A Little Can Produce a Lot of Holiday Joy

The holiday season can capture and raise the spirits or fold around them like an opaque shroud. It can find us sailing on a tide of good feelings or flopping on the sands of despair.

Much depends on circumstances--some personal, some financial.

When the bus that’s supposed to take you to Cleveland for Hanukkah is pulling out of the station just as you pull in, it tends to flatten holiday euphoria.

And when Santa Claus and the accounts receivable are colliding at the front door, the thought of Christmas chills rather than warms the heart.

Instead of getting depressed, some folks get inspired and find joy in the season without adding further indebtedness. That’s what free-lance writer Barbara Weldon Tone discovered while searching for a story that would be pertinent as well as seasonal.

“I do have a number of friends who are going through financial difficulties, one of whom has seven children,” Weldon Tone said. “And I am amazed at how they go through the holidays cutting corners and still come out with everyone feeling happy and fulfilled.”

Not to mention entertained.

Weldon Tone not only picked up some tips on creating a homemade, cash-and-carry, solvent holiday but discovered--much to her surprise--plenty of inexpensive amusements to carry everyone through.

“I was impressed by what is available in Ventura County,” she said. “Living at the East End as I do, I was not aware of how much is here. I was astounded. For years I would go back over the county line into Los Angeles in pursuit of holiday festivities. This year I’m staying home and taking my daughter to many of the events listed in the story.”

And if she doesn’t run into Tiny Tim, she might come across the Hanukkah Troll wearing a Star of David sweater, just one of the many unusual gifts that Leo Smith writes about in this week’s Shop Talk column.

If that doesn’t grab your fancy, then perhaps blinking NOEL jewelry will light up both your neck and your holiday. Or how about a battery-operated Rap Man Santa and a Jingle Rap Tree?

For the more ecologically minded, Earthwatch columnist Richard Kahlenberg offers earth-friendly options for both adults and children this season.

And if all of this puts you in a somber mood, fashion columnist Kathleen Williams will be pleased. This clothing season, she tells us, black is back and austerity is in.

Perhaps, just in time.