For millions, it’s a season to endure
Pandemic and mass joblessness steal joy during the holidays
Nicole Craig, an unemployed mother of two from Pittsburgh, will have no Christmas gifts for her two children, and the ham she bought with food stamps will be far less than their usual holiday dinner. Months behind on her rent and utility bills, she has been struggling to afford formula and diapers.
But there is one thing she couldn’t give up: a small Christmas tree and the trimmings to go with it.
Craig spent the last $7 in her bank account on tinsel, a symbol of light in the darkness of 2020.
“It’s mybaby’s first Christmas,” she said. “I wanted him to be able to see a Christmas tree.”
Although Craig, 42, lost her job as a counselor for at-risk youth through no fault of her own, she can’t help blaming herself when she sees Christmas decorations and other reminders of a holiday she can barely celebrate.
“I don’t even want to think about it because I feel so bad for my kids,” she said. “It makes me feel like such a failure.”
For Craig, and millions of other Americans who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, this is a holiday season more to weather than to relish. With unemployment benefits running out and an unforgiving job market, this Christmas will be remembered by many for painful sacrifices, not the joy of exchanging gifts and festive meals with family.
The arrival of vaccines and the possible approval of a new federal relief package offer hope,
but they come too late to salvage this year’s celebration — particularly with the prospect that this winter could bring the pandemic’s darkest days.
“I’m really afraid of what’s going to happen,” Craig said.
The long delay in achieving a congressional accord on an aid bill has meant fewer gifts under the tree even as the pandemic has separated families and moved what holiday cheer there is this year to video chat gatherings.
In the meantime, unemployed
Americans like Monica Scott of Lakeland, Florida, are looking to the past for comfort.
“This year the only thing I can do is talk about memories,” said Scott, who is five months pregnant and had to leave her job at an Amazon warehouse because of the risk of miscarriage from loading and unloading heavy packages. “Last year was awesome — so many toys, clothes and shoes.”
Scott, 34, wants to make a Christmas dinner with her three boys — 14, 10 and 8 years old —
but food will be limited because she will be relying on food stamps and lacks a kitchen. Scott is living in a motel after being evicted in the spring from her apartment . She hopes to find a permanent home soon.
“It’s just a room with a bathroom,” she said. “The rent is due, and I don’t know where it will come from.”
Jessica Hudson, a full-time student and mother of two in Millbrae, California, is doing what she can to make Christmas cheery for her family. Hudson,
who receives child support from her ex-husband, and her partner, who is not working, bought stockings and candy from the dollar store. And they have spent the last few weeks scouting local streets for the most beautifully decorated houses, so that they can take the children on a drive to see them on Christmas Day.
As for dinner, “we usually do rib roast, Martinelli’s apple cider, a couple of desserts,” Hudson said. “Wewon’t be able to do any of that this year.”
Hudson’s 1 3-year- ol d,
Marleigh, had just one thing on her Christmas list this year: a family camping trip to Yosemite National Park. Hudson struggled to find a way to say no.
“She’s basically getting an IOU for Christmas, that when the pandemic is over and we’re able to travel we’ll take her,” Hudson said.
Jamie Snyder, who lives in Grayling, Michigan, bought her children big-ticket items last Christmas: a new TV for her daughter, an Xbox for her son. But since her husband was laid off in June and then accepted a job with a $20,000 pay cut, money has been tight.
To buy simple gifts for the children — a video game, a new sweater — Snyder used the money she would have spent on the electric bill.
Whenthat payment comes due Jan. 10, she fears that her power will be shut off.
There is a touch of Dickens in this year’s celebrations, except the relevant story isn’t “AChristmas Carol” but “A Tale of Two Cities.” Even as the stock market notches record highs and waiting lists grow for luxury items like Peloton exercise bicycles, roughly 20 million workers were collecting unemployment benefits under state or federal programs at the end of November, according to the Labor Department.
Some of the more fortunate are trying to give back. Sterling Beau Schecter, a machinery and equipment appraiser, received a 20% pay raise in October and increased his charitable giving to a local church as a result.
“I’m very grateful for the blessing of having a job, and I try not to take it for granted,” he said.
Schecter, 26, lives in Chicago but was able to return home to Fort Worth, Texas, for Christmas.