I Resolve-NOT

Melodic Muse of the Moment:
"Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees

From the Gospel Music Channel

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your holidays were memorable & that Santa brought you more than coal in your stocking.


My holidays were fairly quiet & uneventful.  Christmas eve was spent at my sister's, eating our traditional Polish meal.  The first part is always meatless; consisting of fish, pierogi, kapusta (our special sauerkraut with Polish mushrooms & lima beans), warm prunes & apricots, & sledzie (herring).  We also break oplatek (thin wafer) before the meal to wish everyone health & happiness in the coming year.

After a dessert of cheesecake, we open gifts.  Usually, koledy (Polish Christmas carols) are sung & those who go to Midnight Mass leave for church.  Our Midnight Mass is at 10 pm because of the area it's in. Plus, we have a lot of older parishioners.

Our Homemade Kielbasa

While the others are at mass, we cook the meat-full part of the meal.  Ham & kielbasa, both smoked & our homemade fresh, are put in the oven in anticipation of the church-goers return.
As the delicious smell of juicy pork wafts through the house, the church-goers arrive & we are ready to eat.  The meats are served & we dig in.  Eaten by itself or between two pieces of fresh rye or pumpernickel bread, the feast is almost heavenly.  And the horseradish is so fresh that it clears the stuffiest of noses. 

When everyone has had their fill, it's time to start packing up to go home & get some much needed rest.
This year was a little different, however.  No one was coming back after church.  My aunt & uncle & cousins were just going home.  So, we packed up our doggie bags & were headed home earlier than usual.

Smoked Kielbasa & Ham

Christmas day is spent at my hubby's mom's home.  We eat turkey, ham & kielbasa, green bean casserole (my favorite), sweet potatoes, corn & rutabaga.  And I can't forget the cookies...So many cookies...

After we eat, my hubby plays Santa & passes out all the gifts.  The house is packed with people & gifts!  And cookies...So many cookies...

When all the gifts are given out & opened, everyone is exhausted & ready to go home.  But you know we can't leave unless we take...Cookies...oh, so many cookies...


For New Year's Eve, my hubby & I just went to a local bar & rang in the new year with my dad & a few regulars from the bar.  We dropped my dad off at home since he only lives a couple of blocks away from me & were home before 1 am. On New Year's day, we stayed home and enjoyed some much needed relaxation.


I make no resolutions this year for two reasons:
1) I never can keep them
And
2) I just want to have a great year of Happy, Healthy, & (hopefully) Wealthy with my family & friends.

My wish to you is the same;  May 2013 give you all the Happy, Healthy & Wealthy you need.

And Cookies...Oh...So...Many...Cookies


Happily Waving My Babushka,


Collette

P.S.  Sorry for no pictures of cookies, but they were taunting me so I had to eat them ;)