100 Dresses & Bath time for Brooks

Every year our church puts on a Christmas dinner and service project for the Relief Society sisters (ages 19+) in our ward (group of church members in our area). This year, many of their daughters came too :) The theme was 100 Dresses which stemmed from this book.

We were to read the book before hand (they provided a few copies that were passed around), and then we each brought one dress to donate.

Have you ever read The Hundred Dresses?? It's a lovely childrens book written in the 1940's. I highly recommend it. Here's a little synopsis I found on goodreads.com:

Wanda wore the same blue dress to school every day. It was always clean but sometimes it looked as though it had been washed and never ironed. Peggy started the game of the dresses when suddenly one day Wanda said, 'I have a hundred dresses at home--all lined up in my closet.' After that is was fun to stop Wanda on the way to school and ask, 'How many dresses did you say you have?' 'A hundred,' she would answer.

I don't want to give away the ending...but here are some of the tender lessons I learned/was reminded of from this book:

* It's what on the inside that counts *

* The sad side-effects of bullying *

* Your happiness depends on you *

* A good imagination can go a long way *

* Forgiveness heals the heart *

{just HALF of the donated dresses}

It was so touching to see all of the dresses, of all sizes (for women, teenagers, & little girls) hung up. I loved imagining all of the different women & girls who will love and appreciate those dresses...every girl deserves to feel beautiful in a dress of her very own. Don't you think? :)

After dinner, a sweet woman retold the story (in summary) and got us thinking about how all of Wanda's "dresses" may have looked...which led perfectly into a fashion show of dresses from every era! There was a 20's flapper dress, an 80's barbie-style dress, a 50's poodle skirt w/ saddle shoes (I want a pair BAD...maybe these, and at only $18! woot woot!) okay back to the fashion show...a 60's hand-sewn prom dress, and other gorgeous vintage dresses with fur, sequins, high & low waistlines, and shoulder pads(oh the shoulder pads)!! The majority of the dresses are owned by one woman (lucky lady:) who collects vintage pieces as a hobby. love it! The women and girls were all naturals on the cat-walk.

{this was HER prom dress!}

{The models...aren't they lovely?}

They even had some stunning pieces on display.

{I'm dieing over that vintage nighty in the upper-left!}

A great night, with wonderful women.

PS - do you know what made the night EXTRA sweet?? 3 words:

peppermint candy icecream.

(topped with fudge & crushed candy cane)

Oh it was divine. It got me thinking of my adorable Mother and how she'd always tell me & my sisters that it was her grandmother's very favorite kind of ice cream. I love it all the more.

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Yesterday also entailed a bath (2 actually) for Brooks. The steam helps his soar little throat...but he is such a trooper, even though he's not feeling 100% he still manages to give me those smiles I adore so much. He is quite the water-baby :)

{Do you like the Alfalfa-do I gave him?? Ridiculously cute, that boy is}