Operation Write Home

Operation Write Home is an organization whose mission is to support "our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." This is something I've wanted to do and finally stopped long enough to make it happen. I had a stash of Christmas cards and also stamped for a couple of hours yesterday to give me this assortment. I hope to make another quick dozen before I send them on their way next week. If you're a stamper/crafter, you may have an abundance of supplies that could easily translate into cards for soldiers. What a perfect way to support our troops and clean out that ever growing stash of paper, ribbons, stickers...

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

...baking, decorating, creating, giving (& wrapping) presents, blessing someone in need, listening to carols, watching Christmas movies, my special time with my close friends, and having my family home. But all of these things would be meaningless if I didn't reflect on the person around whom the season revolves, Jesus Christ, God's gift to us. I try hard to keep Him the center of my thoughts and daily life. So I read! I read the Christmas story. I read advent stuff. I read books like Joe Wheeler's "Christmas in my Heart." I listen to Christmas music while at home by myself (a favorite this year, Chris Tomlin "Glory in the Highest"). And what was so very, very cool this year...Gary and I were able to attend PC3's Christmas Eve Service. It was incredible!
I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. Blessings, Doris

Caroling Parties

Another memory from Jill...
When I think of Christmas I think of those awesome Caroling Parties. They were so fun. These didn't start until we were in high school and we try to continue these as best we can; there's nothing like the old Calabash neighborhood. They so loved to see us and listen to our carols (that's because we had those awesome singing Walters! ;) and others of course, like Becky Stover.)
Lots of fun memories from these parties...
Like the year I leaned back on the bar and caught my hair on fire! Yes that's right I went up in flames, but everyone quickly got it out, nothing bad just a few singed hairs! We enjoyed learning a couple of country line dances one year. And simply all of the faces of appreciation from our neighbors (most were elderly) who enjoyed our company so much! And of course the gobs and gobs of cookies and yummy Snyder food!

Jill Writes...

When I think of Christmas I think of...
Baking, baking, baking. I remember helping Mom bake cookies at Christmas time. We still do today. We bake so may different kinds of cookies. And then we make trays to give to customers of The Shipping Station (used to be all of the beach realty companies too when Dad still had Snyder's Lawn Care). I hope we continue this tradition, even though I don't own a business that requires that I make trays and trays of yummy goodies for my customers! I love to look through Mom's cook books. Although I now like to collect my own too! ;)

Gingerbread Men

When Becky and Richard were preschoolers -many years ago- I used to read them the story of "The Gingerbread Man." I remember reading it over and over and over. After Jon was born I remembered the gingerbread story when I saw these cute cookies at Apple Annie's in Wilmington. So I bought one for Jon and sent it with his Christmas present. The first set of pictures was taken that year. The next year I sent another gingerbread man from Apple Annie's and you can see from the pictures that Jon was very excited when he recognized the box.

Every year I send Jon, Caleb, Butch and Becky each a gingerbread man. A couple of years ago I started making my own gingerbread men. I don't know if they are as good as Apple Annie's, but I do enjoy making them for the Rahes and for my family. Of course now, I keep the storybook on hand to read to Bree...especially at Christmastime when the gingerbread men make their annual appearance. Somewhere I have pictures of Bree with her gingerbread men. Hopefully I will post them soon.

Cookies and Peanut Brittle

Whew! I am finally sitting down. I just finished stuffing over 90 little bags with peanut brittle..and I should add...after making 3 batches of cookies. Yes, it's that time of the season when Gary and I are busy making lots of goodies for his customers. I have no idea when this tradition started, but we've been doing this for many, many years. In 1993 I started keeping a journal of some of our special dinners, celebrations, parties, etc. Most of the entries tell my menu and the guests. Occasionally I actually made comments about food that didn't turn out or something that became a new favorite. It has definitely helped to have a Christmas cookie list from years past. So what did I make in 1993 that I am still making? Cranberry cheesecake bars, mexican wedding cookies, buckeyes, chocolate dipped social tea & vienna finger cookies. What did I make then that I haven't made in a while? Chocolate walnut minis (a small tart), Barb Weaver's sugar cookie recipe, and raspberry coffee cake. The first 2 take a lot of work and I can't get the raspberry filling to make the coffee cake (but I still look for it every year.)
Oh, the cookie trays will be done tomorrow! Yeah!

Julie remembers...

"I remember before Jill got married we would sleep in the same bed the night before Christmas. I think it was so that Jill could wake me up. I knew the presents would be there when we woke up, but I guess Jill thought we better get to them before they disappeared. I remember being kinda sad when Jill got married and we couldn't keep that tradition up. But. at least I'm married too." Julie Snyder Mixon

Thanks for sharing

Christmas Stockings

"When I think of Christmas I think of...stockings.
Stockings are my favorite. I love all the different stuff that would be in there! And we had really long stockings when we were growing up. So the gifts just kept coming and coming. I love to load Bree, Ty and Chris' stockings with unique candy that they will love and cool gifts too." Jill
I think what Jill really, really likes in the stockings is chocolate...especially if that chocolate has peanut butter with it! I don't think Julie complained about the chocolate either. And I will admit I always made sure there was chocolate for me and Gary! Wow...all this talk about chocolate...just gotta have some!

Christmas when you're 1

More pictures of Christmas at the Naves home. Just think, there were only 3 grandkids at this time. Can you imagine what it looked like a few more years down the road when the grandkids kept coming and coming! Stacy had just turned 1 in November, Jill's birthday was just a few days away. I'm not sure they were all that impressed with the whole thing.
Becky, Richard, Corey, Stacy and Jill. I wonder if this picture was taken before the presents were opened. Either that or mom had already cleaned everything up...or maybe this is another room???
This is Julie on her first Christmas. She looks like she hadn't been awake long and was probably wondering what the big deal was all about.
I know it seems like presents are a big focus of our Christmases, but these are the glimpses we have because of pictures taken. We don't have pictures of singing carols or reading the Christmas story, or advent devotions. So enjoy these old pictures and I'll share stories about the other traditions and celebrations later.
Blessings

Holden Beach Christmas

In August of 1984 we left family and friends behind and moved to Holden Beach, North Carolina. We rented a house on a canal on the island and somewhat enjoyed beach life for a while. The girls were so glad to have their Aunt Becky join us. It really helped adjusting to life away from cousins, grandparents, etc. Twenty-five years ago the beach became practically deserted after Labor Day. So we had a very quiet (silent) holiday. One thing I remember was walking on the beach on Christmas...barefoot. It wasn't really warm enough to be walking around barefoot...we just wanted to be able to say we were on the beach with sand between our toes.
I asked Gary what he remembered about our first Christmas here and he said, "We got the girls bicycles, it was 70 degrees and the girls were able to ride their bikes. So perhaps it was warm enough to go barefoot.
On the back of the Becky's picture I wrote, "Becky's First Christmas Away From Home." I'm sure she missed Mom & Dad and Richard, but we were all very glad she was a part of our home for our first Christmas here. (At least it looks like she enjoyed her gifts.) Don't the girls look so cute in their Strawberry Shortcake nightgowns!

From John

I can always remember dad running out at the last minute to buy something from mom. We always opened gifts on Christmas eve, and one year I got a lionel train set. We set it up on the kitchen table, and dad had it going wide open. It flew off the table and broke. Then I was sad, but dad went out and got a new engine for it!!!
God speed...John

Thanks for sharing that memory with me. I had forgotten all about dad's last minute shopping trips. And opening gifts on Christmas eve must have started after I was older ...maybe after I left for Nashville? I guess you guys got a jump start before the crowd came in on Christmas Day. In one of the pictures from Friday's post there is a huge dog. This was John's dog, a great dane (?) named Goliath. Man, that dog was like a small horse! Merry Christmas, John!

Christmas at Grandma Naves

Christmas at Grandma Naves has changed over the years. John and I don't live near, so our families aren't able to participate in that wild event. I say wild because that's what happens when that many kids gather in one place. But our hearts are there even when we aren't. I'm trying to think about Jill's age in these pictures and I believe in the first one she is 3, in the second one she's 5 and in the third one she's 4. Am I right? Anyway, from the pictures you see that Christmas at Grandma's was fun for the kids!

"Santa Claus" author unknown

He comes in the night! He comes in the night!
He softly, silently comes,
While the little brown heads on the pillows so white
Are dreaming of bugles and drums.
Who tells him I know not, but he findeth the home
Of each good little boy and girl.

He rides to the West, and he rides to the East;
Of his goodies, he touches not one;
he eats the crumbs of the Christmas feast
When the dear little folds are done.
Old Santa Claus does all that he can;
This beautiful mission is his;
Then children, be good to the little old man,
When you find who the little man is.

Christmas is Remembering

I love Christmas. I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes of Christmas. I'm so glad I'm part of a family who loves Christmas. I can't imagine being married to one of those "bah humbug" persons! Ewww! I'm also very blessed to have some "kindred spirit" friends who also adore Christmas....definitely some great memories of past Christmases there!

For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to look back through the years and remember. I welcome you on my journey.

A few years ago, we started taking a family picture on Christmas day. This one is from 2007. Bree had so much fun helping Julie push the button on the timer and then running and jumping into place. And how cool is it to have a photographer in the family? Way cool!

Tomorrow we'll go back to Christmas in Nashville 1974.

No more baking...almost

Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. And what have I been doing? Baking, making candy and packaging all the peanut brittle Gary has made. I think this is a record year for him. He and Debbie (from the store) gave out almost 100 bags to their customers. If you have ever made peanut brittle...especially a lot of peanut brittle...you know what a mess it can be when you break it apart. Well, all is done now and there is no more sticky residue on my kitchen floor. I made about 250 truffles, lots of buckeyes, vanilla cremes (that's new for me this year), and toffee crunch candy bars. I used snowflake stamps to decorate the cookie boxes, the candy wrappers, and tissue paper for the peanut brittle. (No, I did not stamp 100 pieces of tissue paper for Gary...just a few for some friends). I also stamped snowflakes on white cardstock and made pillow boxes with the Big Shot.
Here's what a few of them looked like.
Inside the pillow boxes were lip gloss and a mini candy bar. I made about 60 of these for my sister Becky. Almost all of them were on cardstock that I had stamped on. Just a few were made from designer papers. The pillow box die is a really great tool to make great favor boxes.








So what did I do today, now that most of the baking is done and the kitchen is finally clean? I helped Bree make her Christmas gift for her papa.
We took a giant pinecone, smeared it with peanut butter, and then covered it with bird seed. If you see smudges on her face, that's where she sampled the peanut butter. She did a great job and we had lots of fun. A couple of hours later we put it in a gift bag and hid it behind the tree. I explained that she was to keep this a secret until Christmas. Yeah, right! When he walked in the door, the first thing she said was I made you a present. She started rambling about birds and feeding them all the while I'm laughing telling her she isn't supposed to tell. But then that's what happens when you're three.
So, now we're a few hours away from Christmas Eve, and then everyone is here Christmas afternoon. We have one day to catch our breath and then on Saturday it's to the hospital where Bree's new baby brother will make his grand appearance. So the next pictures you see will undoubtedly be of Ty Harrison Hall.

Christmas Organizer

Last year I saw some Christmas organizers that were made using half of a simply scrappin' kit. I think the first one I saw was made by Jan Tink. She makes some amazing things. It was on her blog that I found organized Christmas. Lots of ideas on that site to help you get organized for Christmas. They also have gift ideas and recipes. So first I made one from last years kit (there's a picture on my SU website or a description and picture on this post). I gave that one to my mom. So, this is the one I made with the I Wish simply scrapping kit. I love the colors, real red, chocolate chip, and old olive. I was thrilled that the Shipping Station had red pocket folders for my organizer. I'm sure Gary had them in stock just for me!
This is what it looks like inside. There are four pockets; one for my receipts, one for my gift idea book, one for a little note pad, and one for random things.

The little notebook is a junior legal pad cut at 3 inches. And yes, they also came from the Shipping Station. The other book is a list of gift ideas. I don't remember if I got the list from Organized Christmas or from someone else. But I ended up making one of my own in excel because my their list just didn't work for me. I added things like cd/dvd, gift cards, toys.

Here's a close up of the front.
Now all I need to do is shop a little and put this thing to work!

Advent Calendar

I've been working on Jill's advent calendar and got side tracked making this one. Jill bought a rustic "house" calendar from Target last year. It has 25 little doors on it and is so cute! She's been busy with her research, work, and family and then the baby is due at the end of December. . .so I'm helping get the calendar ready for Bree. I'm printing the verses, etc to put behind the doors and Jill will add any little candies or surprises.





Last year Beate Johns made an advent calendar using small tins. Her tutorial for it is on Splitcoast Stampers. I think she used the Wilton favor tins that have a clear top. Mine have a solid top. I bought them on clearance a couple of years ago at Wal-Mart and was very happy to finally use them. I found the frame hiding on one of the shelves in the back room of The Shipping Station. It was a display piece for magnets. The paper is not attached to the frame; it's held in place by magnets that are behind each tin.



Most of the patterned paper is from Holiday Treasures designer series. I covered the "25" chipboard with the red with brown polka dots and sanded the edges. The "Days of Christmas" is cut from a set of cuttlebug dies. I decorated the tops with stickers from I Wish Simply Scrappin Kit, rub-ons from Season of Cheer, sizzix snowflakes, and stamped snowflakes.






I used a different set of cuttlebug dies for the numbers. They were the most time consuming part of this whole project. I used a glue pen and am hoping they will stick. If not I will apply a thin layer of Mod-Podge over the top.




On the last tin is baby Jesus! I colored this part of the stamp (from Season of Simple Grace) in chocolate chip and added the star.
Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to put in the tins and who's going to open them. Do you think this is something Gary is going to do?

Sudsol Challenges

Wow, it must have been a month since I have participated in one of Sudsol's challenges. The design was for a square card...which I don't usually make. So this was good for me. I kept the card small-4"x4"- and limited the layers. The images and verse are all from the Season of Simple Grace set. The "texture" on the kiwi kiss card base is made with the sanded background (ink-kiwi kiss). The designer paper is from Holiday Treasures - one of my favorites. Now, my challenge is to create other things - decorations, favors, cards, etc-with this set and with the designer paper. And, I need to do this quickly in time for my upcoming open house. I have already been working on the other important samples for this event...truffles and new kinds of chocolates! As a matter of fact, I just finished one of those new creations...it's good, but I just don't know what to name it yet.
What...you want to know what it is! You'll just have to check back in a few days. Perhaps I'll take some pictures.

Top Note Christmas Tree Card

The top note die strikes again! Look how easy it is to make a card. I stamped the tree and star from the Wondrous Gift set. The tree is stamped in encore silver, the star in encore gold, then both embossed with clear SU embossing powder. I used the double circle punch to make little ornaments from night of navy card stock. I used Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive to attach them to the tree. You can use either the horizonal slot punch or the double rectangle punch to make a slot for the ribbon to slide through.

Using crystal effects on the little blue ornaments adds a 3-D effect to them. It's difficult to see that in the photograph, but they really do look like small, round, shiny ornaments. Allow enough time for them to harden.

The words "Christmas" and "joy" (from Everyday Flexible Phrases) added to the top of the top note layer would be a nice touch. For the inside I will use a computer generated verse printed in Night of Navy on white card stock, then use the top note die and cut it out to match the outside.

On the finished card you can see the snowflakes stamped on the Brocade Blue layer.

Stamps: tree, star and snowflake from Wondrous Gift (109467); snowflake from Season of Joy (110384)

Paper: Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Whisper White

Ink: Encore gold, Encore silver

Accessories: Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch or double rectangle punch, double circle punch, clear embossing powder, crystal effects, Big Shot, Top Note Bigz die

Big Shot Top Note Bigz Die

This week I bought the new Top Note Bigz Die (#113463). It's great and so easy to use. The first card I made was the thank you card using the flowers from Upsy Daisy. I used the die to cut 2 "top notes," one in white and one in almost artichoke.
I colored the flowers with pumpkin pie, really rust and always artichoke, stamped the sentiment in always artichoke, and sponged pumpkin pie and really rust around the edges. I trimmed this layer at the perf marks and then put it on the always artichoke layer. I tied more mustard ribbon around the card and then attached the stamped layer.

I've been seeing these cute little owls made with this die cut, so I had to make one. Simple! Use this Big Shot die, some circle punches, the 5 star punch (or just cut his mouth out freehand). Add white gel pen and you can be finished. I've seen some with eyelashes and all kinds of other embellishments. But this guy gets the job done!












Yesterday I had a Christmas card class and knew that I had to include a card using this die. The nativity scene and sentiment are from the Season of Grace set (111778) from the Holiday Mini Catalog. The card base is naturals ivory with a ruby red layer, the bottom layer note is kiwi kiss and the top layer is naturals ivory. Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon is layered on a 1" strip of chocolate chip paper and is the only embellishment I used on the card. The only tedious part of making this card is trimming the top layer. At least there is a perforated line that you cut along. If the card base was ruby red instead of the naturals ivory, I would stamp or print my sentiment on the ivory, run it through the big shot and have the big note cutout on the inside as well.

Christmas Card

I've been busy making cards for an upcoming class. Although this is one of my favorites, it will not be one of those cards. I used a 2"x5 1/2" piece of designer paper from Holiday Treasures. I had to select a section of the paper with the red poinsettia in a position where I could trim the top of it. Because of this I will be limited in the number of cards I can embellish with this paper. That would be fine for making a few, but not for making multiples for a class.
I also like the simplicity of the card. It's not difficult to trim the poinsettia, just time consuming. But you do get faster with practice.
Kiwi Kiss card stock: 5 1/2" x 11"
Riding Hood red: 5 1/2" x 2 1/2" (approx)
Holiday Treasure designer paper: 5 1/2" x 2"
Riding Hood Red Classic ink pad
Sentiment from Best Yet