Our Christmas Party

We decided to go ahead with our Christmas party at the house Saturday night.

All day Friday I had been baking, baking, baking......dozens of cookies for our party. We had invited a lot of people in the neighborhood and a few other friends. We had received quite a few replies from people saying they could not come...a lot of people were scheduled to leave for the holidays....so we had no idea how many people would be coming. I had baked snowballs, peanut butter, chocolate chip and sugar cookies.

I had taken the last batch of cookies out of the oven around 8:00 p.m. Friday night. Around 8:30 was when we had to rush Socrates to the emergency vet.

Neither one of us slept much Friday night.......Saturday morning we were up before the sun. We decided we might as well go ahead with our party. Andrew went out and did some shopping while I stayed home and cleaned the house. When he got back we set up the tables and the kitchen.

Andrew had set up our little Dutch village the week before...

 Last year we had so many people in the house we could barely walk! This year, smaller crowd......we still had a lot of fun!  I had made some gluhwein, which turned out pretty yummy!  We had been collecting corks all year and had people guess how many corks in the glass container...for a prize (bottle of champagne!)-Hans won that!  Then we had Carmen pull names out of the hat for other prizes. We had chocolates, a gift card and some beer with glasses as prizes.

 Our friend Hetty made this for us!  Sooooo funny and sweet!!! Those pictures of us were taken on Queen's Day last April!

 Sammy was getting upset being left upstairs in the bedroom by himself, so Andrew brought him down to be with us and kept him on the leash so he wouldn't get into anything or knock anything on the coffee table over!

We had soooo many cookies left over (I was able to talk a few people into taking some home with them!), I had to find a place to donate them. So, Hetty came to the rescue. She gave me a few names of places I could bring them.....one of which was Sint Janskliniek here in Haarlem. Andrew and I walked there with three huge trays of cookies to give them. We arrived just in time for 'high tea', so it was a perfect time for them to serve the cookies! I was so happy to be able to give them to people who could enjoy them!

The walk to get to the Sint Janskliniek was almost a mile, and it was pouring down rain the entire walk there and back. Andrew had not brought an umbrella, thinking his coat was waterproof...but by the time we got home he was soaked to the bone!

The rest of the day into the evening we stayed home and relaxed. The rain, naturally, stopped as soon as we got home!

Tribute to Socrates

Our hearts are heavy today with the loss of our kitty.......

Last night at around 20.15 we heard Socrates outside on the patio crying. He never does that so it raised an alarm in us. Andrew went out to check him and found that he couldn't move his back legs and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. Because we don't know the language (yes, that has been a hinderance!), we called our wonderful neighbors, Linda and Bruce, (who were, thankfully, home!) who called their vet to get the number for the emergency vet clinic. Linda brought their small crate over so we could take him on the bus. The only carrier we have is a huge airline transport crate, which is very big and heavy. Bruce went with us and we headed over to the clinic (which was close to the Haarlem train station) where we were to meet the vet at 21.00hrs. To get the number for the emergency clinic, they called their regular vet and got the number from the vet's after hours recording. The recording, of course, was in Dutch. We would have been lost without Bruce and Linda! Apparently the location for the emergency vet changes every weekend (it sounds like the vet's rotate the duty). 

The Vet took one look at him and said he most likely had a clot break loose which paralyzed his legs....she then asked if he had heart problems. We told her that he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart over four years ago. At that time we were told he would be with us maybe another 1-2 years. 

The Vet  told us there was nothing she could do and suggested we put him to sleep.....we agreed. We didn't want him to suffer. She gave him an injection for the pain first. While waiting for that to take effect, we could hear his breathing becoming labored because his lungs were filling with fluid. She gave us a little time with him to say good-bye and then gave him another injection.

The Vet was so very kind and caring. Bruce and Linda were so wonderful and helpful. 

Even though we knew this would happen one day, it still is very painful to lose our kitty.

Comfy in his favorite spot in our house in Pleasanton, CA...the bathroom sink!

Enjoying the sunshine...

 Staying warm on the radiator vent!

 Checking to see what's going on...

 It took moving here for Sammy and Socrates to finally get along with one another! They had become pals!  Sammy is sad today too......

Some Things My Parents Taught Me (not in any kind of order!)

Have faith in the power of The Holy Trinity

Pray

Family is important

Respect your elders

Friendships can last a lifetime

Always say "please" and "thank you"

Work hard

Clean up after yourself

Turn the lights off when you're leaving the room

Don't waste

Don't litter

Be clean.....in mind and body

Be honest

Be kind

Be gentle

Be humble

Be responsible

Don't be lazy

Be giving...of your time and, if you have it, your money

Don't put off till tomorrow what can be done today

Finish what you start

Always have money in the bank and minimal debt

Love thy neighbor as thyself

Don't give up

Only God is Judge

Don't take yourself too seriously

Cover your mouth when you cough

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all

Have fun

Enjoy music, sometimes an entire story is in a song

Don't cry over spilled milk....what's done is done....move on

Travel and see the world

Life is short.......live it!

'International' dinner with Carla and Theo

Last Saturday, December 14th, at around 16.00, Andrew and I walked over to Carla's shop where she was hosting an 'International Dinner'. She had invited a couples from several countries to bring a main dish and a dessert that was typical from their country. Countries represented were: Angola, Croatia, Honduras, Netherlands, USA, Iran, Kazakhstan, Germany, Indonesia, and Turkey! 

It was a fun evening meeting people from all over the world. Carla says she has clients from over 70 countries now.