Tess flipped through her Christmas-themed coloring book thoughtfully. She settled on a page showing two boys skating on a frozen lake under lightly falling snow. She picked up a red crayon and started shading in one boy’s scarf, humming softly to herself.

Blaine walked past on his way to the kitchen and caught a glimpse of the picture. He paused to listen as she switched from humming into soft singing, shifting her red coloring to the other boy’s gloves. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” Tess sang.

She put down the red and picked up a black crayon, coloring in the first boy’s coat. Blaine silently waved Kurt over to watch. “With every Christmas card I write. May your days be merry and bright.”

She replaced black with gray and filled in the other boy’s scarf and a square pattern on his coat, then turned to a blue crayon and filled in the rest of the coat, adding a swirly blue pattern over the scarf when she finished. “And may all your Christmases be white,” she sang, finally setting the last crayon back in the box.

Tess turned around. “Daddy? Papa? Why are you crying?”

Kurt reached out his hand to stroke her fiery-red hair. “Just bittersweet memories, Tess of the Fairies.”

Tess giggled at the nickname he always used for her. “Do you want to color a snowman?” she asked.

“Sure, sounds like fun,” Kurt said, sitting down beside her and wiping his eyes dry.