Elevation 681 ft.

Dutch folks keep track of their elevation. Especially when below Normaal Amsterdams Peil - the normalized zero elevation level in Holland - we need to know.

Most floods in North Texas are caused by excessive rain. A rising sea level is less of a concern up here. Nevertheless someone placed an elevation marker at the pond down our street last month. It's good to know that we're at an elevation of 681 ft. And that Sammy's head is at least 684 ft above sea level.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Ever since I came to this country, I wondered why people would voluntary dress up in ugly sweaters during the holiday season. Elderly ladies would conquer the shopping malls and the workplace with blindingly extravagant designs with wildly mismatching colors.

More recently, ugly Christmas sweaters have become cool. Hip ugly Christmas sweater parties are being thrown all over the country. The parties are said to have started in 2001 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The market for ugly Christmas sweaters has picked up, leading to dedicated stores and even more stores.

New designs are created, staying faithful to the ugly sweater tradition, but touching on contemporary themes. The Occupy Wall Street movement inspired the creation of this sweater where baby Jesus is casually pepper sprayed by a police officer.

't Heerlijk Avondje

At least once a year, Greg and Sammy remember their Dutch heritage. Usually around December 5th, when 't heerlijk avondje is around the corner. They will start reciting Sinterklaas songs - well, just one actually:  Sinterklaas Kapoentje - and will be working their wish lists.

We are never sure Sinterklaas will make it across the Atlantic. But when the weather is cold, windy, and wet like today, we're hopeful that Sint will feel right at home in Texas.

Cowboy JPG

We visited the Dallas Museum of Art today to see the exhibition on Jean Paul Gaultier - from sidewalk to catwalk. The show included many of the iconic sailor boys, religious madonnas, Madonna corsets with pointed bras, Mohawk tartan punks with leather jackets, and Eiffel tower decorated catwalk wear. A pretty cool feature was that the mannequins appeared to be alive through the use of video projectors displaying faces on their white heads.

Gaultier traveled to Dallas to open to show last week. He had created two modern day cowboy outfits displayed at the show's entrance. Perhaps his next collection will be inspired by Texas and Parisians will wear stetsons, big buckled belts and ostrich leather boots.

The Tailgate Party

Andromeda FC, Sammy's soccer team, held a tailgate party at FC Dallas today. A tailgate party is a social event held on or around the open tailgate of a vehicle. They usually occur in the parking lots around sports stadiums before the game. Tailgating often involves grilling food and drinking.

After the tailgate party, the boys and girls from Andromeda were invited on the FC Dallas field to create a tunnel for the players of FC Dallas and the Vancouver Whitecaps to enter the stadium. All this was topped off by watching FC D. beat the Whitecaps by 2-0.

Mending Fences

The boys have been playing a lot of soccer in the backyard. The fence behind the goal has been hit hard, shaking loose the nails and even breaking several beams. Today we used screws and wood glue to put it together again. Hopefully it will last. With all these soccer balls flying, we may soon have to shop for a new fence.

Barcelona vs. Club America

We went to Cowboys Stadium to watch the 3rd match of Barcelona's North American tour. After losing to Man. U in DC and to Chivas in Miami, Barcelona finally recorded a win. Club America from Mexico City lost 2-0 to the Euro champs. The crowd of 65,000 were about evenly divided between the two teams. Sammy was certainly on the Barcelona side. Ina took lots of pictures of heart throb David Villa.