For Mackgirl!
Garlands.
Katie loves Christmas-- loves snow and ice and her breath hanging in a haze around her cheeks. She loves gifts and carols and pine needles dusting the floor; eggnog, cider, and bells jingling. Simple things.
But she loves most the gaps it fills, the people it connects. Families laugh despite past tragedies, friends sing hymns, and when she's caught beneath the mistletoe, it's not the scars she sees, not the shadow of a brother gone away--
it's the smile.
Katie loves Christmas.