The days skitter by…

2026 is hurrying along so fast that I can hardly keep up. As the days skitter by I realise that I am extremely behind with my blog. So a quick abbreviated version of the last month of 2025 and then I will do my best to bring everything up to date! That’s the plan anyway.

So after our camper van trip to lovely Lubeck in Germany, we spent a few days back in Pijnacker with Hannah and Pieter and our one-year old granddaughter.

A visit to an elegant and affluent neighbourhood of The Hague, Statenkwartier, walks and adventures with our granddaughter, and learning more about the Dutch traditions surrounding Sinterklaas on 5 December were just some of the highlights leading up to our very own “Christmas Day”.

Elegant Statenkwartier which has the best toy shop!

This bronze statue
commemorates the resilience and cultural heritage of women from the former Dutch East Indies who settled in The Hague after World War II. Many of them worked in domestic roles during and after the colonial era

Our little granddaughter ready to take on the world!

Our granddaughter and some of her cousins dressed up in traditional “Piet” costumes for Sintaklaas

As Jonathan and I would be back in Australia for Christmas we decided to have our own Christmas Day celebration with our little Dutch family on 6 December.

We did everything we would normally do on Christmas Day – have a sumptuous breakfast of fruit and pastries, open our stocking presents, have an amazing lunch followed by a walk to settle our full stomachs and then back to open more presents and watch a Muppet Christmas Carol!

Playing with bubble juice – a favourite Christmas gift

It was a really special day and we all agreed that it really felt like a proper Christmas and that having it on an alternative day really didn’t matter one bit.

Very soon after our Netherlands Christmas festivities, we drove to Calais in France to catch the ferry to Dover to meet up for a pre Christmas celebration with my siblings and their children, children’s partners and grandchildren.

As there are so many of us, we once again hired the village hall in the heart of the now trendy inner London suburb of Bermondsey – once the home of my parents, 80 plus years ago.

Members of the public are allowed to play this organ on London Bridge Station – this young man was playing Christmas carols!

We had a wonderful day together with a mountain of amazing food and lots of catching up with family members.

A great catch up with my family (sadly there were a few unable to make it!)

Our trip to England was very brief but before the family party we did manage a flying visit to Norfolk to visit Jonathan’s brother Simon and partner Ruth, to Cambridge to see my sister Sarah and brother-in-law Martin and to Bromley where we stayed at the home of my other sister Julia, and caught up with various other family members.

Kings College Cambridge preparing for the radio and television broadcast of The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the Christmas Eve tradition that started in 1918 and been broadcast on the radio since 1928 and on TV since 1954

We paid a visit to the iconic Cambridge bakery Fitzbillies. Established in 1920, it was where my Dad took my Mum on many dates before they were married in 1945

It was wonderful to catch up with family again

Then after the party it was straight back to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais early the next day.

This was our miserable breakfast on board the ferry to Calais!

Glorious lilies a Christmas gift from my nephew Davey

We had only two nights back in The Netherlands before flying to Australia. Before leaving we had a fabulous last dinner out with Hannah and family at the local Italian restaurant.

A sad but delicious Italian meal before leaving for Australia

Our life seems to be a litany of sad goodbyes but always with happy hellos to look forward to. While it was heartbreaking to farewell our eldest granddaughter we were very excited to be reunited again with our little twin granddaughters who were born prematurely in May 2025. (Of course we were also longing to see their parent’s again too!)

The dam was getting low as there hadn’t been much rain recently

Dear little Matilda looking much more robust than before we left for The Netherlands

Sadly there would be one beautiful creature not there to greet us when we arrived in Australia. Our beloved granddoggie Lucy died just before we arrived, aged 14.

It wasn’t altogether unexpected as she had been very unwell before we took off for the Netherlands in October but of course it was devastating when we heard the news and we were very sad to be greeted by two doggies rather than the usual three when we eventually arrived in Brisbane.

The grand doggies having a great time chasing the ball

In the two months we’d been away our tiny granddaughters had changed so much and made so much progress.

The littlest one – Matilda – had been discharged from her regular invasive eye examinations and pronounced clear of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). This condition can cause blindness so we were of course very relieved when she “graduated“ from the screening program.

Matilda holds her graduation certificate. Eva is also pleased they don’t have to make the regular trek for Matilda’s eye check ups!

We were so overjoyed to see them and of course, their parents!

It was stinking hot when we arrived on 18th December and we were very relieved that we had been able to organise the installation of air conditioning in our little bush house just a couple of days after our arrival. It has made such a difference!

Hurray! Air conditioning being installed!

There was a huge deluge just two days before Christmas and at first we thought we were going to get flooded in but fortunately the heavy rain didn’t continue for long and we were able to nip out to buy all those last minute gifts and food items!