Bright White

Big Sister is working hard to prepare for her First Holy Communion. (And to those preparing her scrapbook pages, many thanks!) She is studying and learning and enjoying lessons with her wonderful teacher and dear friends. She is teaching me and has become a great resource to her brothers for their Religion assignments.

And a very small part of her preparation is getting a white dress, pretty little shoes and a cardigan.

We have my First Communion dress and my wedding veil which we'll incorporate into what she wears. I love passing down clothes for the sacraments. The smalls all wore the same baptismal gown. I wore the dress my Nana wore to my parents' wedding to my bridal shower and my mother's wedding dress to my rehearsal dinner. But I got the sense that my mid-70s polyester blend swiss dot frock might not be what Big Sister had in mind for her day.

I thought I knew just what she'd like in a new dress - something very simple and comfortable. Instead, she envisioned a lace top and poofy skirt! It arrived this week and as you can tell, she is thrilled.

Her tiny buttery-soft freckled face shone. She asked if she could stay in it just a bit longer. Oh. Sure! Just long enough for me to capture those sweet moments on film!

Big Sister seemed a bit more grown when she put her dress on and that's really okay. She's a big girl taking a big step. Baby Sister (who'll surely wear that pretty dress in a few short years) looks equally thrilled and even a little bit awestruck.

In love.