Christmas During the Great Depression

Cute video, but filled with sad stereotypes and thinking. Children's behavior frequently reflect parents' behavior. The narrator may look at himself and be surprised how his own behavior is reflected in what he sees in his children.

My mother grew up in much the same environment that was described. The one thing she always impressed on me is that it is very wrong to try to judge someone. And, this is what this stereotypical video is all about.

The important thing to remember about growing up in the Great Depression, my mom said, was that the Depression affected everyone. Today, if a person loses his/her job he/she is alone and often scorned for their condition. That wasn't the case in the Great Depression. Everyone was out of work. So everyone made do. Men and women, boys and girls often wore clothes until they dropped off their shoulders or made homespun just to get by. Everyone did this. Children at Christmas got homemade gifts and were pleased at that.

This video offers no more insight than all the other stuff that offers the past as the ideal. The real past was much different. It only looks better than today because of the selective memory each of us have - ignoring what we don't want to remember and only remembering what we think we remember.
 
My parents were born in 1920 and said although poor they always had enough to eat. My mom had 2 dresses which meant one for school and a crappy one for home. Every Saturday night the neighbors gathered to sing and her grandfather played the accordion.
 

The business about getting fruit for Xmas resonated with me as my father had mentioned how getting an orange in your Xmas stocking was a really big deal back then. He went to college in the 1930’s through a partial scholarship, and his roommate used to make fun of him as he had to stuff newspaper into his shoes when the soles wore through as there was no money with which to re-sole or buy new ones…
 
Fyrefox said:
The business about getting fruit for Xmas resonated with me as my father had mentioned how getting an orange in your Xmas stocking was a really big deal back then. He went to college in the 1930’s through a partial scholarship, and his roommate used to make fun of him as he had to stuff newspaper into his shoes when the soles wore through as there was no money with which to re-sole or buy new ones…
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Wow! My husband was older than me, very poor. He told me the Same Thing, about getting an orange for Xmas and it was a big, welcome deal!
 
Fyrefox said:
The business about getting fruit for Xmas resonated with me as my father had mentioned how getting an orange in your Xmas stocking was a really big deal back then. He went to college in the 1930’s through a partial scholarship, and his roommate used to make fun of him as he had to stuff newspaper into his shoes when the soles wore through as there was no money with which to re-sole or buy new ones…
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I remember having newspaper stuffed into my shoes, and wore them even though I'd outgrown them.
 
Pinky said:
I remember having newspaper stuffed into my shoes, and wore them even though I'd outgrown them.
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yep me too.. and cardboard cut from cornflake packets... to line my leaking shoes..which still leaked after the cardboard was put in..

I also got an orange at Christmas... and a few sweets.. sometimes my granny would buy us a selection box...

..and I wasn't born in 1920...
 
hollydolly said:
yep me too.. and cardboard cut from cornflake packets... to line my leaking shoes..which still leaked after the cardboard was put in..

I also got an orange at Christmas... and a few sweets.. sometimes my granny would buy us a selection box...

..and I wasn't born in 1920...
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It was the early 50's. I had to wait until my older sister outgrew her shoes & clothes. I was so thrilled when I got her hand-me-downs.

That's why I take very good care of my shoes/clothes.
 
Born at the height of the depression, I was fortunate enough to have fairly well-to-do parents. However, not too many of my friends were in the same boat, so my parents would help the neighbors to share in our bounty and every child in our neighborhood received a gift from Santa. I learned other neighborhoods were doing likewise, much later in life. No one of us felt we were richer or poorer than anyone else at that time.
 
Pinky said:
It was the early 50's. I had to wait until my older sister outgrew her shoes & clothes. I was so thrilled when I got her hand-me-downs.

That's why I take very good care of my shoes/clothes.
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yes I know you were pinks ..I was really addressing those whose parents were born in the 20's getting oranges ..when I was born in the 50's and was still getting oranges for Christmas through the 60's... My father's mantra was ..'' if it didn't do him any harm, then why should it to his kids''... well believe me it did him a LOT of harm.. but he was just mean
 
Pinky said:
It was the early 50's. I had to wait until my older sister outgrew her shoes & clothes. I was so thrilled when I got her hand-me-downs.

That's why I take very good care of my shoes/clothes.
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yes I'm sure that's why I have so many shoes.. and like you take care of everything.
 
hearlady said:
I got oranges and bananas in the sixties. I also got little toys and candy.
We hung nylon stockings, that stretched. They had to fill them somehow!
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we were given one of my fathers' socks. It didn't stretch more than an Orange and a few sweets. sometimes there would be a cheap little toy in there that broke within 5 minutes
 
My parents were born in the 1920s. I don't know about their Christmas times but as a child we always received an orange and apple in our Christmas stocking too (which was actually a pillow case) - really can't remember the presents we received though, but probably books were in there.

When my daugher's father gave her 'presents', included was always an apple and orange and a coin. Can't remember the coin, but think it might've been a £1 coin.
 
Quackers said:
My parents were born in the 1920s. I don't know about their Christmas times but as a child we always received an orange and apple in our Christmas stocking too (which was actually a pillow case) - really can't remember the presents we received though, but probably books were in there.

When my daugher's father gave her 'presents', included was always an apple and orange and a coin. Can't remember the coin, but think it might've been a £1 coin.
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A Pillowcase ?... wow !!
 
My Mother born in 1929 to a sharecropper family, suffice to say they did not have money. It was a large family of 8 kids. Getting fruit, nuts and candy of any kind was a gift from God. Normally it would be practical things like new shoes, clothing and the kids were so grateful for each thing.

There was never a Christmas that my Mom did not give us socks, underwear, towels and sheets. Of course there were other things but it was always practical items we needed. New clothes specific to each one of us and what we liked to wear.

She was always thinking of new ways to surprise us once we were adults. Things like the new video game (Atari), movie cameras when we had babies. Those things were like having a television camera on your shoulder. She was and is still the best even in heaven!!
 

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