Last night we went to an annual neighborhood All Saint's Eve Party. There was a hayride, cotton candy, popcorn, an obstacle course, a moonwalk, and tons of other fun stuff. Dinner was available for purchase by the senior class of my children's school. This year the fare was exemplary - chili with cheese and corn chips, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, nachos, and sliced apples with hot caramel poured over them in a bowl. Wow! What an amazing meal. And I fed the children and myself for $9.50. We can't even get away that easy at McDonald's.
The children were given bags with their names written on them. Each bag contained tickets. They could take the tickets to stations throughout the neighborhood and pick two pieces of candy out of closely-supervised bowls. The clincher - they had to be dressed as a Bible character or a Saint. No scary costumes here - Hallelujah!!!
With everything on our plate this year, we considered not dressing for the fun, but then the children would've missed out on the candy. So I decided I had to invest a little time, at least, in costuming. We talked for two weeks, trying to come up with suggestions. In the past, we've used a family theme. Last year, the two older children and Don and I went as Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis. Daelyn went as Aslan (in an L.L. Bean lion costume left over from when Dane was a baby). The year before, Dane went as Noah on the ark (we built an ark out of cardboard - wooden slats and all - and hung it by rope from his shoulders), Deanna went as a rainbow, and Daelyn was a lion on the ark (See? We've gotten great use out of that L.L. Bean investment.) I can't remember further back than that, but I'm sure we've used several other family themes.
This year, Deanna wanted to go as Ruth and Dane wanted to go as Jesus. Daelyn had no ideas. We batted these around, trying to mold them into a family theme. Don suggested John the Baptist for Dane and said he could carry a water pistol, baptising everyone. I was a little skeptical about the plastic water gun. Then Dane suggested Moses. Moses! It was perfect. Deanna loves to dance. She could go as Miriam, Moses' sister, who led the Hebrew women in dance after safely crossing the Red Sea and being delivered from slavery. Daelyn could go as Aaron, who God sent along with Moses to speak for him to Pharaoh. The plan began developing.
I made a quick trip to Good Will Tuesday after picking Daelyn up from school to look for robes and gowns for the children. I found a gown for Deanna and several shirts that I thought might work for Dane or Daelyn. A V-neck, gray nightshirt became an outer cloak for Daelyn once I cut it down the middle. We found an old costume left over from Deanna when she was little and used that as Daelyn's undergarment. We found cloth belts and rags to use for head coverings.
My mother came over yesterday afternoon and asked if she could help with anything. I asked her to make the stone tablets and gave her a copy of the Hebrew alphabet that I printed off the Internet. She left and went to work. I got started applying beards and bushy eyebrows to the boys with cotton balls.
We figured Moses would have white hair and his beard would be white after being in the presence of God on Mt. Sinai. Aaron, however, would have a gray beard, so I applied black eyeshadow to Daelyn's and grayed them nicely. His beard was small and well-groomed. Moses', on the other hand, was long and unsightly. I powdered Dane's hair to make it white, put a head-dressing on Daelyn, checked over Deanna (who had found a tamborine and put bells around her ankles for extra jingle), and we headed out to meet Grandma and Grandpa. My Mom had made the most beautiful stone tablets imaginable. She had taken thick styrofoam, cut it in the correct shape, spray-painted it gray and silver to look like stone, then wrote in black ink from the Hebrew alphabet I had given her. They really LOOKED like stone tablets.
The kids had a wonderful time and I think they looked fabulous. Of course, all the props get dumped on Mom very quickly so the kids can go and play. Don and I got to snuggle on a hayride and everyone got enough candy to last them until Santa fills their stockings at Christmas.
Now I've got to buckle down and get my soaps finished. I still have 12 bath scrubbies to wrap and label and set-up for the show is tomorrow morning.
So little to do and lots of time. Wait. Reverse that.
No comments:
Post a Comment