Lately I've been spending a lot of time with my gran-girlies, and I think how fun it would be to share with them little things from my childhood that they will probably never experience.
Just the little things like the games I used to play - jacks, hop scotch and jump rope... and favorite memories like holiday times, and the fun children's' fashions from times gone by...
For instance, I took little Millie for a ride the other day, and I was trying to tell her about when we used to use a "muff" instead of gloves to keep our hands warm. How do you explain something like that to someone who has never seen one?
I found this picture to show her - but she just thought it was funny.
(I've been playing with the idea of making her one just for fun.)
My mother was a lovely seamstress, and she made most of my clothes back in the day.
At Christmas time, we always fell asleep to the drone of the sewing machine in the other room, as she created new cozy flannel nightgowns, beautiful ruffled dresses, or outfits for our dolls.
Back in "my day" (don't you hate when old people use that line?)
*Ahem*, anyway - we weren't surrounded by the huge chain stores that carry everything from toothpaste to tires.
We only had the little local mom & pop department stores.
They didn't have the floor space to carry toys all year through, but at Christmas time, they would often open up a corner of a storage room, fill it with toys, and call it Toyland.
We always thought it was such a magical place - our own little glimpse into the North Pole.
...We were always anxious to see if the toys we craved were there.
I love this painting by Tricia Romance - it reminds me of those days...
My thoughts had me Googling vintage patterns from the 50's and beyond. I found several sites selling vintage patterns, and I had a lot of fun browsing those sites - viewing fashions from other, more glamorous eras.
One site carried a variety of wedding gown patterns, from the 30's on down through the 80's. That site was particularly fun - and guess what? I found the pattern that I used for my bridesmaid dresses!
I remember it clearly, because I had a LOT of bridesmaids, and I had to cut out each and every one of their frocks, just to make sure I could get them all out of the amount of fabric that I had...
By the time I finished looking at all those dresses, I looked at the clock and it was 3:30 A.M. I had gotten carried away again!
When I went upstairs to go to bed, I looked out the window, and it was so light outside. There is nearly a foot of snow on the ground here - and the street lights played off it like a white sheet on a clothes line. It was glowing and beautiful, like a Thomas Kinkaid painting (my son would argue with that one...)
I tried to get a picture of it, but the window screens blurred the picture - and just as I was debating whether to venture outside - the battery died.
Just as well - a body does have to go to bed sometime. Especially an old body.
Here's that feeble attempt:
...Now I'm going to head upstairs to bed, before it's the wee hours again...
'Night!
.
2 comments:
Dear Pat,
I love reading your blog and I especially enjoyed this post (possibly because your "day" was also my "day"). I remember the beautiful clothes your mother sewed. She was such an awesome lady. I was telling my dad about reading your blog and he commented that your dad was one of the finest (and smartest) men he ever knew--what a compliment. I don't ever remember dad saying anything like that before about anyone.
I treasure our friendship and our shared memories. Have a wonderful Christmas season.
Love, Jill
Jill!
Thanks for your comments about my parents - that means a lot to me.
It's fun that you would comment here, because many of those games I played were with you.
Happy Holidays!
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