This holiday season has been a spectacular one. I've let go of old grudges and anger. I've forgiven family members for any hurt they caused in the past, whether to me directly or to another member. Also, for the first time in my life, I got to spend christmas day with my Grandma and I got to listen to her tell stories of growing up during World War II. I got to be immersed in a family history that I previously knew very little of except that, through my Grandma, I am the third generation from Austria.

As someone who is obsessed with learning about family history, listening to her tell her stories made my heart glow. I learned about great-uncles I never even knew existed, I learned that, when she was a kid, it cost 10 cents to ride the bus and 25 cents to go to a high school football game. She told us about her ration book and how she wasn't able to participate in gym because by the time the family had saved up enough money, there where no more sneakers available! She also told us about growing up with her declining ability to hear (which has been passed down to my mother, brother and I). It was fascinating.

All the while, in my mind's eye, I was creating her world. I imagined my grandmother as a little girl, playing in the streets of some city in Ohio, with stockings and a peter pan collar on her dress. I saw her in those classic vintage dresses, walking tall and proud, her dark hair curled to perfection, her blue eyes sparkling with mischievous delight.

I had to giggle to myself because I started to envision my Austrian side meeting my Scottish side. As I said before, I am obsessed with learning family history. I've delved deep into my father's mother's side, even going so far as to create a character for a class and bringing her to life. A fierce Scottish warrior, rooted in the ancestry of the Picts (which happen to be mixed with Vikings!), proud of her clan and where she comes from.

So it's this image that I have, of my Scottish ancestors meeting my Austrian Grandma that has me giggling. It's all kilts and fur and woad (think blue tattoo ink) and idgaf attitude meeting simplicity and modesty and peter pan collars. Obviously, in my head, I've got two different points in time meeting, which is why I find it so amusing.

It's also why I find it so inspiring. My family history has opened up a part of my creativity that I had never accessed before. In all reality, I owe my professor for handing me the key to open that door. Because of her, pushing and encouraging me to really do the research, to find as much information as possible and then to bring that information to life, I've found my calling. Costume design.

I've got an entire board on Pinterest dedicated to nothing more than my ancestry. It's from that, that I draw my inspiration to create new outfits, costumes, cosplays, all of that. It's from my family history that I have the drive to bring those from long ago back. To honor them, to make their stories known all through the use of fabric and imagination.

I've always loved my family but never in a million years would I have guessed that I would love them this much. That I would feel this connected to them. That I would one day decide, that because of them and the inspiration they give me, that working with costumes is what I want to do with the rest of my life.