No matter how you celebrate, Christmas and New Years are emotional holidays, especially in ‘Times of Trouble’.

I had a great Christmas. Watching a rebellious movie and eating my favorite (outside my diet) cheese-onion potato chips with Sander Ouwerkerk on Christmas Eve. This was the first time in a while that we shared leisure time instead of talking about representing my business activities. Christmas day was with family and Second Christmas day (we Dutch like to extend our holidays) was scheduled to be our pyjama day. No visitors, no phone calls, only my aunt and cousin coming in at 5pm to bring in a complete Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, we all needed the pyjama day to recover from ear- and throat-infections.

The big surprise came one day later. I had already suggested to Jenn that I should go back to the recovery hotel earlier in order to build some resistance against all these viruses and bacteria. Little did I know.

During a walk with Paul van Arkel, by the way without any medical discussion for the first time that year, I decided to show him the resort hotel and pick up the Christmas card, which I was told should be under the tree. We sat down, I opened the card and I read it. I read it maybe ten times, but it really said:

“A voucher for Joost for one week in ‘Kuur en Herstel’, from a very satisfied guest”

The year 2007 has been full of surprises and, so you wish, miracles. This, however, was the greatest anonymous Christmas gift I have ever had in my life. Once again, this could not be a coincidence, so two days later I signed up for another week of retreat. That is where I am now, in my very own room, close by home, recovering from a throat infection and using the swimming pool as much as possible.

For New Years Eve we went over to friends living even closer to the hotel than we do. With four young kids, of which two with a terrible cold, New Years Eve is different from the ones when we were twenty, let’s not deny that. But the excitement (and fear) of the children at midnight comfortably behind the window looking at the fireworks, staying overnight and the pyjama morning with lots of dancing and making funny drawings did it for me.

These holidays make us realize what family life is all about, isn’t it?

I enjoyed every minute of it.

Joost

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