Normally, when my granddaughter Stasia arrives "home"—well, at her second home—our agenda... mine, at least, and, until recently, hers... is to get outside as much as possible and explore the woods, fields, "mountains," wetlands, and beaches. In other words, I do the usual and Stasia is my natural history shadow. But this visit, since we didn't have a lot of time, we opted mostly for the indoors, where the major activity was making gingerbread cookie ornaments and decorating the tree. To engage in this bit of holiday magic, my granddaughter put on her fairy wings. When I asked her if the fuzzy earmuffs were a substitute for proper elf ears. Stasia rolled her eyes heavenward and looked beseechingly at my wife Pam, a glance that said to both of my "girls," What are we going to do with this guy? What?