24 Dec 2010

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE



more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

1. Because we are still stuck in the snow, I couldn't do anything special.



2. On one snow free moment I managed to put these little lights in our hedge. I am the only one who has some outside decorations, if you can call this so. But it looks nice. Nobody else in our street did anything because of the snow.

3. I had to go out for Christmas shopping, not for gifts but for food, the main streets were almost snow free but the parkings were full of snow and ice so I got promptly stuck and couldn't move neither forwards nor backwards. No men had ventured outside for shopping and had preferred to leave this to their dear wives, so two ladies pushed me and I could drive home (without stopping) and arrived still alive and without a damaged car.

4. I also cleaned our rather long entrance way to the house door, as it became quiet dangerous and rather impossible to walk on there unless you put on skis. Of course nobody has a snow blower here, it is the first winter since ages that we have that much snow and for such a long time.

5.



This gives you an idea how it looks like, this time Mr. G. got stuck when he came back and I too just in front of our garage. We finally managed by pushing each other, and when we had finished our neighbor got stuck and we had to push her too ! Of course nobody has winter tires because we never needed them.

Finally came a truck with salt throw it on the street, which makes it even worse, because they should first push the snow away. I really wonder why people want to discover if we can live on mars or the moon when they are not even able to handle what is going on on earth !

The rest of my time I spent with wrapping Christmas gifts, watching TV, chatting on the phone and blogging of course !

And this afternoon we are driving to Amsterdam to celebrate Christmas with our son and family. If ever you see a big snow ball on TV which blocks the highway to Amsterdam then it's me and Mr.G. in the car stuck in the snow !





To all of you !

23 Dec 2010

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

All over the world is Christmas time. In lots of countries the word Christ has been forgotten and what people see is the Coca Cola Santa who became famous in 1931.

To me Christmas is a family celebration and had always been like that. In Germany we always celebrated on Christmas Eve and Christmas day was more a day for visitors and a lot of eating. I tried to keep this tradition also in Belgium, here people celebrate more on Christmas day and less on Christmas Eve. My parents always came for Christmas to Brussels, we had our Christmas gifts on the 24th after a glass of champagne and before the supper. Now as we don't celebrate anymore in our home, but with my son and his new little family, the tradition may change and we won't be probably always together on the 24th.

Lots of people are alone on Christmas Eve, or have the problem with a patchwork family. Who celebrates with whom ?

But the Christmas tree made his way around the world ! I even saw it in Egypt and Santa sitting on a camel ! People put up a Christmas tree because it looks so nice and beautiful, the reason doesn't matter. I worked with two muslim girls and they always had a Christmas tree just like they had Easter bunnies for the kids.

I think everybody should celebrate (or not) Christmas as he wants. In a commercial, romantic, religious way or not at all.



Sweet memories, my 3 year old son with his guinea pig in a pram on Christmas Eve (he got the pram from my mother, to walk the guinea pig around).







This years decoration

This will be my little Grandson Toby's first Christmas, he is now a little more than one months old.



to all of you !!

22 Dec 2010

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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to all of you !

21 Dec 2010

MY WORLD - White winter


more participants here

My world is white and cold ! I can't remember that we had so much snow since I was a young girl in 1963 ! But apparently we had a similar winter also in 1987, ever since, no snow or just a little. I even digged out a K-way wintersport jacket I had bought in the 80th ! It looked new, because once I had bought it the winters were never cold enough to wear it.

But now we are really spoiled !



It started snowing on Saturday afternoon, and this is our entrance



the next morning looking out of my window I saw the car sitting deeply in the snow



the street and roofs were white



This tree always looks very beautiful when it snows



A view over our garden

On Monday the snow had stopped and the sun shined over this white world and made it
really beautiful.



our neigbor's house just in front



and our house in the sunshine



This was the view I had from our living room on Monday morning



icicles hanging from the roof



Magpies discussing in the tree



No snow blowers in our street, nobody is equipped for such a weather



but it looks beautiful when you don't have to go somewhere



there must have been someone who had missed the roundabout



and my little Christmas decoration is hidden in the snow.

Schools are closed, no mail, and we are asked to stay home if it is not really necessary to go out. Brussels airport is closed and thousands of people are stuck and have to spend the night in the airport.

Only the children are happy, they enjoy the school free day and have fun in the snow !



To all of you !

20 Dec 2010

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND ?



Helps you to remember what you have done on the weekend of December 18. You never know if you need an alibi ! If you participate please put the little logo on the top of your post and leave your link.

When I look outside I think somebody moved me to the Northpole, the only difference is, that I am still living in our house and not in an igloo.

In short, it snows white cats and white dogs !



When the snow hadn't started yet, I managed to put a light garland on the hedge. It is not so much the use here to decorate a garden with lots of Christmas decorations. People decorate more in their windows. But this looks nice.




I went over to Domi to bring back some cups, she had brought us some delicious Tiramesu she had done herself. I made these pictures of a neighbor playing with her dog.

The day went by between Computer and TV



and watching how the snow fell more and more





this was what I saw from our patio at 10 pm



In the morning it looked very pretty



also out of our window, where cat Arthur did his grooming

As the sun was shining I quickly took the train to Brussels and went to the Christmas market
to take some pictures.



It was real beautiful, and I will show the whole market on Tuesday for "My world" !

When I had finished my photos, the sun disappeared and I arrived home just when it started snowing again !



As I have no one to build a snow man with me, I make graffitis on my terrace !

It is a very long time ago that we had such a lot of snow in and around Brussels.

19 Dec 2010

WHO STOLE BABY JESUS ?

Years ago, besides one cat, we also had a dog. Her name was Bianca, as she was completely white and white in Italian means bianco. She was a very intelligent little dog and we all loved her very much. She lived for 9 years and died in 1988. But never ever we would forget her.


One Christmas as usual my parents arrived with an overloaded car full of gifts. My father getting out of the car looked around to be sure that the neighbors were watching and slowly unloaded the car. He wanted that everybody saw how generous he was with his daughter. Yes, that was my father always thinking what other people would think of him.


We had put up a big Christmas tree as every year and underneath the tree, was the big nativity scene, Mr G. had gotten when he was two years old. It was all handmade had a big stable with Josep, Maria and baby Jesus in his crip. On the top of the stable stood an angel with a trompet and farm houses and handmade ceramic people were standing around. There was also a fountain and little trees and bushes. Sheeps, cows, chickens and even an Elephant completed the peaceful village scene.


One year my mother had the good idea to replace the ceramic baby Jesus with a marzipan one. She had bought six of them in case somebody wanted to eat a baby Jesus. She put one in the crip and the next day the crip was empty. Of course she suspected me ! (as if I would steal and eat a baby Jesus over night) and then Mr. G. who also claimed his innocence. Of course she never suspected her beloved grandson. So with a sigh, she put a new baby Jesus in the crip. The next morning Baby Jesus had disappeard again !


Finally she suspected her little grandson, but he didn't like marzipan and whould never have eaten baby Jesus and he was very offended. The whole thing repeated itself for 3 days. My mother was afraid of running out of marzipan Jesus. After the last marzipan Jesus had disappeared, she reluctantly put the ceramic one back in the crip. And then we saw it all in the evening. Doggy Bianca, made herself a way through houses, cows, sheeps and chickens and sniffed at the crip. Then, disappointed turned around and looked at us with big disappointed eyes. Her little treat was gone. And we all had a good laugh, even my mother.










Bianca the innocent dog