Tag Archives: Family

The Bagdanov Christmas Eve in Huntington Beach!

My dear parents, Moisi and Nadia Bagdanov, with their newest granddaughter Hope. This picture represents the oldest and youngest at our family gathering at my sister Vera’s home in Huntington Beach. My parents have 8 living very adult children and 7 of those children with all their children and one great grandchild were all together for the first time at Christmas since 1991. We have one brother whose family does not celebrate with us.

My kids with their grandparents (Baba and Deda).

Katie and her cousin Melissa (one of my sister Kathy’s daughters). My kids with their Aunt Lana and cousin Caleb. Levi and Joseph (Levi, Caleb, and Joseph are 3 of my brother Steve’s boys).

My brother Leonard’s family. Leonard, Mandy and Miss Hope! They flew in from Dallas to celebrate with all of us.

We decided to walk a few blocks to the beach to take some family photos. This photo is of our girls, 3 nieces and auntie Lana.

Our kids.

All the cousins and spouses of cousins. We are missing 8 cousins including spouses in this photo…

The Ladies!  Kristin (my sister Vera’s DIL), Melissa (my sister Kathy’s daughter), Katie (mine), Miss Hope (my brother Leonard’s daughter), Debbee (my sister Vera’s daughter) Jessica (my brother Steve’s DIL), Laura (my DIL), Michelle (my sister Kathy’s daughter).

The Gents! Caleb (my brother Steve’s #3 son) Ryan (my sister Kathy’s SIL), Jackson (my sister Kathy’s Grandson), Levi (my brother Steve’s #2 son) Joseph (my brother Steve’s #4 son) Timothy (my brother Steve’s #1 son) Dan (mine), David (my sister Vera’s son), Josh (mine)

The Newlyweds, Timothy and Jessica.

David and Kristin.

Jackson with one of his favorites, Debbee!

Katie down by the water. A storm was rolling in and we just finished our photo shoots before the rain started.

And here’s ellen b. having so much fun with Miss Hope!

Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday!

Since we had a blue and white tablescape for our daughter Katie’s birthday on Saturday I’m combining Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday this week!  My sister Lana G! was over and helped with the details on the tablescape while Dear and I prepared dinner for the party. Dear made both soups we were serving for the dinner. His famous Tomato Rice Soup is one he’s been making since his college days from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. The second soup was a Potato Leek Soup with Bacon and Havarti cheese that we used the best of 3 recipes to come up with. Both soups were yummy and well received.

My daughter Katie gave me the star bundt cake pan for Christmas so I decided to make her the Bundt Spice cake she enjoys. Here are the thick hearty soups we served along with bread and salad…

For more Blue Monday posts visit Smiling Sally and on Tuesday for more tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

 

Antique Christmas Postcards

Merry Christmas to All

Wishing all who pass by here a Very Merry Christmas. We are celebrating Jesus Christ and all the wonder of His coming to earth and dying on the cross for us. We are flying from the Los Angeles area to Seattle early this Christmas morning. Later this afternoon we’ll celebrate together with our dear friends over dinner in Edmonds.

These Christmas Postcards were all sent to Dear’s Great, great, Aunt Emma around 1909 and later.

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.

 

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!

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!

Fridays Fave 5 ~ December 19th

Lots of favorites this week for ellen b. From the top collage…

1. I was able to finally see St. Johns Seminary in Camarillo when invited to a Christmas Music Program there. I’ll post more photos in the future of the beautiful church and grounds. The grounds are private and not open to the Public very often.

2. I met my beautiful niece Annie at a great British Pub in Fullerton, California for lunch. We don’t see each other often and it was nice to catch up. The Old Ship British Pub was great, too. They have authentic British food and ale in British Pints. I want to go back and have some Sticky Toffee Pudding.

3. That’s Willow taking her life in her hands to get a photo of the snow on our California Mountains on our walk yesterday. Bloggers taking photos no matter what the cost is a favorite of mine during any week!

4. Yippee, I get to see these three this very day! My brother Leonard, his wife Mandy, and Miss Hope, their almost 1 year old daughter, my niece. They are here in Southern California from Dallas until Christmas day. I’m spending the day and then spending the night in Huntington Beach because tomorrow is the big family cooking day. We are making Vareniki for our Christmas Eve celebration. I want to kiss Miss Hope’s sweet cheeks!!

5. Snow! Hearing about the snow at my home in Washington and seeing the snow on the mountains in Southern California!

To see more Fave Fives or to join in visit our fabulous hostess Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

 

Snow at My House in Washington!!

My daughter sent me these photos that she took at our house in Washington State today! She measured the snow at 3 inches and said it is coming down steadily…

This is the view from our front door looking at our neighbors homes.

Views looking out to our deck and garage.

 

My kids are staying put at home today. I hope they have a good stash of food to eat :0)

We even got snow in our Southern California Mountains and in some lower elevations.

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.