Krees goes Dutch Kiwi!: Have yourself a merry little Christmas

South Africa - November 2011

In November 2011 we traveled to South Africa and brought Charles's parents along for the ride. We spent a week in and around Cape Town, a few days near Hartbeespoort and the Cradle of Humankind, a couple days at Pilanesberg National Park, and two days with my friend Stephanie and her family in Pretoria. It was a FANTASTIC trip! There are (currently) 78 photos in this album and don't include some of the great places we visited or people we saw. I may add more as we finish weeding through the approximately FOUR THOUSAND photos we took. Seriously. It was a great trip.

It's no surprise that I've been a bit homesick while here in the Netherlands, particularly during the holidays when I'd like to be setting up a tree in our own house, hanging our own stockings, enjoying a Michigan snowfall and making plans to spend New Year's Eve with The Usual Suspects in Ann Arbor. You know, as opposed to dealing wiht a turkey skinned by the Dutch butcher, trying to find flights that don't land us in Palermo at 11pm on Christmas Eve or listening to the local teenagers set off New Year's fireworks THREE WEEKS EARLY and 15 FEET FROM MY DOG AND I. (Rotten Dutch kids. Don't you have some cheese sandwiches to eat or something? Bah humbug!)

So I get a little teary-eyed listening to Ella sing this one in particular, and I hope you'll indulge me.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more

Someday soon, we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, well have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

(And no, Mom, this doesn't mean that we necessarily will have moved back to the States by Christmas next year. It's just a song. Did I say "Bah humbug"?)

Comments

Addendum: Of course I must acknowledge that my complaints are mostly petty whinging, particularly in light of the fact that the song was released in 1944 to an American population that was still at war. So yeah... talking about "our troubles" and people who are "dear to us" being "near to us" could have graver and more poignant meanings than my complaining about the logistical difficulties of planning my holiday trip to Sicily. So I'll just shut up now and hope my friends know that I miss them. And that I also miss properly dressed turkeys and the Galas' annual plate of holiday cookies.

Posted by: Krees | December 12, 2008 at 11:01 PM