The Sugarplum Fairy

One of the remarkable things about Falls Village is how many people without children, or whose children are now adults, volunteer to help make life entertaining, interesting and stimulating for the kids who are growing up here. Like a Sugarplum Fairy, weekend resident Susan Dempsey (below with Caira McEvoy) has been organizing a holiday card-making and cookie-decorating party at the Hunt Library for a decade. She baked the plain, old-fashioned butter cookies from scratch and supplied all the embellishments that the kids used today to decorate cookies and cards. While the faces of the participants have changed over the years, one thing has stayed consistent besides Susan's generosity and devotion. "No matter what," she said wryly, "the girls always gravitate to the pink frosting."