christening gown

busted!


I am trying to get some spit up stains out of Tallulah's christening gown. Well, it's not hers really--and not because Annabelle wore it first. That gown belongs to me and my mom.





You see, back in 1999, before these children were even a twinkle in my eye, we subscribed to Gourmet (RIP) magazine. The Italy edition arrived at our house. And it had this huge list of things to do and shops to go to in Italy, and in Rome. One of them was a place that only sold Christening gowns. I am surprised I noticed it, because 1) I seldom read Gourmet, preferring In Style or Country Living and 2) it was just this tiny blurb on a long list. But I read it and I thought-- if I ever go to Italy, I am going to find it and get a gown from there. Fast forward to October of 2007. The Stevens Family Italy trip. Two weeks, paid for by all the days my mom didn't take off while she was teaching. Ten days in Tuscany and the last four in Rome. We had reached a point in the vacation where if you could divorce your blood relatives, we would have been filing petitions. The only person who was holding everyone together, Hyphen, had gone back to Houston (while he is extremely crazy, he is delightful to go on vacation with, because as long as his hotel room is orderly, he is Happy- Go- Lucky- Vacation- Guy) Audrey and her husband were off touring ruins of some sort (her husband is definitely not happy go lucky vacation guy, and I say that with love and affection, kind of...). My dad wanted an afternoon off, he was still recovering from the stress of the loss, search and recovery his passport in the Rome airport. So that left me and my mom, and I was in a delicate condition. So I suggested that we find this shop. I got the concierge to let me use the Internet for free. Audrey said that he and I flirted a lot, but I don't think so--Italian men, they are just friendly, no? And I found what I thought might be the shop. It was near the Spanish Steps and after he arranged for a taxi, my mom and left to find it. We walked around a bit and asked for lots of help before we found it-- Lavori Artigianali Femmilini. We walked in, unsure if we were even in the right place, until we looked at all the lovely hand smocked dresses and Christening gowns. I got the cheapest one. And it was still 250 euros. My mom bought the bonnet, 50 euros. We walked out, thrilled and excited for this little child that had received blessings, candles and prayers at every church we went into in Italy (in case you are wondering, we went into a lot of Churches) and for the baptism to come. This beautiful gown was the first thing I had bought for it (she was an it until she was born). Then we walked by McDonald's and my mom suggested we eat some fries, which we did. And then we went to see the Spanish Steps. We were scheduled to see it the next night, with the while family. We knew if Audrey found out that we saw them without her, there would be hell to pay, but we were right there, in Rome, with our fancy shopping bags and greasy fingers and decided we were good enough actresses to pretend to be amazed the next night. We took a picture at the fountain at the bottom of the steps and hoped no one realized what we did. Then we went back to the hotel. I still remember my mom thanking me for including her, and for making the baby seem more real and for the wonderful afternoon.

No mom, thank you.