A couple years ago my friend Graham recommended a children’s Bible called The Big Picture Story Bible. I’d been looking for something to start reading to Maddie, and didn’t want simply a regular Bible with kid-friendly pictures in it. As soon as this book arrived, I knew I’d found my answer.

Maddie enjoyed flipping through the Bible off and on, but about six months ago she really started getting interested in reading it. Since then, she’s been reading several stories a week, if not one or two a day, and I’m trying to make a Sunday night snuggle with a glass of milk and a Bible chapter part of our weekly routine with the girls.

As Maddie progresses to chapter books, lowering herself deeper into the well of literature, Cora hurtles headlong down the same path. She’s shown an interest in books for a long time, but has begun to memorize her favorites and will request specific books when she decides it’s time for a snuggle and a read. And it should come as no surprise that her current favorites have already been well broken-in by Maddie’s toddler fingers.

In some ways, Cora has different taste in books than Maddie; we’ve tried a few old favorites of Madeleine’s that Cora simply isn’t interested in. But there are several places where their tastes in books overlap, most notably in the animal kingdom. Specifically, bears.

Tuesday the three of us hit our local library for an awesome morning of storytelling. The reader was on fire, with props and costumes and puppets and a great sense of timing as she worked her way through a few books. One in particular, The Paper Bag Princess, was a big hit with Maddie. It told the tale of Princess Elizabeth, whose castle was attacked by a mean dragon; the dragon burned down the castle, leaving her nothing to wear but a paper bag as she went in search of her True Love Roderick, who’d been taken prisoner by the dragon. When finally the princess found the dragon, she outsmarted the dragon in a battle of wits and made her way to her True Love, who had the nerve to criticize her clothing and, well, smell. Elizabeth realized her True Love wasn’t the real deal and went off to be happy by herself.

When Maddie was six months old and experienced her first Christmas, Brian and I enjoyed the excuse to shower our pride and joy with gifts but knew it didn’t really mean much to her. Last year, we knew Maddie would walk wide-eyed and awestruck through the Christmas season, and I reveled in every second of watching her see everything for the first time ever: a tree in our house! Lights on the bushes! A sock hanging in front of the television! The experience reminded me of my own wide-eyed early Christmases, and I truly learned what it’s like to see with a child’s fresh eyes. This year, though not new and fresh, is almost more exciting than any of the previous, though, because for the first time we’re seeing Maddie remember traditions and anticipate experiencing them again.