Even those of us my age can recall days when Christmas meant one gift of not too big of importance. Most of our presents were practical like new clothes or shoes that we needed anyway. We didn't have a lot of money and most people really didn't at that time. My dad said that until after WWII people didn't have much at all. You can tell that from the photos of those days and the houses don't have paint on them. People had no money for that. If you watch the Little Rascals the kids were super poor. My mom said they did that so people wouldn't feel so bad about their own situations.