Sacraments & Celebrations

Of all the days that have earned a permanent place in this mama’s heart, the sacramental celebrations are the most special to me. We didn’t realize it at the time, but by having four children, all two years apart, we had a sacrament to celebrate every two years for...ever! (I’m not good at math.) Once the four baptisms were complete, we had four first communions, followed by four confirmations. I have a deep gratitude for the experience of our faith community embracing us from our wedding (we celebrated 30 years on August 1, 2017) through our children’s sacraments of initiation.  We did have a little break (whew!) and resumed the celebrations, surrounded by many of that same faith community, as we welcomed two fine young men, Alex and Kevin, into our family with the marriages of our two oldest daughters in June, 2015 and July, 2017.

The “Sacramental Sewing Gene” was passed from my mom to her girls. She did the unthinkable by remaking her wedding gown into a christening gown, now a priceless family keepsake. It was worn by my sister, me, and our fourth child, the last of the eight grandchildren. My sister made her own wedding gown, which inspired me to do the same. Not having the heart to cut into the dress onto which the hand-sewing of beads and sequins was still very fresh in my mind, I used the extra fabric to create a special gown for our firstborn. Because I wanted each child to have their own keepsake, I made christening gowns for each new baby, with the exception of our youngest, who wore the gown her mama had worn 31 years earlier. 

I don’t think I would’ve tried to tackle a wedding gown project for my girls, so thankfully they didn’t ask. They did, however, ask me to make their bridal veils, a much more manageable project. I found a way to make them a little more special by adding just a few beads and a bit of lace saved all these years from my gown.

The weddings of two children and the hope of grand babies in the not-too-distant future* has rekindled the excitement for a new season of sacraments and a realization of the passion I have for creating beautiful keepsake garments to help make these celebrations just a little more special.

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*Update: as of 7/1/20, the grand baby count is two and one on the way! Yay!

**Update: as of 2/4/21, the grand baby count is three and one on the way! 

***Update: as of 5/5/22, the grad baby count is FOUR!