Traditions

My blog on Yahoo 360 has been dormant for months because of the many, many problems the site experiences. However, there are several posts that I will be copying and pasting into this blog over the next few weeks because they are sentimental to me.

This baptismal gown was made from my mother's wedding dress in 1946. This post is about the gown but not meant to take away from the true meaning of the occasion.

Above is a picture of my parents on their wedding day just before my dad left for WWII.

Displayed is the dress and bonnet but there is also a slip, and coat. There are "tucks", embroidery, and french seams on various pieces. It cost my mother $30 for this couture. During that era, $30 was probably a week's pay.

I was baptized in this ensemble, so was my sister, my daughters and two of my grandchildren. It is satin and the couture is superb. Tradition used to have boy babies as well as girl babies in a dress for their baptism.

Pictured is my 2nd grandchild, Nicholas, on his baptismal day, wearing this heirloom gown. Just to add a little humor, well now I can see it as humorous, but Joseph, then about 2 yrs. old, was quite unhappy in this picture. His grandfather had given him a Davy Crockett racoon hat and he wanted to wear it in this picture. We won that battle but in retrospect it would have been quite the picture for conversation for years. We did take a less formal picture of him in the hat a little later.

I had occasion to encounter the seamstress a few months back. I knew her as a child. Mrs. Desrochers, a redhead at one time, is now 95 and a lovely person. She was pleased to know that I treasure the gown.

There are minor stains around the neck from baby formula that did not come out at the dry cleaners but that only adds to the sentimental value of the gown. There is still the slightest faint color of blue where there is embroidery, probably from being "stamped".

I was initially baptized by a nurse at the hospital the first day I was born because they feared I would not make it through the night. I was born 2 1/2 mos. premature and was in the hospital for over a month. I've always been a "survivor" of sorts and for those of you who know me real well, will understand the true meaning of that statement.

Custom was that a newborn was baptized the first Sunday home from the hospital.

I'm hoping that the next generation of babies in my family will be able to be baptized in this gown.