Got this email today and thought it was appropriate for this site:

The History of 'APRONS'
Aprons .... I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder 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: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs was on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an Apron.

I love aprons, especially my Jeese Steele, pink floral...my mom has lots of aprons too!

This has inspired me to go out and buy a bunch of aprons! What a comforting story.

Oh, I LOVE this!
I wear an apron around the house from the time I wake up, until I got to bed. I guess I learned that from MY Grandma

I have my great grandma's apron. I just simply love it and have it in my keep sakes box. It's very old too. I wear aprons a lot around the house. They are the multi-purpose tool

My goodness that does start up a lot of memories! My grandmothers both always wore aprons, usually the "bib" type that went around your neck and covered just about all of their clothes.

My mother also wore aprons most of the time, but hers were just the tied around your waist, look pretty kind. I've made a few aprons in my time, they are really easy to do, and fun to be able to match your kitchen, dishes, even clothing.

Thanks for the memories!

Thanks Debi for bring a smile to my day...my grand daughter (aged 4) already considers her apron a necessity before helping me in the kitchen!
And thinks it's funny that you can wipe your hands on it with out anybody fussin' .