Presents Conjure a Ghost of Christmas Past

Droid ... iPod ... iPad ... Bluetooth ... HP ... Blu-Ray ... Xbox 360 ... PS3 ... Kindle …

These words, and I call them words for lack of a better description, all sound to me like something out of a Star Wars movie. But they are not. They are terms on my sons' Christmas wish lists.

My young men were among the first to jump on the modern technology train for their communication and entertainment desires. Still, I am the one who has to track down these gadgets, even though I am not familiar with many of them, to make sure my guys have a happy Christmas morning.

Not to worry, though. I found out last holiday season that great customer service is alive and well in the Fenton area. I merely have to walk into Walmart or nearly any other Fenton store with list in hand, glance around looking somewhat confused, and two or three young employees will run over to help me find what I'm looking for. At one store, I never left the front door area. Three young men approached, grabbed my list, divided the item-finding duties and within 10 minutes I was at the register prepared to pay for exactly what was on the list.

In addition to the science-fiction-like technology on my guys' Christmas list, the entire Christmas shopping landscape seemed to have changed.

No need for Christmas-shopping combat boots

Unlike the past, I can just go to a website, order and pay for the goods and they would arrive at my doorstep in a few days. No more slipping on my Christmas-shopping combat boots, prepared to battle any other mom who had the nerve to try and take the last toy of the kind my kid wanted.

But, I have to admit that I, too, am now, a big fan of my own modern-day gadgets and the many conveniences they provide. If someone had told me decades ago that I would be able to access any information I need from the Internet, communicate by email, pay my bills online and have the payment deducted directly from my bank account, use a debit card, scan, copy or fax any document I want from my own home, I would not have believed it.  My cell phone goes everywhere I go because my family gave up the archaic practice of walking to the wall and picking up a ringing telephone years ago.

Still, I feel sorry for my children because this high-tech era is all they know.

They won't have the fond memories I do of slower days and a childhood where homework meant paper, pencils and a good set of encyclopedias. We actually had to learn to do math without calculators.

TV was a privilege, and we watched it together

TV was a privilege and, unlike today, my mom, dad, sisters and I would sit down in the living room most evenings and watched our favorite shows – together, in the same room.

Even with all the changes I've adapted to,  I am very excited about what is yet to come (except maybe hover cars), but I will never forget the words of Fenton legend Ivar Strom.

The lifelong Fenton resident, whose family name can be found at the Millpond Park along East Street, shared some details of his childhood in Fenton with me before he died.

There were no Kindles, video games or all the other technology we take for granted.

He said recreation for kids when he was a child was what they made for themselves.

"And we had nothing," he said.