i believe...

hey, friends! it's me. karey of mackin ink and also one of the t.ruffle girls. i hope your holiday weekend was pure magic. oh, it was? good. mine, too.

so. my favorite holiday tradition sounds pretty simple. it's to believe. which, for me, gets a bit more difficult with each year. but that just means i need to try to believe harder.

i was a sick little kid. every christmas, mrs. claus sent a special letter telling me how proud she was of me. how she loved that i never complained when i missed trick-or-treating or the circus or birthday parties or playdates with other littles who had cats or dogs or peanut butter or dust or chlorine or hay in their houses. and that i was the greatest little sick kid ever invented.

long after i stopped really really believing in santa, i still believed in his wife.

i've tried to keep my girlies three believing, too. this entails making nine reindeer bowls of food every christmas eve. did you know they all love carrots, oats, beads, and buttons? did you know vixen also enjoys a sprinkling of pink glitter over her snack? blitzen gets an extra dash of something from uncle sugar's bar? or that rudolph never never eats the red beads and - in his typical passive-aggro fashion - positions the only one how-could-you-have-missed-it smack in the middle of his empty bowl? of course you did.

there's the torn piece of red velvet fabric hanging from the girlies' attic door, the red glitter footprint where santa landed, and usually one or two other details that always surprise even me.

uncle sugar and i aren't the tallest parents in the world, which means that the giant tree he bought this year in a panic because our other two trees hadn't arrived from jordan {but sadly showed up two short days after purchase. grrr.} would probably go angel-less. i'm not good with geometry or physics or anything else smarty-smart numberish, but that tree's width multiplied by its height and divided by our short equaled a very. bare. tippy. top. balanced out nicely by the three hundred and forty seven shiners adorning its bottom third. thank you, esmé.

lillie's the one who noticed it first. the angel! she squealed. oh. our angel. the one i bought just after my sister died. tulle and tiara and glitter galore and even a wand. easily one of our most beautiful possessions.

santa must've put her up there! he must've known! this from my grae-girl, who has spent most of the christmas holiday angry with her older sister for not believing hard enough.

we all sat in that magic for a moment. and even though i knew how it had surely happened...for a split second? maybe probably longer than that? i forgot i wasn't supposed to believe in santa claus anymore.

didn't realize how much i'd missed that guy.

warmest wishes and imaginary hugs and kisses to all of you. please visit me at the sweeterie or our etsy shoppe or even mackin ink. i'm always happy to see you. mary is, too. and thanks, suzanne, for inviting me over for the holidays. i will see you in dc soon, yes? say yes. gorgeous photos from for stars will rise again on tumblr.