Holiday Tidbits

If I didn’t know better I’d think there was a war taking place in Rotterdam these past few days.   As we get closer to the New Year, more and more fireworks are being sold in the city, and more people are setting them off early.   It starts in the early morning with the firecrackers and once it gets dark you can see fireworks going off every few minutes.   I’m amazed there aren’t more missing digits and limbs here with the amount of young people who play with explosives.

It’s getting irritating, to be honest.   I love it on New Years but not at 8am on a Saturday morning when I’m desperately clinging to my last few minutes of sleep… nor at 9pm when I’m trying to watch a movie in peace but have the dog crawling up onto me like he’s trying to hide in my mouth.

He seems to be getting worse every year, it’s odd really.   I figured he’d be scared out of his wits when he was a puppy but get better as he got older, but it’s the other way around.   When he was a puppy he wasn’t at all bothered but now he is.  I’m dreading New Years Eve when the fireworks go on for hours and sound like you are stuck in a tin can with a string of a million firecrackers.

I’m sure my constant trotting between our front and back balconies doesn’t help with his excitement and anxiety.

Today I remembered I had a grill in our new oven and we had creme brulee for desert.  It was so good I ate it extra slow to make it last.  I won’t pretend like I made it, it came frozen… It’s safer that I don’t learn to make it or we’ll be eating it every night.

I had a Christmas Victory today.   For years I’ve been trying to get my husband to try hot sandwiches, but he’s refused outright.   A hot sandwich, for those of you who don’t eat them (shame!), is two pieces of bread with the meat of your choice (I prefer turkey or chicken) between them, then smothered in gravy.   They can be found in most any restaurant in Canada, but before meeting me my husband had never heard of them.  He’s made a habit of turning his nose up and calling them ‘Soggy Sandwiches’… until tonight!

The days between Christmas and New Years makes for prime hot sandwich season.   This afternoon I told Xander that I’d be making one for myself and he could have a cold sandwich if he wanted.  Then she shocked me to my toes and asked for a ‘soggy sandwich’ too.   I jokingly checked his temperature and he told me he wanted to see what all the hype was about.  It only took almost 9 years but I wasn’t about to split hairs.

After making one for him, his opinion was that it was ‘not half bad’.   I think that’s his way of saying it’s good, without having to actually say it’s good and by doing so, admit that he was wrong.   As men do…