The Macduff Men

I could hardly believe my eyes this past November as I thumbed through the Land's End catalog. Of all things, a Macduff modern dress plaid shirt was nestled in between all the other plaid offerings of the season. Macduff plaid is hard to come by, unless you order it directly from Scotland. And it's never offered in an American style dress shirt. Kilts, hats and scarves are the most common apparel items available for the different clans.

So of course I immediately ordered a shirt for Matt. Then I called my mother-in-law and she promptly ordered one for my father-in-law. The two men opened their shirts at our family Christmas present opening party about a week before Christmas.

Matt's sister, Lori, gave Isaac a little bitty Macduff plaid shirt--so cute. I asked her where she had gotten it. Kohl's--of all places. Two American retailers with Macduff plaid in the same year? Unbelievable.

I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I wanted to get to Kohl's to try to find a shirt for Paul, who is very proud of his surname and Scottish heritage. I just wasn't sure when I'd have the time to get to the store. My mother-in-law volunteered to go.

Mom found one shirt hanging high on a display. She asked a clerk to get it down. It "happened" to be Paul's size. I was tickled when I heard the news. Mom went back to Kohl's later that night. She and one of the clerks combed through all of the clothes racks and found one more shirt--in Jude's size. With just Joel left to outfit in Macduff plaid, my mother-in-law asked the clerk to see if there just might be another shirt in a different store. Yes, there was another shirt in Joel's size and it could be shipped to our door just in time for Christmas. Yay!
Well then, what about the girls? My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to the rescue again. Grace would wear Lori's kilt, Elizabeth would wear Grandma Dianne's skirt made out of the Macduff hunting plaid. Grandma Dianne also had some wool fabric scraps in the clan plaid, so Elizabeth was able to make cute hair clips for both herself and Lydia to wear.
So for Christmas Eve we definitely did the Macduff clan proud, all decked out in a our festive finery. Except me. I wore a black sweater and a black skirt. Someone had to represent the more understated German side of the family.