That was my world growing up, except no one was ever invited in, they just walked in. Our door swung both ways all day long and most evenings - my mother and her friends, neighbors and our relatives. And my mother never asked them if they wanted anything to eat or drink - they always walked into our kitchen, fridge, cabinets and helped themselves. It was all very chummy. Can you imagine doing that to any of your friends or relatives?? It was the 50's, friends. Remember how life was so very different way back then? Our house ALWAYS had baked goods, ALWAYS had Coke, and was ALWAYS open to chitchat. Usually gossipy type chitchat. When I was really young, my mother would watch what she said, I'm sure because she was afraid I would repeat it. And I'm so shy..... Anyway, she was trying to be a good friend and neighbor by not allowing her child to hear bad stuff about them so she and her friends/relatives would use code words. I eventually caught on to this code and I would take my coloring book and crayons and sit under the kitchen table and pick up every bit of dirt they were jabbering. Oh, I was in heaven!!! I knew more stuff on more people than you could shake a stick at!!! When I grew older, it was a little awkward to sit under the table with a coloring book and crayons, so I would take a book in the living room and "read" while they were in the nearby kitchen, gossiping. I could hear every word, of course. I never took the information outside the household because I was too afraid of getting into trouble. That's a lie. I was really afraid of losing my listening privileges. The best and juiciest stuff involved my mom and her sister talking about the relatives, especially when they complained about my grandmother. I loved hearing all that. It was better than any book I was reading. As I grew into adulthood, my mom and her friends/relatives still talked about everyone, as was their habit, but I had lost interest in the gossip and had moved on to other things. Like soap operas. My mother never let us watch television, so turning the tv on in the daytime was a real treat when I was first married. Now that I'm writing this, I see there's a very fine line between the gossip and the soaps. I also outgrew the soaps, but I still remember my mom and all the girls chatting away a morning/afternoon/evening and I miss people popping in and rummaging through the kitchen to see what mom cooked up yesterday. It really was a different time....
I've been working on Christmas. Yes, I have. Yes, I know it's October, but when you make stuff, you don't make it in December. You make it year round. Besides, if Lowe's can put out their Christmas goods, so can I.
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