It’s fall, y’all. Splendid, wonderful, beautiful fall. It doesn’t really look like fall in Houston until December, but that doesn’t matter too much. The important thing is that the thermostat no longer looks like summer.
Tonight Curtis and I are dropping the kids off with my mom and going on a quick dinner date. Then we’ll pick up Jackson and take him to see a local high school homecoming football game. I imagine it will be a windy night and all the ribbons hanging from the homecoming mums will be blowing around, making that clinking sound as the plastic trinkets knock into each other.
Some of you have no idea what I’m talking about. Here in Texas, it’s a tradition to give your homecoming date a mum or a garter to wear to school and to the game. The mum is a huge, fake flower with ribbons all around it. The ribbons are in the school’s colors and they have sparkly letters and little trinkets like footballs and whistles attached. The mums are meant to be pinned on the girl’s shirt and the garter (which is much smaller than the mum) is worn on the guy’s arm.
Not all mums are created equal. You have your single mum, which I personally think is the best size, as well as double and triple mums – status mums, if you will. Who knows? Maybe now there are quadruple mums. I’ll be able to tell you after tonight. One year my mum was as wide as I was and I just carried it on a hanger. I’m laughing out loud at that memory right this second. Oftentimes there will be a small stuffed animal in the middle of the mum. There are even mums with Christmas lights.
Are you amazed? Shocked? Awed? I found a silly article and video from a Dallas news station that will help you visualize this phenomenon. Here’s the link. You’ll find the video halfway down the page. By the way, I think I spotted some quadruples!
Nothing says fall in Texas like a homecoming football game. What about your neck of the woods? Are there any fall traditions unique to where you live?
