Snack Time

Tonight, I am thankful for fun snacks for my kids. It's amazing how much we take for granted. Last year, I did not buy fun things for snack. We stuck to the basics and no frills. Hard to believe I consider Trix yogurt as a frill. It is a luxury when we can get yogurt in a tub at a better price. These thoughts have come to mind because of the book I am reading. It tells the story of a family in Brooklyn. They are thrilled because the daughter has just started to earn $20 a week. This is the most money the family has made yet. Granted, this takes place in 1916, but it still makes me think of how truly blessed we are. They discuss not having money for coal to heat their flat. In extreme hard times, they would pretend they are at the north pole, waiting for rescue and more food to come. Some days, rescue did not come for three days. Oatmeal, coffee, a can of sweeten condensed milk, and one banana between three of them. Hard to imagine those times. It was hard to picture things at first since this was such a different time. The main character discusses a man across the street coming home in a taxi. At first, I had an old yellow cab pictured in my mind. Only to have that thought dramatically changed when the taxi turns out to be a horse carriage. So far, it is a fantastic book. The author is just two years off from the main characters age. Early New York, what a different world it was. Streets were divided based on your nationality. The main character discusses how of her school class, she and her brother were the only kids born to American parents. Everyone else, the parents were born elsewhere and came to the US. No one else had parents born in Brooklyn.

Really enjoying it so far. Would recommended it to anyone. It's called A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.