I had forgotten about this event until my granddaughter Elizabeth posted it on Facebook.
It all began when my son and I went to an estate sale a few months before Christmas.
My eyes were immediately drawn to a table full of vintage hats and in one of those brilliant flashes I so seldom get, a voice began whispering in my head, "Christmas presents, Christmas presents". The prices ranged from two dollars a hat to five dollars for the ones with feathers and veils.
It was late in the afternoon and few people were still there, so I approached the salesperson running the sale and asked, "Would you sell all the old hats for $5.00?"
"It's a deal", she sighed, probably thinking I was crazy for wanting them.
I was now on a mission and pursued it with a passion. Garage sales were perfect places to purchase prom and bridesmaid dresses, some as cheap as two dollars. junk jewelry, white gloves, some full-length gloves and even a cheap wedding gown to go with two others I had acquired, along with a veil.
Working furiously, I cut off hems, using the cut-off material for capes and sewed the hems of the dress-ups so they wouldn't drag on the floor, visited the dollar store for earrings and more jewelry, collected my old high heels and was almost ready for Christmas. I bought under-the-bed boxes for the five girls and tissue-wrapped three outfits apiece, complete with white gloves, necklaces, earrings and high heels and those vintage hats, Christmas-wrapped their boxes and then . . . the doubts set in. Would they think it was a dumb present, as that was all they were going to get from me?
Well, when they opened their boxes, the squeals of delight made the boys look on in envy and I wished I had done the same for the younger boys. The entire week everyone was here, all we heard was the clopping of heels and no sight of them until they were forced to come down to eat dinner. It was the most memorable Christmas present they ever got and if you asked them about their favorite present, they would always say, "Oh, the year Grandma made us those outfits".
