We're enjoying the start to our Christmas vacation in Ohio.

Over lunch one of these days, our family was talking about the most obvious differences that we notice between the Netherlands and the United States of America.  It's a common conversation in our trans-Atlantic family.  But it was especially interesting to hear some of Elliot's key points of observation.  Interesting... and enlightening.  Here are some of the things he noted: 

1. American automobile license plates are a lot different from their European counterparts:  a different shape, more colors, more artistically-designed, positioned differently on the car (he seriously went on about the license plates longer than anything else).
2. American automobiles are a lot bigger.  There are a lot more vans and trucks.
3. The "stones" in the sidewalks are a lot bigger in American than they are in Amsterdam (i.e. comparing concrete paving in the USA with stone grids in the Netherlands).
4. The houses are a lot further apart in America.
5. American rooftops are more slanted (while Elliot seems to think that Dutch rooftops are flatter), and they have a lot more chimneys sticking up into the air.
6. There's a lot more commercial signage in the USA than in the Netherlands (which I had never really noticed before, honestly, but is rather startling once your eyes are opened to the difference).
7. People in America like Christmas a lot and put out lots of lights on their houses.  This was one of the first things that both Elliot and Olivia noticed upon landing in Cleveland.  I think an exact quote from one of the kids was, "Whoa!  It's like Christmas City out there!"
8. The chocolate milk in the USA is a lot sweeter and a lot thicker than the chocolate milk in the Netherlands.  Almost more like Dutch vla (pudding) than like milk.