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.....
I post 3 TIMES A WEEK on MONDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAYS.....
As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....
PINTEREST
If you would like to Pin my pictures, please click on them to enlarge them to do so....
A NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS
I
enjoy reading your comments and will return the favor by visiting and
commenting on your blog or reply to you directly here if you do not have
a blog but I do have my comment section set to Moderation due to
spammers and hackers so your comment will not appear immediately...
And since I have a very busy life, like most of us do, it may take me awhile to return your comments but I promise I will....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In my last post, I shared our Christmas Eve Celebration for this year....
Click HERE if you missed that post!!
I was a bit tired after our Christmas Eve celebration but I was up early on Christmas Day to attend 9 am Mass.....
I love the wreaths on the doors and the greenery filled urns in front of the church entrance.....
To the right when you enter the vestibule....
The Wise Men are making their way to Bethlehem, following the Star.....
Straight ahead is this beautiful Tree .....
Poinsettias surround the bottom of it....
When you walk around it......
The Star on top with a sculpture of Bethlehem on the wall in the background.....
The scene as you enter the church.....
All the poinsettias were donated by parishioners in memory of loved ones.....
I donated to the flower fund in Joe's Memory along with my Parents, Joe's Mom and Joe's Sister Barbara....
It is tradition to offer money up to the baby Jesus which is why you see money on the straw in front of the manger scene....
So beautiful......
It was a wonderful Christmas service....
Not too crowded as there were over 600 people who attended the 4pm Christmas Children's Mass....
They had seating in the Parish Center and were live streaming it on the large pull down screen....
New people are joining our parish every week and I believe it is because of Father Alex....
When I got home, I threw a 5 pound Butterball turkey breast in the oven......
I then set the table for Christmas Day dinner for 2.....
I changed the tablecloth to a Christmas one with red cardinals on it.....
I used round red sparkly place mats....
In honor Joe's love of Penguin's Hockey, I wanted to use my Penguins dessert plates....
Plaid napkins and red flatware....
And crystal glasses.....
Like I did for Christmas Eve Dinner, I lit the candle that I received when my church hosted
an All Soul's Memorial Mass for those parishioners that passed away in the last year.....
It is a new tradition, that Hospice recommended, that I will continue, lighting this candle for every Holiday that we celebrate, in memory of Joe....
When a Cardinal appears, a Visitor from Heaven is near....
The red cardinal snow globe that my sister Barb gifted me......
Now I am sure you are wondering why the table is only set for 2......
Jim
and Danielle got to do something on Christmas Day that I would have given anything
to do when the boys were young....
A new tradition was started......
They stayed home on Christmas Day in their
PJ's....
The only time we were able to do this was the Christmas Day that we were all sick with a GI Bug and could not go up to my In laws for Christmas
Day dinner...
The boys were still young and it was the BEST Christmas ever!!
I am so HAPPY that a new tradition for Jim and Danielle
started this Christmas Day....
With the twins First Christmas....
I wholeheartedly believe that children should be able to enjoy Christmas Day in their own home, playing with the toys that Santa brought for them and not be dragged out to go to other relative's homes...
Growing up without Grandparents, I was blessed as a child that my parents did their own Christmas Eve Holy Supper after which we opened presents after Santa came...
We then went to Midnight Mass....
Yes, I went to Midnight Mass at the age of 4 years old until 20 years old...
Then my parents did Christmas Day Dinner, again in our own home....
It was around 1-2 pm on Christmas Day that we would then go to visit my Father's sibling's homes...
Even then, I remember not wanting to go as a child.....
These pictures just made my heart melt....
Unfortunately, on Christmas Day when my sons were young, we had to go to my in law's, which was a 40-45 minute drive...
My sons complained bitterly.....
They also did not like the food that was served there so I would have to feed them when we came back home....
I worked night shift every Christmas Eve so I could have Christmas Day night off so I would be exhausted having only slept 2 hours in the morning after coming home from work...
I vowed I would never ever make those demands on my sons......
Back to Christmas Day Dinner.......
I also made kielbasi.....
I always send some home with Joey and I also packed some up for Jim....
Along with mashed potatoes, corn, turkey gravy and stuffing.....
When Jim told me that they were going to stay home on Christmas Day, I scaled back my Christmas Day dinner and did not make a ham or my Dad's sausage stuffing...
It did make it easier for me.....
And Danielle had to go to work on Thursday morning for 4am so this made it so much easier on her too....
Again, which I totally understand how hard that is to do....
I did make Stove Top Turkey Stuffing though....
I forgot how good it actually is...
Along with being so easy...
I packed up 2 dinners to send to Jim and Danielle.....
This was the amount of turkey left after Joey delivered Debbie Door Dash Christmas Day Dinners to Jim and Danielle...
I always say that Joey likes a little mashed potatoes, gravy and corn with his turkey....
There was NO turkey left after Joey and I had dinner.....
LOL!!!!
It actually was a nice quiet relaxing day after the hustle and bustle of our Christmas Eve Family Gathering....
Arlynn
is one of my favorite You Tubers....
She decorates her home according to her own tastes and is blatantly unapologetic for her unique style and does not care what anyone else thinks of it...
My Hero!
Click HERE to see her amazing Christmas Home Tour....
Over these last few months, watching her has helped me so much as she has also been navigating through
this grief process caused by the loss of her 39 year old daughter over a year ago...
She admitted to being overcome by waves of grief, especially this Christmas....
So much so that she
is taking a break for a bit to reflect and respect her need for some
Self Care!
This made me feel so much better as I understand how she feels and at times, especially over the last week, I have felt the same way......On
Thursday, the 26th, I took a day for myself where I stayed in my PJ's,
rested and reflected on everything that has happened this year....
I did not cook as Joey worked and went out for a
big lunch with a few co workers so he did not come over for Dinner that
day....
It was a day of Self Care which I needed....
The
last few weeks have both physically and emotionally grueling for me as I was
off my game and not as organized as I usually am at this time of
year....
I was doing last minute running around, which I never do because I always had it all under control..
I
will also admit that Christmas was much harder than I thought it was
going to be as so many memories just kept flooding over me....
One can not put 49 years with a person easily out of their mind...
But even with that being said, it was a Good Christmas, spent with family....
Change is the only constant in Life the saying goes...
And some new traditions were started....
Along with honoring the old ones....
In my next post on MONDAY, I will be sharing a few new Buys and a Christmas Get Together with my Nieces as they are coming to visit today ( Saturday)......
So I hope you will stop by to visit again on MONDAY!!
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:
THURSDAY
Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
Hey Debbie,
ReplyDeleteI adore everything about this post, simply lovely... creating new and celebrating old traditions. Your Christmas Eve pictures were so very precious, and heartwarming as well. (I stayed in my PJs Thursday too!)
Blessings, Linda 💗
Linda,
DeleteMerry Christmas to you!! Glad you enjoyed the post...I think it is important that my son start his own tradition for his own little family as I am not going to be around forever....as long as they come for Christmas Eve, I am happy........And it was a bit easier for me too...Thanks for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Deb
I think your new family traditions are wonderful. I worked on Christmas Eve and had to dash home to dress five children and get the family to my inlaws 30 minutes away. They had a big dinner and then gifts and tried to stop us from leaving until almost 10 or 11. I still had to get kids to bed, wait to play santa and get everything ready for Christmas morning. At the crack of dawn my own kids would get up, my parents and my husband's parents would come over for brunch, gift unwrapping and lunch. Then I would start cleaning up around the guests as we were going to my parent's house for dinner and more gift exchange. It was exhausting. And five years out of seven, I would have to be back at work on the 26th. And the kids were cranky because they barely had time to play with gifts.
ReplyDeleteI have my family Christmas the Sunday before Christmas. And I don't hold it against anyone who can't come. I think families need to stay home on Christmas.
Your turkey dinner looks delicious!
Miss Merry,
DeleteI so agree... I vowed that I would never make those demands on my sons like the ones that were made on me...The only reason why we finally stopped going to my in laws on Christmas Day was when Joe first started working at the Post office, the first 6 years he had to go in for 3 hours in the morning on Christmas Day to deliver packages...Because of that, he told his mother that he could not possibly go up there after working in the morning!! I was happy but it did tick me off that i did it for over 20 years and no one care about me doing it....Merry Christmas, my friend!!!
Hugs,
Deb
I LOVE the matching pj's and decision to stay home. They'll never regret that family time. It sounds like you did exactly what you wanted to do and that's what matters. Blessings to you.
ReplyDeletePJ,
DeleteIt was a nice Christmas and for that I am grateful....Thanks so much for stopping by!! Merry Christmas to you!!
Hugs,
Deb