'Tis the season for elves...and fairies

by June

One spring, when the girls were about four, we were out for a walk in the woods. As we squished along in our boots, I said it was mud season now and soon it would be bug season. Blossom piped up and asked, "When is it gonna be fairy season?"

As it turns out, in our woods, it is always fairy season. And, thanks to Grandpa Hickory and his whimsy, it is not hard to imagine why our fascination has such deep roots: He builds fairy houses out of tree stumps. His granddaughters weren't very old before he had given them their own hickory-handled hammers so they could help too.

Blossom and Fern, then age 4, helping Grandpa Hickory

with a fairy stump house

We used to live in a pine forest, and as the trees came down in the big winter storms, Grandpa Hickory reclaimed the stumps for the fairies.

We're always sad to lose a tree. It was especially hard to hear that the 80-foot pin oak had died in Grandpa Hickory's back yard. Years ago, we had our last family reunion with his family under that tree. To ease the loss, he's built a mansion big enough for a fairy family reunion. We haven't yet made it home for a visit to Missouri so that Fern and Blossom can enjoy this gift from their grandfather, but we are told it stands taller than they do.

The girls can't wait to see the new fairy house...and the very special grandfather whose imagination soars with theirs.