Category Archives: Christmas

Good News! Our kids are in the Air!

 

As of 4:00 PM our 4 kids were at Seatac, through security and just waiting for their delayed 7:35 flight!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow our 4 kids are in the air and headed for Long Beach Airport as of 7:59.  Thanks for all your prayers. Now I’ve got to go make the beds for 4 extra bodies in our little condo. 2 inflatable beds and 1 couch plus one queen bed = 6 spots for 6 bodies.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Will They Make It?

 

These were some of the skies about and above the Santa Monica Mountains today in Camarillo, California.

 

This is what the neighborhoods look like in the Seattle area right now.

Our 4 kids have airline tickets to fly from the Seatac Airport to the Long Beach Airport Tuesday evening. We are hoping and praying that their flight will not be cancelled and that they will make it here. This is the first time in 16 years we are all gathering with the Bagdanov extended family for Christmas Eve. The last time ellen b’s immediate family attended the celebration was in 1992! We felt it was high time for us all to attend this annual event. My parents, our kid’s grandparents, are 85 now and we wanted our kids to experience this event with them again now that they are all adults. If our kids make it down and if Lana G. and her husband make it down there will be 35 of us celebrating in Huntington Beach at my sister Vera and her husband Nick’s house.

So all of this to just get personal and let you know that I will keep busy tomorrow so I don’t fall into worry mode over whether Seatac gets it’s act and de-icer together to get those planes in the air again!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Condo Christmas Table

Welcome to Tablescape Tuesday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

This is the Christmas Tablescape I came up with for the eating area at the Condo.

 

 

 

The Chargers are from T.J. Max on clearance for a dollar each. The dinner plates are from Marshall’s, the salad plates are from a thrift store originally from Mervyn’s, and the crystal dessert cups are from Goodwill. Believe it or not the full set of silverplate for 8 with the letter B engraved on them are from Goodwill in Washington that I found a couple years ago. The full set cost me $29.00.

 

The tablecloth, runner, and napkins, goblets, reindeer, and brass candlesticks are all from the thrift store.

Merry Christmas everyone!

To see more Tablescapes visit Susan.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

A Russian Christmas Cooking Day!

For the first time in well, ever, I was around for the annual making Vareniky for Christmas Eve Event. This year we all gathered at my niece Debbee’s house for the cooking. My mother Nadia was at the helm keeping us on track. Here’s the crew of mother, daughters, daughter in laws, and granddaughters, and great grandson. The youngest granddaughter was here, too, with photos to follow…

 

We were making Vareniky, which we have for dessert on Christmas Eve. The recipe and description of what they are is here  from last years event if you are curious…

 

 

I think we ended up making close to 200 of these lovelies!!

 

Some of the guys showed up, too, hoping for a treat or two!

 

And Miss Hope is here from Dallas for her very first Christmas!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

O Come, All Ye Faithful ~ Christmas Hymn

 

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;

Refrain

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;

Refrain

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

Refrain

See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle,
Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;

Refrain

Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring,
Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh;
We to the Christ Child bring our hearts’ oblations.

Refrain

Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?

Refrain

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

Refrain

Words: John F. Wade, cir­ca 1743. Vers­es 1-3 & 6 trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Fred­er­ick Oak­e­ley, 1841; vers­es 4 & 5 trans­lat­ed by Will­iam T. Brooke (1848-1917).

Music: Ades­te Fi­de­les, at­trib­ut­ed var­i­ous­ly to John Wade, John Reading, or Simao Portogallo (MI­DI, score).

ht: Cyberhymnal

Trim the Tree Thursday ~ Camarillo Ranch House

For Trim the Tree Thursday I’m going to share my tour of the Camarillo Ranch House here in my city with you. It’s the Victorian Home of the family who our city is named after. If you’d like to read about the history of this grand home you can click here.

The House is all decked out for Christmas in Camarillo

This is the main entry tree and the largest tree in the home.

 

Most every room in the house has a tree of it’s own

 

All of them are so unique.

This Hall Tree is in the main entry.

There are wonderful pieces of furniture in every room.

 

I would love to have a dining room this size!

 

Looking back into the Parlor from the Dining room with one of the docents in costume.

The family dining area.

One of the side entries to the house.

In the kitchen…

 

The table in the kitchen.

 

The family was known for their famous White Horses and there is a room in the house with these great saddles with beautiful silver pommels.

Time to go up the grand staircase to the bedrooms upstairs.

The Nursery

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Historic Landmark, Camarillo Ranch House.

A very Merry Christmas to you all.

If you’d like to see more Trim the Tree visit the lovely Southern Hostess Brett!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

2008 Christmas Tour of Homes

It’s time for Boo Mama’s 2008 Tour of Homes. You can travel all over the world and see homes all decked out for the most wonderful time of the year.

A very warm welcome to you from ellen b.  in Washington State and Southern California.

The tree above is our first annual Mystery Tree. I started a new tradition last year. I walk into Home Depot look at all the tied and wrapped trees, pick one without unwrappping it, bring it home all wrapped up, and surprise our Mystery tree is unveiled and we can laugh or cry at what we ended up with. Actually it’s quite fun to pick a tree this way. Good way to lighten up during the season…

 

Like many of your homes Jesus is at the center of our Christmas celebrations and Joy! This is what you’ll see at our entry in Washington.

 

And this is from our condo  in Southern California.

 

Let me serve you a festive drink and some chocolates and let’s start our tour before I serve dinner. These chocolates are the easiest things in the world to make. Just melt 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 bag of butterscotch chips then throw in some pecans or walnuts or whatever nut you like, spoon them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and let them cool and voila you have candy. I’m so darn sorry I forgot whose blog I saw these on. If you happen to visit here let me know if it was you and I’ll give you credit!!

 

Another collage of my little fake Christmas tree with lights that I bought for the condo from a local thrift store here in Camarillo, California. I’m usually in the State of Washington the whole month of December and only put up a tree there but this year is different and we’re not flying to Washington till Christmas day so we need something at the condo so people won’t think we are part of the Grinch family!

Now if you visit us in Washington I could serve you at this table.

 

Or from this Christmas table in Southern California.

 

Here is what I will be serving and what is part of our traditional Christmas Eve meal.

 

We’ll have a Rib Roast, Creamed Corn, something green, and Yorkshire Pudding. (Ok, it used to confuse me that they called Yorkshire Pudding pudding when it’s not pudding but a popover type bread that you bake using the hot drippings from the roast, I’m way over it now. You can make it in any pan but I bought this great popover pan that works great for them.)  After dinner we can sit by the fireplace and enjoy the tree with a cup of cocoa or coffee. If you stay for Christmas morning we’ll have those yummy Swedish Pancakes above that Dear makes for us every Christmas morning after we open our stocking gifts…

 

Now for some of the people God has put in our lives to share all the wonder of Christmas with…

 

I’d like to introduce you to our family. Our daughter Katie and DIL Laura. Our oldest son Josh with Dear. Our son Dan. Josh and his wife, our DIL, Laura. Another shot of our son Dan. Dan and Katie live in our home in Washington and take care of it while Dear and I are living in California. Josh and Laura live in Washington, too.

 

More shots of the family and extended family. The top left photo is of my sister Lana G! and I. She has a tour happening at her blog too, Above the Clouds . We have a great time blogging and tablescaping together. Dear, our daughter Katie, and me at Molbaks in front of the Poinsettia Christmas tree, Our girls…Katie and Laura, ellen b. and Dear at our 34th wedding anniversary celebration.

Thank you for taking my tour and meeting some of my family…

To see more tours click over to Boo Mama’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Seattle Christmas

Welcome to Tablescape Tuesday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Today I’m sharing a Christmas Table from my home in the Seattle Area of Washington State.

The Santa Hat Chair covers are from Target clearance a couple years ago.

I just bought the green goblets over Thanksgiving at Goodwill in Lynwood, Washington. I paid full price for them $1.99 each and there were 11 of them.

The red chargers are from Sears. They were 50% off so I got a package of 4 for $9.99.

 

The square green salad plates were from Sears, too, on sale but I forget how much.

The 3 tiered sever is from Target clearance from a couple years ago.

The crystal side dishes are from Goodwill in Bellevue

 

I forget where I bought the poinsettia napkin rings but I bought them last year at a Christmas Clearance sale. I love this tablecloth that I bought years ago from Molbaks at their after Christmas sale…

To see more tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Today’s Flowers #19 ~ White as Snow…

 

I took these photos of all these beautiful white flowers a couple weeks ago at Molbaks Nursery in Woodinville, Washington. During this Christmas Season they remind me of Christ and His purity from birth till death and what he did for me.

Isaiah 1:18 ~ Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Merry Christmas to all…

For more Flowers from around the world visit the Today’s Flower Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Trim the Tree Thursday

Welcome to Trim the Tree Thursday hosted by Brett at the Southern Hostess.

 

This is what you see when you come up to our front door at our home in Washington. See that gold ribbon? It is tied to both the wreath and the wall hanging. I just drape the ribbon over the door and the wreath hangs nicely on the outside of the door and the Ho Ho Ho wall hanging hangs on the inside of the door. No hooks necessary and the weight of each keeps them in place during the whole Christmas season…

 

This is a little glimpse into our living room where we always have our tree…

To see more Trim the Tree posts click over to Brett’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.