Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!
I am so happy you decided to stop by my Christmas Blog!!
Every room in our townhouse has a different Christmas Theme and Color Scheme!!
I prove that you do not have to live in a large home to have several Trees, over 20, in all shapes and sizes!!
The
majority of my Christmas decorations are placed in the same room every
year and I know that this is not what most Decorator's care for but to
me, it like seeing old friends again when I decorate each year for
Christmas as many of my decorations were gifts from family and
friends...........
I do try to add a few new things and change up
things a bit but for the most part, these decorations are part of my
Christmas Traditions and bring back a lot of treasured memories.....
Just
a reminder, I will be NOW posting 2 times a week !!
I am going back to posting on Wednesdays and Sundays!!!!
Well, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!
Today, I will be sharing 2 Christmas Tablescapes along with Personal Notes about the Holiday.....
I am way behind on answering emails and doing return visits but I will get caught up in the next few days so please forgive me but I will be by to visit and answer your emails!!
In my previous post, I shared how I continue some Christmas Traditions but changed some things, did a bit more Crafting and got the baking done for this Season.....
Click
HERE if you missed that post.....
It was a busy few days to say the least.....
On the evening of the 23rd, I thought I would get a jump start on preparations by setting the Dining Room table for Christmas Eve Holy Supper....
I wanted something simple but elegant because according to Polish Tradition, Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas Day....
I did not put too many decorative things on the table because like my sons say "You have to have room for the food"!!
I started each place setting for my family of 5 with a gold poinsettia place mat.....
And my gold flatware......
For dinner plates, I used my simple white ones with a gold rim.....
Bought at the Christmas Tree Shop one year , on Clearance, for $1.00 a plate!!!!
Next , I simply placed a pretty Christmas napkin on top of the plate!
I used Long Champ Crystal stemware....
In the center of the table.....
Simple gold trees on each side....
Glass votives from Dollar Tree and a set of crystal Angel Salt and Pepper shakers.....
A candle jar holder with a gold cherub on it is in the center of the table....
Setting the table the night before was one less thing to do on Christmas Eve Day.....
Every year since I was a small child I always wished for a White Christmas....
One of the few things that my Mother and I would watch on TV at Christmas was the movie White Christmas!!
My Mother worked full time in the Garment Industry so when she came home after work, she made dinner ( in later years after my Dad's construction accident, he made dinner) and would be cleaning until it was bedtime...
Even though temps. in the 50's and rain was predicted for Christmas Day, I woke up to this on Christmas Eve morning!!!!!
Actually, the sound of the plow on our main road woke me up at 5 am!!
Even though it only lasted into the evening when the rain came, I still feel I got my White Christmas this year.....
And that made me happy!!!
Having had to make Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner while working full time night shift for over 20+ years, I developed a good plan of attack....
As I mentioned in my last post, I took over doing Christmas Eve Holy Supper here at our own home when my Dad passed away and my mother sold her home 3 months later...
Up until Joe started working at the Post Office, over 20 years ago, we had gone up to my In laws for Christmas Day Dinner...
Working night shift, I had to work either the Eve or the Day night of every Holiday....
This was to give everyone working night shift on staff at least some part of the Holidays off..
Let me explain...
The actual Holiday on night shift, that you got paid time and a half for and were required to work ever other Holiday, was considered the Eve of the Holiday or the night before because you worked the most amount of hours on the holiday it self if you worked the night before...
Example: You started work at 11pm on the 24rd but 12am - 7am was on the 25th...
After doing this, you could be scheduled to come back into work on the night of the 25th because it was just considered a regular day of work..
This meant that you would get almost no time off for any holiday if that happened because you would be coming into and leaving work twice on one day!!
So to ensure that did not happen, all night shift staff worked either the Eve or the Day of every Holiday thus giving each other part of every Holiday off....
SO......
I kept to my schedule that I set up while working.....
I would come home from work in the morning of the 24th and throw the ham in the oven first....
This year's Ham was a boneless 2 pound one that I had in my son's freezer since August!!
This is just enough as I also serve Turkey and Kielbasi on Christmas Day...
While the Ham is in the oven, I was chopping up the celery, frying the sausage and prepping the bread crumbs to make my Dad's recipe for Sausage Filling!!
When the Ham came out of the oven, the Sausage Filling went into the oven....
Making these 2 things for Christmas Day Dinner, gave me a jump start on that for the next day....
While the Sausage Filling was in the oven, I chopped the onions and then browned them with melted butter to pour of the traditional Polish Pierogies for Christmas Eve Holy Supper......
We did buy 3 dozen of hand made pierogies from a local deli which were only $7.99 a dozen, the same price as last year....
When I was a child, the pierogies were always the best part of Christmas Eve Holy Supper....
My Mother made her own....
After that was all taken care of, I put together 2 Christmas Goodie containers to gift my neighbors Ed and Tom.....
Some nut roll, cookies and zucchini bread that I made and froze....
Along with the fudge I made and some candies.....
I always like to provide something that tells people what the goodies are because so many people have food allergies so I quickly printed these up....
If I was still working, this would have been when I went to bed for 2-3 hours before getting up to complete the rest of the Dinner.....
Have I mentioned how thrilled I am to now be RETIRED??????
LOL!!
I moved the decorations off the table to make room for the most important things....the food....
I got out and had all my serving dishes ready....
And even though we no longer partake of the tradition of breaking the Christmas Wafers or Oplatek, I put out a package of them on the table as a remembrance of Christmas Eve past at my parent's home....
As I mentioned in my previous post, I serve the pierogie, boiled potatoes with butter, mushrooms and fish that we buy from a local seafood distributer.....
Scallops and Shrimp....
And chicken fingers as our son Joey, not only does not like the pierogie, but he will not eat fish either...
They are all already fried up so I just pop all these babies in the oven to heat up!!
As I am sure you are well aware of if you visited here at any time during this Holiday Season, we have a new Grand Pup!!!
We had not met her before as my Son, Jim, had surgery on his eyelids to prevent them from dropping which was obstructing his vision....
Well, we got to meet Azumi and finally see our sweet little Faye after 2 weeks on Christmas Eve!!!!
Azumi is a 18 week old Shi tzu!!
Can you see how thrilled her Uncle Joey is with her!!!!!
OMG, is she sweet!!!!
Here she is meeting her G Pop!!
I think Joe is trying to grow his hair to look like her!!
She is much calmer and more docile than Faye.....
But it is a good thing as Faye seems to have calmed down a bit too!!
She even is keeping her Christmas Sweater on!!!
Danielle ate dinner holding Azumi in her lap and I ate holding Faye in mine!!
Sorry, the boys did not think to get any photos of that!!!
Afterward, it was exchanging gifts and watching the pups play....
Both pups were tired as they did not get a nap during the day and had baths!!!
Faye was more tired than Azumi!!
Playing with some new toys....
Poor Faye was losing it....
"Is it time to go home to bed Daddy?"
Finally, she just fell asleep.....
Joe and I received Gift Cards from Joey and money, lottery tickets, which unfortunately neither of us won anything on and this from Jim and Danielle!!!
It is our sweet fur baby Faye!!!!
It was taken from their favorite photo of her!!
And it is on a light base that can also revolve!!!!!
The side
The back
OMG!!
I LOVE IT!!!!
Jim won $50 on lottery tickets from us and Joey won $5!!
My poor baby boy Jim had surgery on both eyes with parts of the muscle being removed to prevent and correct drooping of his eyelids as they were obstructing his vision...
He had one eyelid done while he was in high school by lazer for the same issue but with age, it happened again...
He unfortunately inherited this from me as my left eyelid droops too.....
His eyes are still slightly swollen and his vision is blurry.....
He had a virtual visit with the Dr. and this is to be expected but it has really taken a lot out of him and he was also not allowed to exercise and do his weight lifting...
You can see that his eyes are slightly swollen and still watering....
You can also see how tired he looks.....
He asked if they could stay home on Christmas Day to rest....
I swore a long time ago that I would never put the pressure that was put on me by both sets of parents to attend Holiday celebrations at each of their homes...
And I could see and tell by his actions that he just is not up to par and coming to our home on Christmas Eve took a lot out of him....
Danielle has also been off during this time but has been taking care of the 2 pups herself...
So I gladly told Jim and Danielle that Debbie Door Dash would deliver Christmas Day Dinner to them at their house like I did on Thanksgiving Day...
On Christmas Day morning, after a lovely Christmas Eve celebration, I cooked up 3 rings of Turkey Kielbasi....
I always gift our sons each a ring to take home..
And I made a ring of cheese kielbasi up.....
I did this after I put my 6.5 pound turkey breast into the oven.....
I baste it with a mixture of Savory Herb and Garlic soup mix and melted sticks of butter.....
I then set the table for Christmas Day Dinner for the 3 of us.....
Since Christmas Day is about children waking up and running to see what Santa brought them, I went with that theme for my Christmas Day tablescape!
I set place settings for myself, Joe and Joey....
I started with a green Lenox charger plate that I bought at a church Flea Market...
8 for $5!!
I then added Christmas dinner plates bought on Clearance at Dollar General for $1 each!!
The flatware was bought at Wegman's years ago.....
Simple paper napkins....
Plastic tumblers for drinks...
In the center of the table.....
2 of the Santa's from my collection of Old World Santa's....
I set out baked goods and candy for after dinner.....
I used some of my Depession Glass collection pieces....
This one is trimmed with gold....
A set of vintage Santa Salt and pepper shakers....
This is what the green Depression Glass pieces look like with nothing in them....
And this one actually is a Christmas piece.....
An oval relish/nut dish made by Jeanette with a poinsettia design.....
I also like to use these in my Saint Patrick's Day display in the Den.....
Dishes for dessert that I bought on Clearance at Target for $1 each!!
Joe did help with some of the preparations of both meals....
He has always craves the turkey.....
And of course, he would have to be wearing a WB Scranton Penguins Christmas shirt.....
He did do all the dishes after Christmas Eve Dinner but was too "tired" to do the Christmas Day Dinner dishes....
Hmmmmmm.....
I also served mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, corn and the sausage filling and ham that I made the day before....
I packed up dinner for Jim and Danielle and Joey and I delivered it as they live only minutes down the road...
Jim is supposed to return to work this week but I asked him to call the Dr. to extend his time off because he works in the warehouse area and unloading the trucks at Target....
I hope he takes my advice....
So it was a quiet Christmas Day for Joe and I along with our son Joey....
Joe goes to bed way before I do so as I was sitting in the living Room watching "It's a Wonderful Life", I took a few pictures....
I LOVE the look of ambient lighting in the evening which is why I keep Trees up and decorated year round.....
Well, this turned out NOT to be the Holiday Season that I had planned....
BUT
You know what they say!!!
I swear this has been the story of my entire life!!!
It started with Joe getting sick right before Thanksgiving and having to go for a CoVid test which was negative...
He ended up giving both Joey and I acute sinusitis where all 3 of us were on antibiotics..
I chose to have Thanksgiving Day dinner as planned but since Jim and Danielle were not sick, had a trip to Las Vegas and Jim's surgery coming up in a week or so, I chose to keep them home and deliver Thanksgiving Day Dinner to them...
Jim Celebrated his Birthday on the 7th in Vegas but on the one day before his surgery when we could have held our family Birthday celebration, Joe had a hockey game and Joe always gets to do what he wants to do so we have yet to celebrate Jim's Birthday!!!
Hopefully, that will be on Wednesday evening when we will celebrate both Jim's and Joey's Birthday with our family pizza party!!
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day dinners remain to be seen what will happen this year....
Just the other day on my FB memory page, I was reminded of being sick for 3 weeks in 2018 when it started with a fever of 102 and a cough on Christmas Day!!
I did manage to cook Christmas Day Dinner but was too sick to do New Year's Eve and Day dinners and ended up in Urgent Care...
So I am playing it by ear right now.....
The one thing that being a Mother has taught me is that ANYTHING can happen!!!
I did not host any Christmas Get Togethers this year as I thought that I would because of the raging numbers of Co Vid cases in our area...
I did not feel it was safe to do so, not only for myself who has auto immune disease but for others who would visit here as Joe is now out in the public, working his part time job at the Toyoto Sportsplex...
I hope to have my good friend Anne Marie visit this week as we are both vaccinated...
Speaking of Anne Marie....
I will be posting my Annual Christmas Home Tour of her beautiful home!!!
And of course, her little dog, Autumn, is all dressed in her Christmas finery!!!
That will be on Wednesday as now that Christmas is over, I will be returning to my regular days, posting twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays....
It was really quite a chore posting 3 times a week!!
So I hope you will stop by to visit again on Wednesday when I share Anne Marie's home all decked out for Christmas!!!!!
Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!
Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!
If you do not have a blog, PLEASE
give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to
reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check
back......
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Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
Merry Christmas! Your tables and meals looked wonderful! I worked all the time my five children lived at home and for some reason, I was the one who hosted all the families too! Fun times. My favorites were when I worked until 4pm on Christmas Eve and stopped at the grocery store, probably for items I couldn't afford the week before. When I came out, cars had triple parked trapping me in the parking lot while minutes ticked away. The next memory is when my youngest was turning one, my middles were 2,3 and 5 and my oldest was 7. We were on the bad side leaving my Polish in-laws early on Christmas Eve so I could take the oldest to sing in the church choir and my husband took the others home to put on pjs. When I got home, they had all been vomiting all over my house, wallpaper and bedding since they arrived. I spent the entire night running the washer, dryer and soaking things in the tub and had to cancel dinner for both sides of the family the next day. The photos of present opening are priceless now that I have stopped crying 30 some years later.
ReplyDeleteWow! As always, your house is a wonderful world of Christmas magic! Thank you for sharing it with us…I hope 2022 turns out to be better than you ever imagined!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Nina
Nina,
DeleteThanks so much for your sweet words!! They are greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Happy New Year!!
Hugs,
Deb
Sorry Christmas day didn't turn out quite as planned but it does sound like you had a wonderful Christmas eve! The foods looks delicious and I bet your son was quite pleased with his delivered goods.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Debbie! It looks like a wonderful holiday in your fabulously decorated home. I always enjoy this time of year, peeking into your world. Thanks for sharing the festive fun with us!! Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun hearing your traditions and how they evolved. Sometimes Christmas doesn't always turn out the way you hoped but it still looks like quite a wonderful holiday in the total -- and certainly a beautiful one in your home. The table settings are lovely. Happy Christmas Week!
ReplyDeleteLovely...I'd love to tour and look at all your treasures, especially that gorgeous Saint Patrick's area!! I love that you call your decorations "old friends," that made me smile. I hope your son has a full recovery. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank you for ALL of your posts in 2021. Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
DeleteThanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave such a kind comment!! wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year! Stay safe, healthy and Happy!!
Hugs,
Deb