Thought it would be nice to take a few moments in these difficult times, to look back and remember some of the things that were so nice, no matter your age.

These last two months I have had to attend two memorial services for a relative and for my life long friends father, in short, he night as well have been my father (mine has been gone five years now). With my father-in-law ailing and brother-in-laws health failing, it has been hard to keep going.

I sat back and realized some interesting points, things that amazed me. I am 42, a mother of three, grandmother to one (he is almost 5 now). My own mother is 69 and works nearly full-time still, seems to me at times she is like the Energizer Bunny! Then I realized, while talking to relatives, about our family history, that my own maternal grandfather would have been 102 this year. He was born in 1907. A time when women still wore long dresses and never showed their ankles, now women can pretty much show anything, and people almost sleepily accept it.

In just two generations of my family, we have gone from complete gentility to absurd lewdness as being acceptable behavior. Women wearing make-up was considered nothing short of being a "painted woman" (which for those younger, out west here meant a prostitute).

There were things you simply did not bring up in public, and pregnant women did not go out in public (unless they were terribly poor, and then of course were looked down upon). Now women go out, but it is not just that, they flaunt it by wearing tops so tight you can see the unborn kick!

Of course the not going out in public is unresonable, we can all agree.

Christmas has changed SO much. Used to be all sorts of "Christmas" specials were on in December. We had "Christmas" trees in our classrooms, "Christmas" parties on the day we left for "Christmas" break. We ate all sorts of really bad stuff with refined sugar in it, and it was....homemade!

Teachers displayed little Nativity scenes at their desks, and kids could give out religious themed Christmas cards to each other. Gifts were exchanged, Christmas songs sang.

One gift was all we got, plus a little in your stocking. Most kids I knew, it was this way, not one of my friends had more than one gift, but it was SO important. We got older and began to earn money, and then we would buy for each other, so then there was more, but those earlier gifts were so great.....

We made salt dough ornaments, which we finally convinced our mother to throw out since they were doughy once again!!LOL

Christmas day, my paternal uncle and grandmother would come over for dinner. As with Thanksgiving, my father and uncle set up the pinochle board and played while cracking nuts (a real treat) and my grandmother, mother, my sister and I helped get the meal out. Afterwards, when my mother was clearing the table and putting away things, even the tiniest smidgen of food, my grandma would call out "now Karen, don't throw that away, I'll take that home and warm it up tomorrow". Even if it was nothing more than a couple of spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, nothing should be wasted (she was a mother during the depression).

She always brought us a Lifesaver book for a gift. It was not much, looking back, but it was a big deal to us, as candy was not had a lot in our family, it was reserved for special occassions.

All of the toys I had, could fit into one cardboard produce box, and they were kept perfect, as there would not be replacements. Now kids destroy things and do not care if they lose something, they figure they can get more, if something of mine was lost, taken or had been ruined, I would have been devastated, it was a childhood long collection.

Ever watch "White Christmas" when Bing Crosby is talking and he smiles and says "oh, why" instead of saying "oh, well" in his sentences? It is (as far as I know) a Northwestern thing (besides calling a creek and crick), and that same Bing drawl. My father, uncle and grandmother had those same slow drawls, and all of them always said in their sentences "oh, why" and out here it is a grocery "beg", not a "bag".

This drawl and use of "why" instead of "well" is going out with all of our older generations here, it makes me sad, so when I do hear someone over my age talking I always listen close and can almost hear my grandmother, uncle or dad, telling stories, saying "oh, why we were up by that crick".

And last but not least, my family came out of apple orchard country (Wenatchee/Leavenworth Washington area) and it is not apple picking, it is "apple knockin".

Well, it sort of has now made me feel lost and sort of sad, but it was nice to talk about it.

Let's hear your stories.