There was a time when I immediately trashed them, the coupons, that is, when received in the mailbox. Like it was a waste of time to even look through them, but then my friend Brenda gave me the heads-up.

One day she said right out of the blue. “I just love coupons in the mail and I get Charles (her husband) to stop by on his way home from work and pickup burgers or chicken. They are buy-one-get-one-free most of the time.”

That got me to thinking. No cooking, get-two-for-the-price-of-one, getting Hubs a job where he could stop by for pickup on the way home from work, yummy fast food, clean kitchen. Thanks to Brenda I have since accomplished all but one of those things. That’s getting Hubs a job. Sigh.

And because of that one little remark by my friend, I now watch the mail for coupons. The other day a big batch arrived and Hubs said, “We can eat again.” He gets a little overly dramatic, sometimes.

Back in the day we called this type of promotional “collecting stamps.” I remember momma was into green stamps. I kept a green tongue most of the time from just licking those suckers in order to slap them into a book. When she had collected several books, then we would drive 24th Avenue to the Green Stamp Store. It was located where today Margaret & John Remy have their business, Quick Prints.

Usually momma had already decided what she wanted. Why we practically decorated the entire house with Green stamp stuff, especially the kitchen.

There was a set of green-flowered dishes which were only used for Sunday dinner. I can still see a big pile of chicken and dumplings, which were stacked so high on my plate that the green flowers could not be seen, but that was no problem to me. Included in the set were special dessert plates. The shade of green on the plate looked nice with momma’s chocolate cake.

Once Sunday dinner was completed, the special dishes were hand washed and put away until the next Sunday. Those Sunday dinners were when special guests arrived and the menu always included the best of the best Sunday-type cooking. She had selected the color green to blend nicely with a glorious décor of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, turnip greens and fried okra, but what color wouldn’t blend with my momma’s cooking, I ask?

Moving to the living room, I remember a lovely George & Martha Washington style lamp that was the envy of the neighborhood. That item needed so many stamps that it may have permanently turned my tongue green. And one year down at the Green Stamp Store, momma set her eye upon a rocking chair. Good grief!

I remember we licked and licked and licked those tiny little stamps until the house was almost papered with the things. But you know it was fun because my granny, aunts and cousins were all there licking together. Four o’clock was the cutoff time because momma had to get supper together for daddy and the family which was NOT served on the green-flowered plates. Oh no, only on Sunday, you will remember

I can just imagine momma’s surprise to learn that licking stamps is not a requirement for a great deal these days, but at the same time, I am aware that daddy would not have eaten fast food, although he could have stopped on his way home from work for pickup. He required a cooked-from-scratch meal on the supper table, when he arrived home.

So today coupons were in the mailbox and I planned our meals for the next week or so. There will be pizza, burgers, chicken of various flavors and bunches of salads. Plus, this week there was a surprise of barbeque ribs included in the batch. Yippee.

We will be driving North Hills Street a lot this week because you see there were coupons in the mail today.

Anne B McKee is a Mississippi historian, writer and storyteller. She is listed on the Mississippi Humanities Speakers Bureau and Mississippi Arts Commission’s Performing Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters. See her web site: www.annemckeestoryteller.com