Christmas with the Sgrizzis

Christmas 2008 was our 3rd Christmas since moving abroad, and our first as a married couple!

This Christmas Eve we went to our friends Agata and Theo's in Bunshoten, a very small village in the east of Holland. Agata is Polish and made us an incredible Polish-style feast with all the traditional fixings - mushrooms in vinegar, fish in Greek style, beet soup and sauerkraut pierogis. No meat allowed. We ate and ate starting from 6:30 pm until about midnight, with shots of vodka and opening gifts in between. We sat around chatting and playing games until after 3 am. We stayed the night, and the next day we ate the same food as the night before (the Polish tradition), this time with sweet cheese pieorgis instead of the sauerkraut pierogis. Then the four of us parked on the couch to watch a movie and eat clementines until Matt and I finally motivated to catch the train back to Amsterdam at 3.

When we got home we opened our other gifts that we hadn't brought over. I love having unread books in my arsenal, but the past few months of picking up new books from the book club girls, my Friday afternoon perusals of the used book market on the Spui, and all my Christmas winnings have left me feeling a bit intimidated by the massive pile I have to read. Matt also got me a gorgeous necklace and a much needed new tea kettle (our old one was getting fun-kay). I spoiled him with cashmere and Paul Smith, but the biggest hit was the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label. I swear I have never seen him so excited.

The next day was Tweede Kerstdag, or Second Christmas Day, which is a holiday in the Netherlands, and just as important as Christmas itself. We made a massive brunch, complete with mimosas and rabanadas - the traditional Brazilian christmas breakfast that is like french toast but made oh so much more delicious by soaking the bread overnight in custard and rolling the fried dough in a cinammon/sugar/cocoa mixture. Yes, we had gone to the gym beforehead. For some reason I then remembered how much I love the old Bill Cosby standup and watched as many as I could find on youtube, cracking up while Matt stared at me curiously.

It was really nice having so much time to just veg and spend time together - playing chess, watching movies, and lots of EATING. It felt like we had Amsterdam all to ourselves with everyone gone (most of our friends here had gone home for the holidays). We also finally finished the wedding albums for our parents/grandparents. But we are very happy that our friends are now returning, and we're looking forward to the mayhem that is a New Year's eve in Amsterdam. More to come...