APRONS

How many of you remember your Grandma's aprons? The following story was sent to me and brought back a flood of memories of my Grandma Mitchell who lived on the mountain in Alabama. On any given day at her home she could be seen wearing her apron as she ironed, washed, cooked, cleaned, sewed, or anything else for that matter. Boy, I miss her...

What do you remember about aprons as a child?

The History of APRONS
I don't think our kids know what an apron truly is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath. Because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron ... but Love !!

Post-Holiday Blues

Has anyone else got 'em??? For the last month one of the first things I've done each morning is plug in the Christmas tree. The thought of not having that cozy tree-light feeling in our home everyday makes me so sad. Apparently it makes CJ sad, too. This afternoon while the girls were at school I went upstairs to the toy room to take down the little "tacky tree," I like to call it. It has been decorated in neon lights, bulbs and stars the past 3 Christmas Seasons. The kids love it. Anyway, I first took off the ornaments, then the lights and last began to disassemble the tree. CJ came running from across the room just sobbing. At first I thought "What happened? Is he hurt?" Then he laid down on top of the tree and hugged it. He kept trying to pick it up and pull the limbs back down on it. It absolutely broke my heart. I feel your pain, CJ.