Halloween is all about the costumes!

With Halloween approaching, I've been thinking a lot about the costumes I've worn over the years. The first Halloween I remember, I was Minnie Mouse. If my memory serves me right, we'd been to Disneyland during the summer and of course gotten Mickey Mouse ears. Mom dressed me up in a little polka-dotted dress with a bow on my mouse ears. Then she herself dressed as my Mickey. How darling is that? My cute mom dressed up for Halloween as the second half of my costume.
The summer before I started kindergarten took us to New York where we saw Beauty and the Beast. It was on this trip that I fell madly in love with musical theater. And naturally I wanted to be Belle for Halloween. (Apparently my summer trips have a very large influence on my Halloween costumes. Maybe this year I'll be a... Guatemalan?) Mom sewed me the most beautiful gold Belle dress and altered a slip we had on hand to fit underneath it. I felt like a princess! I remember one boy in my kindergarten class that year dressed up as a lion, and everyone joked that he was my beast. I'm pretty sure he was my kindergarten crush too. It was highly embarrassing.
In second grade, I wanted to be a princess. Not any specific princess, but a princess in a tower type princess. So mom made me another beautiful dress. It was cream and blue, I think. There was probably some pink in there too, because what eight year old girly girl doesn't love some pink? She also made me a hat. You know, one of those tall cone shaped hats with material coming off the top. I can't help but wonder if that was my idea or hers, and if it was mine how on earth I came up with it.
In fourth grade, I wanted to be a good witch. She made me a red robe type thing with silver stars on it plus a witches hat to match. The stars must have taken her quite a while to sew on, and I'm really not sure how she made the hat. But she probably thanked her lucky stars (haha) that I hadn't asked her to make me a Glinda the Good Witch kind of dress.
One year in middle school, I was a genie. Think I Dream of Jeannie. I'm pretty sure we threw that one together the weekend before Halloween because by that time I'd become a bit of a procrastinator.
Last year may have been my favorite costume of all time, though. I wasn't planning on dressing up at all. In the middle of making doughnuts that afternoon (because it wouldn't be Halloween without homemade doughnuts), I decided dressing up sounded fun. So I started hunting for a costume. I came across a darling green dress that was obviously homemade. To be honest, I have no idea whose it was. Maybe Mom made it for one of my sisters. I like to imagine it was hers. But whoever it belonged to was exactly my size! It fit me like a glove. Operating under the assumption that it had been Mom's when she was in high school, I ratted my hair, flipped out the ends, and threw a headband in my hair. If you know me, you know I should have lived in the 50s or 60s. I was in heaven!
I love that Mom understood my insane need to get all dressed up. She was so willing to sew me costumes and pamper me. It's made for a lot of wonderful memories! I hope to be able carry on the tradition and spoil my kids a little on Halloween.

Personal Progress: My two most prized possessions

From the moment I started working on Personal Progress, Mom was my biggest supporter. She made an effort to frequently check in on my goals and accomplishments. If I hadn't worked on it in a while, she was always the first to encourage me to pull my books out and begin again. Almost every Sunday, she would ask me if there was anything specific I needed to talk about for my Personal Progress goals. She helped me on countless value projects, spending hours working with me on one thing or another. For my faith value project, she taught me to plant and nurture garden. As we went we discussed faith and the importance of nurturing it with the same love and attention. For choice and accountability, she helped me sew a modest dress for the Christmas dance. I cherish the hours we spent working together on that dress, and the dress itself has become very important to me. When the new Personal Progress books came out, the Relief Society sisters were encouraged to complete the program, especially if they had daughters in Young Women. Mom of course started right away. We worked through the booklet side by side, signing off each other's assignments and supporting each other.
With all this support, you'd think I would have finished much earlier than I did. But I, being a procrastinator, received my Young Womanhood medallion my very last Sunday in my home ward. I wish I had finished even just a year and a half earlier so Mom could have been there physically to celebrate with me. However, I know she's just as proud now as she would have been then!

A fun fact about the dress: My dad had this dress made for my mom
while on his mission. I've inherited it and absolutely love it!

Unknown to me, my dad sent a letter to President Elaine S. Dalton on Mothers' Day explaining to her the work that my mom and I had done together. He mentioned that although my mom didn't have the opportunity to reach her goal of finishing in this life, he's sure she finished them in spirit.
Sister Dalton wrote a wonderful letter back which said that she was including my mom's young womenhood medallion for my dad to give to me after I had received my own.
My dad gave me the medallion on the one year anniversary of my mom's passing. I slipped the beautiful gold medallion around my neck, where my own silver medallion was already hanging. I haven't worn one without the other since. The two look beautiful together. But the amazing thing is the feeling I get when I wear them. I feel so close to my mom and my Heavenly Father. I know they are proud of me and that they are always with me. Their love surrounds me every day. They are my two most prized possessions.