Giethoorn and Yule

It’s the dark season in the Netherlands, but we’ve lucked out with some weekend weather that gave us a little sunlight and less rain. We rented a car and drove to Giethoorn, which is a village about two hours away that’s typically overrun with tourists, but because of Covid we had it all to ourselves, which was amazing. Giethoorn (Goat’s Horn) is a a centuries-old village that you can only access by foot or boat (we parked just outside the village and walked in).

The houses in Giethoorn are hundreds of years old and have thatched roofs like this one. It’s completely surrounded by water and footpaths so you have to walk or boat to get around the village. It’s some witchy business.
There are fancy brick estates, too.
This is where the witch magistrates do their business, I imagine.
Mossy roofs
We’re always grateful for some winter sunshine here
Brian’s of no use nor ornament
Damn delighted by this holly
This house isn’t in Giethoorn, it’s in Amsterdam on the way to Ouder Kerk. James and I biked out there a couple of weekends ago and I informed him that this is the house I wish to live in when my writing takes off. He made a note of it.
We walked down the block to get our Christmas tree on Saturday. Brian wore his festive sweater.
We don’t have a car so we use our bikes for transport
Unloading the tree at our house
I had a migraine that lasted several days so I had to wear sunglasses in the house while we decorated
We went with white lights this year because we can’t find colored ones that aren’t too neon bluish. It’s hard to find warm LED lights. I love the white though.
James surprised us with oysters from the farmer’s market, which he shucked himself. Then he made us zero-alcohol cocktails from the quinces he poached.
The geese on our canal. This gives you a pretty good idea of what the sky looks like here. It’s usually raining and we only get a few hours of daylight and it’s gray like this for the most part, so when we do get sun we get in it without delay.