Piece by jigsaw puzzle piece, Sonya Shipley of Chimacum and her best friend have built a friendship that has brought them back together every holiday season for 35 years to puzzle out their lives and piece together a seasonal scene.

Sometimes she and Suzie Nelson meet in Chimacum, sometimes across Puget Sound at Suzie’s home in Arlington. One time they even convinced a Washington Ferry system captain to let them ride back and forth all Christmas Eve Day without disembarking, assembling their puzzle and talking, always talking. For about 12 years of this tradition, they travelled thousands of miles, across two states to meet up.

It all started in 1985 at the end of the fall term at Sacramento State University, when both were studying to be teachers.

“The quarter had wrapped up, so Sonya came by my house,” Nelson tells it. “I was working on a puzzle called Heavenly Glass from Mission Dolores in San Francisco. She sat down and she didn’t leave until the puzzle was done.”

That day, they discovered a pattern that would sustain them for decades: play a little music, talk about life, finish off a puzzle.“We are completely together,” while at work, Shipley said. “I guess it’s similar to a quilting bee because we can talk about what’s going on in our lives both good and bad, but we’re ever-present.”

Before the day they put their heads together over the stained glass scene, they hadn’t been close, but the fun of it got them started. “It really cemented what was an acquaintanceship into a strong friendship.You never know the smallest little thing that could lead to something that is monumental in your life,” Shipley said.

“Puzzles were the enabler that allowed everything to flourish. It develops a cooperativeness, because you can’t be competitive,’ she said. “You can, but it’s not pleasant. We’re really compatible puzzlers. We just never feel like someone’s horning in on our territory. It’s teamwork, not my section and her section and then we put it together.”

It’s clear they don’t overthink it. Neither had a grand theory of life to explain how to make a connection endure.

“There were other people that I got along with at school,” Shipley said. “When we first started out, it was a reason to get together. Friendships will drift despite your best intentions, but this gave us a focus. It just developed the root system.”

And now, having met at places like Disneyland and New York City, they know they travel well together, Nelson said. “She’s like a sister from another mother. We have a lot of similarities and we love to get together and laugh.’’

Sonya pretty much works on puzzles throughout the year, but I don’t. My fix is at Christmas time, with Sonya. And I love the sense of completion.”

Shipley specializes in building the edges, Nelson finds interesting details in the center and bit by bit it all comes together. “Before you know it, it’s 3 in the morning and we’re still working,” Shipley says.

They have moderated in recent years. “Now that we’re close to 60, at 2-2:30 we call it quits,” she laughs.

Some years they may only finish one puzzle. One year they did six.

In all, they have built - and kept - about 113 puzzles, some with as many as 2,000 pieces, though most are less daunting. Carefully bagged and stored, with the original boxes intact, the puzzles come to rest in Nelson’s garage.

A rebellion by Nelson’s husband (“He wants his garage back,” she said.) is turning their magnificent obsession into a fundraiser.

Shipley and Nelson this year have given away their completed puzzles to a charity that dresses needy children and helps them escape the staring eyes that follow kids whose clothes, shoes or grooming aren’t cool enough.

Even though they sold off about 100 puzzles last weekend, Shipley and Nelson will be back at it the day after Christmas, meeting up to assemble a scene of Santa relaxing the day after Christmas.

To contribute to their fundraiser, go to the following link: shorturl.at/bjotS.