Christmas On Holden Beach

 As we have for numerous years, we made our way over to North Carolina to the quant little seaside town called Holden Beach.  Stone, Lucy and I were thrilled as we crossed the Intracoastal Waterway that took us to the 8 mile long barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean.   We had been looking forward to doing nothing but walking on the beach, eating seafood and having lots of time for reading.  Being a fast reader, I read five books while we were here.  Three of which were written by one of my fellow DAR ladies, Author Lin Stepp.  Her latest book called The Last Snow made the New York Times best sellers list this month.  How exciting is that!!!

Lucky Leaf  Cherry Pie

Our little cottage that we rent here on Holden is perfect.  It's cozy, right on the water and has a really well stocked kitchen.  Well, maybe not so well since it doesn't have any of the necessary things to make a pie.  There wasn't a rolling pin, so I washed a can of Pam spray and used instead.  It worked really well.  Secondly, there wasn't a pie pan.  I found this stainless steel skillet that could go in the oven.  Perfect!  Lastly, there was no cooling racks.  Everyone knows if you don't place a hot pie on a cooling rack, the bottom crust could end up soggy.  No one wants a soggy bottom.  To cool the pie on I found this vegetable strainer.  Pretty creative if you ask me.

 I had been trying for weeks to decide on what dessert I was going to make for Christmas Day.  Stone asked if he had a say in this decision. I said, "why of course you do."  He informed me that Apple or Cherry Pie would be real good.  I wasn't  apposed to either, but I was wanting something entirely different.  Maybe something with chocolate in it would be good. Still undecided, I had been talking to my mama and she asked what dessert I was going to make for Christmas Day.  Before I had a chance to say what I had decided she said, "I think you should make a Cherry or Apple Pie."  Really, did Stone call her and tell her to say that. Then she followed with she would probably make the Cherry since it was red and would be more Christmassy.  So thats what I did.  

Recipe in hand, I walked into the grocery to buy the ingredients that I needed for my Cherry Pie.  Lets just say I didn't need any recipe.  There where no fresh cherries, frozen cherries, or cherries packed in water that would have worked also.   Holden Beach grocery is very limited.  I ended up with the Cherry Pie from my childhood, using canned pie filling, which is not all bad. This stuff does taste good, but my usual recipe uses frozen cherries, then adding some additional ingredients.   Lets just say this was most likely the fastest pie I have ever made.  Just open the cans and dump the filling into the pie crust.  My mama was right once again since being all red was Christmassy.  We topped it with some vanilla ice-cream and mmm,  it was good.

I placed these lobsters in the pot before, but I just couldn't do it this year.  Stone had the honors.

Simple and YUM!!!

 On a recent visit to see Ms. Betty, my mother-in-law, I said, "tell me a Christmas memory from your childhood."  She said, I remember my mother would always have a large decorated tree in the living room, but in the foyer, she would place a small one that she would spray with water, then sift flour over it, making it look like snow.   Then she would decorate it with gum drops. What a cute idea, one that I recreated this year while we were here at Holden Beach.  I did add a string of lights to add sparkle.  Also Ms. Betty had recently won at bingo, winning a small wooden angle and a Merry Christmas sign that she wanted Stone and I to have.  I placed them both on top of our little sapling which was the perfect garnishment for our little beach tree.

This was Lucy's first time on a beach.  She was thinking it was a very big bathtub  and she wasn't so keen on getting in it.

A layer of fog on the beach.

Sand Christmas tree drawing, decorated with seashells.

Merry Christmas 
from

Stone, Lucy and I.

Our final evening as the sun was going down, even though it spent most of the day fighting through fog.