Saturday, November 04, 2023

Hoppy Holidays (A Clothes Post with Rabbits)

The holidays are coming. Can you tell how excited Betty Bunny is? 

She makes a large pot of tea and contemplates the next few weeks.


Her bunny family is rather scattered, so she will be making a roundabout trip to see them all.

Here is her travel outfit: navy pants, a striped shirt, and her brightest pullover sweater.

What's in her suitcase? She's going for a Whatever's Clean Thirteen, so she decides to limit it to ten pieces of clothing.

A dark blue cardigan that goes with the shirt and pants.

A turtleneck top that goes with everything else.

An extra shirt and a pair of jeans

A winter-white t-shirt. She considers adding a pair of light-grey cords. Will they go with enough of the dark blue/navy things? Well, maybe not with everything, but they are pretty useful, so she decides yes for now. If her suitcase won't close, she'll leave them behind.

She adds a navy turtleneck sweater, plus a skirt that goes well with it.

She thinks hard about the last two spots in her bag. She doesn't really want another sweater. 
She does like this striped t-shirt, but she has a feeling she might need something a little dressier for adult-bunny festivities. In a flash of inspiration, she decides to pack her blue-grey wrap dress, which can be worn open like a cardigan or  tied closed on its own. And also her darker grey Revolve dress, which was made to be worn as a top or a tunic as well. And since she's feeling so buoyantly bunny brilliant, she treats herself to an extra piece of clothing that won't take up too much room: charcoal-grey knit pants that can make an outfit with the Revolve dress.
She also doesn't skimp on accessories. Some bunnies might be expecting her to wear holiday colours, like lettuce green and carrot orange. She's having none of that, but she can be festive in her own somewhat snarky Betty Bunny way.

So Betty sets off on the BunnyTrak train, with her bag of clothes and shoes and scarves, and gifts for the multitudinous cotton-tailed relatives.

Her first stop is to see Cousin Rosa and her little boy Bongo. She is rather glad that she will be staying there only one night, as they are a little noisy.


The next day she arrives at the home of Cousin Tom, who is very busy this time of year nailing up wreaths on burrow doors.
In fact, he has an emergency callout while she is there. 
"You won't mind staying here with the twins, will you?" 
"No, not at all."
"They'll probably just nap all afternoon."

More like twenty minutes. 
Betty is glad she brought along an outfit that can survive paint, juice, peanut butter, and ketchup.

But she Is happy to change into something else when some other relatives drop in after dinner.



Betty's next stop is the town of Hooten Holler, where she plans to attend the annual holiday concert. 

Two of her nieces, Clara and Maud, are performing a duet.

After the concert, her friend Lucy Pocket invites her to stop by for carrot cider and cinnabunny rolls. Unfortunately, young Maud has had a bit too much cider and insists on doing several more encores.

But she eventually calms down.

The next morning, Betty and Lucy go out for brunch with a couple of other old friends.



Betty then catches a Bunny Airways flight to visit her brother Robert, whose passions are table tennis, model rocketry, and cave hiking. 
When Betty visits Robert, she dresses for adventure.

Betty's final stop is Granny Babbit's burrow, where a great number of bunnies, old and young, are gathering for the annual Run-From-the-Fox-Night Fireworks Party and Swap Hop. 

There are so many relatives there that she ends up sharing a bed with a couple of the young cousins, who have trouble getting to sleep because of all the excitement. She has to sing them some lullabunnies.


The next morning she pulls on whatever-is-still-clean and hops home. 

She did bring back some interesting things from the white-elephant gift swap.

But now she has to write a bazillion thank-you notes.
She's not coming out again until spring.

NOTE: Most of the rabbits are vintage Pendelfin, and their names are as given by the makers. "Betty" is actually "Boswell," maybe because of the writing desk, but I think she's more of a "Betty."

The travel wardrobe ideas are adapted from this post and this one on The Vivienne Files.

10 comments:

The Vivenne Files said...

This is the best wardrobe ever! The clothes are perfect - of course - but the story is THE BEST!
much love,
Janice

Kristi Andres said...

This is great! I love the bunnies and how you wove them into the story. It was great to see the clothes laid out too. Those are my colors... I might have to borrow Betty's ideas. :)

Vicki from New Zealand said...

Great to wake up to such a charming and witty story! And Betty's travel wardrobe is also lovely.

Catherine said...

We had a quartet of those bunnies at my house growing up! I have one with a harp sitting on my craft room bookshelf right now. Big dose of nostalgia for me. :)

Mama Squirrel said...

Megan the Harp! I have never seen that one in real life.

Two of my Pendelfins are from my childhood, the rest are mostly from thrift stores and the occasional antique market.

Lorrie said...

Visiting from Janice's blog - love the story, and the wardrobe!

Anonymous said...

Visiting from Janice’s blog. Bunnylicious story. Betty must ge exhausted from so bunny festivities.

Donna said...

Oh my goodness, I am enchanted with your stories of the bunnies! I do love all the outfits you took on your adventure. You inspire a gal to check out what is in her wardrobe.

Elizabeth said...

Brilliant! I love your colour combinations and the bunnies.

Mama Squirrel said...

Betty and I thank you all for the kind words!