Are you still eating leftover turkey while the Christmas tree is quietly shedding the last of its needles on the carpet? It’s time to face the inevitable: it’s January. But all is not lost. Here are some outings that will shorten the wait for spring.

Join the circus
The World Christmas Circus is not packing up yet and you have another 5 days to treat the family to pratfalls, perilous highwire acts and glittery hocus pocus galore at the Carré in Amsterdam. Until January 5. Website

Enjoy a yarn at DARN
Not fond of repairing your clothes? Maybe a visit to DARN, an exhibition on the art of mending at the Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg will change your mind. Fast fashion has completely banned any idea of make-do and mend but one look at the meticulous work on show may make you have a go yourself.

Recycling and mending are enjoying a comeback, including in contemporary art. Some of it bridges the generations, as in the case of sustainable fashion designer Rianne de Witte whose mother Mien de Witte-Verhage also contributed to the exhibition. Jolly knits and crochet work by feminist group Club Geluk (Club Happiness) is also on show. Until January 25. Website

Beware of the most dangerous woman in the world
Artist and activist Selma Selman calls herself “the most dangerous woman in the world” and she’s an artist as well as an activist. She will – literally – kickstart her exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam with the performance Motherboards. During this she, assisted by members of her Roma family of scrap metal merchants from Bosnia, will demolish discarded computer parts to extract the gold accompanied by live music and spoken word.

The exhibition comprises installations made of what remains of the computer parts as well as huge wrecking machinery transformed into flowers that open and close. Meanwhile a scent called The Most Dangerous Women in the World developed by a perfume maker to Selman’s instructions wafts through the rooms. Sleeping Guards is on from January 29. Website

Congratulate Amsterdam
Unless you have lived under a stone for the last couple of months, you will know Amsterdam has reached the venerable age of 750. The H’art Museum is congratulating the capital by bringing together 75 artists whose work celebrates the city, including Karel Appel, Marina Abramović, Ed van der Elsken, Erwin Olaf, Armando Cairo and Marlene Dumas. Happy Birthday Amsterdam is on until March 16. Website

Get in shape
SHAPE- body, fashion, identity at the Textielmuseum in Tilburg is exactly what it says on the tin: it’s about what human beings choose to wear and why. But one of the questions asked is if the body is adapting to the clothes or the other way around.

Meanwhile you can feast your eyes on creations by Iris van Herpen, such as the puffer coat worn by TV character Carrie Bradshaw, as well as digital fashion and intriguing installations created especially for this exhibition in the TextielLab. Until March 30. Website

Get your just desserts
The Netherlands may be in the grip of Heel Holland Bakt but it is a bit of a desert when it comes to desserts. The Kunstmuseum Den Haag nevertheless serves up a history of toetjes, from the humble vlaflip (a mix of vanilla custard, syrup and yogurt)  to baklava.

Cookery books, baking tins in all shapes and sizes, paintings and serving plates illustrate how desserts originated and (dentistry) flourished. Grand Dessert is on until April 6. Website

Admire the flowers at De Buitenplaats
The gorgeous recently restored museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde (Drente) is hosting Power to the Flower, a collection of works from the Dutch Art Nouveau period with a special emphasis on flowers, which appeared as stylised motifs in wallpaper, furniture, and furnishings.

Artists include Chris Lebeau, Julie de Graag, Simon Moulijn, Johanna van Eijbergen, Carel Adolphe Lion Cachet, Ruud van Empel and Saskia Boelsums. And while you’re there have a wander in the beautiful garden. Until April 6. Website

Go girlie
Sugary sweet with a bite is the subtitle of I hit you with a flower, an exhibition of “girlie art” and yes, it’s mostly pink. The Schiedam Stedelijk Museum has brought together works by 20 artists which are emphatically non-male, and seemingly fluffy and flowery.

But beware the bite, revealed by the pink cloud created by Lily van der Stokker which has a sign attached saying “only yelling older women in here/ Nothing to see”, another confirmation of the adage that in old age no one will hear you scream. Simply beautiful is Kinke Kooi’s bejewelled depiction of the womb as a haven, detailed like a medieval book of hours illustration. Until May 4. Website

Meet the temptress empress
The Princessehof in Leeuwarden shines a light on the fascinating rise to power of China’s only female empress Wu Zetian, from humble woodcutter’s daughter to concubine in the emperor’s harem to empress. Life at the 7th-century Chinese court is illustrated with spectacularly beautiful ceramics,  silver and gold jewellery as well as reproductions of silk hangings depicting the ladies of the court in their daily activities, including music, games and beauty rituals.

The exhibition also looks at the myths that have sprung up around the intrigues that brought Wu Zetian to power. But she was more than an evil plotter, bringing about social reform, which made her popular with the people and probably the reason why she reached the ripe old age of 81. Until May 25. Website

Explore the Jewish stance on sex
Intriguingly called Sex: Jewish positions, this exhibition at the Joods Museum in Amsterdam explores sex in Jewish culture, including religious rituals, art and popular culture. What did medieval rabbis think and do modern-day artists, philosophers, sex therapists, Talmudic scholars and influencers give a thumbs up to a leg-over at Passover? Until May 25. Website

Don’t miss

Here’s a mop-up of exhibitions we’ve already featured whose tail ends reach into January and that you may have missed.

Impressionism

Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and Paul Cézanne, the gang’s all here at the Stedelijk Museum’s Vive l’Impressionisme!, but not in the numbers they could have been if the Dutch had been as enthusiastic about the impressionists as the title suggests at the time. Until January 26. Website

Frocks

The exhibition Dior – A New Look is also on until January 26 and those tiny waistlines will probably make you regret all those oliebollen. Website

Weird stuff

The Mauritshuis’ Lost Museum will also be around until January 5, when over 1000 objects collected by 19th-century gentlemen with an eye for whatever really, will have to be returned to their boxes again. Website

Bronzes

January 12 is the very last day you can visit the spectacular Asian bronzes at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Website