It’s (FINALLY!) October and that means three things to me; Halloween costumes and decorations need to be worked on, the air in Tennessee is fabulously crisp with the trees beginning to change color, and I feel compelled to watch the Wizard of Oz! Back in my day…. we didn’t have Netflix, DVRs, or any form of television “On Demand”. Heck, my family didn’t even have cable! So when one of the three major television stations showed a movie every year, at the same time of year, you kind of got used to it. Eventually things changed both in the television industry and in my own world and I recently realized that I haven’t sat down to watch the Wizard of Oz in a few years. Realistically, the last viewing for me was probably in preparation for playing the Cowardly Lion in my middle school’s spring musical and that was….um, let’s just say a “while ago”.
While I haven’t watched the Wizard of Oz recently, I still associate it with October. Since my daughter was born I have been waiting (not very patiently) for her to be big enough to dress up as Dorothy for Halloween. Last year, when she was only two, I decided that I had waited as long as I could stand. She had never seen the movie, didn’t have a clue who she was dressed as (to be fair she didn’t really understand what Halloween was about) and wasn’t about to sit still for some old movie (again to be fair, at two she wasn’t sitting down to watch anything). Regardless, my whole family got involved and we had a blast; I was the wicked witch, my husband was a flying monkey and my sister dressed up as Glinda.
Flash forward to this year. On Friday night, September was FINALLY turning into October and the temperature was FINALLY dropping to a fall-like range. My daughter and I were at an event and someone popped a Wizard of Oz tape into the VCR. The kids were mesmerized……and totally unfamiliar with the VHS technology so completely unable to stop the movie even if they wanted to, but the point is they didn’t want to! My daughter took one look at Dorothy and exclaimed “I was that last year!” When Glinda came on screen she recognized that her Auntie had dressed up in a similar costume. It was an excellent way to begin October, made even better by the promise of a trip to Market Square for the Farmer’s Market the next morning.
Let me just mention that the Farmer’s Market continues to be open on Wednesday’s and Saturdays through November 19th. (You can get more information about the market on the Market Square District Wedsite.) It is SO much fun! My daughter and I wandered and ate and shopped and enjoyed the weather so much that I think attending the market might just work its way into that list of things I crave in early October. We looked at all the vendors in the tents, but we also made a long walk around Market Square and purchased some really unique cards and gifts for upcoming weddings and birthdays. It was in Bliss, however, that I saw something I had to buy just for us! Suddenly, all my “fall favorites” collided in the kid’s section of the store. I spotted a display selling a new “scanimation” book based on the Wizard of OZ! I have enjoyed the other scanimation books, designed so that if you move the pages then the pictures appear to move, but at the time my daughter seemed to not be excited about a horse or a baseball bat moving. However today, on this lovely fall day, in the midst of the Farmer’s Market, in the middle of Market Square, I found this beautiful red sparkly book dedicated to one of my all time favorite fall movie memories and I couldn’t stop myself from buying it. I don’t even know what the price was! It was a good day filled with wonderful fall memories. Now I wish you the same. Happy Fall, Y’all!
Want to see more of the Wizard of Oz costumes that I created for my whole family using only thrift store clothing? (Bragging just a smidge here... Iactually won last year's Goodwill Costume Contest for these outfits!) Check it out! Follow the links to see my husband's monkey costume, making the Dorothy and Glinda Dresses, our halloween photo-shoot, and our family trick or treating.
