Kelsey is curled up in the corner of the couch, her knees drawn up and her feet tucked and she’s holding a mug of coffee with both hands. The fire is bright and everyone is loud. Kelsey is quiet, a small smile on her face as if she’s just taking it all in. First the stockings were handed out, and even though they are all identical, each person carefully dumps out their contents.

“No eating candy until after breakfast,” Dylan warns. His casseroles are already baking in the oven, and he’ll get pissed if everyone fills up on candy and doesn’t eat something healthy.

“What’s this?” Joy asks, the first to empty her stocking. She holds up a little book and then her smile gets bright. “It’s a little adult coloring book.” Then she looks around the room. “Who got these?”

Kelsey timidly raises her hand.

“It’s supposed to be something cheap, like candy,” I whisper to her.

Her face colors. “They were cheaper than candy,” then her voice gets louder. “I got the bookstore on campus to give them to me. They’ve been sitting in storage because they never sold, and it was too late to send them back.” She laughs. “I did buy the cheap colored pencils and markers, and split them up among you guys, so you’ll have to share if you want to use a color different than the one I gave you.

“Fun!” Alyssa squeals. “Let’s color after breakfast.”

Once everyone has emptied their stocking, the markers and pencils are lined up on the coffee table for everyone to use. Kelsey must have bought the super pack of each because every shade of every color imaginable is there.

“Time for presents,” Mia cries out, much like a child who can’t wait to see what Santa brought her. Nobody is expecting anything big. We do have a twenty-dollar budget after all, but just the feeling of family and Christmas morning is exciting enough.

Kate is the first to open her necklace. A violin with broken strings and a bent bow. On the lower part is a crooked heart.

“I love it,” she whispers as she puts it around her neck.

We’d decided that each of the girls needed to open their necklaces right after the other. Zoe’s is a bouquet of flowers with petals falling almost like a waterfall. Mia’s is a broken heart with dollar signs coming out of the top. When the three necklaces have been opened, Mia eyes the guys. “Clearly, you all shopped together.” She laughs.

“Picked them out the day after Thanksgiving,” Christian tells her.

“We hadn’t even drawn names yet.”

He gives her a disbelieving look. “But we were going to, and they were there. Besides, we wanted to buy from these particular artists.”

The girls share a look then Zoe’s eyes widen. “Kids at Baxter made these?”

“Yep.” Ryan grins.

Tears mist her eyes. “Thank you.”

Dylan then hands Zoe her gift. “This was also made by a Baxter student, but we didn’t want to risk the metal jewelry.”

Inside is a small decorative box, fired with a cream and rose glaze. “I’m not sure what you’ll use it for, but I thought it was pretty.”

Zoe hugs it to her chest. “I don’t know either, but knowing a Baxter kid made this, makes it twice as special.”

I hand Kelsey the long, flat box from me. “I bought this before I knew there was a Baxter booth.”

“I already bought my own necklace.” She fingers the stitched up heart that she’s worn almost every day since she purchased it. Then her eyes go wide. “Wait, you bought this before you knew about the booth. That was the day after the tattoo.” She opens the box and tears mist her eyes as she draws out the hand-painted silk scarf. “Why? How?”

“Even though you’d only walked back into my life the day before, I knew you’d be here for Christmas.”

“Don’t forget, silk doesn’t chafe the skin.” Mia winks at me.

“But, leather is better.” Zach laughs and Kelsey just buries her head in my shoulder.

The guy’s presents are pretty generic. Dylan got oven mitts, Christian got reeds for his saxophone from his favorite music store, Ryan got 35 mm film because he’s still old school, and Zachary got two new wig brushes because he keeps misplacing the ones he has. Then Kelsey hands me a box. She wasn’t supposed to get me anything, and when the hell did she have time to shop?

The fact that it’s heavy makes me nervous. She had better not have gone over the twenty-dollar limit. That is not allowed. Ever!

Then I laugh when I see what is inside: notebooks and pens.

I turn to Kelsey and kiss her. “Thank you.”

“It’s what you need, right?” Then she shrugs. “But not as nice as my scarf.”

“Trust me, if I hadn’t seen you with the scarves, I would have been clueless on what to buy.”

“Alex?” Ryan asks. “Why do you need school supplies?”

Kelsey’s eyes go wide, and her mouth pops open as if she’s worried she let out a secret.

“Don’t worry. I was going to tell them today anyway.” I assure her before telling my roommates and the girls about the offer from Martha and the plans on getting a business degree.

They’re happy for me, as I knew they would be.

“The only thing I need to do now is come up with a new name. Martha wants me to change it because what Skin Scribes was, is no longer.”

“Any ideas?” Dylan asks as he gets up and heads to the kitchen.

“No clue.” I shake my head.

“Just think about it,” Christian says. “Something will come to you.”

“That’s all I’ve been told,” I grumble. “Just think about it.”

“You could always go with that,” Kelsey laughs, then squeezes my hand. “Something will come to you.”

I look into her soft eyes. “Just think about it,” I say as the words starts playing in my head. “That’s it.”

“What?”’

“Just Ink About It.” I turn more fully toward her. “That’s what my tats are about – whatever is on their mind or in their heart. Just Ink About It!”

“Perfect.”