Silhouette Christmas Stories

Anything.'

Her smile was soft. 'Darling, the best thing is, we'll do this together. We never have to be apart again, and I'm looking forward to living life with you.'

'Through all the ups and downs?'

'Through everything. I love you, Kyle. We're going to be happy. I just know it.'

Crushing Gale against him, Kyle knew he would never want anything more out of life-ever.

Author's Note

Serving in the U.S. Navy from 1964 to 1967 during the Vietnam conflict brought new meaning to the holidays for me. Until I joined the military, Christmas was a very special day filled with family members, excitement, warmth and opening gifts. I remember as a six-year-old being unable to sleep on Christmas Eve, then getting up with my siblings, Nancy and Gary, to see what was under the Christmas tree. Another year, Gary got so excited that he threw up on Christmas Eve! My mother, Ruth, decided that from then on, all gifts would be opened on Christmas Eve because she didn't want any of us getting sick with excitement over them.

Those kinds of memories mean so much more when you're stuck in a military base very far away from home. Christmas for servicemen and servicewomen is the loneliest time of year, a time of great vulnerability, since there is no way to go home to be with family. Instead, the military becomes your family. I can remember standing duty over the holidays and looking at the empty Ops building and the quiet revetment area devoid of jets and personnel.

For 'Always and Forever,' I drew upon my own experience as a Navy meteorologist who stood Christmas duty. My Marine Corps husband, Dave, was stationed in Vietnam for sixteen months. Every day I wrestled with fear and anxiety, wondering if he was alive or dead, because he was in I Corps area out in the bush. The chance of his coming home was very slim. I waited in agony, as every military wife did, hoping I never saw two officers come up to the house to announce he was dead.

The holidays for those in the service can be brightened by letters. They were our lifeline, a godsend, a reminder of a saner, gentler, more loving world than the one we worked and lived in. Besides letters, phone calls were wonderful. And moms sending our favorite cookies and cakes, which we'd all divide among our friends in the barracks. Believe me, you have no idea how much letters mean. If you have a daughter or son in the service, keep those cards and letters going to them.

When Dave was in Vietnam, I wrote a letter to him every day. That's close to five hundred letters. They were my outlet for expressing my love-and my fears-for him and to tell him about my job and what was going on at the base. Dave later told me that he used to read and reread those letters. His buddies did, too, because not everyone got as many letters as Dave did. He admitted that they helped him keep his sanity, his hope that he'd survive.

So, dear readers, know that a lot of me, my experiences and feelings about service life are woven through the strands of 'Always and Forever.' Being part of the military teaches you so many valuable lessons that civilian life doesn't. I'm proud I served my country for three years. And I'm glad that Dave made it back home to me!

Merry Christmas.

***

THE MYSTERIOUS GIFT by Kathleen Creighton

A recipe from Kathleen Creighton:

THE PRETTIEST CHRISTMAS COOKIES IN THE WORLD

(and the best tasting, too!)

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp flavoring (vanilla or lemon, or a combination of

the two)

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and flavoring and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and stir in until well blended.

Cover and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Roll out dough to 1/8' thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. (Note: The trick to rolling and cutting these cookies is to use plenty of flour. Don't be too kind to the dough-it's not important anyway.) Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until delicately brown. Do not overcook.

Remove from pan and let cool on racks.

What makes these cookies special is what comes next: DECORATING!

To decorate the cookies you'll need:

Frosting-Sorry, I don't have an exact recipe. I just dump a box of powdered sugar into a bowl, add a couple of big spoonfuls of soft butter, a capful of whatever flavoring appeals to me (rum is nice!) and enough milk to make the right spreading consistency, and mix until creamy and smooth.

Colored Sugar-Blue, green, red. If you can't find it at the store in handy little bottles, make your own! Just put a couple drops of food coloring into a couple of teaspoons of sugar and mix with your fingers until evenly distributed and the shade you desire.

flaked coconut

chocolate sprinkles

colored sprinkles

cinnamon imperials (red hots)

tubes of decoration icing (optional)

cocoa (for chocolate frosting for snowmen's hats and

Santa's eyes)

Frost cooled cookies generously with white frosting. Immediately sprinkle with decorations of choice. Work quickly before frosting dries out or the decorations won't stick!

What makes these cookies the Prettiest Christmas Cookies in the World (and the best tasting) is generous use of white frosting. How you decorate is, of course, entirely up to you, but here are a few suggestions: Christmas trees with colored sprinkle ornaments and green sugar leaves, and a red-hot star on top; reindeer with chocolate sprinkles and a red-hot Rudolph nose; snowmen with flaked coconut snow, chocolate hats and red-hot buttons; blue sugar stars and colored sprinkle sparkles. The simple designs are the prettiest.

That's all you need. Put on some Christmas music (Elvis's 'Blue Christmas' is great!) and invite friends and neighbors to help. (Eggnog adds a lot to the spirit of the thing.) Oh-one more thing-the secret ingredient: lots of laughter!