Is this you this Christmas? Don't despair! Better days lie ahead. (image via hoppinthebroom.blogspot.com)

Are you having hard times? Has the economy got you down? In the interest of keeping it real, let me break it down: are you broke?  Well, don’t despair!  There is absolutely no reason why you should not be able to celebrate Christmas as fully as you did when times were better.

So, with tongue in cheek, here are a baker’s dozen suggestions on ways to enjoy the holiday even for broke Oaklanders.

1. Bake, make and share goodies. The whole DIY movement is off the hook these days! Make your own jam, bake bread, roast nuts, make liqueurs, knit scarves and sweaters, make a needlepoint pillow, create an online scrapbook for someone.  How about a mixtape? Or a home-made comic book? The sky (and your imagination) is the limit here.  And who says gift-wrap has to come from a store? That Sunday comic section over there looks plenty attractive to me, with some glitter or paint on it and a present inside…Same goes for Christmas cards. Be creative!
2. Reduce, renew, recycle. Give a used or recycled gift.  How about giving your used paperback books to someone who loves to read? Is there someone who might enjoy your used jewelry or slightly-worn clothing?  What do you have that you don’t use, but someone else might like? Kids, especially, will appreciate a gift that you have used yourself.  Your old baseball glove, your “vintage” clothing and accessories, your old LPs and CDs, all have an appeal to teens, especially.
3. Board games. If you can’t afford movie or concert tickets, try this for an evening of family drama and excitement. These will be anything but “bored games.” Simple pleasures make all the difference. Can’t afford to go to movies, concerts and holiday events? Get family and friends together to hang out and watch TV. If you don’t have cable TV, but you do have one of those digital transmission boxes, you have some options: you can still watch the Yule Log on Channel 20 and all the good Christmas specials are on broadcast TV anyway. Channel 5, Channel 7, Channel 9 and Channel 44 , like Charlie Brown, Garfield, Olive the Other Reindeer, The Muppets Christmas Special, Frosty the Snowman, and the best of all, It’s a Wonderful Life.
   

   Nativity scene at Oakland Mormon Temple - Kevin Rushforth via Flickr.com

4. Deck the halls. Do you really need a big tree? If you must, get one of those little miniature trees they sell at Walgreen’s or CVS. Or be creative! What else can you decorate? Your window? Your car? Your bicycle? Your body (ho, ho, ho)?  If you want to enjoy a big Christmas tree, check out the one at Jack London Square. It’s big, it’s already all lit up, and it’s free. It even has snow for five minutes every half hour. Do you really need to hang Christmas lights with sky-high PG&E bills? If you want to see massive, energy-hogging displays of Christmas illumination, look no further than Oakland’s own Mormon Temple on Lincoln Avenue. Every night, visitors can park in the lot, walk around the traditional Nativity scene, view the  gigantic light display and take a walking tour of the Temple grounds.
5. Refresh your definition of a holiday meal. Christmas dinner does not have to be a big affair with a groaning table and mass quantities of leftover food..  It can be a combination of multiple offerings.  Two words: Pot. Luck.
6. Don’t give material gifts, give actions. Write a story for someone. Write and perform a song or a dance for someone. Or be creative and do something else nice for someone (You know what that means, don’t you?). Load someone’s iPod with some new music. Iron their laundry. Wash their car. Scan a special old photo for someone and send it by e-mail or print it as a gift.
7. Window shopping. San Francisco’s great for that.  Try Macy’s on Union Square, Tiffany’s, Victoria’s Secret, all of whom mount special window displays during the holiday shopping season. Of course, if you do have money to spend, stay in Oakland. Shop Oakland. Buy Oakland. But if you are a broke or frugal Oaklander, check out Union Square, day or night, like the other tourists. It’s fun-tastic, and it’s only a BART ride away.
8. Take a “stay-cation vacation” on Christmas. Go somewhere nearby for a vacation, somewhere within driving distance or on the bus route. Go to the beach on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, like they do in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. So what if it’s cold? Bundle up and start a bonfire. Or go up in the hills to one of our wonderful East Bay Regional Parks to enjoy a day of nature walks and picnicking. The redwoods, eucalyptus, pine and bay trees will provide the greenery and scents of the perfect Christmas. If it gets cold enough, there is often snow on Mt. Diablo or Mt. Tamalpais.
9. Give, don’t get. No matter how broke you are, there’s always someone who’s got it worse off than you. Volunteer at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, a church, a shelter, a senior home or a hospital to help other people who need it more than you.
10. Hang with your crew. Try not to be alone at this time of year. Spend time with people who are important to you. These days can never be replaced. Treat your friends, colleagues and loved ones with dignity and respect.  No arguments over petty offenses or past grudges! Cuddle with your sweetie. If you don’t have anyone to hang with, go to a public place where other singletons might congregate, e.g., a pub.  Or, if all else fails, “hang with Mr. Cooper “(who knows, living in Oakland, you may run into comedian Mark Curry).
11. It’s all about love. Follow the advice of a pre-teen, brown-skinned Michael Jackson and his four older brothers. Forget about the expensive gifts—just give LOVE on Christmas Day. 
12. Don’t hate; appreciate. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Give thanks for everything you do have. Count your blessings!

1. 1. You live in Oakland, for heaven’s sake! Does there have to be any other reason to feel grateful?
   2. Be grateful that Raiders colors are so awesome.
   3. Be glad that the A’s (with Hideki Matsui!) might stay in town with Jack London Square stadium plans in the making.
   4. Lake Merritt, Lake Temescal, Lakeshore Ave.
   5. Restaurants on E. 14^th Street (Okay, okay — “International Blvd”)
   6. Chinatown
   7. The invention of the fried chicken sandwich.
   8. Draft, craft beer
   9. AC Transit, BART and the new, free Broadway Shuttle
   10. College Avenue, Lakeshore and Grand Avenues
   11. Oakland has the awesomest weather.
   12. We’re all awesome here.
   13. We have an awesome new mayor!
   14. That awesome song, Oakland’s Tight, by Carne Cruda.

13.  Reflect on the Christmas story and think about how the story might play out in modern day Oakland:

A young married couple, pregnant with their first child, is forced by a cruel, corrupt government to leave their home and seek shelter in a faraway town. This humble, young, immigrant couple has neither money nor influence. They become homeless due to a scarcity of affordable housing. Through the charitable generosity of a local merchant, they are provided with basic shelter in below-building-code lodgings, where the woman gives birth to a child without benefit of health care or a midwife. Hearing about this child, three wise “bros” give him incense and a gold grill. They say, “Look, check it out. We have good news! Unto us a homeboy is born.”

Although poor and born in humble conditions, this extraordinarily gifted child has charisma, oratorical talent and unique personal qualities that will help him grow into a great man. He was especially popular at parties because he never ran out of wine and fried fish sandwiches.

After completing his education in the skilled trades, he is destined for certain, preordained greatness and eternal fame on a global scale. He completes his education, yet he still cannot become a citizen, he can only DREAM of it. He gets knocked around, but he never gets knocked out, while going around, speaking the truth and keeping it real.

Unfortunately, one of his homies snitches on him to the government, in exchange for thirty Benjamins. Because of the actions of this two-faced, backstabbing sellout, his promising young life is cut short by police brutality and unreasonable force, yet as soon as he dies, he becomes a martyr in the community, a hero, a symbol of positivity in the face of cruel and unusual punishment. You see, there were a lot of witnesses to the killing…(and they took cell phone videos and posted them online–as a matter of fact, they posted his whole life story and it went viral).

Remember the Christmas story and now imagine a poor child such as he, living somewhere in the flatlands of Oakland, the talented child of immigrants, who is the pride of his community. How will Oakland educate this boy to nurture his gifts? How will he be clothed and fed? What kind of support network exists out there for kids like this? So, what about you? Are you a part of the solution? What can you do to help the gifted children of Oakland to live long, productive lives, unencumbered by intolerance, grinding poverty, police brutality and bureaucratic neglect?

Donate your time to help those less fortunate than yourselves.  You never know what wonderful accomplishments that little kid on the corner can achieve, if he can only catch a break…

In the meantime, your friends at OaklandSeen would like to wish you a tight, hella awesome Christmas…