Christmas in Amsterdam
Dec. 27th, 2005 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aryanhwyChristmas in Amsterdam was a lot like Christmas in America, except better. Stores started pushing Christmas things around the end of November, just like in the States, but at least here there was a good reason - here, Sinterklaas (Dec. 6; Saint Nick's) is a big thing. Stores close early, the ILLC office closed early, people hang up their stockings and buy Sinterklaas cookies (we ended up getting a bag for free, because a store we went to a few days after was giving them away - if you like anise, they're ok, but I don't like anise). After Sinterklaas there was then a bit of a lull, but then you started seeing lights going up in windows, and wreaths on buildings, and we even saw the usual tacky Christmas decorations hanging from street lights on Linneausstraat. A few of the plant stalls at the Dappermarkt started selling Christmas trees (no, we ended up not getting one. Even the smallest, which were still in pots and so could've then been put out on the porch and kept growing, were 4.50 euros, which was more than I could justify just to have a Christmas tree. Maybe next year), and the home goods stores (Blokker, Hema) started selling Christmas ornaments. It was all very much like Christmas as I'm used to, but without quite so much blatant commercialism, which was very nice.
I wasn't sure whether the Dappermarkt would be running on the 24th; it usually is on Saturdays, but since it was a holiday I didn't know. On the other hand, since it was the day *before* a holiday, lots of people would need to be doing last minute food shopping, so it would make sense that it would be running, and in fact it was. We went there in the afternoon to pick up some salmon for Christmas Eve dinner, and while there we saw a brass quartet, all dressed up like Santa, walking up and down the street playing Christmas carols (yup, "Frosty the Snowman" has crossed the Atlantic).
Most things are closed on Sundays here; the branch of our grocery store (Albert Heijn) which is right by our apartment is something of an anomaly because it is open on Sundays. (Sunday evenings it's usually PACKED with people, and on Mondays its usually pretty well emptied of food.) So, seeing as it was Christmas, I wasn't all that surprised that our AH was closed on the 25th. What did surprise me was that it was closed on the 26th - and the markt was also not running (this is the first non-Sunday since we've gotten here that it wasn't up). I know Boxing Day is a holiday in Great Britain, but I have no idea if there was a holiday on the 26th here, or if this was just a way to give people extra vacation around Christmas without making everything closed on Christmas Eve. I don't know. Anyway, I'd planned to make a pie on Christmas, but found I didn't have enough flour, so I couldn't, and then I couldn't get flour yesterday either, because the stores were closed, so I finally got some more flour today, and so we'll have our Christmas cherry pie a few days late.
I wasn't sure whether the Dappermarkt would be running on the 24th; it usually is on Saturdays, but since it was a holiday I didn't know. On the other hand, since it was the day *before* a holiday, lots of people would need to be doing last minute food shopping, so it would make sense that it would be running, and in fact it was. We went there in the afternoon to pick up some salmon for Christmas Eve dinner, and while there we saw a brass quartet, all dressed up like Santa, walking up and down the street playing Christmas carols (yup, "Frosty the Snowman" has crossed the Atlantic).
Most things are closed on Sundays here; the branch of our grocery store (Albert Heijn) which is right by our apartment is something of an anomaly because it is open on Sundays. (Sunday evenings it's usually PACKED with people, and on Mondays its usually pretty well emptied of food.) So, seeing as it was Christmas, I wasn't all that surprised that our AH was closed on the 25th. What did surprise me was that it was closed on the 26th - and the markt was also not running (this is the first non-Sunday since we've gotten here that it wasn't up). I know Boxing Day is a holiday in Great Britain, but I have no idea if there was a holiday on the 26th here, or if this was just a way to give people extra vacation around Christmas without making everything closed on Christmas Eve. I don't know. Anyway, I'd planned to make a pie on Christmas, but found I didn't have enough flour, so I couldn't, and then I couldn't get flour yesterday either, because the stores were closed, so I finally got some more flour today, and so we'll have our Christmas cherry pie a few days late.
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Date: 2005-12-27 03:08 pm (UTC)I have a friend who always gives me treats on the 6th of December and I never understood why. Now I do!
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Date: 2005-12-27 07:10 pm (UTC)Glad you had a happy Christmas.
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Date: 2005-12-28 12:51 am (UTC)I am glad that your day went well, and hope you enjoy the cherry pie! :)
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Date: 2005-12-28 08:06 am (UTC)Urg, cherry pie. I refuse to use pre-made pie crusts (they don't taste right) and I hate making crusts myself, because it's always hit or miss. Yesterday's was a miss which I ended up just throwing in the garbage, and at that point I was too peeved to try again. Maybe we'll have our Christmas cherry pie *today*.