Countdown to....

A Christmas Carol!



So we moved in yesterday. It was somewhat chaotic, because we moved in on the tails of a 125 piece Northwinds band picking up their show and leaving in a huge truck! There were so many musicians on stage, I have never seen that stage so full. They had the Northwinds Band plus the University of Missouri Symphonic Band playing together! Wow, I'm so sorry I was in the midst of my move-in so I couldn't hear it.

So the black tied musicians moved out of the way, and the costumes and stage pieces moved in. We worked until after 10--the lights were still on a people still working when I left.

Friday and Saturday were crazy for me! I had about 7-8 garments to make--nothing very complicated, some simple elastic waist skirts, simple knickers, some simple accessories. I remade one actress's complete outfits, the ones we had chosen for her needed extensive ripping and resewing, I wasn't up for that! I hate to rip! It took me less time to start from scratch! Besides, she had gone from little to teeny-tiny over the past two years, and the stuff she wore before was way too big. She is one of my actresses that I love to sew for, because she could make a plastic garbage bag look good on her, although we like to show off her figure a little better. I made her a darling outfit for Mrs. Cratchit, and found a perfect blouse at the thrift store that works so well with it. She tried it on last night, it was soooooo cute. I don't know if it makes her look poor, but it sure is cute!

Then I had to organize and bag up everything. I put together all the costume pieces, hats, scarves, gloves, socks (for the knickered ones), coats, and actual suits and dresses. It is so much easier to do this in the privacy of my home than to wait til we get to the theatre with 100 interuptions to try to keep my wits together to do it. Then I had to move it! It took three loads of my little SUV to get it all up there.

Once we got to the theatre, I had several ladies ready to iron and steam everything to make it look fresh and nice. I got them going, then had to leave for my granddaughter's Christmas program at preschool. When I came back there was very little to finish up, they had done a nice job.

So now we wait for tonight for the actual rehearsal. I'm not sure if she will want costumes tonight or not, but I hope that all goes smoothly. I'm sure there will be grumbling on some parts, the first comment I got last night was "My hat's too big" from a veteran who wore that hat last year and we fixed it, so quityourb**ching! That wasn't what I wanted to hear.

Anyone involved in theatre knows that tech week can be hell week or go smoothly. Usually it is an up and down week. Crisis, followed by crisis solved, only to have another crisis arise! When things go well, you can add the finishing touches to your performance. When they go poorly, you are just glad to get something on stage by opening night. Who knows what lies ahead for us this week, we just hope to put on a good show for our audiences....AND, BREAK A LEG, CHRISTMAS CAROLERS!

Advent

This time of the year is the time of preparation for Christmas. If you can step aside from the commercial aspects of this holiday (aka, the decorations, the gift-buying, the parties, the food!) you can feel Mother Nature as she prepares us for our long winter darkness, which culminates on the first day of Winter.

Mother Nature and our Christian biblical tradition remind us that the time of waiting and preparation is one in which we are in darkness seeking the light. We call this season in the church year Advent. My most favorite church music deals with this theme in song and text. "As The Watchman waits for the dawn, so do I long for you, My God" (based on Psalm 130:6-7) Many a December dawn has reminded me of this song, dawn breaking under ripples of snow clouds overhead, with each ripple catching a glint of sunrise turning each cloud into beautiful shades of pink, mauve, blue and purple.

The natural darkness helps us to feel the longing during the waiting period that ancient ancestors experienced while waiting for the promised Mesiah. They waited and waited, for years, decades, centuries. How could they wait with hope for that long? Their strong faith kept them on course to wait for the coming of one that was promised to them so long ago.

And James admonishes his followers (James 5: 7-11) "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the ....rains. You too must be patient."

And on Christmas day, the "Light" was born. Winter solstice brought ancients hope for the future, they knew that soon the days would no longer be darker and darker, but light would soon come their way. So, too, with the celebration of the Birth of Christ, He, is the Light that we seek who has finally come to walk in our midst.

Like children waiting in tingling anticipation for Santa to come, we wait for our Savior's birth. We can all remember that long wait for Christmas to come, our patience tested as the days go by so slowly. Let's think about why we really celebrate this holiday, and focus on anticipation for the birth of our Savior.

So, if there is a message here, it is Keep Christ in Christmas--no X-mas celebrations, only CHRISTmas celebrations! And, patience, people, the Lord will soon come!

See This D*mn House Dec. 11 post for the inspiration to this piece!

An ICONIC Christmas Story

Does this image strike up memories in your mind? It certainly does for me!

What started it all going in my mind was the lesson in my English pronunciation class that I gave on Tuesday. It was comparing and learning the difference between pronouncing L and R. Now, with some languages, mostly Asian languages, this distinction is not made, because the L sound is not in their pronunciation lexicon. So, of course, the iconic FA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA-RA from "A Christmas Story" came to mind. I started laughing out loud and then tried to explain to my students what was tickling me. It's hard to tell just that part, so I started talking about all the parts of that movie.

So, try to explain the leg lamp to a foreign student--or, how about Ralphie's pink bunny suit? Or the Red Rider 200 shot bb gun (will you shoot your eye out or not?), or the triple dog dare to try to lick a metal flag pole in winter? Or Father's salty vocabulary that gets Ralphie in great trouble when he tries it out? And my motivator for showing it, Christmas dinner in the Chinese restaurant because the neighbor's dogs stole the Christmas turkey off the kitchen table. Thus, the rendition of Deck the Harrs, with boughs of horry, fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra!

This movie has so many ICONIC images that we all can't help but chuckle at, just remembering them. I know some cable tv stations do a 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story", but I wanted my students to get the real dose of the movie, so I showed it to them today. They howled at most of the sight gags, and the jokes. I know there were some things that they didn't get, but most of it was clear to them.

Rent it, buy it, but watch it, it will really put you in the holiday spirit! I got my Christmas chuckles today, and I know you will too!

Tornado Alley

Please don't report me to the "hoarder" police! I don't need an intervention from Oprah! And there have been no actual tornados reported in our area for quite some time. This is the result of a COSTUME TORNADO that swept through this house this weekend.
Bedroom wrecked by the tornado. There were 5 hanging racks in this room until one of the cheapies I just bought collapsed under the pressure of a full load. Now that load is on the bed or the floor.
Every flat surface in this room was covered with costumes yesterday, until I bundled up about 15 bundles to take to practice yesterday to try on my ladies. Luckily, most fit and there isn't a lot to redo.
The men's stuff, yet to be sorted completely. Lots needs to be done here before next weekend!

My theatre group has had the luxury of having a very fine lady store the costumes for the group in her basement for years. Why she ever agreed to this, I'll never know, but she had an unfinished basement, and nothing else???? to be stored there, so it worked out OK. About a year ago, she informed them that she would be selling her home within the year, and the theatre group had to make other arrangements for the costumes.

In the meantime, I've been storing things that the group has used for the past 2+ seasons. Since I was the costumer of record for all of these shows, when they were finished, I took them out of the theatre, and had no where to go with them, so I made a niche in my garage to store them.

The theatre group responded to my friend's plea to get a space for the costumes in her house. They agreed and they moved the stuff from her home to a storage locker nearby. They were going to get the stuff from me, but alas, what she had filled the entire locker, and I was just out of luck!

As we started to costume "A Christmas Carol", she bequeathed on me the entire collection we used for Christmas Carol 2007, plus some choice odds and ends that could be used for the show.

So here it is!

First, it was all stored in the bedroom so we could eat Thanksgiving dinner using the dining room table. Then one of my racks collapsed under the weight, and the stuff ended up on the floor or the bed. Then I had to sort the stuff, pull together elements that were in this box or that tub, and put them in bundles for each actress and actor. Yesterday, the actresses tried on their stuff, and that is still in the back of my car! Tonight, I'll do some trying on for the men.

It is a mess. The group has promised me a second rental storage area with hanging racks built and ready to recieve this stuff on Dec. 19. It will be such a relief to get my garage space and bedroom space back.

Right now, my car is outside! This has got to stop! And someday soon, hopefully I'll get my house back!

Party like you're.....

16? Crazy? Young again? I don't know how to end this statement.

Today, I partied. The first round was just a food fest in the department's conference room, where the food was plentiful, delicious and the chatter was light. Then it was on to party #2, one that I promised to my international students about a month ago in a fit of insanity.

Last night, it was time to put the party #2 together. What do young adults want at a party? Food and drink. I ignored their suggested beverage, quite adult and quite illegal for this group (hint: imported from Mexico with a very happy worm in each bottle!) I went to the grocery store and piled my basket high with stuff that is bad for you, with a little bit of healthy food to balance it off.

Then, I had to decide what we would do as entertainment for the party. I decided on playing a couple of paper/pencil games, one is Memory. This one serves well as an all purpose winner, because you can adapt it to baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, etc. You place 20-25 items on a tray, give the participants 1 minute to look at the tray, then they try to remember what was on the tray. I had to make a trip to Target to find some of the items. This group is a English as a Second Language group, who aren't fully up to speed on English words, especially since this is the first Christmas they've spent here. So I tried to find simple stuff, clearly representational of American Christmas icons.

I got up at 5:30 to fix the food for the first party. Then I needed to pack for the second party.

The day was crazy with other business interfering with the party atmosphere! Like teaching, and evaluating my teachers. And students needing to make up exams they missed. But we got it all in.

The first party passed all too fast, then it was off to partyland #2 for my students. Did I need to plan activities for them? NO! Within 2 minutes, they had the Cd player going, and all were dancing! They dragged the shy Korean boy in, took off his backpack and he was dancing within 5 minutes. Then they got the Vietnamese girl to dance, but I secretly think she was a very willing partner with the best dancer in the class. Then they got ME TO DANCE! Why, I think I found my niche! I can't get the dance right in A Christmas Carol, but give me punta music, and I'm a queen!

I got the students to break out of the dance mode long enough to eat the food I brought, then we played our memory game. That was hilarious, hectic, chaotic and so much fun! Then the adults who worked with them, and who were in attendance, read them "The Night Before Christmas".

All in all, it was a great day. I'm totally exhausted, but now I know I can dance, my students were all so appreciative, and so were my colleagues, and it was a lot of fun. I think this might have been the most fun I've had since New Years Eve 2005, celebrated in the nursing home with my honey! That is a story for another day, but the memories of today will live on and warm my heart.

P.S. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning the kitchen that looks like a tornado hit it, but it is witness to time well-spent preparing to be a hostess to some very lovely people, my students and colleagues!

Speaking of Mr. Dickens.....

Hats created for "A Christmas Carol" presented by Hawthorne Players, Dec. 2007
This was my fancy hat, my first attempt, the feathers cover up a multitude of sins!
Simpler design, fits well, cheap to make, takes a hour to put together, and the new default design for 2009!

Our theatre group is working on "A Christmas Carol". Dates for the performances are Dec. 18-20. We are doing 4 performances, a matinee on Saturday and Sunday, and evening performances on Friday and Saturday.

The group has done this show before, having first done it in 2007. I was costumer for the 2007 show. It was a big job (about 35 performers, most needing at least two costume changes), and I had just come off my task of costuming "The Music Man" with a cast of 55.

One of the things I found about doing a Dicken's show is that the ladies all needed period hats. It was fairly easy to find patterns for these hats, because many folks are doing re-enactments and shows using this style of period clothing. I had never made hats before, but was intrigued with the idea of doing so. As you can see, I got quite into the craft, and made many very cute, colorful and quite lovely chapeaus for my ladies! These were only matched by the wonderful top hats that the men wore!

One of our actresses is a very sought after performer, and she is in many shows during the year. She has a wonderful voice, she is a great actress, and she loves spending her spare time working in musicals. We were lucky to be able to snag her between other gigs for the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last summer.

When she did Christmas Carol in 2007, she came with her own Dickensonian costume! She is in much demand during the Christmas season working as a songstress doing Christmas Carols for various local events. I was very thankful that she could dress herself for her caroling role, and when she told me what she paid for the hat she was wearing, I was shocked! Many, many pesos! And it is the simplest design! I recreated it the other night for $4 worth of materials and about 1 hour of time! It frames the face beautifully, and fits well. I'd model it myself, but you can get the jist of it from the picture.

From now on, if I need to make more Dicken's style hats, this is the style I'm making! The details of the fancier hats are lost in the translation, and even though they were totally fun to make, they aren't necessary.

My young girls will wear mop caps, and I have a nice collection of those. The actresses who are returning will get their fancy hats, but the newcomes will get the 2009 stripped down, maribou trimmed simple hats, and no one will be the wiser! My men will have several new cool top hats to choose from, and we'll all look fine!

A Tale of Two C......

No, it's not the famous story written by Mr. Dickens. We'll let that story go until another time.

This is a tale of two COATS that ended up in my closet. Two pretty red coats, one absolutely brand spanking new. It is also the tale of a brain that sometimes forgets, which seems to happen more lately as my brain cells age like fine wine! I guess some of them die off waiting to be used, and they take the information stored in them as they leave the building!

When I get ready to go out, I find myself needing (wanting..need vs. want is always a debatable topic!) coats of many colors. I am a color person, and red is one of those colors that I find myself wearing a lot. When I see a red blouse, sweater or jacket, something happens in my brain....I've got to have it, I've got to have it! There is no holding back--the evidence is in the "red section" of my closet. Red is only outdone by black, which everybody relies on for basic wardrobe pieces. Brown is also creeping in, perfect for fall wardrobing.

I was looking for a brown winter coat. So, nothing would do but to find a brown coat to wear on the brown days. Good old K-Mart had a wonderful sale several weeks ago on all of their winter wear. 40% off of some very reasonable outerwear--and the selection and quality were very good. They had brown coats, black coats, checked coats, white coats, and RED COATS!

Once I found the brown coat that would work, my eye kept drifting to those red coats hanging on the next rack. I've always wanted a red wool coat. It would look so sharp with my many red and black outfits. The price was definitely right, so I splurged, and bought two coats. The angel on one shoulder saying "you don't need two!" was outshouted by the devil on the other shoulder saying, "You'll look fine in my favorite color!"

I got home and was "accessorizing" my new purchases. I remembered that my dear friend who knits had made me a red and black scarf last season. I looked for the scarf in several places, but couldn't find it. Brain cells that held the information on its location must have died off during the summer! In the meantime, I've worn both of my new purchases, keeping me warm on cool windy mornings we've had during the past few weeks.

I was puttering around in my downstairs closet this week, and something caught my eye. I found my red and black scarf, and guess where I found it...wrapped around the beautiful red wool coat I had purchased LAST WINTER on one of my red devil days! Completely forgotten, but there it was! Shamefaced, now I had TWO NEW RED COATS!

My darling daughter, MonkeyGirl, has helped me out of my dilema. She and her BFF came over yesterday to pick up the elf suit. I told her of my stupidity, and she agreed to help me out in my dotage, and she bought the new red coat from me. Seems that a red coat would suit her well also. So now, I'm down to just one.

P.S. BFF Main Elf girl was also helpful in this venture. She is gathering gently used coats for her charity for Christmas. I really did have THREE red coats at one time (like yesterday afternoon!) One was a beautiful red and black one, many sizes too small to be buttoned on me. It was purchased at a garage sale many years ago for $10. Who could pass up a bargain like that? But since I haven't been able to button it for several years, I gave it to Elf Girl to give to some nice lady who has no coats. Following the words of the bible, if you have two coats, give one to another. Or in my case, if you have THREE RED COATS, sell one, give one to another, and then you are down to a reasonable amount, ONE RED COAT!