By Sonya Lichte
December is upon us. With Christmas just around the corner, we all have planning to do, presents to buy, trees to decorate, presents to wrap, and goodies to make. This year will be my daughter Libby’s first Christmas. I find myself wondering if her childhood Christmases will be as special as mine were.
From Knapper
I can remember going to an all night restaurant and paying 10 cents for a cup of coffee, 20 cents for a LARGE order of fries, 25 cents for LARGE hamburger. Then I would go to a full service gas station and pay 20 cents for a pack of name brand cigarettes and 25 cents for a gal of gas, so we could cruise the main drag.
Katharine Hepburn’s childhood, in her own words.
“Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.
Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.
There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.
By Jennifer Thompson
It becomes clear how drastically the lifestyle of Americans have changed when asking folks to reminisce about old Route 66. It was a time when so many were becoming mobile and moving into cities across the country. Yet memories revealed a slow pace of life, with family trips and plenty of time to stop at an old diner or spend the night in a roadside motel.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
By Joan McNulty Pulver
By Ruthann Held Wike
I have a quilt on my bed that my mother (bless her heart) pieced together, probably at least 50 if not 60 years ago, or longer. It is so special to me, not only because my mother, God rest her soul, pieced it together, but because of what it is made from.
A little background. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. The family didn’t have a lot of material things but they had lots of love and the important things in life, enough so they didn’t miss material things.
By Polly Mazariegos
Photograph of the Bielock farm in Holton, Michigan
written by Donna Sundblad as told by her mother Grace Stephenson
Before the war, Mom regularly trekked from Chicago to Holton, Michigan, to help on my grandparents farm. Grandma lost her first husband, Andrew Prickett, in May of 1922, when mom was young. Things were tough, and she worked odd jobs to hold her family together. She married Grandpa Mike (Bielock) while mom was still young.
Paul Harvey's Letter To His Grandchildren
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, I'd like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches.. I really would.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.