Project Costume is underway

I have got a major project underway here at home. I am making costumes for the church Christmas program. It is based in the 1880s...and orphanage....so the girls will need long dresses with pinafores over top. Older girls playing the two teachers will get long skirts and the boys will be in knickers. The pattern is very simple and will get more simple the more times I make it. I have two dresses done. That leaves 6 more to got, plus the skirts and three pairs of knickers.

I am cutting out and marking all the dresses today. That way I can sit at the sewing machine and just sew. Shouldn't take any time at all.

I also am trying to get Christmas into the house. Due to icy roads, we didn't have church Sunday morning, so the kids and I got started on the first of four trees that will grace our house. Yes, I said four!!!! I kinda like Christmas, can you tell?? I have a smallish tree that is all snowman ornaments. Then I have another smallish tree that is all farm animals and farm stuff. There is also a bigger tree that is nothing but Hallmark collectible ornaments. Hubby and I got married close to Christmas and received several "First Christmas Together" ornaments as gifts. I continued the tradition and added a new Hallmark ornament each year. After 18 years married, that makes for a lot of ornaments. Then when the kids were born, I added an ornament each year for each of them. That is my favorite tree. I do it by myself and reflect as I put each ornament on the tree. I think I will give the kids their ornaments when they are out of the house and have their own trees. Then again, maybe not!!! It will be hard to have the tree so bare after they have those ornaments for their own.

Finally, we get a fresh cut Blue Spruce for the final tree. We have gone to the same place for the past 7 years. The owner remembers us....probably coming with a big long trailer hitched to the truck does make us a bit unforgettable. Or is it the fact that hubby and Thomas cut the tree down each year with a Dewalt cordless sawzall?? Yes, traditions are what make this holiday special and those memories are what we treasure.

That tree is a biggie. We have a high ceiling in our great room, so we manage to pick a tree around 10 feet tall. Hubby goes through the field with his tape measure out. That is to keep me from picking one that is 20 feet tall. I swear, they always look so much shorter in the field, don't they? Anyway, that tree is decorated with mostly handmade stuff. I try hard to do a couple new styles each year. The kids love to decorate, so I let them get it done for me. That tree won't be done until about the 15th. Blue Spruce are pretty, but love to dry out fast and then every time the cat or dog walk by it, the cheerie sound of needles hitting the ornaments as they fall to the floor becomes commonplace.

The last big project will be to get my snow village out. That is another "mommy does it". The kids want to arrange it for me, but I want to do it myself. Still there will be trees that get moved to a different location or a car or person gets put someplace else. They think I don't notice, but I do.

For now, it is back to the cutting table. Goals have to be met, or there will be no costumes.