costume jewelryOne of my earliest memories is of my grandmother's collection of costume jewelry. She had several jewelry boxes full of the costume jewelry and I found it fascinating to go through. She had been an adult during the Great Depression and it was a stretch to even be able to afford costume jewelry. My grandfather would give it to her as gifts for Christmas on occasion, and the kids got what was considered to be exotic fruit: oranges and grapefruit. Times were tough back then, and while they are difficult now, too, they are not nearly what they were during the Depression. People were starving then and there were long lines at soup kitchens.

In the 1920's and the early 1930's there were fewer safety nets than we have now, so the degree of suffering was far higher. It's much easier now to help people out by donating to food drives, people can work at home using their computers which brings in some income. And those computers and Internet also make it easier to buy things at discounts, too. Had my grandparents been able to buy at the discounts we now can, my grandmother probably would have had more fascinating costume jewelry for her grandkids to enjoy.