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...........
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.....
I post 3 TIMES A WEEK on MONDAY, WEDNESDAY and FRIDAYS!!!!
As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....
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ALL POSTS IN MY ROOM BY ROOM CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR SERIES ARE NOW FEATURED OVER ON MY RIGHT SIDE BAR!!
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Today, I will be sharing a few snippets of our quiet Christmas celebrations this year....
In my last post, I took you on a tour of my very own Victorian Christmas "Bed and Breakfast".....
Along with a few things that I did not share in previous posts!!!
Click HERE if you missed that post!!
I want to Thank
to Bev, over at Eclectic Red Barn and Niki, over at Life as a Leo Wife,
who are the hosts of Home Week, for choosing my post, Bright &
Merry Christmas in the Sitting Room, Faux Fireplace Mantel, as one of
the Christmas Home Features from December's You are The Star Linky
Party!!!
Thanks so much, Bev and Niki!!!!
Please stop by and link up to this charming party....
This post is a recap of our Christmas celebrations this year.....
The day before Christmas Eve, I made another batch of White Chocolate/ Peanut Butter Swirl Fudge with Milk Chocolate Chips because the first batch magically was disappearing!!
We did get a few gifts of candy......
A local company, Gertrude Hawk, Peanut Butter Smidgens from our neighbor Ed....
And from our priest, Father Alex, who said we must have made the good little boys and girls list.....
From another well known local company, Michael Mootz Candies...
These were nice surprises....
Even though it is almost 5 years since I last worked, I still go by the schedule I kept as far as cooking for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dinners and usually working night shift on Christmas Eve night and the night before it.....
I always do my Ham up on Christmas Eve Day....
A 2.75 pound boneless ham....
Along with my Dad's Sausage Filling.....
I saved myself some time and chopped up a loaf of potato bread into cubes on the 22rd....
The potato bread cubes for stuffing is very hard to find after Thanksgiving here so I use bread for Christmas....
After the turkey comes out of the oven on Christmas Day, this will be popped in to heat it up....
Our food for our traditional Polish Christmas Eve Holy Supper....
Joe and I are both descendents of immigrants from Poland with my Dad being first generation American born, and Joe's grandmother, who never learned to speak a word of English........
I bought the traditional potato filled pierogies.....
Home made from one of the many local places and churches that sell them during the Holiday Season here in NEPA...
I serve them the original way, boiled and smothered in butter and onions which I made up the day before...
So darn good!!!
2 dozen for a mere $ 8.99 a dozen.....
We do not do the Feast of the Seven Fishes which is a big tradition here in NEPA because of the large population of Italian descendents......
But I do serve seafood....
Scallops for Joe and I....
1 pound.....
Jim and Danielle like shrimp....
Fantail shrimp...
And.....
Since Joey does not like fish, he gets chicken fingers.....
Polish tradition is a meatless meal for Christmas Eve but we all have some of the chicken fingers...
Cocktail and tartar sauce too.....
Seafood and chicken dinner for 5.....
With pierogies, whole potatoes and butter, mushrooms, all part of the tradition, for around $100....
Not bad.....
I set a simple table for Christmas Eve for the 3 of us....
I delivered Debbie Door Dash for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dinner to Jim and Danielle as she was 36 weeks pregnant with Twins,,,,,,,
I have all the serving dishes for the food out on the table....
Because like my son Joey always says, "There has to be room for the food"!
Gold vinyl place mats....
Paper napkins with wreaths on them....
Dinner plates also with a wreath on them....
Both the dinner plates and the dessert ones were $1 a piece!!
Crystal glass ware....
And my gold flatware...
My Mother always had a lit candle on the table to "light" the way for the Christ Child....
I always put out a packet of Oplatki ( Christmas Wafers) as a symbol of a Tradition that we no longer keep because when my sons were young, they refused to eat them!!!
This is what I used to put all my Christmas cookies....
Joe and Joey "digging" in....
I guess Joe thought he would get a better view of the food by standing....
We went to Mass on Christmas Day morning.....
Entrance to our church, Saint Maria Goretti....
The 12 foot Tree in the church vestibule....
Looking at it when walking out of the church.....
An angel in the vestibule.....
The 3 Wise Men are still on their journey to Bethlehem, following the Star....
View from the back of our church....
Parishioners made donations for all the poinsettias in Memory of Loved Ones who passed away....
Our donations were in memory of my parents, Joe's Mother and his sister Barbara.....
I love the lantern.....
Our church was built 52 years ago....
The manger scene....
It is a Polish tradition to take a piece of straw from the manger and put it in your pocket.....
It is supposed to bring you "wealth" in the coming year...
The church was decorated beautifully this year....
When we came home from Mass, I threw this baby in the oven...
A 6 pound turkey breast.....
Joe always carves the turkey...
While the turkey was in the oven, I made up some Polish Kielbasi.....
Smoked Kielbasi
Kielbasi with cheese in it!!
Christmas Day Dinner consisted of ham, kielbasi, turkey, mashed potatoes and turkey gravy and corn....
This is the same dinner that my parents had for Christmas Day dinner when I was growing up.....
We are not big on Desserts so dessert was Christmas cookies and nut roll that I bought from a woman at our church who makes and sells baked goods for the Holidays....
It was delicious!!!
But like Joey always says " If you have room fro dessert, than you did not eat enough of your meal"!!!
LOL!
Again, I set a simple tablescape for 3!!!
This one is more on the whimsical side.....
I started with round red place mats that I bought last year on Clearance in Dollar General for a buck each!!!
Joe picked up these candy like dinner plates last year in Bed, Bath and Beyond, aloso for a Buck a piece......
The Penguin dessert plates were also bought at Dollar General for $1 each!
I used my red handled flatware from Wegman's.....
Again, I have the serving dishes on the table for the most important thing.....
The Food!!
As I mentioned before, I delivered Debbie Door Dash to Jim and Danielle on both Christmas Eve and Day along with a full Christmas Day Dinner to our neighbor and good friend Ed!!
Can I just tell you that there was not one single piece of turkey left!!!
Joey loves his turkey!!
LOL!
I did make up a dozen Hot Ham and Cheese Sliders on the 26th for dinner....
What was left....
Joe and I stopped exchanging gifts over 20+ years ago because if we want something, we just go and buy it ourselves....
But we did receive gift cards to Target, Big Lot's, Amazon, Olive Garden ( 2) and Hobby Lobby!!
Looking forward to doing some shopping after the Holidays!!!
And.....
For the first time in 9 months, we have visitors!!!!
Our grand pups Faye and Azumi slept with Mimi downstairs last night......
Faye all curled up in the comfy soft throws.....
Azumi stretching.....
Sisters!!
And now we wait.......
For the 2 best Christmas gifts we could possibly receive.....
Twin Grand Daughters......
Wink, Wink.....
I hope you will stop by to visit again on FRIDAY!!!
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!!
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!
Hi Debbie,
ReplyDeleteThis was such a beautiful post! I always love reading about, and seeing pictures of, your Christmas Eve traditions. All the food looked delicious sitting on the lovely table. The picture of Joe busily carving the turkey with his sleeves pushed up is wonderful! Your church is so very pretty, and I really like having the wise men separate from the nativity. And those precious grand pups!
May God bless your family as you await the twins' arrival. Danielle and Jim, as well as you, Joe and Joey are in my prayers.
Happy New Year!
Linda
Linda,
DeleteThanks so much for stopping by!!! And thank you for your very kind words....We welcomed our twin grand daughters on my oldest son's Birthday on the 29th and we are all thrilled and over joyed!!!
Happy New Year!!
Hugs,
Deb
I love turkey, too! Unfortunately I am the only one so it is Thanksgiving only. All your food looks so delicious. I am anxious to hear if there are two new tax deductions yet in 2023!!! I will be back on FRIDAY to check!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love hearing how you mix your Polish and American traditions, thank you so much for sharing.The different ways people celebrate Christmas around the world is so fascinating. As a Brit we always have turkey at Christmas but I actually though most Americans have something else as they are all turkied out after Thanksgiving! And huge congratulations Grandma, on the birth of the twins, I hope all are doing well.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and Happy Belated Christmas to you, Debbie, and your family!!! I'm excited for you and your son and DIL, TWINS!! Congratulations!! It was kind of you to cook dinner and take it over to them. <3 I love all the Polish dishes you served. I like the straw in your pocket. I think we all could use that bit of Christmas wishes. :) Happy to share your post as our first feature this week at Share Your Style #414 for you. <3
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs,
Barb :)