Friday Night Lights .....

So we went to a football game - yup a true Friday night football game in West Texas. It was homecoming at Rachel's school this week and we thought it would be fun to go to the game. A team from Amarillo was here to be the opponents and it was the first Varsity game played on the new artificial turf field that the school put in over the summer. But Rachel's school is not very big so we were not expecting a lot of stuff ... the band is small, the varsity cheer leading squad is not that large, and for a pre-K - 12th grade school - there are not really that many kids. Well I can't wait to go to a Friday night game with one of the big schools here - cause tonight was a pretty good show.

The teams run onto the field from their inflatable helmets - in school colours - with their mothers and father on either side of the entry. And yes the other team brought their own helmet with them. There is smoke, the small band is quite good and the cheerleaders are fun to watch. The team did very well and when we left at half time the score was 48 - 27 for us! We did end up winning the game - 61-33. That is a fun homecoming for those football kids! The funniest thing we saw was the Flag boy ... with every touchdown the Mustangs scored - he ran that giant Midland Mustangs flag down the field. His shirt said FLAG BOY on the front and "Run me 'till I puke" on the back. And he did an awful lot of running - especially in the 1st quarter!

But what got me tonight was the corsages - and I use that word LIGHTLY - that a lot of the kids were wearing. It is a Texas (maybe other places too) tradition to wear Mums as your corsage ... only they are no longer a traditional corsage - in fact the girls wear them on lanyards because they are so big! I googled them and found they can cost up to $200. They used to be given to you by your boyfriend or prom date - now you can get them from anyone who wants to give you one. And there is a HUGE competition over them. They are in school colours and have your school name, mascot, bears, animals, feather boas, your boyfriend/girlfriend's name, your #, mini footballs and helmets - you name it, they can put it on it. SO many kids had them on - even the boys - they wear them on their sleeve like a garter. You can buy the stuff to make them at Michael's - including ribbon with the school name and mascot - or you can order them from special "mum-stores". There are small ones for little kids all the way up to giant ones that would take you down if you leaned the wrong way!!

I found this picture on the internet and since this kid's mom already put her there I figured it was OK to re-post her here - the blog says they live in Houston ...

I kid you not some of the ones there tonight were bigger than this - with boas and bears and lots of dangling things - and lights - YES LIGHTS. They crowned the Homecoming queen tonight and her "mum" was gigantic and to use Rachel's words - 'all pretty and sparkly'. And here is another picture I found on the internet with a pic of boys and girls wearing theirs (the boy ones are called garters - if you want to be in the know)

I asked Jennifer if this was a tradition all over - and it seems like it is more a Texas tradition. Which seems fitting if you ask me - they seem to Texas-size everything here. My friend here made headbands for her 2 girls and made one for Rachel too. It was red, white and blue with a white flower and some beads on hanging ribbons. You can see the flower and the blue and red ribbon here ... the whole headband is covered. It is cute, and Rachel was very happy to wear it to the game - with her blue Homecoming 2008 t-shirt (which said True Blue Believers on it) and her red skirt - she loves the school colour thing! I truly have a girly girl!!

xo Amy