Gather family and friends close to you

Ever notice that first person accounts of life during the Great Depression in the `Dirty Thirties’ never seem to dwell on doom and gloom? Instead Depression survivors talk of a time when families and communities rallied together. The big treats like Mrs. Lacey’s Saturday night Coconut Cake, an afternoon at the movies were the common fare that held entire families, the community, and a Nation together. There was a big surge in homemade crafts, popcorn was strung on a string to go on the Christmas tree, families gathered around the radio to follow through on the antics of “Amos ‘n Andy”, or tuned in to baseball games.

---

Fusion foods were unheard of back then, Saturday night treats included a plate of Mom’s homemade maple fudge. Mittens to wear out in the backyard building snowmen came from Granny’s needles not the factory. Girlfriends gave each other drug store perms, promising each other they would look like the stars on screen. Aunties read aloud to children around the hearth. Cocoa rather than Coca Cola was the most popular bedtime drink. The Bible, which held a place of respect in the home, wasn’t a joke and no one would dare to rewrite the Ten Commandments back in the days when a shiny dime in the toe of the Christmas stocking brought whoops of joy from the small fry. Every child had a paper sack of penny candy. Every lady had her lipstick and dabbed homemade rosewater behind her ears for special occasions. Card games rotated through neighbourhood houses to while away long winter evenings. Sure times were tough. For certain bad news hit almost daily with another family member or friend losing a job. But people took unemployed relatives into their homes. People shared not only their food, but also both their heartache and laughter with others. The unsung genius known as the housewife could whip up a melt-in-your-mouth cake with no eggs. Fricasseed chicken, recipes being used to this very day, simmered in pots. The best thing about the Great Depression from people who actually lived it, was how it made people focus on what really mattered. Great joy came from train sets carved out of wood with infinite patience out in the shed. Somehow the child for whom they were intended never saw Dad carving their Christmas morning delight. Seventy-nine years later world markets are toppling. News of the deepening recession is at long last moving the latest scandals of Hollywood celebrities off the front page. Another bonus of the current recession is that the stars are moving out of the political arena back up onto the silver screen where they belong. Fans want to be entertained not politicized by movie and rock stars. According to global elite Pooh-Bahs, this Thanksgiving and Christmas are only the beginning of horrors to come. According to their prophecy, by 2012, the world will somehow have drastically changed and people will be going hungry. Irony will begin filling souls. For many of those let down by a media that became the news rather than report it, making things from paper mache can be fun. The same latte addicted mainstream media types, who cared not in which direction their own country was going, will be among the first to hit the pogey lines. Barack and Michelle will be ruling the world from the White House. The lectures from these folks, who had it so easy, will be hard to take. But unless you travel with people who attended the best universities provided by the country they resent, you never had anything in common with America’s First Couple before their arrival to the top of the political heap anyway. The doublespeak coming from the Obama transition team has many worried about Marxism. Marxist dogma has a lot in common with doggerel; nobody wise takes it to heart. It’s going to be a rough ride for sure. But the moon and the stars can still be seen from night windows. Spring will surely follow the first Winter of Discontent. The wonder of a small child will still make your Christmas; God is still in His Kingdom. Love of God, love of family, love of country are buried deep within the human heart. No one can take it from you, least of all a self-professed crepe paper Messiah. Gather your family and friends close to you. From the original lyrics of the song, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, immortalized in the 1944 movie Meet me in St. Louis, “Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow, Until then we’ll have to muddle through some how.” And muddle through we will!

---