Today is honestly the first day I can go out and attempt some shopping. We have budgeted very little for gifts this year, as it is our time together on the day that is more important than the things we give, but one does like to have a few things to wrap.
So, I am off today to try and get back into the swing of things. I can hardly believe that 1955 is almost at a close.
Have a wonderful day and hope you are all ready for the coming Holiday.
I have said this before, and most likely will again, that the 1950’s USA seems an almost pivotal point in time that one can reference for learning to live in the modern world. It seems to have an almost magical mythical quality about it. In fact, today it is almost an Avalon, if you will. Rather we see it as a time of white bread American elitism or as it truly was: a time when the country as a whole had an almost shared consciousness of ‘let’s make it all bright and shiny and new and forget the past’, it seems to reverberate with most people on some level.
Now,who could blame those new families in the 1950s wanting so much new and shiny and plastic. After two world wars, the Depression and so much loss of life and really a break up of what many had thought was the ‘normal’ world for centuries. Yet, in that hope of new and better, I think we somehow followed the wrong path to where we are now.
Certainly, one could say the paths are relative to your situation, but I don’t believe so. Somehow the newness, the production, the new plastic furniture, medicine, houses, clothes, and toys that were the answer to every problem just got the better of us. I think we began to see the product more than the people. The original intent was certainly to make a better world for future generations, but as anyone can see that is not what is happening.
Christmas is a good example of this. The 1950’s really saw the explosion of the ‘over the top’ Christmas in the this country. Cheaply made goods and toys were flooding the market from war torn Japan (the China of the 1950’s) and everything was easy and new and rather cheap. People wanted to celebrate and forget about the scrimping and saving of the past and to make a better happier future for their children. Unfortunately, I think this only lead to spoiled children who could not understand the context of the immense amount of commercialization of Christmas, as they were not around for the wars and the Depression. Good intentions gone bad.
So today, really, I think it is our responsibility to fix that. I know it is hard, but gosh darn it, it is worth it! And, in many ways, I find myself going back to the 1950’s as a sort of touchstone. A place in our recent past that we can relate to for its TV, Plastics, NEW, and Consumer intent, but yet it was in its infancy. It’s innocence can help us to use this as a guide. Perhaps if we could steer ourselves back to the beginning of the consumerism, than we could get a better handle on it. It makes for an easier transition. I am not sure if I am making myself clear, but by referring to this decade we could use it as a means to slowly taper off the current trend in our country to spend and spend without care of where or how it is made or the expense and loss to our own economy and environment.
A smoker is aided by a nicotine patch. It is a little ‘jolt’ of what they are used to and it helps them to wean themselves off the addiction. I have found 1955 to be a sort of ‘nicotine patch of consumerism’, if you will. There is enough in it that is familiar. There are the TV shows, “Oh, I understand that” there are inexpensive goods available for all, ‘Oh, that is familiar” and then you can sort of walk your way backwards into the decade to see some helpful changes. “Wait, there is no Old Navy to buy endless ‘same clothes’ made by Chinese children, but I can make or buy a vintage dress and wait it has more style? More individuality?” Sure there are McDonalds and greasy food joints, but wait, a post roast Sunday dinner with all the trimmings is so easy and cheap to make. You sort of can wean yourself from some of the ills of today.
I really think there is a sort of prescriptive magic to this decade. It has a little bit of everything for all of us to look to and adjust our modern way of living for the better.
I am going to be getting more into wanting to be self-sufficient. To garden and grow more. There is a movement like that today, yet I feel I want to do that but also have the time to make part of my life ‘stylish’. That is to say, I want to be out there in my Wellies in the muck planting my crops and tending my chickens, but then I want to clean up, put on my prettiest frock and petticoat, a darling little hat and go to town.
I feel somehow that the ‘various’ movements of ‘vintage’ or ‘self-sustaining’ the ‘modern hippy’ they are all separate and feel they need to draw a line in the sand and throw mud at one another, when really they are all of the same ilk. One who cares about fashion certainly can care about gardening and its design, they really share so much. Someone who wants to learn to grow and can and preserve can also find joy in a pretty dress or a moment of personal style our grandmothers did! I think one is not contradictory to another. I think there is as much importance as personal style that could help our consumer driven modern world. It is easy to buy cheaply made things at chain stores, but then one gets slovenly and lazy. I honestly believe there is a REAL tangible correlation between our appearance and how we approach our day and life. If we are dressed as if always comfortable to go to bed, then perhaps we shall all day feel that way. A nice style and uniqueness also leads to one wanting to make up their own look without having to always turn to the mass produced ill made cheap things. Buying hand made, making your own and buying old clothes is also great for the environment and your local economy, as well as good for you own well being and your personal view.
I guess I am saying that as 1955 draws to a close, I am replenished with the idea that it has come to mean a new philosophy of life for me that is all inclusive. We don't’ have to have sides. This modern concept of defining oneself by the ‘group we belong to’: “Oh, I am into this, so here are the things I buy that represent that. Or this is my philosophy, so part of my energy must be spent in talking down those who do not share it or talk of how ignorant they are compared to me.” It is a damaging way to be, but really it just makes us more formed into little product niches. I am a Goth teen therefore I want and do only these things and buy this. We have allowed ourselves to become demographic markets easier to be sold to. Why limit yourself to any one thing? The definitions of ourselves have become marketing tools.
The whole world is out there and full of wonder and interesting things. I want to know I can build a house, raise a chicken, plant a crop, but also sew a dress I designed, wear it stylishly to the city, enjoy a concert, read read read and study and write my thoughts down. I don’t want to be defined by a specific point or item, yet 1955 has allowed me to realize this. I know now that I will most likely always refer back to the first half of the 20th century, as it has so much to teach me and us. I just hope that any of you out there who do want a change or maybe you look at your life and think, ‘hmmm, I think I am okay but I feel sort of blah or something is missing’ that you can really take a look back and see that we are not what we buy or spend.
We do not have to be defined by whatever ‘look’ or ‘philosophy’ is going at present. The true core to happiness seems to be becoming a true well rounded person. To cook, clean, learn, study, question, sew, paint, write, garden, build, darn, iron the list can go on. Those things we continually try to find ways to do easier or not at all are really part of being alive. It is who we are as a species. So, the next time you buy that premade dinner because it’s easy, think of what you are doing with the time you are saving by not making it yourself. Are you doing it so you can sit and watch a show you have seen 5 times already? Is that living? Is that life? There could be moments of living and realization in that kitchen when you are reading the cookbook, cutting those vegetables, tying up that bird with string that IS living! Be careful what you so easily toss away to convenience and modern living. If you are bored and feel aimless it is because you have purchased away your humanity, your independence. Why pay to give up the joys of living?
Well, enough of my soapbox, though it does feel good to be on it again!
Now, to brass tacks, if you will. I am STILL ill and can barely talk. Everyday I get a little stronger, but find I need to rest in between my usual daily chores. I have notices that being sick in 1955 after all the skills I have begun to gain and the amount of activity I do in one day is so much more frustrating that the old modern sickness. Then, so what, sit and watch TV and drink oj how much different is that than not being sick? But, now I see all the things I need to do. Then, when I do a 1/4 of them, find myself exhausted from the work of it! It is a sort of fitting way to put all I have learned and now do in perspective, that is for sure. I appreciate where I have got to this year and where I can still go.
Now, here are some fun holiday decorations to make 1950’s style: 
I will be sharing my fun ‘how to’ decorations and gifts this month. Do any of you think you might attempt any of these if I were to include more?
Now, though I am excited about my new Dione Lucas French Cooking book and want to make such lovely desserts as Souffle’ au caramel froid (cold caramel souffle’), one cannot but help being drawn into that very American Dessert of the 1950’s: garishly showy, sometimes overtly literal and always creamy and sugared. So, look at these four lovely pies:
Now, as most of my energy has now been spent on this post, I must rest before I attempt laundry (I know it isn’t Monday, but a gal’s schedule is all over during her illness!).
I think I will leave you with this cute video I found on YouTube. It really shows no matter what time or persuasion, the most important part of the holiday or really of your life, is friends and families and the memories you make.
I am afraid that I may have what Lori mentioned in a comment she had, which she said she had something similar and it unfortunately has lasted 4 weeks! I hope I do not feel it for that long. It’s the exhaustion that is the most upsetting. Yet, with the increased energy I have today as compared to yesterday, I decided I could manage two things: finally make a normal full on breakfast for hubby and I (french toast, eggs-over easy, bacon [of course!] coffee and home made hot chocolate) and second, manage to post something for all of you so I can still feel plugged into my community.
It seemed the gist of the comments began to be about the ability for anyone to become a SAHM or a SAHH (Is that the correct usage for a stay at home homemaker, or is that redundant to you think?) Anyhoo, I have been thinking of this a lot lately.
I have contemplated many times ways in which I could do posts with ideas to help someone work towards being a SAH. And, in so doing, get good feedback from others. I see that some of you feel, for maybe it is true, that in your area of the world you must be upper middle class to have the privilege to stay home. But, I wonder, if we were to work together, we industrious ladies (and gentleman too!) could we brainstorm ways for more of us to ‘join the fold’ so to speak? I think it would be worth our discussing it.
So, let’s say some of you out there now want to work towards being a SAH. You could try, for starters, to sort of give yourself a specific date to work towards. For instance, you might think, by next summer I would like to be fully SAH, so I will make a schedule that will first bring me down to part time work then to complete work at home. It could be doable if we all put our heads together.
I think the very first and upper most important aspect for anyone wanting such a path is that we have to wrap our head around what today is considered, “normal modern living”. I think what we have thus far been fed as ‘normal quaility of living” is rather a sham. Now, I don’t mean we have to dress in vintage clothes. But, using clothes as an example, we could use the vintage spirit of mending and needing less. With what you may already have you may need to buy no new clothes for the rest of the year and be fine. And, with the skill of sewing, you could add to your wardrobe. There is an amount of pride and sound financial means to making a dress for yourself. It is first off, not instant gratification, you have worked for it. You also get to make it fit your proportions and your style. You will press that dress and smile a little brighter when you hang that up compared to a 5 dollar shirt from Old Navy that will be gone at the seams in a matter of weeks. Or, even if you buy a special dress, but make it last. It might cost more, but you don’t buy more clothes you have one or two nicer dresses that you keep and care for. This is a concept that really no longer exists. Clothes are cheap so we just buy them and treat them cheaply. Heaps on the floor, some with tags still on, who cares, you can always get more! This is the attitude that leads to our current way of irresponsible spending and empty happiness. I really think we have to change at the very root of our perception of the world around us and our own ideas of happiness to get to a healthy state of spending and frugality. That, at least, was what was needed for me. The 1955 me stares in horror at the old ‘modern ‘ me living in Boston, carrying my too expensive LV handbag as I go to shops to spend on things I don’t need and sometimes didn’t wear! There is hope, we can change and for the better!
But, the very essentials of living a happy fulfilled life I have begun to find are rarely found at the mall or behind the swipe of the credit/debit card. We need food, shelter, and some pleasing diversion. The problem is these basics have, in the past decades, become so twisted out of proportion it does make it hard on a struggling family. So, you really need to focus on those basics and look where you could save. I think even week long ‘projects’ are always eye openers. Try, for instance, to spend 1/2 your food budget one week and see what happens. Don’t worry, you won’t starve, you can always go back out and get more food if you are in dire need, but find out what you really need and you might be surprised.
When I did my 1940’s ration week, I found many ways to scrimp on my food that I then held over once I returned to the plenty of 1955.
Entertainment is probably the largest. I mean there may be those of you out there right now who are saying, “I could never stay home, too many bills” and then you pay 70 plus dollars a month to have cable! Or you need to have a new tv or a tv in every room. These have become what we think ‘normal’ are part of our ‘entitled’ way to live, but we all pay for it in the end.
Let’s say you work part time (24 hours) at minimum wage (in my state that is 8.25 an hour) so that is 198.00 but after you subtract for taxes that take home would be around 138.00. Now your ‘entertainment’ of tv takes up more than 1/2 of that whole work week! When you really start to look at the money =the hours you are at work and then the things you buy in those hours, it gives you a clearer view of how you spend.
I could be truly wrong, but I honestly feel that we could help those who want to be SAHM to make it, or failing that at least help the motherless become SAH and then, through a few years of budgeting and getting it right, be ready to become SAHM.
Even the way we spend money can be changed. The more we are removed from the actual exchange of paper money for goods, the easier it is to spend. When all we have to do is hit ‘buy now’ or press an app on our iphones to purchase things, we don’t think of it as actually spending, somehow it seems some magic gift, but it is!
The other important factor would have to be NO credit cards. We have not used or had credit cards for years. Now Debit cards are becoming the lure of the ‘mini credit card’ for if you do not pay heed to what you spend and keep it in your ledger, they will hold back transactions and then put them through at once, to give you an overdraft. Then you get that fee as well as a percentage to pay back. This is horrible that they can do it, but until that practice could ever be addressed on a legal/political scale YOU have a defense against it: be diligent about keeping your books. Really, and this was a hard lesson for me this year as well, self responsibility seems to have somehow gone on the wayside in our modern times. The consumer world does not want you to be so, for much money is made on late fees, overdraft fees, interest than on the original products cost.
I think for those who would like to become SAH it won’t hurt us to really evaluate the nooks and crannies of how we spend and what we think we ‘have to have or need ‘ in our homes or for our children. We take it for granted that our children should all have cell phones, but just look at what you spend on your cell phone bills to what you may have once spent on land lines. Unfortunately, because of the cell, land lines are horridly expensive, yet I know a young couple who struggle with money all the time and they have two cell phone plans AND a land line. When I asked why they had the land line (which I think is around 70 a month) they said, ‘Oh, it is for the telemarketers’.
Then you can even go further in these costs. Some may say, oh, for only an extra 5 0r 10 dollars a month I can have unlimited texting. But, why do you need it? Do you need it? And that is another 120 dollars a year that you could save.
But, I digress for now (as I am fading and needing my bed) but do you think it possible to make a move towards a single income household for those who want it? I think it could be and I would love to hear all your thoughts and ideas. We could really help solve some problems here. I don’t want to seem preachy, but I think that sometimes we get angry or defensive because we now, in our hearts, we might not be being as true to ourselves about it as we could be, and that anger or outrage can lead to discussion and then to real problem solving that could lead to this goal that I think many of you who are NOT SAH’s would love.
So, again, thank you for all your well wishing and I hope we can have some wonderful rants on this topic. I put it to you, now. Let’s hear it!
p.s. when I am more ‘up to it’ we shall have some fun Christmas posts of making our own decorations and gifts, recipes an such. Fun!
Since I have been ill, hubby has made me feel better in his telling me, “boy, do I appreciate what you do”, when he had to go to the grocery store. On his return from the grocery store he told me he really ‘appreciates what I do’ after trying to find things in the store, having to deal with lines and less than helpful sales staff. It is always nice to be appreciated. I think he is also missing his homemade meals.
Certainly, one would think the homemaker becoming ill must be ‘easier’ as you do not have to ‘call out’ at work. However, it makes one feel all the more miserable as you watch your chores pile up. Though my husband tells me not to worry, I do none the less. Not having done the weeks marketing has made it harder as I only had hubby get a few essentials when he stopped for me. You almost feel a disappointment. My hubby tells me I am being silly, because it doesn’t matter if the house is messy and he has to buy lunch a few days, but it does matter to me. It makes me feel as if I am letting him and myself down.
I imagine this feeling must be doubled for the mothers out there. Not being able to prepare breakfast or to attend to your children as attentively as you would otherwise. Certainly, I make a better nurse than a patient!
Sometimes in this day and age it can be hard, emotionally, to be a homemaker. There are those endless stares or questions when you say what you do. There are also the well-meaning who care, but you can’t help but glean from their smiles that they might be thinking, “Oh, of course you stay home, how clever you little darling, still it isn’t real work”.
Of course, I have come to wonder this year if that is just my sometime insecurity of my position being projected onto them. But, I am sure there are those who think it all bon bons and soap operas being at home. When really, you sometimes feel as if you are ALWAYS at work, for in a way, you are. You don’t get to leave your ‘worries at the office’.
So, here I am three days into my illness and am just now posting this small blog, so I also feel I am letting all of you down as well. It is amazing how many little things I do to make this household run, things I even took for granted until they stopped being done. I definitely appreciate my position all the more for having been sick these past few days.
How are all of you? I hope everyone is in line with their holiday preparations. I promise to get back to normal posts once I can sit up for longer than 20 minutes without feeling dizzy.
Interestingly enough, ten years earlier a woman we don’t hear as much about, Irene Morgan, had a similar situation happen in Virginia. From her arrest and refusal in a 1946 landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that Virginia's state law enforcing segregation on interstate buses was illegal. This is amazing to me, that ten years earlier this was already illegal in Virginia, yet we allowed it to happen again in Georgia.
What this really makes me realize is the danger and evil inherent in complacency. You know there were many, even back in 1944, who were white and found such ideas of segregation barbaric. There had to be a new found feeling of equality for all after the wars we had fought, yet those good meaning and wise, as usual, were quiet and kept to themselves as the loud crass small minded people rallied and shouted and eventually caused all the problem that lead to the riots in the 60’s. I feel that so often happens throughout history. The uprisings are often simply to defend a simple idea that most people probably agreed with in the first place, equality and fair treatment, but it is always the small minded fear monger who shouts the loudest.
Just think of the pain and suffering even reverberating today that could have been ceased if the quiet intelligent loving and compassionate masses just stood up and said, “Well, so what? Who cares where any of us are sitting. We are all sharing this bus, let’s get along” but that is never the case and then a few crass individuals always begin to represent we as a whole.
Now, the 1950’s are just represented as if every white person was trained to dislike black people which is NOT true. Yet complacency lead to the upheavals of the 1960s which, I feel in some way also hurt the black people as well. Certainly we would have all been happier and made quicker strides to equality had we been sensible and just realized we are all human beings. If peace talks and actions were made to make equality a more central point to our living together, then the riots and ‘taking sides’ would not have had to happen.
Yet, I see today the same thing will continue to happen. Those who disagree with others who are ‘different’ will rally and shout and make a scene while most of us really don’t care and why shouldn’t we all have equal freedoms. I mean, if we all are allowed to worship and believe and act as we feel right as individuals, than we should not be threatened by the actions of others as long as they don’t directly affect us personally, but I know it won’t matter. There will always have to be the loud squeaky wheel making a fool of themselves and ultimately causing troubles for the majority of us.
Really, when you think about it, simple good manners of listening and discussing, not saying things in front of crowds or to strangers that we would not want to say to our mothers, simply using our manners, really could go a long way to help heal the various wounds we encounter.
It puts me in mind of that famous quote by Martin Niemoller ( a protestant minister and activist) which goes:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
This quote has been changed sometimes to touch in various ways such as:
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
There are many ways today we could alter this to suit the current trends of hatred. And, when it comes right down to it, hating is merely misunderstanding and loss of compassion is fear of the unknown. It really is amazing what keeping quiet and ‘minding our own business’ can lead to. This certainly reflects many things going on in our political and social world currently and could even be extended to include our being quiet as the big box stores enter and take over our towns.
Complacency seems the real root of all social evil. Let us, we Apron Revolutionaries, not be lead by silence, but use the manners and quiet strength of will and character to set examples by our actions. And do affect change through our attitudes towards one another and our examples of good living and caring for EVERY person, rather or not they subscribe to our beliefs or way of thinking. Why segregate when we can encourage and come together as a community? When someone is down or being hurt or mistreated they cease to be a Catholic or a Black or anything other than a fellow human. We are all in this together, so I know we can make a difference by caring to speak up when we need to, never shouting and always with compassion, reason, and intelligence over hatred, fear and mistrust.
Again, I find some of the very basic elements of homemaking so pertinent to the world as a whole. Wouldn’t we all get along a little better if we sat together at a table to a nice meal, and waited our turn to speak, being sure to listen to our guests when they spoke? Just a thought as we lead into this season of cheer and forgiveness.
Now onto recipes:
I unfortunately, most likely as I was having a good time and not paying attention, did not get many photos of my Thanksgiving food. I felt bad and still can’t believe it as it looked so lovely in my nice china. I do have a picture of the table set before we ate.
My turkey turned out beautiful and moist. Many commented on how juicy the white meat was. My trick there, though it seemed counter to most of what I was being told in my cookbooks, was I kept it covered for the majority of its roasting. While most recipes have you keep it uncovered and of course basting it, they tell you not to cover or foil it until the end. I did the reverse and let it create its wonderful juices and then for the last hour let it brown uncovered, with frequent 15 min interval bastings of the broth mixed with orange juice, maple syrup and the reserve juice from my freshly cooked cranberries. I also spread some of the cooked cranberries about the skin for the remaining half an hour. It made a beautiful picture and was a delight to eat!
Here is the recipe for my stuffing/dressing:
Mayflower Johnny Cake Stuffing (this is my own ‘made up’ recipe and name, do you like it?")
First, bake cornbread. The smell is wonderful as you are preparing the early items for Thanksgiving dinner. I posted my recipe in an earlier post for cornbread. (If anyone can tell me how to have it so anyone could search my recipes on this blog, please let me know. Does such an option exist with Blogger?)
I made my cornbread the day before I made the actual stuffing, as I wanted it to be a little hard. Then I simply crumbled it into a bowl (I made two 5 x5 pans of it) added 5 TBS softened butter, some chopped celery, 1/2 cup of my cooked cranberries, chopped chestnuts, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and one egg and salt and pepper to taste. Then, just mix and stuff bird. It was a lovely mix of sweet and savory with the turkey. Sorry I haven’t any photos, it looks rather lovely and golden.
Now, I have been in a flurry of preparations it seems, for here we are a few days after Thanksgiving and I just hosted a Christmas Cookie Tea and Tree trimming party. I also made a new dress in the bargain. Let’s start with recipes.
1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 TBSP instant coffee
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup water
2 cups milk
combine chocolate, sugar, coffee, cinnamon, and water in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for four minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove from heat and beat with a whisk until foamy. Pour into cups, top with whipped cream and a peppermint stick for a garnish!
We also made, of course, homemade whip cream (never use canned or premade if you can help it, it is SO easy to whip cream and you can flavor it how you like). To which I add bits of broken candy cane.
These were quite good, but next time I will use peppermint extract, as this recipe only called for finely ground peppermint candy canes, which did not quite give them enough flavor for my liking. I also decided, as you do, to dip them in chocolate, because honestly gals, what isn’t better dipped in chocolate? We even debated as to whether bacon itself might not be improved by some!
You can see how glossy and lovely it makes them look.
Here is the recipe:
I am going to make some peanut butter meringues (if I can figure out how) and dip those in chocolate, as well as coconut. They look so pretty and last well so would make a great homemade Christmas gift or housewarming or hostess gift. You could make up your own ‘chocolate box’ with pretty tissue and maybe decoupage lovely vintage images on the box lid. And, be the belle of your cookie swap when you unveil these lovelies!
Now, in the case of meringues you will be left with egg yolks. So, what I did this morning, as hubby actually requested eggs Benedict for breakfast, was thought, “Great!” as Hollandaise uses only the YOLK. So, I made a large batch of that reserving the egg whites to make a few more ‘trial’ flavor meringues.
Here are some shots of guests, you can see my close friends are kind enough to dress ‘accordingly’ for my soirees.
A guest arrives bearing her cookie contribution.
Now here are some things I learned with this dress that I tried to make it easier or more finished early on. Rather than cutting an interfacing, I decided to cut two of the front and back bodice piece. This allowed me to sew them together and then flip them out have a nice finished edge to them as soon as I sewed them together. With the skirt I took four yards as they were, decided the length I wanted it hemmed and then rolled up the remainder of the fabric into a thick double hem that I then stitched BEFORE I made it into the skirt.
Here is a close up of the fabric.
I also attempted to make this dress so I could wear the zipper in the back.
I have found now that I have allowed myself to have a simple silhouette to work with, my imagination has increased on ways to adjust or add to this. Really, the conformity of dress people seem to think existed in the 1950s was actually the equality of fashion, where one was given a silhouette to work with and then could add or create their own take on it with different necklines or ribbons etc. Now, the real conformity exits in jeans, hoodies, printed t-shirts and jersey tops. Try to make your own jeans and you will stop sewing in one minute! Yet, a simple dress pattern is easy to master and then the sky is the limit. You can add or alter to your hearts content and have a lovely wardrobe you can add to. I am sure, for you experienced seamstresses, this dress must seem simple and not perfectly done, but, much like the kitchen, I learn something with every dress to apply to the next one. It does reinforce the fact that homemaking is never a completely mastered skill, one is always learning. That, of course, is part of the joy of the career. There is little time or place for boredom, as you are always learning and expanding your ideas and then challenging yourself.
Well, I have rattled on long enough, back to work. I hope all of you are getting excited for the upcoming holiday. We shall have to share all we can with our recipes and ideas for vintage Christmas.
Happy Homemaking!
I am still busy post Thanksgiving, as I am hosting a Christmas Tea for the ladies tomorrow afternoon followed by a Tree Trimming Party. It will not be a big affair, but I am busy none the less.
I promise a nice big post with photos and recipes from Thanksgiving and also this party. I am making chocolate gingerbread (no chilling in the ice box) and peppermint meringues that I will dip in chocolate. 
I am not sure if they merely used different strain of pine in the old days, but honestly most of the trees I see even in Home and Garden and High end magazines of the time show them rather thin and branchy! Are any of you old enough to recall of your trees were ‘scrawny’ by today’s standards?
Well, back to work. If I can complete my new dress, I shall show that too as well as share the idea I have for it if it works.
Until later, then, Happy Homemaking!
I have been very moved by a modern documentary someone suggested to me. It has made me realize how much what I have learned about this year in 1955 means for my future.
Though I have enjoyed my year of ‘pretending’ I don’t want to pretend away the future. What I began to love about 1955 on a very personal scale has left me wanting it more on an overall scale. I soon began to realize, it is not a particular time because of just the fashion and music, but the feeling. The community, the spirit of the time, of the old America that I now long for. I realize, too, that by 1955, that is when our current America of convenience and low cost was put before people and community. It was only just beginning with increased trucking in of products from all over not just local. From mass production increasing to a homogeneity. Yet, it was new then. We had choices and I feel that we have now lead ourselves down the wrong road.
The wonderful news of the whole thing is we can have a realistic vintage world in that we, today, have so many freedoms and choices, yet we allow ourselves to have those choices made FOR us by corporate America. I honestly believe now that if we can seriously choose to make a change with our money we can change our environment. Our towns and communities can grow and heal and get itself back from the Walmart and the Starbucks and the McDonalds. We have to make the choice however, but if we want to continue to HAVE the choice we MUST make it if not for ourselves for future generations. When there are only a few chains that provide everything there will be NO choice for the future generations. There COULD be a time when Wal Mart and a few similar stores are literally ALL we have to get our products from. Products that are NOT made in our country and when they are made in China and India, are made at the cost of young children's freedoms and health. We may have no say over the government choices in those countries, but we allow them to continue child labor by giving them someone to supply the products too. On top of all that, we take away from our own town.
Who cares if something costs a little more or a lot more! THEN we have to learn to do without or to use less! That is the MAIN GREEN solution, not more products that purport to be safer but fewer products made and spread out.
We have allowed our country and its people to be defined by our need to consume and shop, so we must use that same power to work towards the old America of unity and community mixed with our new freedoms and that can only be done through our shopping. By choosing the right places to shop or to encourage or help to start a local place. To do without sometimes. The fix to our economy is NOT to buy more things to spur it on, but to let that dead horse die. We have to change the very fabric of how we think and react with our wallets. The world economy, the green nature and health of our planet, the very health of our towns and the emotional health of one another HAS to be addressed and put BEFORE a new flat screen TV or a new iphone! When will it stop?
I love my journey to 1955 and part of my sadness of not having the world is turned away when I see that 1955 isn’t just a point in time, or a full skirt or a hat and gloves. It is about people and community. Some how along the way we lost sight of people and each other. Our country was founded to be a place for freedom from those who felt they had none. Now we are so easily passing that freedom over to large corporations that are literally run by a few people. Why do we want a company who has no real invested interest in us to grow and prosper. Do you think if our community suddenly lost it all and couldn’t shop at Wal mart and they saw the profits go in this area, they would pull together and help us? No they would pull out, but a local store run by the man you see on the street or whose daughter goes to your child's school would.
I want back what I think has become to mean Vintage to me and that main tenet, the main focus of that is personal pride and accountability. It is easy for someone to just roll their eyes and say, “Oh, well, it’s cheaper there” but they might as well just run downtown and through bricks through the windows of the local community and wipe out any real honest individuality from their children’s future. I only hope we have enough time to stop it and we are not too late.
I know this movie is not Vintage, but please, please watch it if you can. It really does show the change that the box stores are doing to us. It matters little if you are Republican or Democrat, Christian or Jew, our country was founded so we could all coincide and get along and help one another. Now even corporate America run channels on TV that help us to feel there is an actual Divide in the this country, but that is only so we can not see the real problem. The real divide in this country is between the people and community and the corporate machine that wants to take away our personal and community rights to have our own towns run our own way. Don’t fall for the smoke screens, really go out and look at your town, is it hurting? Think before you go to the local chain store and wonder could I buy it locally and if so try it and if not, wonder when last in your town you could go locally and wonder, how much longer before there are no more choices locally, only the big box store. Then you can see it for the monster it really is. It isn’t an evil entity, but its results and need to be ruled by profit and money is and does ultimately hurt our towns, ourselves and our future generations. Don’t teach your children to choose low price over people and community.
I am sorry if this is so impassioned, but I just really want our vintage world to be revived, and it can be for all not just those of us who might like vintage fashion or music, but so that individuality can grow.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean I am not going to continue my vintage project and am very seriously meaning to make next year 1956, but I feel as if I am a time-traveling reporter who needs to go back to ‘before it all began’ and report back to all of you so we can be reminded of why we do need to change. That our lives and the lives of our children and future generations CAN now what has been lost because they can have it back. The moral backbone of this country need not be a particular political party or religion but the very humanity of its people. We must come together and care for one another so that we don’t continue to become complacent and want the companies to make it easier for us to become slothful consumers who are ultimately empty and unhappy.
So here is the LINK to watch it on HULU. You will notice the ads in between seem even more conniving because of the content. PLEASE watch it if you can. It makes you think and that is what we need most to think. The homemaker was always the thinker, we have to be to do our job, yet that very job was made to look silly or unimportant. Now, I can see not only is it a very important job, but it’s main skill of thinking things through is one of the best lessons any of us can have. Have a great day, my fellow Apron Revolutionaries. We can make a difference, I know we can!
Busy time, this holiday weekend. I didn’t want any of you to think I had forgot about you, so here I am. I hope all had a great holiday and maybe we could share some stories an such.
So, for today, here is a full episode of Jack Benny show from this year (1955), enjoy! It’s sponsor is Lucky Strike Cigarettes. It is too bad smoking is bad for you, because I have to say, it does look lovely to watch! I know, that’s bad, but believe me I considered it for this year, as I am almost certain my 1955 counterpart would have done so. I probably would have started during the War years and then everyone was doing it, so would have stuck with it, what do you think?
I will post some recipes for those leftovers and some ideas for a ‘tree-trimming party’ as I am throwing one this coming week!
Happy Homemaking!
I thought this home movie from 1950’s Thanksgiving very sweet. I love the clothes and that dancing is part of their tradition. We might need to add that to ours next year!
I am planning on doing as much today as I can to make tomorrow easier on myself:
Today, I made my cranberries (from our local farm, grown right here in Sandwich MA!) to which I added clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg and of course sugar. I cook mine in Orange Juice, as I really love the scent of orange with it. It is actually amazing how easy it is to make. I know many of you like the canned, but along with the canned you should make some fresh as it is so easy and SO GOOD. I mean you literally put 1 lb of washed whole berries in a pot, add one cup O.J. one cup sugar and then spices as you like. Then, after 10 minutes or so (you can hear the little devils pop!) you just pour it into the pretty container in which you wish to serve them and ta-dah! You’re done. I then quickly zested some orange rind on top of it as it really mellows the flavor and will mirror the glaze for the turkey. (I reserved some of the juice from these cranberries to make the glaze for the turkey.) So that is done for tomorrow, just a reheat needed.
I am sampling my johnny cake (corn bread) right now, which I baked to make my stuffing. I am not sure if this is called Johnny cake anywhere other than New England, but its name goes back to the Colonial days. Here is the history of it from my 1950’s New England Cookbook.
I am also roasting an acorn squash and sweet potato and apple in maple syrup with rosemary. I am going to cut up and peel those things today and let them soak in their ‘juices’ tonight and just roast them fresh tomorrow afternoon.
I will even prepare my mashed potatoes today, which I will whip with garlic, chives, and sour cream. And of course, homemade gravy will come tomorrow with all those delicious drippings from the turkey.
I also made the trip to my local fishmonger today. Though I do not have a butcher close by, we are lucky to have so many wonderful fish markets as we are on the ocean. I purchased some mussels, a lovely haddock filet with skin and one lobster. I am going to make my bisque today and decided to include the other seafood as well to ‘stretch’ it. I am going to boil the lobster this evening and then hubby and I can ‘sample’ some of the hot fresh darling tonight and the rest will go into the bisque.
It was a very lovely New England moment, as the fish market is right on the water, and there was a cool grey mist hung in the air and the scent of the tide stung my nose. I was wearing a dress and the wind caught it up, but my hands were full of my bounty and I was thankful for petticoats, as those in the parking lot got a fine show of those crinolines. The gulls cried. The air had that thick wet briny feel that I could wrap myself in. It is not a joke that I am most comfortable on the water and can only nap on boats. Hubby always laughs that the rougher the sea the more likely I will be down below snoozing away with the puppies! It is true.
I had forgot I was going to talk about centerpieces, as there are some interesting bits in my books. I did not get flowers, but will most likely make up something from the yard. We have holly and there are a few hydrangea blooms still holding tight to their branches.
I thought this sort of sweet, using what you have.
I have finally decided the finalized menu for my Thanksgiving and it is as follows
Shrimp cocktail
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Lobster Bisque
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Roast Turkey in a cranberry orange glaze stuffed with ‘Johnny Cake and Chestnut Stuffing’ (in other words cornbread). Mashed potatoes with garlic chives, roasted Acorn squash, Yams, and Apple in Maple Butter. Creamed Onions. Cranberries and green beans with orange zest and slivered almonds.
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Grapes, various cheese, Cheese wafers and Parker House Rolls.
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Godiva Cheesecake (guests contribution) served with homemade chestnut maple syrup vanilla ice cream. Roasted Chestnuts and Coffee.
I might actually make little Meal cards to place at each setting.
Now, one or our lovely fellow Apron Revolutionaries, Linda, asked me the following questions yesterday:
I hope you don't mind me asking here 50'sgal but I have some questions for your dear hubby the answers to which you might be able to relay. Seeing he's on holidays I thought he might have time to answer them via you if they're not too intrusive.
Does he love the new lifestyle with his precious housewife? Does he think it'll last? Does he HOPE it will last? Does he mind the 'perceived' financial loss without you not bringing home a pay-check? Is he proud to say 'a homemaker' when asked what his wife does or does he feel himself needing to expound on how intelligent, artistic, talented you are? (My husband is proud of the fact that he provides for me, that he gets special treatment and we have a smooth-running, peaceful home.)What are some of his favourite 'changes' from this year? Is he surprised at how skilled you've become so quickly and how well you've adapted to this 50's lifestyle? Does he have any advice for us ladies? Please excuse my boldness in asking these questions... Linda
Actually, concerning telling people what his wife does, he is indeed proud of it. He often comments with proud about his packed lunches when people see him take out his linen napkin and knife and fork and eat a full home cooked meal with a homemade dessert. He told me once, a co-worker asked if his wife, “since she is just a housewife” minded those calenders (those horrid ones I dislike where they take old adverts and then slap on things like “Housework is pointless” or some such) to which my hubby replied, she does not like them, but she doesn’t mind, she is, after all, a homemaker guru and many other people have been inspired by her ‘housework’. I laughed at that, as I am so very in the learning phase I thought the term guru funny, but was proud that he ‘stood up for me’ and said I was a homemaker without feeling the need to explain.
I think his number one favorite change is the food. We eat really good in this house, if I do say so myself and I DO! He also likes the smooth running of the home, as it allows him to focus on his work at work and when he comes home he can honestly enjoy his ‘free time’. He can write (he also loves writing and I can often hear him tapping away on his vintage typewriters upstairs in his little study) read and practice the piano without worrying about food, clean clothes, or a messy house. He also likes the money we save on eating out, as when we lived in the city we ate out almost all the time and it does add up! He appreciates the separate roles we have, as it allows our time together to be about what we like to discuss or find interesting and not, ‘Oh, will you clean out that, or oh did you think of anything for dinner, or what should we do about this or that?” As any of you know, who are homemakers, when you treat making a home as a job, you do your best to keep it smooth running as you would at any work. But, I know he LOVES the food and always gets excited when I present some new creation or recipe. He most anytime can pop in the kitchen and have some homemade snack available. He also told me he likes my wardrobe as he often, even now almost a year later, will say when he gets home, “Oh, you look so nice” or “You look cute today” something along those lines.
He is not surprised at my skill level, as he says I can do anything, which of course is not true but darling of him to say so. I have always been the one to go full steam ahead into things and often surprise him at my results so he said, when I told him I was going to live in 1955 for a year, he just sort of took it in stride.
His advice, and I think it quite good, to the ladies is to have confidence and pride in the role of Homemaker. If you want your husband or significant other to take it seriously and to see it as an actual career, you have to believe it yourself and believe in it. I can see how much work it is to run a home and I applaud any who want to do it. If you want it and take the time to discuss it logically, showing the financial benefits, your husband would have to be nuts to disagree with it. The separate roles of breadwinner and homemaker are not just that roles, not labels. One is not oppressed or put upon if the roles are clearly defined and agreed upon by both involved, so don’t fall prey to the modern concept that having a two income family somehow makes you more liberated. Your quality of life is better because you CAN’T overspend, so you end up spending more time together and after all, isn’t that one of the best parts of being married, getting to be with and make happy the one you love?
So those were his answers and I hope you enjoyed them. You can see what a treasure of a hubby I do have. I think really a marriage really does need to have mutual respect and understanding. If one partner thinks what they do is not worthy or not enough or not a ‘real occupation’ it is true, how will the other partner feel that way? A marriage is a partnership, a chance in this world of ups and downs to have a partner there along for the ride, to laugh and cry and share and even get angry with, when you’d rather blame someone other than yourself, even if you know it is your fault, because you know you will do the same for them. I am proud of my husband and myself. I am proud of the role of homemaker and all it entails. As with anything we do in love from being a bagger at a grocery store to president of the united states, if we believe in doing a good job and trying to do the best we can where we are, make our self and others around us happy, then anything can be a rewarding career. Somehow we seem to have lost the sense of pride of place and worth in ourselves that says, ‘I am defined by my actions and reactions to others and not by the sign on my office door.’
Well, that is enough philosophizing for me today. I have chestnuts to roast (in the oven, I will share the results don’t worry), cornbread to make, cranberries to boil down and just to throw a little extra in, I might sew together a new dress for Thanksgiving, and who said being a homemaker was boring or lazy work?!
