Once when talking about all the things our kids have now I made mention of the fact that there was television in my house when I was growing up and you had to actually get up and go across the room and change the channel. And I told my children how excited I was when my parents gave me a television of my own for my high school graduation.

With all sincerity in his voice my son, Matthew looked up at me and said, “I’m sorry you were poor growing up.” I couldn’t help but laugh at him because he really meant it and truly believed that because of the television situation in our house I must have grown up poor.

Emily and I are moving to new house closer into town and the other day I was taking care of the utilities and changing accounts when I called the DirecTV company. When I was discussing options with them for my account we started talking about the receivers I have and I was blown away by the number of televisions in my home.

Technology has changed so much in just my lifetime that I cannot imagine what it holds for today’s children. My youngest has never used a record and honestly my oldest two had seen them, but I don’t know if they have played one. Cars come with radios and CD players now, very few, if any cassettes. And none of my children has ever seen an 8-track player.

My children have never known a house without a computer. Although they probably don’t remember the slowness and poor graphics compared to today’s models. In a few minutes when I finish typing this column I will e-mail it to Julie at the newspaper and save it to disc for myself. Even now after all this time, I am still amazed at how that all works.

The Democrat continually updates their technology and makes it as user friendly as possible. Now you can read the newspaper online and make comments on the articles. They have a new Web site called www.natchezscene.com. Talk about cool. You can easily post pictures from your sports, social events, birthday parties or just scenery.

Then there are the blogs. Kevin, Julie and Ben all have them and they bring up different subjects in them and of course people are free to comment back. The reason I bring all this up in my column today is because I am starting a blog on The Democrat Web site as well. It is called Cooking with Christina. It really should be called Cooking with Christina and all the people who want to write in and give her a recipe! Because that is exactly what it is for. Sometimes I run across a really good recipe that I cannot tie into a complete story or write a column about but I still think the readers will love it. It will also be a place where you can write in and ask questions and, believe me, I bet between me and all the readers we have online we will get your questions answered.

CDs may replace records, DVDs may replace VHS tapes and e-mail may replace the written letter but the importance of food and family will never change. As a matter of fact with the fast paced life we are all living it might be even more important now than ever before. Finding the time to have dinner with your family is always going to be important. Your recipes might be saved on CD instead of a 3 by 5 card note card, but as long as they are saved that is the important thing.

Christina Hall writes a weekly column for The Democrat. She can be reached at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com.