so you wanna be a gangsta...

The end of Karneval time is drawing near. Well, not that near, but if you're a kid, it can't come soon enough because that's the day you get to dress up and party. Rosenmontag (literally 'raving Monday' - nothing at all to do with roses) is the Monday before Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent. There are parties all over the place and the children go to school in costume.

Rosenmontag falls on February 27 this year, and although northern Germany supposedly isn't that big on Karneval, the stores are already full of all kinds of fancy outfits and accessories. You name it, they have it - clowns, policemen, knights in shining armour, princesses, escaped convicts, devils, angels - the choice is yours.

About a week and a half ago, Boy9 was leafing through one of the glossy department store Karneval flyers we've been getting lately and fell in love. With a gangster costume. Really. He cut out the picture. He slept with it under his pillow. He scanned it and put his head in in place of the kid in the picture. He had to have that gangster costume. It was all he talked about.

Now I'm not usually one for buying stuff when I can make it myself, especially stuff like costumes that most likely will only be worn once, so I told him we'd go downtown, have a look and then decide. So we did, and he was in heaven. My sewing skills are quite decent, but I decided there was no way I could make something like that for the money it cost ready-made, and besides, the last time I sewed a pinstripe suit for someone was...well...never, so I just went ahead and bought the thing and made him promise not to grow any more so he could wear it again next year.

Boy9: Oh Mummy! This is the best day of my life! *sigh*
Me: Oh, really?
Boy9: Well, OK, I guess the real best day of my life would be if I won a Lamborghini Diabolo, but I'll just say it's the best day of my life up until now. I always dreamed of being a gangster.
Me: But you know that gangsters are bad guys, right?
Boy9: I know that, but it's only dressing up, and anyway, I'll be a good gangster! I won't even shoot anyone!

How can you argue with that logic? Check it out.



(to be modelled by Himself at a later date)

Because he's such a slender, wiry little guy, the suit fits him like a dream and the 'Al Capone' hat just makes it. He had to try it on again as soon as he got home.

Me: Papa will tie your necktie for you and here, your shirt looks much better when it's tucked into the pants.
Boy9: Noooo, Mummy! Don't do that! Don't help me!
Me: Aww, you won't even let your poor mama help you a bit?
Boy9: Gangsters don't have mamas!

(But gangsters, or at least the one that sleeps in Boy9's bed, DO insist on having a little cuddle on the sofa every morning for 20 minutes before they go off to school!)

Boy12 has also decided on a costume, but his is being kept under wraps for now.

And speaking of stylin' young men, do go take a look at what Sal, Spain's most fashionable expat, has been up to lately. Did you know that thanks to his faithful readers his blog was recently declared a guaranteed Tipper Gore-free zone? It's true!