Yeah, I know it's miserable weather out there for most of us, but I'm looking at the calendar,and the six day planner that tell me, it's time to be considering what to wear for spring weather, and for Easter Sunday! Now for a lot of you Mothers and Grandmothers, that means shopping. Buying something to dress your children up, or to give to your special grand-child. I suppose that in this day and age, that is all that can be expected, but what sort of memory does that leave behind for your child, or grandchild to look back on, when they are grown and you are either old and grey, or gone? Will they say," Well, she did the best she could?" How mediocre! How lukewarm. Nice enough, tinged with love, but hardly all out praise, is it? Now, I'm not talking to those of you who will go out and pick up a new pair of jeans and a top and figure that's enough. For you, there is nothing I can say to make any difference anyway. You don't dress yourself up for any holiday, and see no reason to make a big deal out of Easter for your kids except maybe buy them tons of candy and allow them to wear whatever they want, because after all, your not going to be taking them to church or anything. You might take them out to eat, at the local buffett,and who gets all gussied up to go out to eat anymore? No one you know, right? But for the rest of us, there just might be a better way to make an impact on our kids awareness,than to just take them shopping for a new outfit,and hope they don't ruin it before we can drag them to church Easter Sunday morning.
My parents did it with preparation. Okay, Dad didn't DO much actually,beyond stand around, his hands in his pockets,and look interested,while mother and grandmother worked on our clothes.That's right...worked on. As in, made. But given a chance, he would go with mother to the fabric shops, help her to pick out patterns, fabric, notions, (zippers,buttons,trim...) and help her decide whether to make mother and daughter outfits, or to make them all individual,and then, when the dresses were about half-made, he would take us all shopping for shoes, gloves, hats, purses and proper underpinnings. The half-way mark meaning it's too late now to change things, and by the time they were done, we would be all set for the big day, and have new outfits from the skin, out! I remember particularly one year, when by this time, mother and grams were sewing night and day. Mother worked away from home all day, but at night she would come in and start in right away. She had three dresses to make, One for herself, one for my sister,and one for me. The pattern was for a sundress,of sorts, with a square neck, puffed sleeves,and a full skirt. The fabric was light sheer cotton, with flowers on both edges,a sprinkling of flowers in the body of the slightly tinged white of the middle, and baskets of flowers on the lower edge, above the trim of flowers at the bottom.All three dresses used the same pattern, and she chose the same fabric, but with one difference. She chose a different color for each of us. So her dress was yellow, my sister's was lavender,and mine was pink. Which made perfect sense,since mother was a redhead, she couldn't possibly wear a dress in the red spectrum, it would turn her hair brown. But my sister and I were both blondes,and we couldn't possibly wear yellow...it would clash with our hair.To me it was nothing short of magical that mother or grama could take a piece of material, and turn it into a dress. And it was so beautiful! I loved that baskets of flowers dress! When I put it on, with six can-cans underneath,so the skirt was almost as wide as I was tall, I felt pretty! Then, I got to go to the store and pick out white patten leather shoes,and sox with frilly cuffs, and a purse to match and in lue of a hat, and pink and white bird-cage hat,which was nothing more than a head shaped netting, with bows and ribbons and little tiny birds all over it. Oh! And I got a new pair of white gloves too.I think that was also the year that my grandmother made me my first cape. It was black satin,and completely reversible. The other side, believe it or not, was chartreuse. Well, I wore that outfit to death, and I wore that cape to death too. Because it was made, just for me, with love. And it made me feel that holidays aren't just something to throw money at, but something special. Yeah,it's been a lot of years ago that all this took place, but the one thing my family did for me, was to point up when things are special, without having to go through all the rounds of talking about things that a little child can't grasp. Besides, between church and our prayers at home,and the reverence they held for Holy day celebrations, it was clear to me that Easter was far more important than a basket of eggs, or candy!
And, after all, isn't that the kind of message you want your children to get?
OUI?
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