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Sunday, January 2, 2022

Holiday Gifts, Crafts, Food and 4 Tablescapes, 2021




 

 

 

  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!!!!


Happy New Year!!!!
 
 
I hope you got to celebrate it in some manner with those that you love.....
 
 Today, I will be sharing more of our Holiday Celebrations.....
 
And it will be my final post here on my Christmas Blog for the 2021 Holiday Season!!!

But first, I want to Thank to all the Hosts of the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop for featuring my post, Christmas Home Tour, 2021, as one of the Most Popular posts from last week's Blog Hop!!
 
 
 Thanks so much to all the hosts!!

Please stop by and link up to this wonderful party!!!!
 
 
In my previous post, I shared my dear friend Anne Marie's home decorated for Christmas.....
 
 




 

 

 

  Click HERE if you missed it!!

You will not be disappointed!!!

 

 On to some personal notes...

 

Actually, this whole post is going to be one big personal note...
 
I did 4 different Tablescapes, 4 days in a row!!!!
 
The week between Christmas and New Year's was a busy one but filled with visits from family and a good friend!! 
 
 On Wednesday, the 29th, we celebrated both of our sons Birthdays since we did not get to celebrate Jim's Birthday which was on the 7th because of his vacation to Vegas and his eye surgery...

First Tablescape!

Since the 29th was Joey's Birthday, we decided to have a joint Birthday celebration!!

I set a very simple table....

But since it has been a very long time since we had a joint Birthday party....

Actually since they were little boys....

I thought I would have a little fun!!

Along with simple clear glass dishes, I set out my vintage character glasses....

Joey got the Hamburglar, which I actually bought in the 80's when the boys were young!!!

The Road Runner for Jim who loves to run and jog.....

Mine was Alvin from the Chipmunks......

Ronald McDonald for Danielle which I also bought in the 80's....

And of course, Elmer Fudd for Joe!!

 I thought it was quite appropriate for him!!!
 
LOL!!!

The other glasses were all my neighbor Elly's....

We are not big on baked goods so lately, we go with an ice cream cake for Birthdays!!!

I can not believe that my oldest son turned 40!! 

Holy Smokes!!

And of course, our grand pups were the center of attention at the Birthday festivities,,,,

Little Azumi is quite the kisser....

Faye can jump up on the sofa but Azumi can't yet....

What a sweet face!!!

They do like to play together and be by each other.....

"Can we please have one of those treats in that bag, Mama???"

Azumi has to be lifted up onto the ottoman.....


Faye is saying "Hey!! That's my ottoman!"


On Thursday, the 30th, my dear friend Anne Marie came for a visit.....
 
Second Tablescape!!

I shared the post that I did on her beautiful Christmas decorations in the beginning of this post....

Since New Year's Eve falls on a Friday, which is when our son Joey always treats us with a Take Home dinner and Joe was working from noon til 8pm that day, Joey treated us to a Stromboli from one of our favorite Pizza places...

I forgot to get a picture of the cheesesteak stromboli which was quite good!!!

A very simple tablescape....

I used pink poinsettia place mats on a green tablecloth....

Clear glass dishes, gold flatware which Joey laughed about using to eat stromboli..........

And crystal Long Champ tumblers....

I made the centerpiece last year.......

I glued a Dollar Tree vase with a cemetery candle inside of it to a tray and then made a wreath and placed it over the vase on the tray.....

You can change the wreath and color of the candle per Season and Holiday...

We had a wonderful visit that I greatly enjoyed and much needed....


Joey was off all week which was why he joined us, giving us some good laughs...
 
He also updated my Roku's and all the streaming services that he gifts me along with updating my computer and lap top .... 

Nothing like having my own IT Specialist!!!
 
You may remember the wreath that I made a few weeks ago using paper mache cones covered with music sheet paper, imitating a wreath that my Dad once made from thread spools that my Mother brought home from the sewing factory in which she worked...... 
 
 


I had enough cones to make one more wreath and since Anne Marie was kind enough to gift me several books of music that were her Mother's, I knew that I wanted to make a wreath for Anne Marie using that music sheet paper as a remembrance of her Mom.....


I used red ornaments , which I raided from my Valentine's decorations for as Joe could not find any after Christmas!!!

I trimmed the cones with a green tinsel wired trim and since I was out of Buffalo Snow, I stuffed and glued polyfil used for stuffing pillows into the open ends of the cones!

I glued red velvet like poinsettias from my stash in the center with green snowflakes.....

I then made a bow from green tinsel garland.....

The fact that I used music sheet paper that was her Mother's, brought tears to Anne Marie's eyes...

I am thrilled that she liked it....

I also gifted her this Snowman that I made that I knew she really liked....

And since I know she loves antiques and vintage pieces, I also gifted her a gift card from a local Antique Co Op right next to where she gets her sweet little dog, Autumn, groomed......

This is a perfect example to Buy Local from Small Businesses....

Look at the nice packaging and freebies this gift card  came with...

In a pretty gold organza bag with a complimentary calendar, flashlight and pen!!

Kudos to Lark  Mountain Marketplace for wonderful customer service!!!

Now Anne Marie knows me well and always gifts me things that I absolutely love!!!

Will you love at these beauties that I received from her!!!

Cute ornaments for my Summer Tree in the Craft Room.....

And this is a tea cup from an antique child's Tea Set.....

These are very rare to find as many were often broken by the children who played with them....

I found a home for it here right now...

I will be keeping it out year round....

And My Goodness!!!

Will you look at these cuties!!!!!

Just so sweet!!!!

Here is where I chose to put them.....

They are so precious!!!!

I think they are cute enough to keep out year round up in my Craft Room, don't you????


She also gifted me these 2 magazines as she knew that they are our style and I would enjoy them.....

She was so right as I do love them and they will be going into my library of books and magazines in the upstairs Sitting Room.....

And last but certainly not least, she always gifts me a Cynthia Hart Victoriana Calendar which I can not find anywhere near where I live....

I adore the Victorian styled graphics on these calendars.....

I use the pictures from past calendars to cover up generic calendars.....

It was so good to see Anne Marie and something that I think we both needed and enjoyed, vowing we will be doing more of the same in this New Year.....


Next, It was New Year's Eve!!!

Joe bought the Lobster Tails, which are our tradition for New Year's Eve, at a local place, Malacari's which is about 5 minutes down the road from us...

 

These are 9 - 10 oz. lobsters.....

I pretty much got "bullied" on a Food FB site to have Joe give up his secret recipe for making a mean lobster!! 

LOL!! 

People were not happy when I said it is a secret!!!

REALLY???

So I figured I might as well post it here too!!!

My Dad taught Joe how to make Lobster Tails a LONG time ago!!!

As you can see by the picture and the color of Joe's hair!!!!


  Fill a large pot with water to cover the tails. 

Add a few stalks of celery in along with 5 tablespoons of vinegar, bay leaves, salt, pepper , oregano, chives and parsley flakes...

Bring to a boil, then put the tails in ( frozen), wait for it to re-boil, reduce the heat a bit, and wait for the tails to start to curl.

 Remove when they start to curl, place on their backs, cut them in half using a VERY sharp knife , place in a pan to broil ( glass casserole dish). 

Top each with pats of sliced butter and then sprinkle with paprika. 


 Broil on low for about 5 minutes to melt the butter on top. 

Take out, remove from shell, serve with melted butter.

Joe went back to Valley Seafood for the rest of our seafood for the meal.....

 

Joe also picked up scallops.....

 

 Shrimp....

 

 And  cole slaw.....

Now Joe had a different idea about where he was going to get our son, Joey's chicken fingers for New Years....

Joey does not eat seafood....

Joe asked for 5 orders of Chicken Fingers to be made up for him where he works at the concession stand at the Toyoto Sportsplex.....

Joe does get a discount on any food purchases and Chef Steve had them made up for Joe!!

We have had them before as Joe frequently brings some home after work and they are quite delicious!!

And as per tradition, Joey does a French Fry run , usually to McDonald's, but this year it was Burger King as our McDonald's (again, 5 minutes down the road) is closed due to a fire a few months ago....

So that was our meal....

I set the table for our traditional New Year's Eve dinner for our family of 5.....

Third Tablescape on Dec. 31st!!!!

 

Now I know that many have already ripped down their Christmas decorations but NOT HERE!!!

In the early 1900's, there was a large influx of Eastern European immigrants in NEPA who came to work in the Coal Mines...

So for many years, Christmas decorations in this area were never taken down until The Feast of the 3 Kings or Epiphany, which is on January 6th..

My Mother ALWAYS kept up our Christmas decorations until New Year's Day and I frankly, can not even think about celebrating New Year's without Christmas decorations around!!!

Now in past years, I kept them up until January 6th but since no one else is going to be coming to visit this Holiday Season, I will slowly start to take down the Downstairs decorations starting on TUESDAY...

Yes, I am in no hurry since it took me 30 days to decorate this house this year....

AND...

The upstairs decorations stay up until I get the downstairs changed over to Winter/Valentine's decorations...

So I will get to ENJOY them even longer....

I figure that if you went through the trouble of decorating to only keep them up for 2-3 weeks then truly, why even bother?????

BUT that is my opinion.....

This year for New Year's Eve, I started with a tablecloth with red cardinals and poinsettias on it....

And I used my green Old Curiosity Shop dishes......

I started with a charger plate for each place setting.....

The Dinner plate....

And these small bowls which will be for the cole slaw.....

My son, Joey, does not eat cole slaw so he got a plate for his fries....

I bought these butter warmers for lobster many years ago in Boscov's....

My Ruby Red depression glass glasses....

Along with my red handled flatware.....

In the center of the table...


 

I thought these dishes were perfect for New Year's even though the clock is not set on Midnight!!!

2 bowls of Candy are on the table....

"To Sweet New Beginnings in the New Year!!!

"Kiss this Year, 2021, GOODBYE!!!"

I had to throw in a bit of fun with candy for the New Year as it is my family's favorite dessert over any type of baked goods!!!!!

I replaced the candles with the serving pieces for the food.....

These bowls for the shrimp and scallops.....

 

 And for the cole slaw......

Now, I have it planned just right as there were only 2 chicken fingers, 4 scallops and a handful of fries left!!!

My family will NOT eat leftovers even if their lives depended on it!!

And once again, the pups were the hit!!

Azumi is learning quickly that Uncle Joey LOVES being showered with kisses!!!!

Little Faye already knows that!!!!

Azumi and her G Pop!!

And sorry that this is blurry because Azumi was wiggling while Danielle was trying to get her zipped into her pouch to go home!!


And last but certainly not least, was New Year's Day dinner......

As per a tradition I started over 25 years ago, I make a VAT of lasagna!!

4 Cheese Sausage and Beef Lasagna.......

It was only myself, Joe and Joey for dinner and Debbie Door Dash delivered Lasagna that I make every New Year's Day to Jim and Danielle because Danielle is working a 4 day stretch that started on New Year's Eve with her shift being 3 am til noon.....

 

 NO weekends or Holiday off and now with the 2 active pups, she is tired!!!

 

  Jim returns to work on Monday and it is quite a feat bringing the 2 pups here especially 2 days in a row so this Mama delivered dinner so they can sit home and relax.....

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I remember all too well the pressure that was put on me, even though I had to work on Holidays, to attend family dinners...

And I swore I would never do that to my children!!!

I decided to use my Blue Transferware dishes for this tablescape.....

I started with the same charger plates that I used for New Year's Eve dinner.....

The dinner plate....

I used my gold flatware......

And my vintage gold leaf glasses.....

I wanted to do something really simple in the center of the table.....

 

So I went with more of a Winter theme because after all, it is January now!!!!

I bought this deer and a matching moose at Gabes a few years back....

From a set of white figurines that was gifted to me one year by my friend Anne Marie....

I placed a gold tinsel tree bought at Ocean State Job Lot this year in a tea cup and saucer....

Colonial Village, Olde Straffordshire, Salem, England

In the middle.....

A blue bottle brush tree with gold ornaments bought at Big Lot's a few years back.....

A Thomas Kinkade Angel......

Her lantern lights up......

Blue and white salt and pepper shakers and I carried over a bowl of candy, wishing for "Sweet Beginnings in a New Year"!

On the other side.....

The moose that matches the deer.....

SO.......

The Holiday meals are now over and THANK GOD!! 

I had quite the kitchen mishap yesterday!! 

While dishing out lasagna for my Debbie Door Dash run to Jim and Danielle's house on New Year's Day, I managed to get one piece nicely into a container after it came out of the oven BUT not so with the second piece!!

 It slipped off the serving thingie, fell first to the counter with a splat and then to the floor with a splatter!!!

Quite a few choice words came out of my mouth needless to say with Joe and Joey yelling "What was the Matter"?!!

 ALL OVER the place...the rugs, the cafe curtain on the counter bar, the floor, the counter , the take home containers, a tray of cookies covered with saran wrap and ME!!!!!

NO, I did not take any pictures!!!

 I quickly dished out another piece without incident and sent Joe and Joey to deliver their dinner while I cleaned up almost all of my entire Kitchen!!

So Debbie Door Dash turned into 2 Jolly Joe's Delivery!!

I can laugh about it now but not at the time!!!

 LOL! 

Today, Sunday, since our temps. are going to take a plunge for this coming week after unseasonally warm temps in the 50's...

 I thought it would be a good time to make some Turkey Bone Broth Soup!!

  
I used the breast bones of both the 10 pound Turkey breast from Thanksgiving and the 6.5 pound one from Christmas Day....


  
We will be having soup today with these noodles that Joe bought in Big Lot's!!!


 
We have had other sizes of these German egg noodles and they are quite good!!

 Along with Pulled Pork sandwiches on buns....

The Chef where Joe now works made pulled pork and Mac and Cheese dinners for the WB Scranton Pens staff to purchase for a mere $6 for lunch and had a lot left over so he gave some to the staff in the concession stand....

 
Joe brought this big container home!!

And I will leave you with another smile and a chuckle....

After speaking to my neighbor Tom about stopping feeding the squirrels in the Summer as they were destroying my flower pots and digging holes all over my yard....

They apparently have come back to find the peanuts that he kept throwing out by the bagful that they buried in my pots as they have been swinging in my 2 hanging pots and this one was looking in the window of the Den at me while I wrote this post!!!!


Here he is after he jumped out of the pot and shaking his tail at me!!!!
 
 
Again, a few choice words came out of my mouth!!!

And with that, I will end my posting here on my Christmas Blog for the Holiday Season of 2021!!

I may be back with a post or 2 on the 25th of some months for Rudolph Day if I have something about Christmas to share but I will not promise....
 

SO......
 
Until next year for the Holiday Season of 2022, God willing!!!

Wishing you a Happy and HEALTHY  New Year!!!!!
 
 
I will be posting on Wednesday back over on my regular blog, Debbie-Dabble Blog, so I hope you will come back to visit me over there to learn what my One Little word for 2022 is.....
 
 
  Along with a Theme for this year.....


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......


I am linking up to these parties:
 


Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!

5 comments:

  1. The wreath you made for your friend is just beautiful! And I am sure it meant a lot to her. All those beautiful tablescapes and wonderful meals. You really celebrated the holidays, birthdays and New Year in style! I have German heritage and married a Polish guy so our decorations stay up until the 6th (at least). My youngest son was born on January 5 and I think my kids all thought the requirement was that the decorations had to stay up until we celebrated Scott's birthday. Then I will slowly take them down, but I am thinking of leaving the bedroom and bathroom until at least the end of January. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fun post, Debbie! You had a lot of creativity going -- I especially like the idea of the music wreath. and no one can say you all didn't eat very well indeed! Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful tables, fun celebrations/visits and I LOVE your wreaths! Happy New Year, Debbie!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a fun gift exchange, and pretty tables, Debbie! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

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  5. Some of your pieces are neat, like the old childrens glasses, the antique China teacup, and the lovely green plates. Very nice.

    Thank you for linking up at the Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop

    Laurie.
    Ridge Haven Homestead

    ReplyDelete

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