Monday, December 5, 2011

The Bed Of Coats

Deb: The season of festive gatherings is upon us. For me, there is nothing that evokes the chewy centre of party’s past and present more than the Bed of Coats.  Over the Christmas season as we go from home to home, its lumpy form is a familiar and welcome sight.

The dependable bed of coats disappeared from our home during the holidays the last few years. We switched from small intimate gatherings to large catered affairs, where coats would be whisked away by a smiling black tie server and replaced with a numbered ticket in our guest’s hand. It was all so grownup. But I confess that during these parties I would go upstairs to freshen my lipstick and as I glanced at our perfectly made bed with its plumped pillows and coverlet pulled taught, it looked decidedly bored. It seemed to be wanting for its own version of a holiday duvet. A Holivet as it were.

My cousin’s Scott and Lorette had their annual family Christmas party yesterday. As it was winding down, I went upstairs with my brother to the bed of coats to try and extract my Mom’s black coat from the sixty-seven other black coats. It took us three tries, but we had lots of laughs before we hit it. Never mind the fun of checking out the other coats without actually feeling the pressure and desire to purchase one.

I can recall from both memory and family photos, falling asleep on the bed of coats as a kid, the sounds of the party becoming the soundtrack of my dreams. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I love Sinatra. 

And I can’t help but think that maybe the coats are having their own holiday party. You gotta know that the tan cashmere is eyeing the black leather bomber jacket.  And you can bet that some skanky mitten is slipping her fuzz into the lower wallet end of a herringbone tweed car coat. The satin evening cape is spread across the pillows, tag exposed, lining crushed.  Plaid felt sleeves are entangled in the back slit of an organic wool jacket, even though every coat there knows it came to the party with the fleece-lined windbreaker.

The recently purchased vintage reclaimed fur is looking down its nose at the ten-year-old trench with frayed cuffs, although it would kill to cop a feel of its lining. The organic wool peacoats are getting stoned and the hockey jackets are hoping they’ll slip off the bed so they can grab a glimpse of the game playing in the den with the sound turned off.

Bed of Coats means one thing. There’s a party goin’ on!

Barbara: Oh, Deb, I love this. You’ve just turned an ordinary thing—a possible mishmash or mess or blight on the lovely cleanness of a bed—and made me look at it through your charming eyes. Because you’re right! A bed of coats is all these things. It represents your friends and loved ones gathered close; it is every walk of life thrown together, regardless of status or style; it is no-holds-barred connection. I will never look at the bed of coats in the same way. Now I will see something sweet and heartwarming. And oh so devilishly funny as I imagine the shenanigans this seemingly haphazard, certainly cozy group of coats might be getting up to. And PS: I LOVE the holivet!!

29 comments:

  1. Deb thank you for the morning smile and memories of my own bed of coats. The dog there with all the coats really made me smile. That must be where all the mysterious fur comes from on my black wool coat.
    Sue

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  2. What a wonderful post Deb!! I love the Bed of Coats. I laughed out loud at the pea coats getting stoned (is that because all my boys wear them?) The other nice memory is lying on them when I was a little girl and smelling all the different perfumes and feeling the furs. What a lovely angle to the Christmas season. You and Barb are always so incredibly clever with your writing skills and imagination, it never ceases to amaze me. I was thrilled to hear you mother was at the party!!!

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  3. Susan Lynne I am glad you loved the dogs being there. Made me laugh. If you look closely you will see that there are two dogs! But ours don't shed so no fur on the coats!!! :-)
    Mary-Jo, I forgot about the perfume as a kid! You are so right. And the fur. Shoot. Missed something. Why weren't you here when I was writing it????

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  4. Oh No, I don't think you missed a thing Deb.....your coats were dancing on the bed :)

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  5. Thanks Mary-Jo but wow, since you responded all I can feel is the fur on my cheek and the waft of Chanel number 5 or Yardly's "Heaven"

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  6. heeheeheehee...bed of coats! I love it! And your little dogs too! :D

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  7. This is so cute.... loved the cute little dogs, too..... They look so adorable !!!! :D

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  8. Now that you mention this Deb I see that you are right! I have never paid much attention to all the coats that get piled on my grandparents bed during the holiday. You have an amazing way of turning around the way most people look at a mess of jumbled coats! I am going to be thinking of ths come December 24th when i need to find my coat.
    -Kelly fom NJ-

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  9. Definitely one of the best uses for a bed. Ahh Sinatra been too long since I last listened now I must play "One for My Baby"

    Question for you since you have terriers. Do you find they are barky dogs? I'm wondering if it is terriers in general or if my parents terrier just happens to be an idiot.

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  10. Holly and Shalaka I am so glad you loved the pups. Or as I like to refer to them...Guardians of the coats. Kelly I love that you are going to look at the bed of coats in a whole new way. Erin, One for my baby is my husband's fave Sinatra Song! Our older dog is starting to go blind and as a result is barking obsessively when anyone comes to the door. But the pup is getting trained. We use a lemon spritz collar for her and now sometimes we just have to show it to her and she will not bark.

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  11. Ah, that's so sweet. I've never thought of that, because we never put our coats on a bed (poor things - because we don't have a bed on the first floor). They are usually forced to hang over the handrail. Don't think they've much fun. They might get sick.

    You dogs are really cute. If I had a bed of coats, my two rabbits would guard it. ;)

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  12. At first I thought your were talking about a religious activity. I had no idea of what you speak. But then I realized you were talking about a bed of coats literally. Such a fun way to look at the coats. Loved this.

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  13. Well I'd have to agree with your husband, it's my fave as well. I ask about the dogs because although he is better after a month he still barks a fair amount and it looks like he may be a permanent addition to our family. I've never had a barky dog so it's a new challenge for me.

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  14. Wow, Deb, I absolutely love your writing style! Such fun and what a great imagination! The other writers are right! I too will never look at a bed of coats the same again! Thanks for the whimsical glance into the past as well, with my own memories having returned of nights fallen asleep on the heaps of coats piled on my parents', aunts' and uncles' and friends' beds while parties continued on well into the night. Sharon Rogers

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  15. Becki I would love to see Rabbits guarding the bed!Thanks Madge, love that you thought it was a religious thing. Hmmm, wonder what bed of coats might mean religiously speaking? Erin honestly, try the bark collar. We would never use the shock one but this is safe and it does not sting their eyes or harm them in any way. Just gives them a little citrus shot. Thanks so much Sharon. I'm so glad you have your own memories of this.

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  16. Yeah.... Deb i guess GUARDIANS OF COATS sounds better.... LOL the moment i read that I visualized them sitting there with "WE HAVE THE POWER" expression on their faces.....:D it sounds so ROYAL ....LOL

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  17. Who knew coats could be so naughty? I will keep an eye on mine in the future :)

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  18. I too love the dogs guarding the coats! You are lucky they don't shed. Mine does and I find dog hair on clothing I have not even worn yet! My dog does bark when she sees a cat (so cliché. She doesn't bark at my cat though, thank God) and when there is someone at our door. She usually settles down quickly though and it is great to have a guard dog, although she is not exactly Cujo.

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  19. Deb, you've conjured up some more memories I have of when my parents' "group" would come over for extended Saturday evenings. The coats would be piled up on my brother's bed, because we were in our parents' room where the (8"screen) tv was.
    I do remember those hockey jackets trying to slip away. Now I know why. Good thing we kept that bedroom door closed. We never would have all fit around the tv.
    I think the rest of the coats had the same visits the folks downstairs did. "Hey! Good to see you outside of church! What's going on? Who's dealing?" Now that I think of it, maybe that wasn't the hockey jackets sliding around. It could have been the sounds of cards being shuffled. Hmmm...
    My grandmother had a grey sheeps curls-looking coat with a soft grey "someone's fur" collar. That was my favorite to curl up with. It was SO soft. I can still picture AND feel it now, and that was almost 40 years ago.
    My brother does Thanksgiving every year, so the coats now get piled on his son's bed. It doesn't hold quite the same nostalgia for me, but the hockey jackets are still trying to make their escape.
    At least one thing remains constant. :)

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  20. Oh, and the pups are adorable! (I hadn't realized there were two there, either.) We'd inevitably lose a cat or two in the pile, 'cause they liked to burrow under them. And, inevitably, someone would come up for a coat and shriek when they disturbed the nest and a cat broke free. Ah, good times, good times. :)

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  21. Deb, I guess it would look something like that:

    http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/729/cutestthingever.jpg
    The dark one is Lucky (the boss) and the other one (lop-eared) is Julie :)

    http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9159/deckepennen.jpg

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  22. Deb, I thought it was a Canadian thing and like a coat of arms for the families that wanted one. I'm Jewish what do I know. :)

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  23. Love the doggies! They are so precious! The bed of coats is nice too; you always know there are nice people in your house when you have a lot of coats. Or in the case of our house at home...lots of SHOES. I suppose it has the same concept :]

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  24. That explains the leather patches on the elbows of some men's blazers. Protection. ;)

    Public Service Announcement: Anyone allergic to dogs, do not hand over your coat at Deb's house. Anyone allergic to cats, do not hand over your coat at my house. The furry cuteness will prevail.

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  25. Shalaka you're right, it does have a royal ring to it. Anette, yes I would certainly keep an eye out. Just as well Step, really who wants Cujo guarding? Dawn I love my parents "group". That's so of the time. Fur collars, yep plenty of those in the day. And yes Dawn, good times, good times.

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  26. Wonderful entry. We've all known beds of coats and the image brings back many warm, fond memories.

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  27. Love this post Deb. It reminded me of when I was really little and we would go up to my great grandmothers and everyone would just put there coats on the bed in a big pile as well as shoes . For some reason my family hates shoes but oh well. Since then many of those coats have disappeared. We have lost a great deal of our family on my mothers side pass away in 2009 we had 2 lost. So as you can see that coat and shoe pile has vanished, but the memories that I have from those years will stay with me forever. Thanks for bring those great memories back Deb. Love it . This post makes me smile.

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