Wearing a smile or a frown with our old clothing?

I'm standing on the front seat of my parents' sedan, I believe it's a 1951 Chevrolet, dark gray in color. I'm about three or four years old, and I'm wearing a blue/red/green plaid dress and my favorite black patent pumps with ruffled white socks. I'm feeling very pretty.  At least Mama tells me so.

My mom and dad are talking together, while my dad is driving us to Concordia.  Daddy works for an electrical appliance business in Concordia.  Mama is a housewife.  She takes care of the house and helps with the farm chores.  It's not common for wives to work outside the home.  

Mama wears dresses or skirts and blouses most of the time, except when she is taking care of the livestock or working in the garden, then she wears blue jeans or old slacks.  In the winter, she wears layered clothing, with several layers of clothing under the coveralls, followed by at least one layer of heavy coats, gloves, boots, scarves. It gets  very cold doing farm chores in the winter. 

Now I'm about  eight or nine years old.  Mama stays in the house with Linda and Tom, my younger sister and brother.  I'm starting to help outside with the farm chores every day.  At first it seems like fun, but sometimes it's hard, especially in the winter.  In the summer, I can always spray water from the garden hose to cool off.

In the summer, clothing worn is much lighter in weight.  No more heavy clothing. The temperatures are often over 100 degrees in the summer. There is no air conditioning, and only one or two fans for the entire house, so they are strategically placed for maximum advantage.  My siblings and I often put a bowl of cold water behind a fan and lie down in front of it, so the air that hits our bodies is hopefully at least a degree or two cooler than what is normal. 

The  clothing we wear is almost all hand-me-downs, or handmade by our loving mom.  She tries so hard to make clothes we'll like. She buys  patterns and fabric all the time to make new clothes, and when we go to visit our cousins' house, we get new hand-me-downs from them that they have outgrown.  Buying new store-bought clothes is something that rarely happens.  

When I look at a Sears or J.C. Penney catalog, it's to look for clothing for my paper dolls.  My sister, Linda, and I  play with paper dolls all the time. The magazine, McCall's, has a monthly feature with Betsy McCall, as a paper doll with a collection of clothing designed just for her.  I love that feature.  I'm always watching for McCall's Magazine at the laundromat where we wash our clothes every week.  I pray that the page is still there, and if it is, I nab it before anyone else can get to it.  Stealing? I suppose it might be.  But the temptation is so great, and we can't afford store-bought dolls. 

One of my wishes is for a pair of saddle shoes. They are black and white, and all the girls are wearing them.  I'm very picky about my skirts.  They have to flare in just the right way.  I'm a real pain in the butt to my mom, who struggles to sew them the way I like them.  I'll regret that later, I'm sure. 

Clothing must be fashionable, you know, as well as comfortable. Even if you can't afford new clothes from the store.