Remember when going to church on Sunday morning included giving God ‘our Sunday best’?
Saturday night was for mother scrubbing my hair in the kitchen sink. I’d lay on the counter with a towel rolled under my neck, and she’d scrub the dickens out of it. Just like the beauty shop (or at least I thought so). And when the hair was rinsed so well that mom could make it squeak by pulling on a piece, then I was done. Next step…pin curls. No matter how short the pixie haircut I had, mom could wedge those bobbie pins in for pin curls. I don’t remember sleeping in pin curls as being the most comfortable thing, but the next morning they would be dry and I would be beauuuuutiiifullll!
All the while, my dad (not a church attendee, but always did his part in getting 5 kids there) polished shoes. It’s a little like an iron, do people even buy shoe polish anymore? He buffed and shined all 5 pair, ready for Sunday morning. Speaking of iron, mom would have all our little dresses and the boys shirts and pants, starched and ironed. Saturday evenings were all about preparing for Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning, the hair got combed out, the dress came off the hanger, and the polished shoes put on. But we weren’t finished yet. More often than not, we wore a beautiful (in our books) hat and gloves, or at least a head scarf. And right before getting in the car, dad would always help us tie our offering change into a hanky. (I’m feeling the age here folks, when you start having stories that your children and their children have not a clue what you’re talking about).
Times have changed. Now we wear our jeans and tennis shoes to church, even moms and grandmas! And more often than not, Sunday dinner consists of a trip to KFC. Not the pot roast with carrots and potatoes that awaited us every week.
I believe change can be good. I believe in being open to new and different ways of doing things, not stuck in the past and ‘the way we have always done it’. Going to church isn’t about what we wear, or how our hair looks.
But I do have to ask myself, “In our more relaxed lifestyle, have we somehow lost what all that preparation and anticipation was teaching us? Have we lost the emotions felt when we were giving God ‘our Sunday best’? Just asking.
49andcounting 
I could have wrote this story. It was so ‘our home’. I still like to dress up for church, but I don’t feel like I have to any more. I just love your blogs. It reminds me of my ‘growing up’ days.
Awww. Thanks so much. All the e-articles tell me I need to have a “focus” for my blog. Well, i’m pretty unfocused. But my strong faith in God and all things old, including myself, seem to be the way I’m going 🙂
So many great memories! You painted the perfect picture Kayla….I could just almost hear us all getting ready! Do you remember being able to stay up to watch “Gunsmoke”? and I loved watching Dad shine our black patent leather shoes with vaseline and seeing all five pair lined up in a row ready to go…..we had such great parents, didn’t we?
We have gone back to dressing up for church and are trying to raise our boys to see the value in giving God our best. A priest once touched on this topic and as he said everyone’s “best” is different. He was in a poor parish and their “best” was a pair of jeans and cowboy boots. I make sure all of my boys’ shirts and pants are pressed and we always have a big Sunday dinner in the evening. I still remember having roast for lunch and I want my kids to have those memories too. Same reason I attempt to make those darn cinnamon rolls!
I believe so much is taught in showing them that we are “preparing” for Sunday. Like the preparing and anticipation of the Advent season or Lent. We can teach that every week to our kids. I’m so proud of you Sidni.