Christmas 2007 and Fashion

Bravo!! Splendid!! The two best adjectives to describe the Lion’s Club charity fashion show held this past Thursday night. Although the show itself and earning money for the Lion’s Club was the main focus, I thought I’d give you a different perspective; the one behind the scenes.
The venue was spotless. Fifty chairs set up in the foyer all with perfect views. Christmas decorations added a welcoming ambiance as did the smell wafting from the kitchen and the hot cider warmer. The models began arriving around five o’clock. The very pretty very tiny models all made up beautifully by the Clinique people at Belk’s of North Augusta. If you, as a woman, have ever felt the slightest bit intimidated by someone small and beautiful, let me assure you it would have happened again when you saw these girls. Thankfully they all were not size 4, some of the models were normal like us.
As soon as they began to arrive the director, Harvey, began putting them through their paces. He instructed them on how to descend the stairs, how to walk the circle and how to pose before exiting. Then came the clothes secretly whisked up the back stairs so no one would get a glimpse before the show. There was hustle and bustle out front, hustle and bustle inside and hustle and bustle in the kitchen. At seven the food went out and the social hour began. At eight all guests were in their seats ready for the show to begin. Dr. Joyce Haskell was the first to be introduced, a Lion, the organizer and giver of door prizes. From there the designer, Sho Ann, descended the main stair case, spoke a few minutes before introducing the host and hostess of the event, Larry and Rhonda Conner. The fashion show began, the audience loved it, the girls were beautiful and with any luck another larger event such as this one will take place this Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile in the back, the models were scurrying up to the changing rooms to don another fabulous dress. More food was laying in warm waiting for the event to conclude and another wave of hungry guest to descend on the dining room. It was a beautiful event; the guest appeared to have a good time and marveled at the beautiful jewelry provided by Lynn Thompson that was worn to accent the main attraction; the lovely dresses worn by the beautiful models.
Conspicuous consumption has been and always will be one of my pet peeves. Therefore I must commend the City of North Augusta for not being in the group that gets my goat. The Christmas tree for our city was not a huge old growth tree chopped down in the prime of its life and brought in to out decorate “the Joneses”. Our tree grows naturally in our park and is carefully decorated each year. It may not be as large or as done as our neighbors, who by the way, did cut down a huge tree again for the season, but at least we preserved a living thing and used what we have. Unlike the conspicuous consumption of our neighbors and our nation’s capital, we did not destroy a beautiful resource in order to out shine the world. Our tree can be seen by all, enjoyed by all and again, unlike the decorations in D.C. that we as taxpayers pay for, we do not have to be invited to partake of the loveliness.