Reenacting Preparations

You know, in this day and age, to have a hobby - a passion - in which one can include their family - I mean, to actually leave for the weekend to pretend to live 150 years ago and to have your wife and your adult children want to join - is wonderful thing.
No, on second thought, it's a GREAT thing.
That's what reenacting is for me and my clan. My 21 and 17 year old sons excitedly showed me their lists of upcoming events they plan to attend this year and are already speaking of what they'd like to do while there.
My wife is getting herself prepared to begin her sewing projects for the season: pants for one son, a new waistcoat/vest for me, a new dress (half mourning) and a new homemade bonnet for herself, and I have planned a period dress meeting to take place in March for our civilian contingent.
Just because the ground is white and the air is frigid doesn't mean that we can't begin our planning for the months ahead, right?
In fact, it's actually a lot of fun!
Of course, like I wrote a few weeks back, there are those who think me and my family are nuts - even members of my own reenacting unit!
Yup. We certainly are! But, we're having more fun than ever! And, thanks to the many responses I received from that blog (both in the comments section as well as through personal e-mails) in which I found most back me, I have a renewed sense of excitement for this season.
In the words of our illustrious unit president, it will be the best ever!!
There are also quite a few other members in our unit who have expressed how excited they are about the events of 2009.
One of our own members does an awesome job as a laundress. She gets into her first person persona and speaks to the patrons about her life in the military camps washing the men's clothing.

For me personally, I have had some from other Civil War groups ask me about expanding my 'post office' impression to include even more units.
This is the sort of thing that makes it worthwhile! This is the sort of thing that gets me excited about reenacting.

It's easy to sit on your rump in camp and be bored and complain. But to make history come alive makes this whole so-called hobby worth it. Unless one makes the effort to have fun, no matter what part of reenacting they fall in, they will be unhappy. And with the group I belong to, our civilians - our living historians - have really been making an effort to not only bring history alive, but to have fun doing it!
Yup - I am definitely excited about the upcoming reenacting season. And to do it with my family in tow, well, it just doesn't get any better!
And how cool is that?