Visiting Nana

I have joined my parents for a few days in Bristol (UK) to see my Nana. The last time I saw her was a year ago when the whole family spent Christmas in England. It's great to see her, although it is a shame that the strokes she's had have affected her speech and makes communicating difficult. Glad that she's still with us, though, and that she's able to see her new great-grandchildren!

Family Christmas

Christmas is the time for a family get-together, this year with the addition of a baby boy and girl. Christmas lunch was had on Boxing Day with all siblings providing parts of the meal and Santa bringing some presents. As is the English tradition, paper crowns from crackers were worn and trifle was had for desert.

White Christmas?

Serious snow in the wintertime has for the last years been limited to the nostalgic memories of my youth. In my recollection it was quite normal to have temperatures of up to -20 Celcius, to have snowball fights and make snowmen. Since the middle 80s, however, our winters have been relatively snow-less (the snow that falls generally didn't last too long) and even quite warm.

The last few days winter has been announcing itself with a vengeance throughout Europe. Train service has been severely affected and traffic jams have reached record lengths. On the bright side, we once again have that traditional Christmas feeling and the chance to skate and play in the snow as kids!

Baby Hef

Luca clearly has a lot of Bremmer in him, as you can see from his relaxed pose. Enjoying a leisurely tooth brushing in the company of his best friend Aap ( 'Monkey' in Dutch), his pyjama-look makes him appear as a very young version of Hugh Hefner....