31 Days of 5 Minute Prompts: Day Three: CREATE

When I first discovered I was about to become a grandmother for the first time, I began to collect a diverse and wildly fun collection of dress-up gear and placed it in a basket in our family room.

That was over 26 years ago! Now our youngest two (and a third, who lives further away) are the last ones of our eight to avail themselves of these fine resources. We had our grandgirls last month for an long afternoon and evening and the first place they headed upon arrival was straight for that basket!

I had been adding to the collection over time, especially enriching it when a lovely parishioner passed away and some of her finery was donated to our church fund-raising rummage sale one year. The bright pink robe Grace is wearing came from her, as did the pearl-studded crop top directly beneath that robe. That woman was a fashion plate, choosing bright, bright colors and lots of glitz. Her stuff was perfect for a dress-up box!

The other dress was actually one of the bridesmaids’ dresses from our wedding, almost 52 years ago. We were married one week before Christmas and shared the sanctuary that day with another wedding, four hours later. We both chose to use red and thus cut our floral expense in half! These dandy things were empire-waisted, with a detachable bright red train, making the back view of the gowns much more interesting than the front one! Each girl word a round circle of red net in the form of what used to be called a pillbox hat on her head. It was a grand occasion, I tell you.

Still, I think I like that dress better on Lilly, in 2017!!