Reply #14: Both my parents went through the Great Depression,

[MadHound]

And have stories similar to yours, including the joy of getting oranges at Christmas(we also got them when we were kids in the sixties, but somehow it just wasn't the same). Both my parents families came through relatively well, but that was because my grandparents had established a good situation. My mother's parents had a grocery/dry goods store in St. Louis and my father and his family lived on a farm in rural Missouri.

It would be tough to be a grocer these days, but it is still possible to farm out in the country, and all the experts agree that it is easier to get through tough economic times in rural areas than in urban ones. Not only can you grow your own food, but you become part of network of people that help each other out.

I live out in the country now, and have already saved a lot of money by not living in the city. I certainly wouldn't want to be in a city when the economy finally crashes down, it will be ugly.