The day after Thanksgiving 1944. We had gone to my grandmother's.

[bluestate10]

66. I wasn't around during WWII. I wasn't a hint of a gleam in who would become my

Daddy's eye at that time. But I remember the last days of Lay-away, merchants then allowed my Mom to select clothing and dry goods and those items were packaged and put away. My Mom would pay a little each week until the goods were paid for, then she took possession of the goods. Prices weren't jacked up, there was no interest of fees charged and then, everything bought was made in the USA. Now, Lay-away is making a comeback, but as just another interest rate based scheme for taking money out of the pockets of people who can least afford to have money taken from them. Gone are the days when a merchant looked at a poor family and decided on the spot to make a way for them to purchase some decent things for their lives, the merchant eventually sold the items, the poor family got a chance to keep a few precious dollars in their pockets.