I guess this is more of a "simpler times thread". Being 48, my generation I think are the one's who started getting more materialistic things, ie numerous Christmas gifts, the latest junk food etc.

My Dad being 20 years older than me, his generation was simpler, with more substance. He had 3 brothers, if they were lucky their Christmas gift was a football (1 gift for the 4 kids), all his friends were in the same boat. His friends would ask for a baseball bat for Christmas. Then the neighborhood kids would pool their gifts and put them to use.

He related to me how "Blue laws" were enforced, where almost nothing was open on Sundays (this started to fade out when I was young). It was a time for family. He said even if you were dropping the oil on your car the neighbors would give you dirty looks, because it was supposed to be a day of rest. Generations used to live in the same neighborhood and you spent time with them on a Sunday. Nowadays, everything is open, yet all that does is make people work on a Sunday, because business stats show that if you are open on a limited basis, you "create need" and people make a point of getting to the business before it is closed. This is the type of thing that I think helped to break down the family unit.

There was very limited quick junk food, usually your Mom cooked from scratch. Your dog ate table scraps, not the foo-foo food dogs are fed today. I read somewhere, where my generation will not have the life expectancy that my Dad's generation had, due to diet and food quality.

My grandfather was born in 1908. His father was a vaudeville performer. My grandfather's God father was George M. Cohan. My grandfather's mom died when he was an infant. My great grandfather (who to this day I do not know his name) remarried and dumped my grandfather on his aunt Margaret, remarried and started a new family in California.

He would as an adult take a bunch of change to the drug store phone booth to call his father in California. When his father died, he had a house in Beverly Hills and was apparently well off. He left nothing for my grandfather and his half siblings got everything. His siblings came to NY to visit him. He was so embittered, he turned them away. He had never met them in person, ever.

At my grandparent's wedding reception in a Knights of Columbus hall, he got involved in an arguement with his 3 brother in laws. This became a fist fight, where my grandfather layed all 3 of them out. His Aunt Margaret, who he was deathly afraid of since she raised him, dragged him out by the ear. She was 5 foot tall and he was a nasty 6' irishmen. Instead of holding grudges, since they were family, it was just another funny story to tell over the years. People back then wouldn't call the Police to settle a family matter.

Sorry for the rambling, I just find the days of old to be interesting. Now the generations have every materialistic thing that credit cards can buy, yet they have nothing. Just life, living beyond their means.

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Fidelis Ad Mortem