Christmas is coming...You're so much fun!

Dear Josephine,

A few things from your 2-year-old life

that I want to always remember.
First, I don’t know when you started this,
but every morning when we hear you wake up
in your room and I come in to get you,
you say in the sweetest little sing-song voice,
“Is the sun up?” and I say “Yes it is!”
I hope I never forget how your voice sounds when you say that.
Maybe we’ll get it on video one of these days.

Next, you’ve really gotten into playing pretend
and dressing up. A few weeks ago the outfit you put
together was just priceless. Clothes that didn’t match
with a tutu on over them. These sunglasses that strap
onto your head like goggles, thick socks and one Cinderella
shoe (a plastic glass slipper) ‘cause everyone knows
she lost the other one. Watching you walk around the house
like that is just priceless.

You’ve also become obsessed with this game 

lately that you call “Tear.” It’s from a book 

of princess stories that the Yardleys gave you.
You love this one story called “The Mice Save the Day.”

It’s about how Cinderella’s mice friends make 

a beautiful dress for her but her stepsister Drizella 

“tears” her beads and beautiful dress to shreds.
Then she runs to a stone bench in the garden 

and weeps until the Fairy Godmother finds her 

to help her get to the ball. You always want me 

to play Drizella and pretend to tear your dress
and then you run to the stone bench and “weep.” 

I’m guessing you might be into theater when 

you get a little older. Oh, and another thing, 

you absolutely LIVE in this purple dance costume
dress that Grammi and Papa got on a garage sale.
That’s the “Cinderella” dress you wear. 

And if you keep your pull-up dry all day, 

you’re allowed to wear the dress bed over your PJs.
It’s a great potty training incentive. 

You truly believe you’re a princess
when you put that dress on.

We’ve started a few new Christmas traditions this year, 

now that you kind of know what’s going on. 

Each night (or at least when we remember) 

you get to light a candle on our Advent wreath. 

Then we read a little devotional that I wrote awhile ago 

to help families prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. 

Then, your favorite part is putting together this nativity puzzle 

that I hope you’ll be able to keep someday for your family.
Sometimes you ask if we can practice singing 

Happy Birthday for Jesus’ birthday.

And then, you get to blow the candles out 

and you’re always fascinated by the smoke.


Lastly (for now) something funny 

about your first real encounter with Santa.

It was in his new little house in Marysville 

and you weren’t afraid to go up and sit on 

his lap. You told him you wanted a pink 

princess bicycle and then Mrs. Claus 

gave you a candy cane. When we walked
out of his house, you looked at the candy cane 

and then looked up at me and said, 

“Where’s my bike?”
Guess we forgot to tell you that he 

doesn’t actually bring your gifts
until Christmas morning! I'm sure there'll 

be more to tell when the holidays are over. 

Right now,we're in Salt Lake City visiting

Uncle Simon and Aunt Cydni and just enjoying 

being together as a family!