad as light shone in their windows until midnight each night.

Spotted in Amsterdam...

The following day we headed to Amsterdam for a wander around...

...and a stop at Wynand Fockink, our favorite jenever bar. 

It was fun taking random photos of funky facades...

....old shutters...

...even more shutters...

...and crooked buildings.

I also spotted this bicycle built for four...

...and this unusual graffiti of a scuba diving horse.

Family Time on Christmas...

As is our tradition, we had a mellow Christmas day, starting with hugs...

...gifts and...

 ....cinnamon rolls.

There seems to be a consistent theme in our gifts to Veronica, this one being from Ashlynn.

Although Hanukkah was earlier in the month, we opted to have Jimmy’s delicious potato latkes for our Christmas dinner.

After dinner we enjoyed playing some games. 

Lake Lucerne...

Like many Swiss cities, the lake is a predominant feature with the city hugging the coastline.  

There are also several bridges crossing the River Reuss near the historic center...

...including the dramatic Kapelbrucke (Chapel Bridge).

Originally built in 1365, it is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.

One of the unique features of this bridge was its triangular paintings dating back to the 17th century. Unfortunately, two-thirds of the paintings were destroyed or badly damaged in a massive fire in 1993.

Although it was a very short visit, it was great to have a quick catch-up with Bill and Nina...

....and to see Lucerne decorated for Christmas.

An Evening in Lucerne...

We couldn’t come so close without stopping to see Bill and Nina in Lucerne. They welcomed us into their home with a nice curry dinner that the girls helped to cook. Then we took a walk around the city, where we saw a cute little Christmas market, some lovely painted old buildings...

....and some cool metal ornamental decorations.

We made it to the square in time to watch a Christmas manger procession complete with live animals.

Luckily we managed to get a nice group photo.

Nina was fascinated watching the girls get ready to hit a local club.

Jimmy and I managed to catch about five hours of sleep while the girls were busy dancing and taking selfies. When we picked them up at 5 a.m., they were happy but reeked since the club allowed smoking inside. It took three cycles in the washing machine to get rid of the stink in their clothes.

Short-Haired St. Bernards...

While it had been closed earlier in the week, we finally had a chance to visit the nearby Short-Haired St. Bernard Breeding Kennels as we were leaving the Chamonix area.

This breed was the original mountain rescue dogs, but have been replaced by technology.

Our tour of this family-owned operation was given by the daughter, whose entire life revolves around dogs.

Was happy that I managed to catch a shot of this waterfall as we zoomed past on the freeway while driving towards Lucerne, Switzerland.