The End of Year Wayback Machine

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

II Corinthians 5:17

So, as we look back at this time of year, let’s get into the wayback machine and really go back! Doing a little random association today, I had a memory of going to a local butcher shop (Walt’s Delicatessen in my hometown Cheviot, a Cincinnati western suburb), and seeing, feeling, and smelling the sawdust on the floor behind the counter. Yes, the butcher shops had sawdust on the floor to soak up the blood from the meat cutting. Yeah, that doesn’t happen now does it?

How about bus transfers? This is where the bus driver had a little hand-held punch gadget that marked the transfers. When you changed buses to get to your destination, you had to transfer part of the fare. You ended up with a little paper with very cool punch marks!

I used to help the teacher after school (OK, sometimes it might have been detention) by cleaning the chalkboard erasers. I would go outside and smack the erasers together creating a cloud of chalk dust, and presumably, “cleaning” the erasers. Where was the EPA when you needed them? Oh yeah, this was long before the EPA.

Back in those days, one tried out for sports teams- not everybody made the team. I recall some long walks home after being cut from the baseball team. Yes, my love of baseball does not correlate with talent in baseball.

New Year’s Eve in those days often consisted of watching the Guy Lombardo Orchestra (and his Royal Canadians) ring in the New Year with Auld Lang Syne. No three-hour long specials with glitzy A-listers to ring in the New year back then- at least, in my memory. It is possible that this my only option, based upon my parents’ preference of listening to Guy Lombardo! Who knows?

Well, it is fun to recall those days, and I hope you have some wonderful memories too!

Blessings on your 2024!

Prayer: Lord, lead us into another year with peace, hope, and the plan to make the world around us just a little better than we found it, Amen.