Saturday, September 23, 2006

Grandma's Apron


My Aunt Judy sent me this story and it reminded me of all my grandma's. When I was growing up I can't hardly reminder most of them without an apron. Grandma Messer kept her little can of snuff in her apron pocket along with her hankie. Grandma Collins kept juicy fruit gum in her apron pocket along with her hankie. She always put her finger to her lips and said shhhh when she handed me a stick of gum. It was just our secret but I am sure mother knew where I got the gum. All the things in this story are things my grandma's done with their aprons too.

Grandma's Apron

The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder 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 THIS! "Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughter's set theirs on the window sill to thaw".

14 comments:

Rosa said...

What a wonderful story. It did bring back memories of my mom, my aunts and even my grandma and their uses for their aprons. (My grandma dipped snuff too!) I have a couple of my aunt's aprons, but I dont' know what happened to all of my mom's. Hmmmm. Thanks for the lovely reminder of gentler times.

Jeanette said...

A lovely story. I dont Know my grandma's they passed away before i was thought of but My dear mum and many aunts wore these Aprons and had a special one they wore when we had visitors To this Day my sister and I still wear aprons when cooking . Im just blog hopping ill call again .come visit me sometime . Take care

Lisa Oceandreamer Swifka said...

ah thank you, your story brought back memories of my Italian Nunna (my mother's mother)...she ALWAYS wore an apron too. She lived w/us for a time when I was a teen and right before my father was due home from work she'd go in and change to a fresh one. I know she used hers for many things as well and I remember thinking when she'd take it off, something definitely didn't seem right.
XOXO

Ramblins of a middle-aged goddess said...

Peggy, how sweet those memories are. My great grandmother most always had one on, my two grandmothers wore them too and they were used for most of those reasons too. My mother did not wear them as much..some but not like my great or grandmothers did. I love the writing of Grandmother's Apron. I am going to have to "borrow that" for my scrapbooking!! Thanks for the nice memory remembering post!! Sandy

J C said...

Wonderful apron story! Makes you feel kind of warm inside. :)

Anonymous said...

Thankyou Peggy, for sharing such a heart felt and loving story. With much love, Nicole xox.

eyes_only4him said...

your grandma had snuff?

my grandma still wears her arpon. she has a few of them..one to washes dishes with, one for baking..

my granny is 78 and doesnt get anything from the frigde without getting her aporn on..

I love grandmas.

my kids are missing out, no way my mom would be coaught dead with one..hehe

great post peggy...i love my grandma,

Gwen said...

Hi Peggy.
I have been cruising[blogs]that is and thought i would say hi.
The apron brings back lots of memories,my mother never worked with out hers.
Going over to wish "Mary HAPPY BIRTHDAY"
P.S these two names i cant forget
Mary***was my "MOTHER"and "PEGGY"my sister

WendyAs said...

I have pics of my great grand wearing her apron. Really practical when you didn't have a washer/dryer. All laundry was done by hand in those days. Labourous! Aprons made sense.Lovely flash from the past.

Jeanne said...

I love your photographs and stories.
Long live Grandmothers and their aprons and love.
Blessings my beautiful friend.
Love Jeanne ^j^

Miss Robyn said...

great story Peggy! I loved having 'little secrets' with my nan & your chewing gum story reminded me of that! xoxo

Laurie said...

I love this! My Mom and my Nana always wore an apron, I am trying to...I wear one if I am baking ~ I wish I could get used to wearing one everyday.

Anonymous said...

I have an Aunt Judy also.

I have a new blog and host. The name is still Faith Walk but the address is different.

www.homeschoolblogger.com/momxtwo

Stop by and visit me.
Blessings
Lisa

LadySnow said...

Thank you so much for this story. I do not go a day without wearing mine. I sometimes forget to take it off before I go in public! Oh well...I love mine. Thank you again.