General Manners: Offer to wash the dishes.

When the Lithuanian DPs from our suburban enclave celebrated New Year's Eve, they usually partied in someone's basement.

After the guests had toasted the midnight hour, everyone pitched in with the clean-up process. Often, that meant washing dishes in the basement's utility sink.

Suburban Chicago, January 1, 1963. The blonde on the left is a gracious woman I've not introduced here yet; I will call her "Lily." (Lily once appeared on the far left in this post's photo). My Mom has put on an apron, and she's already at work. Check out Mom's gold pumps! Behind Mom stands Donna's husband, Vytenis; Donna flicks a speck of lint off her elegant dress.