This is me and my friend Jill. We are dressed as the famous Saturday Night Live dynamic duo, THE SWEENEY SISTERS! Some of you may be too young to remember. And that makes me sad for you. Please – do not try to find their act on the Intraweb. It doesn’t exist. Believe me. I’ve looked every month since this summer when Jill and I were asked to reprise our roles as Christmas Cafe hosts. The theme was “Be There with Bells On” and the Sweeney Sisters just so happen to have a “bell medley” skit they did back in the 90s. Luckily, Jill and I were well versed and had the thing practically memorized.

The weekend was so much fun! We had four shows and the Sweeney Sisters opened and closed each night. In-between we had little skits that included us dressing as Taco Bell employees, elves, a Home Shopping Channel show where we sold holiday items in New York accents and Jill in a milk maid outfit and me in a cow costume selling Blue Bell ice cream. Oh it’s as funny as it sounds.

Ironically, this was not the first time I’ve found myself on a stage with Jill in a random costume. After meeting each other at a Pi Phi cookie shine/induction ceremony/pledge lock-in, Jill and I became fast friends and soon learned we were kindred spirits. In our first performance as Vivacious Violets (a fancy title for “entertainment chairpersons” during RUSH week at Baylor) we’ve transformed ourselves into go-go dancers, flappers, orphans, bride/bridesmaid and two of the five Spice Girls. After graduation, we found ourselves at Disney World in Jungle Cruise outfits and somehow reprised our Spice Girl roles in ice blue fringe dresses at the Adventureland Christmas party. We were a big hit.

Sadly, the older you get, the more you have to work to find a stage so that you can unleash your inner actress. Fortunately, since becoming grown-ups, we’ve managed to dress as Little Orphan Annie and Cruella DeVille, an angel and shepherd, a doll and a present and by golly if those little ice blue fringe numbers didn’t make a THIRD appearance at our friend’s rehearsal dinner.

Now that it’s over, we’ve both discussed that we are going through Cafe withdrawals. We’ll call each other and sing a bit of the medley. Or we’ll speak with our New York accents. But it’s just not the same when you aren’t wearing a wig or head to toe sequins.

I guess I’ll have to drum up a holiday play with all the kids at Christmas this year. I’ll recruit my pregnant sister and her husband to be Mary and Joseph. Then the rest of us can be barnyard animals. I think I know where I can score a real goat though. So much planning to do!

On a final note, many of you have asked/requested to see a video of the performance. I can say with quite certainty…over my sequined dead body!

Merry Christmas to all. And to all a good night.