cinseven13: Shoes On Or Off?

cinseven13: Shoes On Or Off?

This was a big controversy for a while with my sister's husband's family. His aunt is Japanese, and insisted everyone remove their shoes before entering the house. Family members were insulted by it, but I didn't see the big deal. It was her custom, and her house. She was never rude about it, very polite and soft spoken, but firm about no shoes in the house. And she had one clean house!

I always take mine off. It started years ago, when we lived on a farm for a while. One of the cows, who was a very old gal, was given free range. She liked to wander around near our living room windows and look in at us, so you had to watch to make sure you weren't stepping in anything on your way to the door. Our door was in the back of the house, so there was really no way to avoid walking on the grass. We got in the habit of removing our shoes simply to ensure we weren't tracking any manure into the house. We'd remind friends and family to watch their step and remove their shoes on the enclosed porch. I always had extra slippers waiting on the porch so ladies could put them on instead of having bare feet on the hardwood floors.