10 Dec 1936
John Griffin to Father and Mother / Washington D.C.
I guess I am a big bum for not writing more often, but with so many things to do I put it off saying that Elsie is giving you all the news anyway.
I do keep quite busy though and I guess I become a little negligent too at times. Here it is the 10th of December and I haven't done a speck of my Xmas shopping. That means that I must spend all Saturday in the sweating mobs down town, and if you ever thought it was crowded at Wrights at home you should see Woodward & Lothropes on a Saturday afternoon. This is no exaggeration, but people line up on the sidewalk trying to get in the store.
I seems that people have more money this year than ever before and they are surely spending it. The sales of the downtown stores are up about 10% over last year and they were above the peak of 1929 last year. This town is the ideal place in the United States to go into business and I would surely like to get started in something myself.
And that all leads up to this. I've got to decide in the very near future whether I want to stay in Washington the rest of my life, or at least make it my home for a number of years, or whether I am going to go west or somewhere else and try to get started on my own. Things are bringing the issue to a head very shortly and I don't know what to decide. There are arguments both ways and I guess I feel in a very small way what the king of England must have felt these last few days. It is foolish to go on this way though. If we are going to stay in Washington the rest of our lives we are very foolish o go on paying rent the way we are now. We should get busy and build a home and pay the rent that we are paying now, on it. I wish that there were some mathematical formula to solve such problems but I guess there are not.
Thanks for the subscription to the Era. That will be our Xmas present to all of us this year. We don't want you to sent things this year as we know that you can't afford to do so. If you feel that something else is due besides the subscription, make a box of home made candy and send that and I am sure that we will all feel that it is the best Xmas gift we could receive. We got off a box to Europe the other day and are going to get the box off home this weekend. We have not sent much but feel that we are in a position to send a little something. When Xmas becomes a giving to receive it loses all its fine spirit and so we don't want you to feel that you have to give us anything. Your penoche is the best that anyone can make and so a box of that would have more value than a costly gift.
Elsie is still working hard. She is going to start a better school after the new year. It is much more expensive but is really a much better school. She seems to be well-liked down where she is working now, and though she is not making much she is getting local experience and that counts a lot when it comes to getting another job.
I got Gord's letter and tell him thanks. He does very well at it I think. Write to us often, and here's hoping that your Xmas will be a very merry one. --- John
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