Let’s have a big family fight on Thanksgiving.
Wheeeeeee.
Here a few topics to get the ball rolling:
“My vote canceled your vote.”
“Marie Osmond is a great dancer.”
“Grandma wanted me to have that hutch.”
“Please slip your shoes off at the door.”
Take my shoes off? I specifically coordinated my outfit with my shoes. Just because your family takes off shoes in your house, I say guests should get to wear their shoes in your home.
What if you have a hole in your sock?
What if your socks don’t match?
What if, ew, you didn’t wear socks to dinner?
My daughter-in-law, Lisa Lederer, never wears shoes in her beautiful Woodinville home. Guests must take their shoes off at her door. I resent having to plod around in my stockings. When visiting her home, I don’t want to bring garlic dip, Ritz crackers — and slippers.
Lisa and my son Brody are firm about their family policy.
“I was raised on a farm in Idaho and we always took our shoes off when we were in the house,” Lisa said. “Now that I have my own home, I want to keep the carpets and hardwood floors clean.”
She wants immaculate floors when she plays on the carpet with my grand-kitties, Minnie and Taffy, too.
“I like to go barefoot in my house and don’t want to step in mud or pesticides from the outside world. Also, when kids come over and crawl around, you want the floor to be clean. You just don’t know what you step in, what’s on sidewalks, grass, etc., and I just don’t want that in my house.”
How do others feel about shoes or no shoes in the house?
I went door-knocking at a nice neighborhood on a hillside above Marysville. Sure, some folks thought I was weird — I’m used to that — but others graciously answered my shoe question.
Annette Manus said her family always takes their shoes off.
“If we are having a big party with people we don’t always know, then they can keep their shoes on,” Manus said. “Our friends take their shoes off.”
She likes to keep her house clean and she has a new baby, thus the no-shoe policy works for her.
“I don’t like the outside coming in,” Manus said.
Next door, no one was at home, but their opinion was clear. On a wooden bench at the front door was a slice of painted round wood, pink and blue, reading, “Please take your shoes off.”
A family with new carpets and floors also asks guests to take off their shoes. Nancy Larson said family members take off their shoes, as do guests.
“Before the new floors, we didn’t always take shoes off,” Larson said. “But we do now.”
Why not just keep floors clean? Bill Conrad said they have good equipment at his house to clean the carpets and floors.
“If it was a big hassle to keep it clean, we would think about taking off our shoes,” Conrad said. “It’s mostly a cultural thing.”
Conrad has been in Japan, where he saw the custom of removing shoes.
“I see the benefit of it,” he said. He was working at home the day I visited and was wearing socks in the house.
My favorite neighbor was Sarah Chism, who greeted me at the door with her daughter, Evalyn, 2.
She said guests are not required to unlace their shoes.
“My kids take their shoes off on a daily basis,” Chism said. “My personal opinion is if a guest doesn’t want to take their shoes off, then they wouldn’t be comfortable with them off.”
Some guests know the drill at R. Sullivan’s house and automatically slip off boots.
“I prefer them to take off their shoes,” Sullivan said. “I am more comfortable without shoes on in my home.”
She will eat dinner Thursday at her brother’s home, and they don’t take off shoes there, she said.
The night before my visit, Margaret Dale was at a party in Shoreline at a home that had beautiful white carpeting.
“People weren’t asked to take their shoes off, but most did,” Dale said. “I left mine on. I wiped my feet good.”
Some folks at her home take off their shoes, others don’t, she said.
“We have gray carpeting,” she said, inviting me indoors.
My last stop was at a lovely view home, with an inflatable turkey in the front yard. Donna McGinnis said they downsized a year ago from Lake Stevens.
Her husband, Mike, was eating lunch at the dining room table. I met Teddy, their Shih Tzu.
They have a lovely custom in their home. Guests aren’t asked to take their shoes off, but there is a sweet chore at the door.
“We have guests give Teddy a treat,” Donna McGinnis said. “See the bowl?”
Sure enough, a covered bowl in the foyer had doggie treats. There was also a sign at the front door reading: “This house owned and operated solely for the comfort and convenience of the dog.”
Everyone runs their home in their own way, whether it’s for the comfort of owners, guests or pets. Bring up the shoe topic Thursday, wherever you cut the bird, and see if it gets the party started.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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