Today, kids want expensive games like XBox and cell phones for Christmas. In the musical “Annie,” they sing about the Depression years, with families just wanting “a New Deal for Christmas this year.”
The song’s words, “I know the Depression is depressing,” may bring back memories of those who lived it in the San Joaquin Valley, but they say they actually have happy memories because there was food on the table, something to wear, and a lot of love -- even when “Christmas was just another day.”
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| Father Christmas delivering presents to the Children's Aid and Adoption Society at Leytonstone, London. 20th November 1931. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| A children's Christmas party at the Hoxton Mission, London. 18th November 1933. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| One-year-old Paramount child star Baby LeRoy plays with his new toys under the Christmas tree, 1933. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
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| A family at Christmas tea time with chocolate cake, a candelabra and holly on the table, circa 1935. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
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| Father Christmas hands out presents to children at the Aid And Adoption Society home at Leytonstone. 7th December 1938. (Photo by Gerry Cranham/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| A seasonably attired young shopper climbs on to the sandbags to get a closer look at the toys in a shop window in the West End of London. December 1939. (Photo by Hudson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| Two policemen regard London's 64ft Christmas tree, a gift from Norway, illuminated in Trafalgar Square, in front of the National Gallery. 1st December 1948. (Photo by Warburton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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| Two children waiting for Santa Claus, circa 1950s. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images) |
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| A young girl hangs a Christmas garland on the door of her cottage home at Northleach, Gloucestershire, in accordance with an old local custom. 24th December 1954. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| When decorating a Christmas tree use a firm stepladder and don't be like this woman who is standing on a chair and leaning over too far, circa 1955. (Photo by Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images) |
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| Happy Christmas shoppers happily gaze at the window displays of the shops of Washington DC, circa 1955 (Photo by Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images) |
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| A close-up of a woman making Christmas tree decorations in Crisfield, Maryland, circa 1955. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images) |
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| A young patient in the pediatric ward of the Lenox Hill Hospital, America receives an unexpected Christmas present from student nurse Linda Gross, circa 1955. (Photo by Vecchio/Three Lions/Getty Images) |
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| Three young carol singers give their rendering of a Christmas song in the falling snow, 1955. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |