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!