Old Dog

Every year I say it will be different.



But every year it stays the same.

John had to work the afternoon of Hallowe'en. It was the Lord's Day, too, so we didn't get home until around 3 o'clock, at which point the girls finalized their costume desires. At 3:30 I determined that we would indeed go trick or treating, and then I turned into Crazy Woman at 4:00.

I think we left the house at 5:30.

In that amount of time, Susannah turned into Maid Marian.



Annika became a dashing outlaw in green, of whom she'd recently read and with whom she'd become solidly enamoured. (She's Robin Hood, for all you people who think she's Peter Pan. It's okay. Too many did.)


(I think it's because the real Robin Hood probably didn't have both rooster and turkey feathers in his cap and chicken feathers as fletching, while Peter Pan might have.)

Piper, shown here pre-freckle-application, was Pippi Longstocking.



And, Millie, whose makeup I slapped on in about two minutes and of whom I forgot to take a picture, was Empress Tootsie. (She was going to be Empress Tz'u-Hsi. This strange desire requires more explanation than I'll give, but my niece acted in a play in which the Empress was a chief part, and Millie pretends to be her on occasion.) When I reminded her that Empress Tzu-Hsi was a ruthless woman, gently suggesting she be another Chinese empress so people would be clear about her intentions, Millie decided upon Empress Tootsie. The irony of an Empress Tootsie collecting Hallowe'en candy was completely lost on her, but I enjoyed it.

Here she is with her motley court.




To prevent anyone from thinking I'm a superhero who hand-sewed every last stitch of these costumes (but only after shearing the sheep and weaving the cloth), we took Millie's costume from the dress-up chest and Susie's from the chest and church clothes closet. Piper's costume was a hodge-podge of Annie's shoes with socks stuffed in the toes, striped stockings, one of my socks, a shirt I quickly sewed ragged patches on, and yarn braided onto her own pigtails. For Annie's costume, we only made the bow and arrows, the cloak, the hat, and the jerkin/leggings. (I took a green shirt of mine, cut off the sleeves, sewed the sleeves to a pair of her undies to make leggings, and used the rest of the shirt as a jerkin.) The rest was from the dress-up bin, but for the belt, quiver, and shirt, which were a last-minute loan from my fine sister-in-law.

Boy, but was it fun! (For real.)

NEXT year will be different. (Not for real.)