INA AND THE GINGERBREAD PAGEANT -- DAY 13

You say you’re worried that Ina and Bertha can’t possibly make the deadline? You think they should have started this work weeks ago? Have you ever noticed how in holiday stories and Hallmark movies the time context just isn't a consideration? You just have to pretend . . .

And someone has observed that Bertha seems to have roped Ina into this activity. Yes and no. Bertha was the more affable, social, and community-oriented of the two. Ina was reserved and practical. Be that as it may, Bertha’s readiness to attempt this difficult project was tempered by Ina’s concerns, and in the end, Ina was willing to go with it. After all, Miss Johnson asked the sisters to make the costumes because she knew they could work magic.

Even so, Ina and Bertha had to get moving with this project. Bertha arrived early at Ina’s house. Jack had already put leaves in the oak table so that it stretched from the dining room into the living room – just like the old days when they fed a harvest crew. Ina, working in the dining room, decided the dirndl suggested by Miss Johnson as Shirley Anne’s costume was too impractical and opted for a jumper and white blouse, a pattern she had on hand. Once she had cut out Shirley Anne’s costume, she helped Bertha cut out many gingerbread costumes.

[Do you know what a dirndl is? Wikipedia will give you an explanation here. A dirndl is a costume of Austrian / Bavarian origin, but my mother used to speak of dirndl skirts – a skirt gathered onto a band. I call them gathered skirts, or full skirts. Perhaps “dirndl” is a rather old-fashioned term these days.]

Ina and Bertha were just finishing their work as Shirley Anne came in from school. Then Bertha left, taking some of the costumes with her to sew at home. Daylight was waning, so Ina laid the costume project on the sewing machine for tomorrow and began the little tasks that made the home comfortable in the evening. KW