Real Fairies DO exist

I come from a family that LOVES little creatures- like gnomes, the Easter bunny, elves, lephrechauns. But most of all they love fairies. These creatures were all very real to me growing up. Anytime I tried to ask my mom a question as to the doubtfulness of one of these creatures she always had a very clever answer. I was convinced (so convinced I believed in Santa until well past 12). Every summer my mom hosts a Midsummer's Eve party. The grand kids all make little fairies, while the men of the family do their best not to groan and puke. Also, while in the Tetons each summer the kids all make fairy homes in the woods and the fairies leave little presents in the homes during the night- things like fairy dust and miniature pencils. The Cherry Fairy always came when we were good for the babysitter. We left our shoes by the door and the Cherry Fairy would leave candy inside. My mom has quite the collection of fairy books, and my nieces' favorite show is "Barbie Fairytopia."

So when the women of my family were all shopping at Gardner Village's Moonlight Madness, you can understand our giddiness at getting a picture with a real live fairy. At first I tried to sneak a picture, then my sister Kim informed me of how thrilled this fairy would be at having us ask her for a picture. She was right. We even got a close up of the fairy ear!

The sneaky picture

We were honestly some of the last customers to leave the village that night at midnight. Our last stop was the Christmas shop where our slaphappy comments about the merman Christmas ornaments were not appreciated by the sales staff.