What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Clues

All Hallows' Eve is nearly upon us and that means only one thing.

It is costume-making time.

Here are some cloodles as to what is keeping my fingers nimble these days: any guesses?

Costume 1:



Costume 2:



Costume 3:


The oldest two strain their necks when we go grocery shopping, to see all the costumes around and made their decisions after seeing store versions.

Now, I am cheapskate and proud of it but even despite the $25.00 price tags, one lesson I really want to convey to my children is that HANDMADE is not only more economical, but more quality and WAY more fun.

The process of creating something unique and working for something that you want is incredibly valuable. I am constantly battling the "Let's just run to the store and buy it" mindset and would much rather see the "Let's made do with what we have and creatively work on ways to get what we want" mindset play out. The latter generally comes more natural to me.

Of course, that means that I need to exemplify that for my children. And THAT means, that the week before Halloween and the week before Christmas, especially, are the times when I most curse that characteristic of myself. You would think if I were smart, as I add children to the mix, I would also add more time for preparations and work. But noooooooooooooo-once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator.

Of course this year, after promising and discussing costume possibilities and getting the children wild with anticipation of rock-on, out-of-this-world costumes, I find out that Halloween is on the Lord's Day. And though I have never found fault with having a good time on Halloween, the Lord's Day is and always will come first. So-no trick or treating for us.

Talk about a buzzkill.

Who wants to stay up all night making costumes for a passel of children for NOTHING?!

My brain got to buzzing and I have come up with a grand solution to the problem. One that can happen on Saturday night and is WAYYYYYY more cool than trick or treating anyway. (Why didn't I think of it sooner?)

Think:: Tasha Tudor visits the Newmans; pumpkin moonshines, popcorn balls, caramel apples, apple cider, donuts, forest hayrides with candle paths and stories around a campfire.

Since the "Let's made do with what we have and creatively work on ways to get what we want" mindset is ever present, looks like I have lots of work to do and not just with costumes.

Where is my popcorn maker again?

9 comments:

Bonnie said...

Hmm, my guess with all the Narnia reading is something along those lines?

We better be seeing party pictures!

Nanci said...

Where's my imagination?!?!? You've have me completely stumped!!!

Unknown said...

the ribbon on the first reminds me of when i dressed up as an egyptian princess :)
as for the others - i have no clue, but can't wait to see the finished results!
hey - are you sure trick or treating won't be on saturday where you live? it's sunday here, but i've heard on the news that some communities are doing it saturday instead.

Terri said...

Can't wait to see what it's going to be!

Rebecca said...

Lana~ hey-you are good! That is precisely what Costume 1 is! :-)

ulli said...

I was going to guess a princess of some sort for #1.
Maybe a knight or king for #2.
And #3 has to be a glittery butterfly.

Rebecca said...

Ulli~ you rock! You guessed them ALL! WaHOO!

Anonymous said...

Hi Rebecca

I have read your blog for a long time now and I respect your opinions very much. I am then very curious to know what your opinion is on Halloween. I'll be honest, I was a bit surprised to see you busy with costumes for All Hallows Eve, assuming that you would not "celebrate" this type of event. Anyway, I know you are a very busy mom and wife (well, once your dear hubby comes home tonight - yay!!), but if you have a moment, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. I struggle with it a lot myself.

Thanks!
Michelle

Mar said...

Love the costume materials. If you have a shopping center or mall in your area, you might want to see if they or the library or some other place like that is doing anything on Saturday afternoon, although your Saturday night plans sound wonderful.

Michelle, speaking for our family, although we never did Santa or the Easter Bunny because I don't think HOLY days need such a HOLIday addition, we do decorate for Halloween and my daughter goes trick or treating in a costume. We just don't do any of the "dark side" stuff - witches, devils, etc. You have to draw the line for yourself, but that's where we put it - even all of our tin jack o'lanterns have happy faces.