Monday, September 4, 2017

My Love of Aprons

I have been absent way too long from posting here.  We're in the process of building an apartment for my mother, who moved in with us last year, and getting her settled; so I haven't had much time to even think about writing anything here.  I hope you'll be back with me as I intend to get back to posting again as my time eases up.

My love of aprons has spilled over into giving presentations about my apron collection!  In 2006, I ran across Ellen Anne Geisel, an apron collector, who at that time had about 400 aprons in her collection.  She was travelling around the country giving presentations about her love of vintage aprons and the stories they evoked.  Her book, The Apron Book, Making, Wearing and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort became my birthday present in November of 2006 from my sweet husband.  He encouraged me to start my own apron collection.

I had already started a teapot collection for the new house we had just moved into of May 2006, so an apron collection seemed very fitting.  And, since I had a couple of my Dad's mother's aprons, which I fondly remembered seeing her wear daily, I just couldn't resist!  Upon announcing to my mother and some friends what I was embarking upon, aprons began to appear.  My Mom gave me the aprons she had saved from my Dad's mother, and my Dad's sister gave me three more, so I ended up with nine of my grandmother's aprons.

My Dad's parents lived in the house next door to us on our dairy farm, so I grew up knowing both my grandparents as my second set of parents, until I left home when I married.  When I saw the interview of Ellen Anne, I got excited about collecting vintage aprons for myself.  Since starting my own collection, I have given talks about the history of the apron to three different Cooperative Extension Services around my state and am scheduled to give a fourth talk next week at my church. 

It's a lot of fun to show my collection, and I always request that ladies in the audience bring or wear one of their own aprons, or one from a family member.  It's fun to hear the stories that are shared.

Ellen Anne has started an annual event called: "Tie One On Day - an apron, of course!"  I plan to mention this annual event in my talk next week, as a way for all of us to show the love of Jesus to our neighbor.  The group I'll be speaking to is the Women's Missionary Union, so the Tie One On Day will be a great way of being a missionary in our own communities. 

The premise of Tie One On Day is to simply wrap a loaf of bread or baked-good (home-made would be preferable, if possible) and wrap it in an apron, while wearing an apron as you make the delivery.  You are encouraged to tuck a note of encouragement or a prayer inside the apron pocket or the package.  You are asked to make your delivery on Thanksgiving eve to a neighbor, friend or someone in your community who is in need, putting the "give" back into Thanksgiving.

Go to www.apronmemories.com and click on Tie One On Day to read all about this event, and to download and print a notecard to include with your package.  (Thanksgiving is on November 22nd this year, so you have plenty of time to prepare how you can be a blessing to someone.)

I have been saying for years how we tend to overlook Thanksgiving, with all of the hoopla surrounding Halloween and the commercialism of Christmas that starts way before Thanksgiving, so I see this as a way to celebrate Thanksgiving by giving back to our community, without spending a lot of money.  I hope you agree, and have fun surprising your neighbor(s)/friend(s) with this unusual new way to show how blessed we really are in this country!  After all, isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?


No comments:

Post a Comment