lambscapearchitect: costumes from mom

This year I made Eloise's costume for Halloween again. She is dressing up as Laura Ingalls and has been planning it for months. Every year as Halloween rolls around, I feel like I am paying a little tribute to my own mom.

Every single year my mom created our costumes for us. We would come up with the ideas together and she would sew different components or the whole damn thing. She would paint or tape or pin or stretch or manipulate any variety of materials to get just the right look. She also must have run about 50 errands to find that extra little touch that our costume needed. My mom is extremely creative and talented. She is a terrific sewer also. There were times I remember going to bed (at whatever time The Carol Burnett Show was over) with nothing to wear and waking up the next morning with a complete outfit and accessories newly sewn and hanging from my bedroom door--all sewn in a few hours time.

Looking back on it now, I realize how special it made me feel to have a homemade costume. Also, I remember what I was for Halloween just about every year of my childhood: angel, clown, ladybug, bumblebee, Rubik's cube, valley girl, bag of jelly beans, Dorothy. I know they may not have been the most unique and most creative costumes of all time but to me they were brilliant and they were just one more reason I was in awe of my mother. I mean, there were four of us!

As I do the costumes for the girls each year now, I know that the joy of putting them together is not just for the costume wearer. I know why my mom did it. It is so much fun. Whoever thought I would be so in love with 5 trips to Michael's to find the perfect flowers for Mary Poppins' hat? Why didn't I expect the thrill of piecing together a pirate vest and cutting a little skull and crossbones out of felt? Who could have anticipated the excessive giggling brought on every time I thought of one of my black DKNY knee-highs stuffed with batting for a tail on the black kitty costume? When I see the excitement on Eloise's face and I see how much fun she has dressing up in the costumes I made, and I see just how darn appreciative she is, I take a moment and thank my mom.
I get it now.