I love Christmas and everything about it — the card writing, the frenzied shopping, having friends over to share Yuletide cheer, the Nutcracker performances we haven’t missed in 30 years, and putting up a live tree and decorating it with the hundreds of ornaments we’ve collected over many years. My husband, Paul, laughingly claims I am the only one he knows who starts preparing for Christmas in the middle of summer. He exaggerates. I really don’t begin planning in the heat of a New York summer, although it is true that by Halloween, at the latest, preparations are well under way.
Combine picturesque Dutch cities, luxuriant waterlands, acres of bulb farms and the famed Keukenhof garden in full splendor with a witty guide, skilled barge pilot, master chef and 16 compatible travelers and you have yourself a fine vacation.
