For these pals, it wouldn’t be Christmas without jigsaw puzzles

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, November 26, 2019

It’s been their Christmas tradition for 35 years.

“Puzzle pals” Suzie Nelson and Sonya Shipley have put together at least 130 jigsaw puzzles at Christmastime. All of the puzzles they’ve assembled for the season have had a Christmas theme — Santa’s workshop, snowmen, gingerbread, snowy villages, wrapped gifts, ornaments and angels.

“We love Christmas,” Nelson said. “Getting together and doing puzzles is just part of the holiday season.”

As a way to mark their 35th year of puzzling, more than 100 of those Christmas puzzles — assembled but not glued — will be on display at the Arlington City Hall on Nov. 30 for the city’s annual Hometown Holidays celebration.

The tradition started in 1985. Nelson and Shipley were both working toward a teaching certificate at California State University, Sacramento. One December evening, Nelson was working on a puzzle titled “Heavenly Glass,” when Shipley stopped by. She didn’t leave until the puzzle was done.

“We just continued to meet every Christmas season, and the next thing you know, it’s 35 years later,” said Nelson, who teaches at Western Washington University.

Each year they alternate playing host for their Christmas puzzle event. One year, they’ll put together a puzzle in Nelson’s living room. The next, they’ll set up at Shipley’s dining room table. Sometimes they’ll do several puzzles.

In 2014, in honor of their 20th anniversary, they completed a jigsaw puzzle on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. The title of that puzzle was “Christmas Eve,” so, of course, they assembled it on Christmas Eve. As they disembarked the ferry, the wind caught the puzzle and blew it apart. Ferry crew members helped the puzzle pals pick up the pieces.

Shipley had a photo of them with their finished puzzle turned into a custom 80-piece wood puzzle. They did that one the next year.

“Except for the first year, we’ve never lived in the same town or city, and from 1999 to 2008, we were two states apart,” Nelson said. “Sonya lived in California, and I lived up here in Washington.”

Nelson moved to Arlington in 1999. Shipley moved to Chimacum near Port Townsend in 2008. Instead of states away, they’re a ferry ride away. Which means more puzzles.

“Once Sonya moved up here, whenever we get together, our mind says, ‘Let’s do a Christmas puzzle,’” Nelson said. “It’s that Charles Dickens quote, ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,’ and so we do.”

If their lives were a puzzle, Nelson and Shipley would be each other’s matching piece.

“If we hadn’t had puzzles, she would have been a good friend in college. We might have stayed in touch once a year with Christmas cards, if that,” said Shipley, who is retired from office work and now plays percussion in the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra. “As it is, I got a best friend out of it.”

After they finish a puzzle, they’ll go out for some more Christmas fun. In 1995, they dressed up as the “Deck the Halls” carol for a Christmas parade: Suzie was a boxer, Sonya was Halls cough drops. In 2004, they went to New York City for vacation and stopped by the flagship Macy’s department store to see Santa. In 2018, they checked out the Christmas lights maze at Enchant Seattle.

“There’s just a sense of joy,” Nelson said. “Sonya and I laugh a lot. It’s just a really fun time.”

Nelson and Shipley have kept all of their assembled jigsaw puzzles over the years. They decided to follow Marie Kondo’s advice and only keep the ones that “spark joy.” Shipley is saving some of her favorites for her 90-year-old mother to do. She recently got hooked.

It was Nelson’s idea to put on a “Pieceful Pastime” show — benefitting Arlington Kids’ Kloset — to mark the 35th year of their Christmas tradition. (Housed at the old Arlington High School, the Kids’ Kloset provides school clothes and supplies to children in need.) If you see a puzzle you like, you’re welcome to take it home. Make a donation to Arlington Kids’ Kloset, and the puzzle is yours.

Teacher Donnica Farnsworth had her students at Kent Prairie Elementary School make posters for the “Pieceful Pastime” show. As a thank you, Nelson gifted the fifth-graders a 500-piece “Sunshine Committee Snowmen” jigsaw puzzle. Each student received a zip-top bag of about 20 pieces.

“Since the fundraiser is for kids, I thought it would be awesome to involve kids,” Nelson said.

The puzzle pals already have this year’s puzzle picked out. It’s titled “Santa Collection” and has 1,000 pieces. They’re scheduled to work on it Dec. 1 and 2. But, then, when Nelson goes to Chimacum on Dec. 26, they’ll work on another puzzle where Santa’s kicking back the day after Christmas. Of course.

“I like to do any puzzle — she’s the one who loves to do Christmas puzzles,” Shipley said. “She is the theme finder, she is the one who has all these traditions. No one does it quite like Suzie does.”

That first puzzle from 1985? It won’t be for sale at Arlington City Hall. Nelson is keeping it for sentimental reasons.

She said she wants to go to Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, in San Francisco, to see the stained glass window that inspired the “Heavenly Glass” puzzle.

“I want to take our puzzle and stand under the stained glass window for a picture,” she said. “Maybe for next year’s puzzle event.”

Sara Bruestle: 425-339-3046; sbruestle@heraldnet.com.

If you go

See “Pieceful Pastime,” featuring more than 100 Christmas puzzles, from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at Arlington City Hall for the city’s annual Hometown Holidays celebration. The show marks 35 years of puzzling by Suzie Nelson and Sonya Shipley and is a benefit for the Arlington Kids’ Kloset. With a donation of $10, you’ll get to take your favorite puzzle home. Go to tinyurl.com/PiecefulPastime for more information.

Arlington’s Hometown Holidays kicks off Nov. 30. A Holiday Open House features shop local specials, fire pits, carolling, s’mores, falling snow and holiday lights from 4 to 7 p.m. on Olympic Avenue. The city’s Tree Lighting ceremony is 5 p.m. at Legion Park. Hometown Holidays continues Dec. 7, 11-14 and 21. Call 360-403-3421 or go to www.arlingtonwa.gov for more information.