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Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Tuesday 20 November 2018

The ABC's of Christmas ~ B


The surest way to enhance the charm and magic of the holidays, is to deck your halls with sentimental decorations and traditional touches that will bring joy all season long. ~ Victoria magazine

Welcome back dear friends! Today I'm doing the letter B of Christmas.


B is for ...Baking, Boxing Day, Baubles, Bethlehem...

When my children were growing up, I did a lot of baking for the holidays. In fact, I used to make fifteen kinds of sweets every Christmas.

Included in all that baking were pies, tarts, cookies, including gingerbread boys, donuts, two fruit cakes, fudge, and peanut brittle. I also made pate which is a rich meat pie that I still make every year. I usually make it with a bannock crust.

We had a lot of company in those days and it always gave me such pleasure to serve my goodies to special family members and friends!



The day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day and it is a holiday which is celebrated in many countries, including Canada, Australia, and England, etc.  
There are any number of explanations for the name, however, most relate to the giving of a box of food or money to the needy. Christmas is a time for charity and good will toward men. 

Here in Canada, Boxing Day allows us some down time after the busy Christmas preparations. It is a rather relaxed affair and is usually spent with extended family and friends. Usually there are leftovers from Christmas dinner to be savoured.


This is one of the many Baubles on my Christmas tree. It is a Limoges ornament which was given to me by my mother years ago. It is a beautiful porcelain ornament of pink and white encircled with bows, butterflies, and flowers. It is topped by a little blue butterfly.


More baubles. Many of my ornaments are gifts from family and friends and hold much sentimental value like this lovely globe of angels from my oldest son. 


This snowflake was from my hubby.


'O Little Town of Bethlehemis a popular Christmas carol which was penned by Rector Phillips Brooks {1835-1903} of Philadelphia in 1867 and the music was composed by his church organist Lewis H. Redner {1831-1908} in 1868 for the Sunday school children's choir. 

The Christmas carol was written following Rector Brooks' pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He was inspired by the view of Bethlehem especially at night time. 



Thank you for visiting today and thank you for your wonderful comments on the letter A.  I hope you will join me again as we talk about the C of Christmas later in the week. Have a delightful day, dear friends!


Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

10 comments :

  1. Sandi, I love Christmas cards of the little town of Bethlehem in that blue, blue sky with the star. As a little girl, those little Bethlehem paintings were always among my favourites of Christmas. And I do love that beautiful carol too.

    Happy day...
    Brenda xox

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  2. Great Christmas post as the first one!I love that stunning Limoges ornament,unique!I also love that gorgeous teapot and tray,they both made me swoon!Hugs!

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  3. Love your teapot and tray, Castles of Britain. Your baking looks so delicious. I'm enjoying your ABC's of Christmas.

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  4. Beautiful, warm and yes, so inviting. You always make me wish I could go and have tea at your lovely table. The ornaments are gorgeous and your husband's is the loveliest. The sweets look yummy !
    The transferware is ever so pretty in red this time of year.
    Happy Thanksgiving.
    Fabby

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  5. Such pretty baubles! The Limoges ornament is especially beautiful. I also like to gift friends with pretty ornaments.

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  6. Love that platter that you served your goodies on...

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  7. What a gorgeous Limoges ornament! I also love all of the baking associated with Christmas.

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  8. This is such a fun series! Your baubles are lovely, Bethlehem had no idea what a privilege it had (at the time) and baking! Ah! So good!

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  9. Thank you for sharing these precious posts. Celebrating Advent and reflecting on daily prophetic devotionals keeps me focused, and this year a lovely Advent Christmas tree calendar arrived from my sister. Treasured angels and ornaments also hold so many memories, as do the sweet carols. I'm looking forward to enjoying your next post!

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  10. I am enjoying this series, having just discovered them today with the letter E, and working backwards! Love O Little Town of Bethlehem...one of my favorite Christmas carols. Baubles on the tree are so special...yes, many of mine were gifts and have special meaning as well.Baking...well I do some special things, but not quite as much as you. We have our favorite cookies and traditions, and then it seems as though many people bring us sweets so we get overwhelmed with too many. But it is a wonderful way to enjoy the season. Thank you for sharing your special traditions with us. This is a wonderful way to get into the season!

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I am delighted to have you visit me and I read every comment. Please forgive me for not being able to visit you all as there are so many of you lovely bloggy friends now. I will visit as much as possible. I wish you a day filled with JOY!

Also, due to the amount of spam I've been getting, I have had to set Comment Moderation. ~ Sandi

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