December is here again and this year feels different and everyone has changed some. More people are out of work and more people have lost money in the savings and retirement funds they have. Its turning out to be a Christmas of essentials like giving coffee, a gift card to a grocery store, fruit, and clothing. Not a Christmas for just things you "want" but things you need. I would be glad for a 6 pack of paper towels, some tp, coffee, and a stocking with oranges, apples and nuts in it...IF I still believed in Santa Clause. Its almost like the 50's again when you got a pair of pymas, some bedoom shoes, socks, and underwear and maybe thats what it has to be. This will pass and the economy will come back, but darn it, I have been through too many of these and now, at 69, to be worrying how to pay the water or electric bill is really depressing. All through the 40's we scrimped and had ration tickets for gas and women gave up their nylons for the war..then in the 50's, the Korean war and then was VietNam, and in the 70's the recession where we had gas rationing and you had to buy gas according to the first letter of your last name and the malls and businesses went dark at night, lights in manufacturing plants were turned off and Christmas lights were not put up because of the energy crisis..and then in the 80's another backward slide and you had to go through a shortage of goods in the stores and places were doing badly in business ....but this is worse because we had such a long run of good times where GREED raised its ugly head and screwed everything up from Wall Street, Govt, to the builder in the housing business. But we all are paying for it. i remember when we were doing good at the store and i could help family and friends and my Aunt. i put a new roof on her house, got her a new furnace, could get her any food she needed and clothing and even paid for her paper and her cable so she could watch Braves Baseball....what happend to grown children who take care of their parents? They are having hard times too and parents are having to help them and try to take care of themselves. i can't do it any more. its too hard. i don't have any resources left and the part time jobs i have applied for have not come through.
Talk about feeling alone and deserted..damn, where is everyone? Even our neighborhood is looking sad and depressed, people are not decorating as much, houses that are vacant are dark and lonely looking...God help us get through this. If even we needed the Christ put back in Christmas, its this year.
