Who says your grandparents or great-grandparents had it rough? According to a survey from the 1940’s, sixty-five percent of impoverished children in the Great Depression got the toys they had asked for on their Christmas list. Some of the toys included dirt clods, tumbleweeds, and forked twigs. The most sought-after gift of the year was coal to warm themselves with because that was a lot of fun.

Little Patricia asked for her toenails to grow while her greedy sibling Jonathan requested cuffs on the legs of his coveralls.

To parents from 1929-1940 the Great Depression was welcomed so they could cut back on their holiday spending. Instead of having to buy a radio, it was permitted that they instead get their kids a buttonhole or a piece of string – items that the children could reuse until they reached middle-age.

However, the children of the time began to develop an unpleasant countenance, often talking down to their parents who complained about the unemployment. They would say, “You don’t have it difficult. We have to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways on our hands in mid-August.”

Leon (left) survived the Great Depression, but his brother Sal (right) died as a result of it. Leon claims that Sal died as a result of a life-long bout with happiness.

Other toys that topped wishlists were rusty nails, shards of glass and chicken bones – all of which they were profoundly thankful for.