Meals with my grandmother were a labor of love.  She often woke before sunrise to start the breads, pies, and cakes.  She had a little pantry room which my grandfather added on to their house by the kitchen with a large table specifically for canning and preparing. I often got to help make the pies and cakes. When we made a cake, she used a scale to weigh the batter in the pans to make sure each layer would come out perfectly the same.   My favorite was her chocolate cake with 7 minute frosting.  Dad loved her coconut cake.  She had a Sunbeam mixer and used it all the time.  Pies included lemon meringue - her specialty with mile high beautiful meringue, pecan - with fresh nuts from her farm, apple, cherry, peach, blueberry, chocolate cream, rhubarb, mince meat - my dad's favorite, blackberry cobbler - my favorite as we had picked the berries ourselves, and custard. When we were with her on a Sunday, we could count on the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, deviled eggs, and cornbread ever tasted after we came home from church.  And big glasses of iced tea. Lunch or dinner as we called it, was our biggest meal. Breakfast was delicious, too, with large flaky biscuits, homemade jam, and ham or bacon.  Her brown sugar pie, or "shoo-shie" as we called it, was made especially for me and my brother. It was a kid's dream, with only brown sugar, butter, cream, and cinnamon.  To this day we have been unable to replicate her recipe.  

Clean up was easy of course and the trays could be thrown away.  We ended up washing them and saving a large pile in the cupboard.  Mom was from the era of The Depression and WWII so she just couldn't see throwing away aluminum.  We used the trays for crafts and making our own frozen dinners.

Do you have a TV dinner memory?

                     Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, 
                                    and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."   John 6:35

Living in the suburbs meant we only shopped in our local stores which was a strip of about six businesses - the drug store, the shoe store, the 5 & Dime, a doctor, a dress shop, and the grocery store, with a gas station on the corner.  Winn Dixie was our grocer.  It was my job to lick and stick the S & H Green Stamps we received as a compliment to our purchases for gas and groceries - so many stamps for so much money spent.  Sometimes there were special sales that provided double stamps for an item.  Each book of 24 pages required 1200 points/stamps. It didn't take long to fill up a Saver Book and we enjoyed perusing the catalog to plan our next exchange.    

All sorts of household products were available at the Redemption Center. Walking around the store with my parents, knowing we wouldn't have to spend money for items made the place seem magical.  It was like a candy shop, trying to decide which 'price-less' item we would take home.  We toted a paper bag of filled stamp books.  The check out clerk was quite serious when it came time to exchange.  She carefully examined each page to make sure it had the correct amount of stamps.  If an item required a partial book, say 4 and 1/2 books, she counted the pages and aggressively ripped them out and returned the remaining 1/2 book.  My mother was practical and usually exchanged stamps for towels, linens, an iron, or kitchen supplies.  My father wanted unusual items that we wouldn't normally purchase and since he was the sole driver, he was always with us at the center.  Mother drove a hard bargain and won most of the time.

I recall one stamp redemption store visit that occurred near Christmas.  My parents told me and my brother to stay in the car (not so dangerous back then) while they shopped.  As kids do, we had some disagreement and I went running into the store to find my parents and tattle.  I saw my mother holding two baby dolls and she was quite upset that I had come into the store.  Sure enough, on Christmas morning "Santa" brought me those twin baby dolls, the harder plastic type without real hair. That was the Christmas I knew my parents had been Santa all along, and I just never warmed up to those dolls.

Believe it or not you can still redeem those old S & H Green stamps for Greenpoints, redeemable online for savings gift cards at many businesses such as Barnes & Noble, L.L. Bean, and Papa Johns. Just go to www.greenpoints.com and set up a free account. New Greenpoints are awarded for online purchases and at some grocery stores.  No more 'lick and stick" required.
                          "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, 
                          according to the riches of His grace."                                              Ephesians 1:7