Mums the Word

This week was Homecoming week for the highschoolers.  I was informed early on by some of the other mom's that Homecoming here in Texas would be very different than what I was used to.  Mums......what can I say about the huge, flowery, gaudy adorment that teens here give to and receive from one another.  Well, they are expensive, heavy, chalk full of ribbons and other dangly objects.  From my research this tradition started in the 1930's.  The girls would receive real mums from boys.  They were a sign of love and popularity.  My interpretation of what happened next is as follows.  Some crazy people began competing for whose was the biggest and best.  Well, when fake mums became available people realized they could glue all sorts of stuff to the mums.  Nowadays mums are received and given to your homecoming date or from a parent or grandparent as a sign of love.  The girls wear them usually pinned to their shirt or around the neck.  Mind you these things can weigh like 10 lbs.  I know, crazy!  The boys version is smaller and worn as a garter around the arm. They are now also adorned with items that represent the person it is being given to. For example, if you play football there will be little football helmets, footballs, etc.).  So, here are some pics of the one we had made for our niece's date.  He is into skateboarding so he has little skateboards hanging from his.  Anyway, it is an interesting and fun tradition.

The dance was last night.  It was a late night.  Here they are in school all day, then the Homecoming game was at 7pm, and then dance begins at 9pm.  We picked up the girls from the game around 8:30 and by 10:30 they were on their way to the dance.  Because the game is on the same night they extended the dance until 1am so the players could attend.  Here are a few photos of our niece's dress.

Homecoming here brought back some fun memories of my highschool years.  It is very interesting to me how every school or area has different Homecoming tradtions.  Homecoming floats and parade were big in CA.  Here they have a huge carnival during the middle of the week.  I can't wait to see how things change between now and when our boys reach high school.