(Left: Sears ad shows Santa and the popular 1930s comic book characters) No amount of hardship brought on by the Depression can stifle the enjoyment of the Flynn family getting together as a family and celebrating Christmas. Christmas Eve is held, as it always is in the 1930's, at the home of Mary’s parents, Jerry and Nora Flynn. They live in St. Louis at 4133A Peck St. Living in East St. Louis near Jones' Park, and still believing in Santa Clause, Gwen Koehler is taken by her dad to her grandparent’s house earlier in the day to play with her cousins, Mary Ann and Pat Young. Orval returns to his house where he and Mary put up the Christmas tree and lay out Santa's gifts. Orval and Mary then come over to St. Louis for Christmas Eve. Celebrating …show more content…
It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that one of the key culprits behind this practical joke is Jerry’s son-in-law, Orval Koehler. Although this bit of family lore does not provide us with the answer as to how this little joke played out, anyone who is acquainted with the Flynn sisters knows that they would not have allowed this bit of humor to go too far. With the party lasting late into the evening, and even though the house is crowded, Orval, Mary, and Gwen stay overnight coming home later Christmas day. And no Christmas is complete within the Flynn family without attending church either at midnight mass on Christmas Eve or mass on Christmas morning. On the drive home to East St. Louis, Gwen, (pictured right), waits in anticipation to see if Santa has come to her house aware that he may have missed it. A lifetime memory is created for Gwen as she remembers the thrill of going in the front door and seeing the Christmas tree with gifts, most of which are unwrapped, underneath it. As one poem written about the Depression says, “there were a lot of sad times then, but there were lots of fun times, too.” (F29) (F32)