A Post-Apocalypse Christmas Story

by | Dec 25, 2013 | Headline News | 248 comments

Do you LOVE America?

    Share

    This Christmas story has been graciously contributed by Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper.

    christmas-cabin

    It has been only 7 months since the lights went out, but it feels like forever. Some people call it the Apocalypse and consider it the worst disaster that the modern world has known. At our house, we call it the Change, because my mother says that just because it is different, doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the world, and that words matter. Whatever you call it, though, the day the lights went out is the day that everything in our world became dramatically different.

    The days go on and on, blending into one another with the sameness of our tasks.  I don’t go to school anymore because there is no school. My mother teaches me at night, when we leave the door to the wood stove open to preserve our precious candles, but still have light bright enough to read by.

    I never thought I would long for gym class or for the school cafeteria, but I do. I miss hanging out with the other kids, sitting around the table making fun of the food, and being in the classroom, learning about the things that I used to consider incredibly boring. If I had only known then what true boredom was I would have cherished the time to just be a kid. I would have delighted in every bite of food that I didn’t have to harvest myself.

    Instead of school, I work to keep us fed and warm. I work in the garden in warm weather.  My mother walks with a cane, so it is my responsibility to be her legs. I walk in the woods near our house and look for anything that might be edible or useful.  I collect branches and twigs in the cold weather.  Staying warm and fed is the focus of our daylight hours, and those two tasks take up nearly every minute that the sun is up.

    We have heard from those passing through that the cities were death traps.  People there quickly ran out of food and water, and had no way to get more. Violence erupted because people were scared and desperate, and there was no one left to quell it. All the police had gone home to take care of their own families. The people who left right away were the lucky ones.  Those left behind were constantly at the mercy of thieves and worse.  I’m not exactly sure what “worse” is but when the adults talk, that’s what they say: thieves or worse.  I’m glad that we don’t live in the city.

    Our home is in a very small town. We have a big fenced yard with an apple tree.  My old swing set has become the support structure of a makeshift greenhouse, and the rest of the yard is no longer a yard, but more of a field. I used to think my mom was kind of weird, with her backyard chickens and her garden and her herbs, but now I am glad because we have food. The well water that tastes so different from the liquid that used to come from the taps is our true saving grace, my mother says, because water is more precious than gold.

    Other people trade with us for eggs and apples and the seeds that my mother saves from her garden. The man next door with the pale, quiet wife and two rambunctious children gives us firewood in return for 8 eggs per week. We eat a lot of venison because my mother traded her skills and some of her precious jars to preserve some venison for an old man who hunts.

    We are safer than most because our home is very small, and it is hidden behind trees.  You can’t see it from the road. My mother says that the smallness of our house is a blessing because it takes less wood to stay warm.  Since I am the one who goes out to pick up kindling every day I agree completely. I can’t imagine needing even more wood.

    The past week has been a break in the daily monotony. It was the week before Christmas.

    This Christmas is entirely different from any holiday season I have ever known in my 11 years.  There will be no brightly lit tree, half hidden behind a pile of brightly wrapped gifts that were purchased in the months leading up to the big day.  We won’t be going to parties or buying useless gifts for the teacher just because I don’t want to be the only one not giving a useless gift. I won’t be getting the newest electronic gadget.  We aren’t inundated with Christmas carol muzak at the mall, with people pushing to get around us anytime we stop to look in a window.

    The stores are all empty, yawning caverns, littered with discarded wrappers. Anything that could possibly be of use was taken months ago.

    Still, Christmas is something to be anticipated.

    My mother said that all school children need a holiday, so for the past two weeks, instead of lessons in front of the fire at night, we have been making gifts. Whereas we once would have gone to the store and purchased yarn, waffling between two favorite colors amidst all the choices, this year I have unraveled an outgrown sweater with a hole in it in order to make my mother a scarf. For my next door neighbors’ young children, I have drawn small pictures – one of a kitten, and the other of a puppy.  I placed these pictures in little frames made from twigs.  Now they will have something cheerful with which to decorate their rooms. For the Smith’s daughter, who is 7, I have made a little book with carefully printed letters and drawn pictures. It is the story of the Three Little Pigs, from memory. For the man who hunts – his name is Roger but I always just think of him as the man who hunts – I have helped my mother make a warm hat. I embroidered an R on it for his name.

    Many of us in the small neighborhood where I live have families from far away.  There are no visits to family anymore, because there is no gasoline to fuel the vehicles. If you can’t walk to your destination, you don’t go.  So my grandparents will not be coming, and this is the first time I’ve had Christmas without them in my young life. I don’t know if they have survived the Change and I probably never will.

    Even though I feel as though I will probably be disappointed in the morning, I still have trouble going to sleep on Christmas Eve. I’m still only 11, despite the heavy responsibilities in the world after the Change.

    ***

    I awaken to bells ringing.  Bells?

    I sit bolt upright in bed, the heavy covers falling to the floor.  ”Mom?”

    “Get up, sleepyhead! It’s Christmas!”

    I bounce out of my room and I have that oh-my-gosh-it’s-Christmas-morning feeling fluttering around in my stomach.

    My mother is smiling from ear to ear, and she has a steaming mug in each hand.  One has coffee for her, and the other has….I can’t believe it – cocoa!

    “Where did you get hot chocolate?” I ask as I take the first decadent sip.

    “Santa must have brought it, ” my mother says with a wink. She picks up the jingle bell ornament from the table and rings it again.

    My stocking is not full to overflowing like it was on Christmases past, but I’m just happy to see that there are a few strange bulges in it. Inside I find a ball of yarn that looks suspiciously like an old sweater that I had outgrown a couple of years ago, an apple from our tree that has been covered in a sugary candy coating and placed in an bread bag from before the Change, and a clean cloth wrapped around something mysterious.  When I unwrap the cloth, I discover a hair barrette that my mother has decorated for me with a piece of wire and some beads from an old broken piece of costume jewelry.  I put it in my hair immediately and preen.

    Our tree is from before the Change.  It is an artificial tree and its lights remain unlit, since, of course, there is nothing to plug it in to, but it still looks beautiful with the assortment of ornaments that we have used for as long as I can remember. Under the tree is a large, lumpy bag for me, and two small paper-wrapped packages for my mother from me.

    I make her open one of her presents first.

    She gasps in delight to see the word LOVE made from twigs I found in the woods and tied together with garden twine to form letters.  She immediately gets up and places the word on the bookshelf, front and center.  Her hug and her smile make me feel warm and happy.

    It’s my turn now.  I open my bag and find a purple winter coat.  I could hardly believe my eyes because I had never expected anything half so wonderful as a coat. “Where on earth did you get this?”

    “I traded your outgrown coat from two years ago to the Smiths for their daughter, and Mrs. Smith gave me one of her coats for you.”

    “We have to find someone who needs my coat that I have outgrown, then,” I tell my mother.  My wrists have exceeded the length of my coat sleeves by about 3 inches.  Change or not, I still had continued to grow.

    My mother opens the last package, which is the scarf I have made for her from the holey sweater.  She dons it immediately.

    I can’t help but compare this with the previous Christmas, when there were at least 20 presents to open.  Somehow, I feel happier drinking this cocoa made with water, stroking the sleeve of a used purple coat, than I ever felt then.

    ***

    We are hosting Christmas dinner. My mother says that our neighbors are now our family and that we must love and care for each other if we are going to survive. The old man who hunts brought us a turkey yesterday. It is cooking with garden garlic and onions in a big roasting pan on the woodstove.  My mother says that the turkey may not look like the kind we usually have, all brown from the oven, but that it will be an amazing treat.  It smells so good that my mouth has been watering since early that morning.

    Our home is decorated with pine boughs that I brought back from the woods, and iced with a fresh layer of snow.

    We are serving with it applesauce from the jars of it my mother canned from our apple tree in the back yard.  She had been storing crusts of bread and leftover biscuits in the outside cold room for a few weeks to make stuffing, and yesterday she cooked a pumpkin from the cellar as well as a big pot of potatoes.

    When the neighbors begin to arrive, we are excited to see that they are also bearing food.  This has been a hungry time and we rarely eat until we are totally full, as our food must last until the snow is gone and we can grow more to eat.

    The Smiths, from whom my mother got my beautiful purple coat, have peppermint sticks for all of the children.  Mrs. Smith found them in her bin of Christmas decorations.  They are stale and chewy and the most delicious candy I have ever eaten.  I take small licks to make it last as long as possible. The man who hunts, of course, has provided the turkey.  The people next door, who keep reminding me to call them Tim and Libby, have arrived their children and a basket of cookies. They are the only people in the neighborhood with an oven that still works for baking. Sadly, their fuel for the oven will soon run out and there will be no way to replenish it. But for today, we have cookies.

    For the first day in a long, long time – it feels like forever – all I have to do is play.  My mother and the other women will keep the fire going, the men will sit and talk, and we will play in the snow without a care in the world. When you’re playing in the snow, you forget that there is no electricity and no heat except for that from the fire.  You are just a kid throwing snowballs and building forts.

    At dinnertime, we eat and eat and eat until we couldn’t hold another bite if we tried.  My mother uses some of our candles and opens up the woodstove. The living room glows. Mr. Smith reads the original Christmas story in his deep melodic voice, followed by How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was brought over by Tim and Libby.

    Then, the most magical thing of all: Christmas carols.

    We have no music except that which we make, but we all sing the familiar songs: Jingle Bells, Come Let Us Adore Him, Silent Night, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – we run out of songs we know and begin to sing them all over again because no one wants the music to stop because then the night will end. One by one, the younger children fall asleep, with their full tummies and flushed cheeks.

    I sit there on the floor, leaning against my mother’s chair.  The sweet voices of our friends and neighbors surround me like the softest blanket.  I’m full, warm, and content. And although it is all by candlelight and my “big” gift is a used coat, it seems as though this day, this brief respite from the battle to survive, has been the best Christmas – a true holiday full of all that is sacred and beautiful.

    Please feel free to share this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.

    Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at [email protected]

    URGENT ON GOLD… as in URGENT

    It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point

    Gold has been the right asset with which to save your funds in this millennium that began 23 years ago.

    Free Exclusive Report
    The inevitable Breakout – The two w’s

      Related Articles

      Comments

      Join the conversation!

      It’s 100% free and your personal information will never be sold or shared online.

      248 Comments

      1. The story is very good, it brings back fond memories of my childhood, as i was raised a little bit like that, not because of a apocalypse but because we were country people not city people,I think more people would benefit from being raised in that kind of enviriment than they way it is today! so in the long run IF it has to happen then there is the good that will come from it!!

        • Yes, I am seriously considering a complete boycott of Christmas because of what it has become, and all of the related hassles and stress. I admit that the cozy Christmas with simple pleasures portrayed in the article would go a long way to keeping my boycott at bay.
          Thanks you for another well written piece, Daisy. Merry Christmas and Happy New year to one and all here at SHTF.

          • Twas the night before a Future Christmas
            When all through the land
            Not a Marxist is stirring
            The Reds had been banned

            Central Banking abolished
            Gold and silver restored
            Wall Street is tamed
            Their ox has been gored

            Taxes are very light
            With budgets in balance
            Freed of debt slavery
            Folks discover their talents

            Hollywood is wholesome
            Filth and porn no more
            Kim Kardashian is history
            That dirty little whore

            The culture is reborn
            It’s the end of modern art
            Rockwell and Rembrandt
            Replace Picasso, that fart

            America is at peace
            To the Zionists dismay
            No more wars for Israel
            Hip Hip. Hooray!

            The press is finally free
            Of lies and omissions
            Conspiracies are exposed
            Not concealed by “Commissions”

            Jobs are plentiful
            The middle class now booms
            Welfare cheats face reality
            And forced to push brooms

            The border is sealed
            Illegals denied entry
            Problem solved
            It was so elementary

            Traditional morality
            Is now back in fashion
            As adulterers and queers
            Must conceal their dark passion

            The crime rate has plummeted
            As all citizens are armed
            All those dead Trayvon Martins
            Made the criminals alarmed

            Justice has been served
            With Obama and Bush in jail
            Predator Drones and Smart Bombs
            Got them arrested without bail

            Academia is cleansed
            Of false science and history
            The truth of our past
            Is no longer a mystery

            A girl is a girl
            And a boy is a boy
            Families are happy
            Homes full of joy

            If this kind of world
            Sounds appealing to you
            Then support TomatoBubble
            Because we want it too!

            By Mike King

            • I would like to commend Daisy for continuing to expand herself. I hope Daisy realizes she has some serious talent, and she could if the world last long enough write some novels that people would read and could on a subtle level learn something from. The masses of the people are idiots, and if she could write something that would have some drama behind it and some truly hidden messages in it about being prepared, maybe a few more people might get it through their thick skulls that be prepared is the only way to go.

              200,000 people are still cold because they have not prepared fro the weather in many areas. That is 200,000 people that could have been ready for this. But after all, the MSM and the government says that disasters never happen that can’t be handled. Yet 200,000 people right now are in misery. I guess those 200,000 freezing them butts off are not actually cold, it is just their imaginations that they have no heat or electricity, no lights. When will people learn? Pathetic isn’t it. Most of these people could have afforded be prepared, but instead blew money on worthless entertainment or other non necessities. I can just imagine a mega SHTF, it will be a catastrophe and then some. Thank the government and MSM for conditioning people to believe they have nothing to worry about, a lumb of coal in the old stockings this Christmas for near a 1/4 million people.

              • Obama ran on and was elected on a platform that promised to shut down all coal fired power plants. He had no coal power substitute and told people straight out that power costs would skyrocket, that in fact he wanted them to skyrocket. These fools voted for and elected him anyway not once but twice. Why are you surprised that all these people are in the dark freezing their asses off? That is what they voted for and this is just a small sample of what we are going to get. Consider this a toughening up exercise. It was eighty degrees here today in East County San Diego so I really don’t care that they are freezing. And to all a good night. Obama loves you.

                • I’m real curious about the coming change! We all know its comin but just how it will unfold is still anyone’s guess.

                  Who’s really in command of the federal reserve? Who are the people who collect the profits from it? I want to know because they are the ones that really run the world.

                  Does anyone know who they are?

                  • try researching the “committee of 300” was written quite awhile back but puts a few names on paper, the whole world has been somewhat controlled and the wars we have are because of the ones they cannot control!

                  • Yeah Shooter, I know who they are.

                    It took me 5 years to figure it out, but I kept going at it because like you, I knew that if the Fed was “privately” owned, who are the owners? The power comes in layers, like an onion, each one concealing the one beneath, and it came as a great, and disappointing surprise to find out what it was. We, most of us, don’t know because for years the truth has been concealed from us, and then we stopped asking questions. The books where the answers were got destroyed are have been gathering dust in attics and dark corners where boxes of cast-off stuff are put. And the truth is unknown because it has been replaced with false stories, twists on the truth that either whitewash the importance, or spin it just right to send us down the wrong path. They have worked very hard to conceal who they are, for you see, if we knew them, we wouldn’t fear them, and we would nail their filthy hides to the door for their crimes against us. But they won’t be hidden for much longer and then it will be too late. I just pray that enough of us find out in time to stand up to them, and put a stop to them.

                    “They” are the upper echelons of the Society of Jesus, aka the Jesuits. This is most disappointing as I said, and it was difficult for me to believe because, you see, I was born & raised Roman Catholic, and the Jesuits were always spoken of with respect bordering on reverence. I just believed that, and for most of my life, until I found information about the Jesuit clandestine role in the WWII. This is not to say, that there are no Godly priests among the whole of the order, in fact, it’s probably safe to say that most of them are good priests. But we find that among the high ranking Jesuits, Satanic worship takes place, and that the rumor the “black pope” controls the white Pope, and the whole church indirectly turns out to be true. And so, today, a Jesuit has been elected by the conclave to replace Pope Benedict. This is probably not such a good thing.

                    St. Francis Loyola founded the Jesuits in the 16th century and its purpose was to defend the Papacy against the Reformers, during the reformation. They were involved with the Inquisition to put down the Reformation. They were very good at it. But perhaps too good? Their militancy against the people of Europe was astounding. They are continuing their inquisition today, and I know I have left out a lot of their history, but that is what they are doing. They control the Federal Reserve, which is even better than just owning it. They control it, and they are using it to control this country, and this control keeps growing, which many of you have seen, getting worse by the year. Total control is necessary, for they intend to cause the deaths of millions of us, because there are so many protestants here. They won’t do the killing themselves, of course, but that’s why they have DHS, INS, IRS, the Military and the CIA & FBI. They control those organizations because they control those who lead them. The connections are all the ones we know about, like the CFR, The Bilderbergers, the Knights of Malta, the nights of Columbus, the Skull & Bones, etc. etc. etc. It is quite an operation they have established.

                    The Fed itself is not all that evil. The power behind it that wields the Fed like a bludgeon is what’s evil. And they are using it to bring the collapse finally of an economy they have worked to destroy for many years. Think about what the death toll will be for this country if they succeed in finally collapsing our economy. It will be staggering. They must be stopped, if we have any will to live, because they don’t want to make slaves of us, they want us to die, and all you Catholics, make no mistake, that you will be sacrificed along with the protestants. Your catholicism will be of no protection.

                    That’s who it is, Shooter. I am very sorry that what I have said is the truth of it. But when we patriots refer to things like the Illuminati, or NWO or PTB…that’s who we really refer to. They, the Jesuit Order that is, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions. It’s like where ever they go, misery and death soon follows. They should be expelled from every country they are found in. whether they are personally guilty of crimes like this because, they are all bound by their vows to the order and the order will see to it that every person on Earth either submits to the Pope, or dies as a heretic. This is what all the wars are about.

                • “It is enough to say there was an election. Those who cast the ballots decide nothing. Those who count the ballots decide everything.” – Joseph Stalin

                • Well I’m one of them 200000 people you don’t care about and for one I DID NOT vote for Obummer and two I was fully prepared for this weather related mess. In fact it was a nice experience I found a few places that I need to approve on. It was to bad it had to happen at Christmas but such is life. So now I am on an emergency flight to my daughters who is in labor two months early and whos husband is over seas so that people like you can have the freedom you still have. I hope you don’t wish for the plane to crash. Not everyone here voted for this thief of a president. And we are smart enough to prepare.

                • Glad you were warm in San Diego better known as a whales vigina. Yup we froze here in Michigan. Fortunatly i didnt vote for Obama, but i still froze. I did however prepare somewhat and was not caught completly off gaurd. Always i think your comments suck! If or should i say when SH’s i will remember that there are people like you out there. I know some stinking liberals that have more compassion than you…

                • Important correction which I should not have missed. I said St Francis Loyola, but meant to put Ignatius Loyola. My apology, for the mistake.

              • If life goes that far back. And poor I would eat my shotgun. How can it be so cute to think a little stale candy is for a making of a good life.

                An for it or the above story will be all your life becomes.

                • Hey, why wait?

                  Go ahead and start eating already.

                  geez….

                • Hey, why wait?

                  Go ahead and start eating already.

                  geez…..

                  • And if that only 7 months in she just show us a group of people that were UNPREPARED.

                  • You are somehow under the impression that everybody has the means to get prepped like a freaking millionaire?

                    Not everybody has that capacity.

                    And for that matter, I don’t think the story was so much about prepping as it was about the life of a little girl at Christmas after the SHTF.

                    You just feel like bitching about something/anything at the moment.

                • FaceBook, What in the world have you been drinking? Turpentine?

                  • A simple life is one thing. But but if the best thing I could do was a used coat for my family member.

                    It was a cute story but a joke for SHIF a big lie.

                    I forgot it was lie to ourselves day. That story was for the liberal SHIF site.

                  • Î. And in that scenario. The girl is 11. A third of her life is all ready over. The new norm will be. She will be looking for a husband real soon. Yeah here comes the 1900 again

                    This was a cute fireside story. That it. If that what we are all prepping for. Yes shotgun for dinner please..

                  • “Yeah here comes the 1900 again

                    This was a cute fireside story. That it. If that what we are all prepping for. Yes shotgun for dinner please..”

                    Uh… just what do you think prepping is for?

                    In other words, if things aren’t going to be exactly like they are now with all the modern conveniences and comfort that you’ve always had – you opt out?

                    You would have made a hell of a pioneer. Your ancestors would be proud of you, no doubt. What’s that saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

                    Enjoy your buckshot dinner when/if things get tough.

                    Hopefully there’s nobody in this world counting on you for anything.

                    But based on your attitude, I would imagine that’s not the case anyway.

                  • If that the best prep you can do. They are 7 months in and she had no coat for a growing child set aside. Didn’t have enough wood for 7 month set aside. And so on.
                    She wrote a story about failure. If you are planing on that being a big day in your life and that your best you prepped for. Buckshot please.

                • FBP.

                  Enough of the, Eat my shotgun, bit. Don’t become you.
                  Fact is if you were going to do it you would have done it long ago. I don’t know what it is, but you, I expect you have a score to settle. You don’t like anybody getting one on you and you do post helpful hints. You would be here even if it went back to the 1800’s with the rest of us.

                  • I wish it was the early 1800’s i should have been born then not now, i don’t fit into this world and i don’t like how it has evolved, would have been a much better tiime for me, yes i work in high tech. but that IS NOT where my heart is!

              • BI, good evening and I hope your Christmas was wonderful. Yes, Daisy Luther really has some serious talents. If she ever writes a book, I’ll be happy to buy it and read it. On prepping, yes, I did get some more preps for Christmas, same things I buy all year round, instead of useless junk. My prepping is continuing all the way until the balloon goes up and even beyond that point if I can beat the crowds at the stores. That poem that Unreconstructed Southron posted is very inspirational to me. God willing, that scenario can and will become reality one day if we all take a stand and fight the NWO. MEGA-SHTF is coming in 2014, BI. I can feel it. In the 1st quarter we’re facing ‘govt. shutdown’ again plus budget cuts to certain federal programs. Things will become very ‘interesting’, I’m afraid. Every Christmas, I just get myself more preps; same things I buy all year long. In my mind, that is far more sensible than buying junk I can do without. I have ‘peace of mind’ knowing I can survive adverse situations. Preps provide me with that ‘peace of mind’. Electronic junk DOES NOT. braveheart

              • @Be Informed:

                I agree wholeheartedly. Daisy should definitely start writing. She’s gotten really good at it over the time she’s run her blog. 🙂

                I also agree on the preparations – even if S never HTF, ice storms do. Having alternate means of keeping warm, safe, and fed is never a bad thing.

                Meanwhile, I hope y’all took the opportunity to give your loved ones gifts that make sense, eh? The stuff I gifted included shotgun shells, backpacking gear, things like that – stuff that has a dual-purpose in this world, and the “next”. 😉

                • @BI….Yes, great ‘story’ by Daisy, of course I love her writing (and her as a person) as I had the pleasure of meeting her b4 she left Canada. Guess I am a bit ‘biased’ (:

                  Both you and Daisy will be ‘proud’ of me as I told my Children (when they asked what I wanted for Christmas)”If I can’t eat or drink it, I don’t want it”…they listened to me and one of them bought me 3 large ‘chunks’ of cheese! 1 was 10 yr old cheese, the other 2 were wedges of parmesan. I think the 10 yr old will last a couple more years! The gifts of VINO will not last as long! (: take care, CC.

              • Don’t you mean that 11 yr old girl writer has good talent BI? Some big fancy words for an eleven year old eh.

                Otherwise good story.

              • A good stor
                y teller can paint a picture with their words and light a candle in your heart. This storey does that. Thank You.
                Mark Vossler MD

              • BI…good points…Do we know how many of that 200,000 are prepared?…by that I mean that the official number given by the company/govt would be for the amount of folks whom their system serves who are “presumed ” to be cold and without power…just wondering if they wouldn’t make it worse than it is and ignore those who were doing okay without their power…

            • Almost prophetic, Daisy.

              Happening to more people
              right now than the gov’t
              would like us to know.

              Merry Christmas to you.

              • Gunner, that story could very well be prophesy in the not-so-distant future. BTW, hope you had a Merry Christmas. braveheart

            • Daisy,

              This is a beautiful Christmas story! 🙂

              Merry Christmas to you and your family!

              Take care.
              KY Mom

            • Unreconstructed Southron, thank you for presenting us that poem. God willing, the scenario outlined in that poem will become true one day. MOLON LABE braveheart

              • You’re welcome, B. Dum Spiro Spero.

                • US, I’m curious. What does ‘Dum Spiro Spero’ mean? I’ve never heard that one anywhere. braveheart

                  • “While I breathe, I hope.”

                  • South Carolina’s motto.

            • AMEN SOUTHRON!!!!

              • Is that Tomato Bubble mentioned near end that website called tomato bubble?…if yes, that website sure has much great Truth info!…And its writers aint afraid to be NON-PC! A good learning Tool type website.

            • That’s a hateful, closed minded poem when read closely. What a piece of Utopian bull hockey

          • i gave my two sons(10 and 12) a one ounce gold coin this year…i just couldn’t bear to buy a bunch of that damn chinese CRAP this time. every time i buy a toy that costs more than about 20 dollars at walmart, i always say to the cashier”you KNOW they’re gonna make a TANK in china with that money, right?”…then my wife says to me “you didn’t get them anything?”…but today they ALL got a lesson on what REAL value is. they now have something that will last a loooong time. something that’s a store of value. something that can be traded/bartered for something needed….whereas the toys that were given to my wife’s daughters will be WORTHLESS within a few days. it cost me more than i have spent on ALL christmas presents combined for a couple years, but their lessons will be remembered for a looong time! they will learn of investing with those coins, how value ebbs and flows. i will teach them bartering skills by trading up to other things. those coins are PRICELESS to us….maybe even MORE EXPENSIVE! was it worth it? HELL YES!

            • A good follow up on the gold for your sons would be the book “What ever happened to penny candy” I handed this out with an ounce of silver to the kids on my list.

              • i will check into that one. thanks a bunch idaho!

            • Hey buttcrackofdoom can you adopt me that is a great gift. My 8yo son is starting to buy Pm’s I try to get him to buy some when he gets money. He sometimes does and other times he just wants to save it. If he keeps it up by the time he is 21 he should have a nice nest egg of savings if we make it that far.

              • LOL newbee. the amount isn’t as important as realizing NOW is the time to teach them to do it and you sound like your son is well on the way to independence. i fix cars, and i see it all the time when some kid comes in and finds out how much it will cost to get them back on the road….call goes out to mom or grandma or dad, “can i have 500 to get my car fixed?” people don’t teach kids how to be independent anymore. i remember a few months ago ONE of those “kids” was a 45y/old! my kids have picked up a little from me along the way, but it’s time to put that training into OVERDRIVE…time is SHORT! the biggest problem i have is i got a wife and an ex-wife that are aSHEEP at the wheel….teaching them that it’s ok to be deep in debt and to have anything you want NOW. regardless of consequences . women wonder why we men die FIRST….it’s because we WANT to.

            • Gold is waaaaay out of my league, but I’ve started a new tradition of getting the pack of Grandkids a Silver Eagle each, each year.

          • Jesus Is Lord And God.
            When you put that in place, nothing else matters.

            God Bless All Of You.

        • a wonderfully written story

        • Awesome story, Daisy.

          Made me weep.

          Merry Christmas everyone.

        • Christmas has come and gone. But Edward Snowden is still a HERO and the NSA is still the enemy! Trekker Out. Si vis pacem, para bellum!

        • apache54

          I look at the time you wrote this…we’re all feeling warm and some of us a little fuzzy from the days activities…most of which is what this day is supposed to be about…I just find it sad that we don’t and can’t feel this way the rest of the year toward family and fellow man…

          Every year I find myself crying my eyes out till no more will flow…

          If you’ve ever seen the horrors that man can do to man you cherish these days of peace…

          Thank you Ms. Daisy…

      2. Somehow that feels like the way christmas was meant to be. Greetings to you all and GOD BLESS.

      3. In the future, Christmases will have a much more important message for most Americans than it has had of late.

      4. Merry Christmas, SHTFplan!! And here’s to praying that 2014 will be better than 2013.

        (But keep prepping anyway…)

        Mal

        • Mal, I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas. I do believe 2014 will be THE year everything comes to a head. MOLON LABE braveheart

          • To all the posters at shtf and to Mac for allowing us to post our uncensored articles I wish you a Merry CHRISTMAS and the hopes that 2014 will see America through her difficult times. God bless all of you!

            • ..and to you, Granny!

          • braveheart: Just like Y2K, the Dot Com Crash of 2000-2002, the Housing/Stock Crash of 2008-2009, and ever year before, after, and in between those as well. MELON BABY!

            • Anon 7, I read you loud and clear. Just keep prepping. braveheart

        • Thats cool Ted but ya cant cook on it lol. This is what we have https://www.lehmans.com/p-3442-bakers-choice-wood-cookstoves.aspx for the money it’s a very good stove/oven. We cook and bake with it all winter long and it heats a 4 bedroom house too. Just be sure to clean it out every 3-4 weeks and its good to go. One thing we do is use the bottom ash drawer door as the intake air control it burns better that way. It comes with a water heater element and rear mounted tank too. We didn’t get it from lehmans it was from Obedias or something like that (cheaper). The article here was good, thats the way it was before the 1900’s. People are spoiled and dumbed down and have no life skills anymore. The chickens are comin home to roost and the herd of idiots will be culled. Hopefully the govt. will be culled too… 🙂

          • We have the Bakers Choice stove and it is a great wood stove! It heats my whole house and you can cook on it and bake in it. Great choice Genius!

            I also don’y have to go outside and put wood in it.

            • And does that outdoor one require electricity

          • Yes, those are nice to have one inside and put your feet up but can you heat a business or green house with it? Keeps both trucks/tractors ice free/ready. Barn is always warm for livestock. Unlimited supply of HOT water in all house fixtures for entire family when elec. goes. Pump/fan/thermstat runs on one 15 amp breaker. That’s less than 4 Pv panels or .8KW gen set. Will burn hedge smoke free and even coal. Attached to end of external bldg. Back the truck up and no splitting wood, ever…

          • Give a man a fish, teach 3 men how to fish. How many jobs did your stove make.

      5. And then there will be no libtards telling others they cannot have a tree or a Nativity Scene or say Merry Christmas! That will be the silver lining. Few atheists in foxholes.

      6. Genesis – The Day The Light Went Out – 1978

        When they went to bed that night no-one would have believed
        That in the morning light would not be there
        The dark hung heavy on the air like the grip of a jealous man
        No place was there known to have been spared
        Then panic took control of minds as fear hit everyone
        The day the light went out of the daytime sky

        Artificial light could hardly penetrate the gloom
        Nothing out of reach could be observed
        Looting, pillage, murder, rape became the rule of that day
        Who hit him no one knew or whom he hit
        Cars were caught in pileups and the planes could never land
        The day the light went out of the daytime sky

        “Now I can rest here after my journey
        Now I can feed here before I continue”

        Some there were who’s heads were clear who sought, tried to find
        The nature of this deadly foe, the dark
        It seemed the sun was still somewhere though hidden from their sight
        By something, though amorphous, yet alive
        And so they looked for ways to rid themselves of the parasite
        The day the light went out of the daytime sky

        “Now I can rest here after my journey
        Now I can feed here before I continue”

        They tried in many fruitless ways to see the noonday sun
        By blasting with their missiles through the dark
        But soon a kind of sleepy state came over everyone
        Till nothing seemed to stir or even breathe
        And when the darkness chose to disappear not many had survived
        Then came a shadow – another had arrived
        And again the light went out the daytime sky

      7. Merry Christmas to All and to All a good night!

      8. Actually, I remember a few Christmases that went just about like that. Those were the only Christmases that I remember much about. The rest are truly a blur.

        I pray that we are so lucky as to have a holiday like that, post-SHTF.

        Happy New Year, everybody.

      9. Very good and poignant.

      10. No mention of Christ in this CHRISTmas story??????!!!!

      11. Does anyone happen to know what that tool is in the picture, the one on the log cabin to the right of the door? I’ve seen them before but don’t know what they are.

        • Looks like a wood bow saw.

          • Yep, old school wood bow saw, handy tool

            • Its a Door Hinge….

        • Looks like a buck saw to me.

        • can’t see it very good but it looks like a buck saw

        • My eyes are not as good as they once were, but it looks like what’s used to “winnow” wheat.

          • How would one grow wheat in what is obviously an Alpine setting? Might be a old style pack frame.

        • back in the 40s when I had to use one every night after school, we called it a Buck Saw

          • GOOGLED it and it is indeed a buck saw. Bet using that made you appreciate power tools.

            • Yep, buck saw. Very fast saw for bucking up your fire wood lengths. Every prepper needs one.

      12. I’ve put away several small gifts and musical instruments for my young daughter so she will have a gift from me in case something happens to me, but they would be just as precious in this situation.

        I believe a home with just two people would be a rarity no matter how small just because it’s too difficult to defend. The three of us live in a small 2BR home, but it would sleep eight with everyone in a bed if necessary and take less to heat with more people to contribute.

      13. Merry Christmas To All
        —- and —-
        Thank you all for your insight of
        potential disasters.
        Without you I would not have ever
        purchased a home generator.
        Good Night
        — Miss Dee Dee

        • Miss DeeDee, I trust you had a wonderful Christmas. Just keep coming back for more. One thing I’ve learned over the years about prepping is this. You never really stop learning about prepping. It is a continuing educational process. There’s always something new to learn on any survival-related topic. always be willing to learn all you can about prepping. It is essential and will some day save your life. best wishes. braveheart

      14. Seasons greetings
        From the front
        Deep in enemy territory comifornia

      15. Merry Christmas everyone.

      16. OK, everyone, that is one of the most sobering stories I’ve ever read anywhere and we all know it’s going to come true someday somewhere. All of the cities, including the one I’m in, will become deathtraps. If I can make it out in time to go to the BOL, I’ll be fine. If not, then braveheart’s going to have some real fun [sarcasm intended]. There will supposedly be budget cuts on certain federal programs in the 1st quarter of 2014, plus facing ‘govt. shutdown’ in Feb. Things may become ‘interesting’ between now and spring. Of course, I got some more preps for Christmas, same things I get all year round. My prepping is continuing as fast as possible and I hope everyone else’s is as well. MOLON LABE braveheart

        • merry christmas braveheart, and be informed….and ALL the rest of you too! even peterskin. he has overcome some serious obstacles in life…like his courageous battle with illiteracy…he’s come so far without the slightest ability to read or write. what’s amazing to me is he’s happily married….she’s miserable, but he’s happy as a clam! he just doesn’t have that keeen sense of the obvious. we were out having a beer the other day and i caught him smelling his fingers, and i said “what’s wrong?”, and he said “oh, nothing, just missing my family”. seriously though, we gotta put this guy under WITLESS protection soon before he hurts himself.

          • buttcrack, trolls can never win any battle with illiteracy. braveheart

        • BH-

          Per your suspicions of an early 1st quarter calamity…you just may be onto something, sir.

          ..after all, it would be a very convenient time to renig on tax refunds!

          • Yeah, but would they renig on EBT cards too? 🙂

          • I’m not normally up at this hour, but due to some trouble sleeping, Hunter, I’m not going to be surprised if I lose my tax refund as a ‘fine’ for not signing up for Obamacare. If that happens to me or anyone else, then we know what’s coming. braveheart

        • Braveheart:
          This story sure make one think just how lucky we are.
          Prepping has become second nature for me and the wife.
          We are in the country by a small city. We have a river very close and alot of good farm land, plus a good group of like minded people that wnat to servive and live a peaceful life and are will protect what is theres. And if you need a place after the cities collapse You are welcome here anytime. P.T.S.F.P. N.R.

        • @ Braveheart ~ Merry Christmas to you Braveheart.
          Thanks for the ‘heads up’.
          I didn’t know about those 2 upcoming events.
          My motto now is ‘prepare always.’

        • well

          there going to have to get on the ball right away after the first of the year ,because they wont take a chance that they my lose the senate ,if that happens theureticly the the senate and house could move to impeach the messiha

      17. That is a beautiful story. It shows how people can manage to survive and still appreciate the sense of community achieved with the neighbors. As well it makes me want to move out of the city.

        I hope we all make it.

        Keep on a-preppin’.

        Merry Christmas!

      18. Good story for getting your mind right. But it made me think. Your kids. What if your kids see kids they used to play with are starving. Do you risk your families chances of survival and give the kids some food? If you don’t can your kids handle it? See if you can find some Ukranians who survived the famine of 1931-32 caused by the NKVD. Ask them what choices they made. There is a documentary I saw on public television many years ago, the interviewer is asking a mother how she chose which of her children to feed. And which ones to let starve, because there wasn’t enough for all of them to make it. It was without a doubt the most gut wrenching thing I ever watched on tv. 7 million Ukranians died in 1 1/2 years. Where’s their museum?

        • Google Holodomor the movie. There is a 1 minute trailer that says it all.

          • My wife and her entire family are Ukranian. They don’t speak much about the Holodomor. My mother in law was born right after it happened. She was fortunate and so were her parents as they barely survived it. Funny thing though, in Ukraine today the average income is only $200 a month. Try surviving on that in todays world! Seems like the Holodomor all over again, just perpotrated a different way.

            Wishing everyone on the boards here a merry Christmas and a happy new year. May we all survive to the other side with our family and close friends intact.

        • Maudy-

          In truth, there will likely never be a memorial, museum or sanctified remembrance of the Ukrainian holomodor, at least in the sense of mainstream history and commentary.

          You see, its not allowed…
          ..because the perpetrators/architects/executioners were entirely j-wish.

          Instead, we must pay the eternally demanded guilt-geld to the ‘tribe’, for the loss of their imaginary 6 million number.

          ..I find it amusing that according to the 1947-48 study by the RED CROSS, where they stated only +275,000 j-ws died in the camps…is never referenced anymore…nor has it been refuted ‘OFFICIALLY’, by governments…thus its merely swept-under-the-rug…in deference to the profits of their so called, Shoah-business!

          Thanks for remembering Maudy and thumbs up to you!

            • Hunter, indeed Mr. Cole is indeed a “brave and honest man”.

              Just a little excerpt from his article:

              “There are those who say “Okay, maybe the Holocaust is a bit exaggerated, but do we really want to destabilize society by openly talking about all this, possibly encouraging hostility against Jews?”

              This raises and IMPORTANT philosophical question: Do you believe mankind to be so inherently cruel and stupid that people must be LIED TO to make them behave? If so, then the lies you tell them are only a small bandage to cover up a much greater evil: LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN MANKIND’S ABILITY TO HANDLE THE TRUTH, BUT INSTEAD NEED A “BIG BROTHER” TO HANDLE IT FOR THEM, THEN SURELY DEMOCRACY IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON EARTH.

              Rather than censor information that we subjectively perceive to be “dangerous” we should teach our children to think critically, mto remain open-minded, and to LOOK FOR TRUTH rather than cling to emotionally appealing falsehoods.

              KEEP IN MIND THAT TRUTH, OBJECTIVE TRUTH, DOES NOT NEED THREATS AND INTIMIDATION TO PREVAIL.

              At one point everyone thought the earth was flat. Since proven wrong ROUND EARTH ADHERENTS HAVE NOT NEEDED FALSE NEWS LAWS, HATE CRIME LAWS, AND SLANDER LAWS to protect the TRUTHFULNESS of their views.

              All Mr. Cole asks is that the Holoocaust story either stand or fall according to the evidence–or lack of it…

              _________________________________________

              Look up this link that Hunter has posted for the total article.

              Start looking a links posted on shtf. There is a real education in store for you.

            • We can be sure their is some “revisionist history” here… much like most of our history has been revised to the winner’s perspective.

              I will say that the part about the typhus epidemics is true. My mother, as an adolescent during the Allied bombings of Frankfurt, contracted typhoid fever and nearly died, losing all her hair and teeth.

          • HUNTER: That’s because the “Shoah” Must Go On! it’s a Hollywood type thing.

            • The Germans kept perfect records, you morons, that’s how everyone with half a brain knows that 6 million Jews and another 6 million Gentiles from various groups were murdered. God, you people are so stupid with your conspiracy theories.

              • zio-pak-

                Ohhhh…! That’s right, ‘cuz they documented that in all of German-occupied Europe, there were only 2.4 million jews.

                ..funny how after the war, 3.8 million jewish survivors applied for holocaust reparations.

                ..while tragically, the remain 6 million were lost!

                ———————

                Damn, I just can’t grasp Talmudic math.

                ..anybody possess a certified zionist calculator I could borrow?

                • Keep slingin’ the bull, moron, maybe someone else who is as stupid as you will buy it. Damn, I’m thinking you just can’t grasp ANY math at all. Most morons can’t.

              • Indeed! Lets get them Germans straight. They were the most efficient experts on earth. Sticklers for details and accuracy….No argument from me there.

                Then we are told to believe that while in a world war with virtually Every weastern world free nation, and even the not so free Communist russian soviet as allies, all fighting against one nation germany…With germans hard pressed for manpower, Money, OIL, Gasoline, Dieseal fuels, Coal, and most every type resource natural OR man made in Very short supply….Especially foods.

                Yet even with ALL That against them germans, they decided that the Most efficient plans to round up and mass murder every jew in the world, and if we believe the fake 6 million numbers, we are told that….

                These so efficient germans in a massive rush to get such a huge job done as quickly as possible, actually SPENT Millions of Cash they so Lacked, Much Labor and man hours of work, manufactureing Pin striped Matching PJ’s and shoes or slippers, in Many varried sizes for small kids, teen size kids, women sizes and grown Men sized PJ’s…At Least 6 million Pairs PJ’s & shoes total…

                PLUS the massive hours spent and costs $$$$ for Giving all 6 million Haircuts! and Baths/showers to rid them of Typhus carrying LICE…. All Done…

                Before KILLING them all???!!!!….Does That even remotely sound like wise efficiency expert German planning? “IF” the real goal was to kill off every jew, plus Twice as many Non jews, would You first bathe, delouse, clothe in Pj’s, and give Haircuts to them prior to just killing them anyways? all while You are fighting a massive world war against You!?…Not likely eh. No, anybody would simply kill them fast as possible and be done ith it.

                OR…Perhaps the “Other” side of it all we now just begin to have available to research, that says, German camps housed Known, Admited Communist Marxist Bolsheviks. And other supporters of the marxist’s which most Every usa and european Newspaper in 1933 had huge headlines that stated “World Jewery DECLARES WAR! Against Germany!” etc etc…..

                And that same as american fed govnt after pearl harbor rounded up every Jap, since all japs were considered Potenital spies for japan, Germans also followed usa lead and rounded up everyone considered or Admitted to being a commie or supporter of the Jew Kommies that declared WAR against their german Nation.

                And as massive numbers of actual Camp Photos shows, they were “WORK” camps primarily. That also contained full sets of every musical instrument needed for a full sized Symphony Ochestra for the Musicians amoung those who were rounded up….Along with Volly Ball courts, and several Other Sports game events…Both for Citizen Camps and captured usa POW’s interned in germany during WWII.

                There exists a Yutube Video of a nice Jewish married couple that Live in Israel, showing the camaras filming it, PAPER-SCRIPT aka Money as was Issued for Use in Aushwitz and other camps for jew workers to SPEND on Buying Stuff like toothpaste or shampoo or Food items etc etc etc…WHY Did Hitler issue MONEY/paper script to jews if all he wanted was to kill them?….Why did That Jew couple Show a piece saved as a souvinere of the camps?

                Maybe they too are that “Rare” jew variety called Honest jews!

                OR Many American RED CROSS Taken Photos that shows Jew and non jew children and mothers of said kids WELL Fed , WELL Dressed, Clean bathed, and SMILING for their Camaras of the RED CROSS Photos to record what was going on when red Cross american, and International RED cross nurses etc went to visit camps on a regular Basis…

                Indeed this much More true factual info and evidence totally smashes and destroys most every Propaganda and outright LIE we have been subjected to and told to believe.

                And whats most wonderfull is that Today Most anybody that desires such factual Truth, or desires a full Expose of typical jewish promoted swindles and LIES can now find Easy access Via their internet equipped computers!

                Better yet! if too lazy to do searchs at google, or too ignorant of How to do so…You now has nice honest folks right HERE at This fine forum/website of SHTF that are More than Happy to PROVIDE such web Links to Photos, articles, Facts, Truths etc etc…Which of course Most jewish orgs, and jewish persons rather you NOT see!

                Because once YOU know these facts and truths and see for yourself how it fully exposes said jewish lies etc…Well then how can…The…SHOAH…Go On any longer?!

                When Even Jewish persons like the man mentioned David Cole, as well as Professor Norman Finkelstien(sp?) and a fairly long list of More jewish folks have finally came out and said the same things…That we have been snookered, swindled, scammed and Lied to on most everything related to nazis vs jew issues…Well are they too, them jewish folks also nazi antisemites?

                Or perhaps like some of Us folk here…They simply seek and speak and prefere truth and desire You others to know it too….

                Okay! Now get ready, get set! for several vitriolic, venamous, vile, antitruth, Known jew whinners(nobody can whine like jews eh), to begin their typical spew of Hatered as evidenced by Their vile name callings, and utter Lack of any factual counter to this type info, as well as the huge numbers today of websites full of very intelligent PHD type writers who also post facts based truths on these issues.

                Like PO’D Granny stated…READ some of them Links and get Wized-Up….Or remain deluded and continue being swindled by the worlds proven greatest swindlers ever, as past 4000 yrs history shows.

                • The facts and you live in two entirely different galaxies.

                • Folks never believe logic. Those pictures of so called holocost victims could easily have been taken a any TP sanitarium in the USA. There where starving sick folks in every place on the planet at the time. My family greatly benifitted from my ancestors being germans that hated jews. The scrap iron business was Maniuplated dominated and controlled by Jews for decades. they conspired to keep prices low. Ever since WWII ended My Kin folks wouldn’t sell nuthin to the jew scrap man. The fence rows where full of obsolete discarded equiptment vehicles & appliances. When The Chinese started buying and paying record prices the extended family agreed to let me haul it off. I get 50% of what it brings. I average hauling off $2000 per week and have be at it for three years. Im just about finished should be dome by mid summer. I kept all the 50s and early 60s cars & trucks and sell them on the internet.

                  • Another loser.

                  • OLD GUY: My Polsih Grandma, the only one besides her one brother of a family total of 13 siblings, that were able to escape Poland Before jewdeo commie soviet bolshevik Mass Murderers could murder Her too…Used to call them jew junk dealer guys…”SNENNIE Men”.

                    When they came to pick scrap from Garbage on trash day, she’d let us now “Hey them Shennie men are at it again”.

                    Your post caused me to recall Fond memories of her.

      19. It is a buck saw. A sound and ancient tool. Joseph, Jesus, and probably even Noah had at least one in their shops. With skilled hands, they can be used for both firewood and cabinetry. Unlike the picture, keep it inside; oiled and sharpened. With good care it will serve you long and well. They can still be found in antique shops; get two if you can.

        • yes indeed Noah Joseph Jesus where all carpenters. Even Eve was a carpenter ? She made Adams banana stand!

      20. Daisy- What awesome writing skills you have. The imagery/ visualization is outstanding! Take a bow.

        A lot of elements were left out(or left to the imagination)that is understood for being a short one page story. I cannot help but realize the story is a work of fiction loosely based on a very possible future.

        While one certainly does not need a tree or gifts to understand the true gift of Christmas, humans are creatures of habit and old habits die hard. The takeaway from the story is that like-minded people *will* need to rely on each other to survive and have any resemblance of civility. Other wise, you are just another one caught in the death traps of the cities.

        • Typical Daisy. Not impressed.

      21. Good story Daisy, Thank you and Merry Christmas,
        I actually see a collapse as a blessing in disguise,
        Get back to basics,,,
        We dont do the gift thing anymore, and enjoy everyones company,
        I will be happy when the lights dont come on, the phone doesnt work, theres no internet, etc etc….

        • Kula like you we do the same thing in our dwindling family each year life takes away more than it gives now , we focus more on the more important , faith ,family and thankfulness of the gift each new day brings .there is way to much commercialism some have lost the real reason for the season. Daisy’s story cuts to the heart of it , we all long to go back to a simpler past when things were less complicated and when things had real genuine meaning.

          Me I would gladly go back to my favorite hobby I started on 40 years ago this year , Amateur Astronomy than be doing what I am doing now , The peacefulness of the night sky with a modest telescope is something everyone should experience it gives me humiliety of how small ii am compared to the size of creation and to the wonders that exist just over our heads if we just look.
          Prepping is indeed a continuing learning experience and a in-depth challenging way of life. I appreciate all of you that contribute to this site I have learned a lot . I will continue to contribute knowedge that I can pass on for your use to the greater good even though some of the things I write about bring some very sad and bad memories better left in the past . if my knowledge just saves one life it will be worth the unpleasant trips down memory lane. each one of us has something to offer, I just wish you were all my immediate neighbors!

          I predict there will be a real awakening once the coming collapse festivities end , in the end all things happen on earth and heaven for a reason. It is then we will appreciate what life has to offer and humble ourselves to the meaning of the gift that has been given us by our creator.

          Daisy you should expand Your short story into a version of the ” Apocalypse Chronicles ” about life of a survivor through the beginning of the catastrophe to the reconstruction following , told in a first person narrative like your Christmas short story I think you will be surprised to find that you will have a larger audience than you realise. Mix in the story real accounts of prepping and survival you can teach things to people who will not realize they are being taught by reading the story!

          Braveheart my friend right on with the prepping the chance of a gov’t shutdown is recceding , but the cutbacks on services are going to happen and some sequestration cuts are still going to occur . Next year could be interesting some people in my division have already recieved notice they may have their contacts not renewed after June 2014 , me I just do not know what is going to happen , I just prepare the best I can. No one really can guess what the future holds, but one thing is certain most on this site have what it takes to prevail and prosper because they have the mind set , skills and the true “esprit de corps” of Survivors. No greater gift exists .

          To Mac and All at SHTF plan MERRY CHRISTMAS and a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !

          III%

          Semper Fi 8541

      22. Makes me think as to what items I would give at a hard times Christmas ? The box of china bulk 2″ knives that where business giveaways. Some odd Xmas gift that someone gave to me?
        How well do my neighbors get along? Food for thought and a great story.

      23. How much for the little girl? How much for the women?

        • Why do you think the single man would trade wood for so little eggs.

          • What do you think, a single man don’t like eggs? Trekker Out

            • He does but do not tell me for a second his main goal would not ensuring his domanice with the single ladies in any SHIF.

          • yep he would likely be giving her a woodie!

        • better to take the “hands on approach” jake.

          • what? i got thumbs down for calling jake out on buying a woman or a child? yeesh! i hear he wrote the BOOK on love(it was a HANDBOOK, as i recall)…oh, i get it, he was just JOKING? just remember, mom and daughter might just have their OWN ideas about whether they’re “for sale”. i would rather jerk off a mountainlion with a handfull of glass in a phonebooth than mess with a woman’s preteen daughter….AFTER the SHTF or not! hell, you would probly push mickeymouse down a flight of stairs with a classroom full of firstgraders looking on!

        • More than a half pack of cigarettes, a full tank of gas, and your sunglasses convict.

        • Jake,
          One would guess that you would be more into little boys and effeminate men. say what? Pretty stupid comment you posted.

      24. Great story. Thank you.

      25. Excellent story Daisy. It is scary to think of what may come.

        Merry Christmas to all SHTF community and especially to you Mac for giving us the venue.

        God Bless,
        NP

      26. The Federal Reserve is NOT part of the United States Government, it IS a legally chartered, for profit corporation. Note: The Constitution Explicitly states that our Congress and NOT a private for profit corporation (Federal Reserve) should issue currency. Wait until the 1% Trillionaires who are stockholders in the Fed crash the dollar and then shortly after crank up hyperinflation. They will be the only ones with enough cash reserves and hard assets to survive.

        The FEW will control the masses.

        • we are pretty much there already?

        • Already over one million US properties have been bought by front companies for the Chinese. This does not include the buying out of numerous large US companies by foreigners. The day of us being strangers in our own land are fast approaching. The central bank has been instrumental in doing this. The Fed has to go.

      27. This ticks me off again event. 38 innocent Christians are killed over in Iraq worshipping Christmas by you guessed it, “the religion of peace”, islam. The news of course blames security rather than the real culpuit, muslims. It is incredible how CNN, craphead numbnuts news, does not even mention this as one of the top stories of the world because it makes muslims look exactly what they are, barbaric haters of all and everything not islam. Especially Christians that are peaceful trying to get in touch with God on Christmas.

        IF a bunch of people decided to have a mass koran burning during the muslims’ ramadan worship then CNN, crude never news, would portray this as some monsterous act again islam. Or if they had a mass urinate on the koran and effigies of the prophet muhammad, then this would be covered as something worse than any number of innocent helpless people murdered. After all we are not allowed to talk bad about muslims or their religion.

        I exercise my right under the Constitution to retaliate for the massacre of 38 innocent Christians on Christmas against islam right now in free speech still guaranteed in some places.

        -Islam is an evil cult that worships the Devil, known by the islamic name of allah.

        -The prophet muhammad was a sicko pedophile that raped anything he could from children to pigs, dogs, goats, and especially dead bodies.

        -The koran is absolutely the handbook of the Devil.

        -Sharia law is the worst bunch of garbage ever printed and makes Porky, that fat little prick over in North Korea look like a saint.

        -Most muslims are hidden queers and rather spend time with each other than with a woman.

        -The koran actually makes excellent toilet paper, for your pets; birds, dogs, pigs, and especially good for wiping crap or mud off your shoes or your pets’ feet.

        -The prophet muhammad mannequins makes fantastic scarecrows dressed up in lingerie, no self respecting crow would dare to enter such a cornfield.

        -There is a good reason why muslims pray with their asses up in the air.

        -On a satellite image you can form an a$$hole out of mecca as well other places in saudi arabia.

        -Arabs are some of the worst smelling people on Earth.

        -Flies automatically land on the koran all over the desert, attracted to the sweet aroma of the crap its pages are made out of.

        -Many primates, including the baboon, seals, whales, dolphins actually have been tested and have a higher IQ than most muslims. Pigs’ IQ are around many muslims’.

        -When these dumbsh$%s yell allah u ackbar before they murder some infidel, it really means Devil I worship you.

        -Camels are not as stupid as people think they are, often they spit at the koran that some muslim is holding.

        -Cartoons depicting muslims mounting pigs show the truth of animal abuse that goes on in the muslim world.

        -Under sharia law being a pedophile is perfectly legal.

        -In really sandy areas where muslims live cats are outlawed, they keep trying to bury the arabs.

        -Many muslims have found that diapers on their heads are even more comfortable than your common scratchy towel.

        -The prophet muhammad died 1400 years ago and was buried in mule crap and from this spouted all sorts of stink weed and symbols of the phophet that the koran uses today.

        -The only science taught to muslim children are about explosives, the best sharapnel, Molotov cocktails, the AK-47, the anatomy of a good beheading, how to hide a bomb, spreading disease to the infidels, and how to become the best martyr to the Devil, (allah).

        Sorry for the ranting, I get this way when I see innocent people murdered that have done nothing but practice their way of being close to God and achieving peace and happiness. Anyone, not just Christians, that are killed by bullies because they can be.

        Not one Christmas could be spent where these rag heads could let Christians live in peace. That was too much to ask to let others worship God without any attacks against them. Not this one Christmas could these demons let others feel God. Not this one Christmas could Christians or others feel safe and be safe. Not this one Christmas could these stinken pig screwers just leave everyone alone, not one day. This proves what islam is about and about those that use political correctness to try to stop the truth about islam from being spoken that it is pure evil and closer to true darkness than any other organized belief. Maybe even more so than satan worshippers, maybe the two of one of the same. Enough for tonight, islam is pure manure.

        • why did you sugarcoat your feelings about islam so much BI? tell us how you REALLY feel about the koran. great post! and i betcha there’s a LOT of americans, and others in agreement with you….we gotta stop this political correctness crap. better a sister in a whorehouse than a brothter in a mosque.

        • BI. We will get to see if any Muslims read here. Your under sharia law would require a response and a fatwa issued declaring your death. My to because I agree. But many arestatement you made are not ranting but truths that iI have seen. Esp the smell.

          • @ Facebook Page. I love freedom, and I can’t imagine a world without it that you could not even express yourself. This is what is so toxic about so many other web sites that use the premise of bashing as reason to censor and delete comments, even on many worthless survival sites that preach freedom yet practice censorship like a north korean or cuban government. This is why I so often give praise to Mac and this site, one of the few left that actually appreciate what freedom actually still means.

            • i HOPE to hell we see a lot of green thumbs on this one BI! i totally agree with you!

        • Be Informed:

          Ain’t no mooslum fingerprints on this article from:

          The Jewish newspaper THE TABLET

          ALL STAR TEAM OF JEWS DEFILES CHRISTMAS IN BILLY THORNTONS BAD SANTA: How the Coen Brothers and Terry Zwigoff helped create a holiday classic that angers gentiles

          Bad Santa Movie: A new read on Jewish Life

          “While bad santa jerks in the direction of a happy ending there is little redemption to be had. After all no one is asking that we get into the spirit of Christmas or channel its good will. For a jew at Christmastime, it’s all we could ever want in a holiday movie.

          In an interview last year director Terry Zwigoff explained how the Coen Brothers turned Bad Santa from holiday pastiche into scorched earth. “Like the kid would ask Santa “do you and Mrs. Santa ever think about having kids?” “And in the original script it was just “No, thank God” and the Coens made that into “NO THANK THE FUCK CHRIST”.

          THATS THEIR GIFT, THEY HAVE A GIFT FOR DIALOGUE.”

          ______________________________

          Now, BI, I am no Muslim, I know no Muslim, I don’t believe in their religion. Have you ever delved into the Talmud? If so, you could write an article even more devestating than what you have written about muslims.

          You are much beloved by shtf posters and they have come to believe in what you write. How about some articles about the Judeo-Christian farce that has been heaped on Christians.

          We are being brainwashed by TPTB to hate Muslims, the same way they stirred up Americans about Germans, the same way we were led into the middle east war; and the same way they are going to forment World War 3; oh yah, it will be a “muslim” false flag. Rah, rah, rah, American moms and dads, get ready to send your treasured sons and daughters to die once again. For what?

          I could do articles about the Jewish takeover of America and their hatred of our savior Jesus Christ that would be just as long and more damning; but in the interest of space and time all the shtf readers need to do is let their fingers do the walking through link after link posted in subject after subject.

          As intelligent as you are, are you one of the people who are in denial of the truth. There is a post on denial a few subjects back. Hope you took time to read it.

          • Nuff said, Granny…

            Double greenies if I could.

          • Pissed (on himself) Granny

            Like you’re not brainwashed to hate Jews? Like you’re not trying to stir up hate? You are a pathetic little hypocrite.

        • Hey B.I…here’s a counter-weight to consider, enjoy!

          It isn’t Arabs who have hijacked my government – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who have hijacked the American legal system and now are transforming it to conform to Talmudic law – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who own and run the Federal Reserve Bank, which is in the process of destroying the dollar and the American economy – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs rigging the US stock market and commodities futures markets – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who sent our military into Afghanistan and Iraq – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who sued to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who sued to remove the Ten Commandments from that Alabama courthouse, had Judge Moore removed from the bench and sought to disbar him – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who sue to remove nativity scenes from public venues – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who erect menorahs in public venues in place of crosses – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who sued to remove group prayer from public schools – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs suing to remove decorative lights from schools at Christmas – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who refuse to allow children to say grace over their school lunches – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who continue to impose affirmative action upon us in all walks of life – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who began and continue to expand militant feminism – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who buy off all our legislators with our own tax dollars – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who tried to sink the USS Liberty and killed and maimed so many of its crewmembers during an extended attack – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs enacting hate crime laws designed to outlaw criticism of themselves – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who run NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who sued to force us to allow homosexuals to lead boy scout troops – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who started and ran so many negro organizations like the NAACP – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs importing huge numbers of Somalians and Bantu into American cities – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who formulated American legislation providing pensions to Russian jewish immigrants for doing nothing – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who run organized crime throughout America – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who literally own and run all of Hollywood’s moviemaking enterprise – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who literally own and run all of America’s mainstream media – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs spewing obscenity and race-mixing propaganda from the TV and movie screens – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who tried mightily to block release of the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion” – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs lying about and guilt tripping us with “the holocaust” – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs stealing American tax dollars to fund all their holocaust monuments throughout America – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who forged the Anne Frank “diary” – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who lied about gas chambers at Dachau and Auschwitz – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who lied about mass graves at Treblinka – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who lied about jews being made into lamp shades and soap during WWII – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who doctored WWII prison camp photos to appear to be belching smoke from crematoriums – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who used WWII pictures of dead gentiles, claiming they were jews – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who made anti-semitical talk punishable by death in Russia, after they took power – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who murdered over 60 million Christians – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who looted and destroyed the Russian economy – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who have amassed an illegal arsenal of over 300 nuclear weapons in the Middle East – it is the jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who brag about controlling America – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who advocate the use of torture by and on Americans – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who twist American laws to punish anti-semitical speech – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs endeavoring to get America to outlaw anti-semitical speech – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who extort “fees” for allowing their kosher label on goods – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who retaliate against rock-throwing children by shooting them in the head – it is jews.

          It isn’t the Arabs who routinely harvest the organs of murdered Palestinian youngsters, for resale and profit – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs stealing land in Palestine – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who ran down Rachel Corrie with a bulldozer – it was a jew.

          It isn’t Arabs who have caused America to spend $7.5 trillion in the Middle East – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who send teams of trained assassins into foreign countries, including America, to kill people with whom Israel disagrees – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who run the ADL, which maintains dossiers on thousands of law-abiding American citizens, for the purpose of punishing those with whom they disagree – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who break into and enter the offices and homes of law-abiding American citizens, to procure evidence both for their database and in the hopes of getting evidence they can pass to the FBI for prosecution – it is jews.

          It isn’t Arabs who have caused America to go from being the most-loved country in the world, to the most hated – it is jews.

          ————————

          Finally, though most won’t believe it (all the preceding are facts – provable facts):

          It isn’t Arabs who regularly phony up “hate crimes” against themselves – it is jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who caused the Great Depression – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who started WWI – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who started WWII – it was jews.

          It wasn’t Arabs who killed JFK – it was jews
          .
          It wasn’t Arabs who demolished the World Trade Center – it was jews.

          It isn’t Arabs bent upon destroying Christianity – it is jews.

          ———————

          And, lest we forget:

          It wasn’t Arabs who had Jesus Christ crucified – it was jews.

          ———————-

          -(thanks Ed, you are NOT forgotten)-

          • But tell us how you REALLY feel, asshole. You are a paranoid FREAK. Literally, the only thing that was true was when you said that Jews were responsible for the crucification of Jesus. That was the way GOD planned it, moron. Dont you understand that there would be NO Christians if Jesus hadn’t been crucified? As another poster has said, Jesus was born and died a Jew.

            I’m starting to believe you are a Muslim. It certainly makes sense, considering your post.

          • @ Hunter, It is the here and now that is so awful that these muslims are going after Christians again and again in several countries are a constant basis. Jewish people do not behead innocent people strictly on the idea that they are not Jewish, not even the muslims. Jewish people don’t go into a mosque and murder a bunch of arabs. There have been rare occasions when this has happened. Jewish people can get along with most other people regardless of their belief. The Jewish mafia is like the Italian mob and other elitists that want to enslave all of us. The average Jewish person is nothing like the average muslim, they actually have brains.

            Islam preaches hate and aside from the treatment of other non muslims, they treat their very own families like manure. They beat and berate women, are abusive and unfair to children, and they torture innocent animals. Jewish people are very kind to their families and very supportive, loyal, and devoted. Jewish people cannot stand mistreatment of pets, and have outlawed the quackery of medical experimentions on animals. They are intelligent to know that animals experiments on animals leads to bad medicine.

            The advancements of science have come through Jewish people as nobel prizes are numerous to them. The muslims I cannot think of much that they have achieved in anything. I suppose someone from the ex-soviet states that are muslims might have added to the world of science. Islam want to destroy everything not islam. I have read the koran and about the only thing I saw that was spiritual was the lack of usary, bank loans, that it is against. The other “teachings” are beyond bizaroo and utter weirdness.

            Again, it is the here and now. Two words, SHARIA LAW. Perversion of child and women right off the bat. Without any western influence at all, muslims have been treating their own people and those that are not muslims like sub-humans for the past 1400 years. When I see peaceful people like the the Coptic Christians butchered and little girls shot in their chests holding their Bibles because they are practicing their way to be closer to God, yes it ticks me off. It is unfair, has nothing to do with the scheme of things on a global scale, it is is just evil to the maximum.

            • I agree w/ you per Sharia Law, nor am I a fan of Mohammed or his teachings.
              I would also tend to agree that jews are smarter as a whole, compared to the camel jockeys.
              That said:

              I believe the wicked doctrines espoused within the Talmud are orders of magnitude worse, than anything written upon paper & read/followed by men.

              ..nor do I believe all jews embrace such wretched screed, as history documents many who (seemingly in vain) attempt to refute its anti-GOD / anti-CHRIST / anti-human and pro-satanic musings…so as to warn & educate the rest of us!!!

              ———————–

              You claim to have read the Koran…fine, good for you.

              ..but in my opinion, you are doing your considerable intellectual abilities the grave disservice of neglect, by failing to read the…Talmud!

              BTW, Michael Hoffman’s web-site has what you need.

            • BI: You are your name incarnate. Thank you for your defense of the Jewish people in regards to these constant attacks from certain individuals on this site. I have read very many of your posts, and do consider you to be informed in many areas.

              I agree with you that Sharia is a huge problem. We have not had much problem in our country yet, because the Muslims have not yet reached a critical mass, percentage-wise of the population. People need to remember that Islam is a political system, masquerading as a religion.

              BTW, for those who may not know, the Talmud is a collection of writings and civil law, written by Jewish elders, before the 8th century. Some of it is rabbinical commentary from that same era. Most Jews have never read the Talmud, and of those who have, recognize it as a historical document, but it is not the centrality of Judaism in any way. The centrality of the Jewish religion is the Torah, which is the first 5 books of the Old Testament. It is the written law, containing the Ten Commandments and the 613 mitzvot, which are commandments that Jews are to follow.

              So those on this site who say that the Talmud is a true reflection of Judaism? Not even close. The haters are counting on the fact that most people know nothing about it, so that they have the opportunity to spread more divisiveness and hate.

              • WHAT Do the RABBIS Say Judaisim is?

                Further, the rabbis freely stipulate that Judaism is POST-Christian and NOT derived from “the Hebrew Bible.” Here are a few of dozens of admissions:

                “This is not an uncommon impression and one finds it sometimes among Jews as well as Christians – that Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew Bible. It is, of course, a fallacious impression. Judaism is not the religion of the Bible.” [Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser, Judaism and the Christian Predicament, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, p.59, 159]

                “The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature, and round it are gathered a number of Midrashim, partly legal (Halachic) and partly works of edification (Haggadic). This literature, in its oldest elements, goes back to a time before the beginning of the Common Era, and comes down into the Middle Ages. Through it all run the lines of thought which were first drawn by the Pharisees, and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.” [Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 pg. 474]

                PHARISEES FIRST, THEN THE TALMUD, THEN “JUDAISM.”Got it?

                “The Bavli [Babylonian Talmud] has formed the definitive statement of Judaism from the time of its closure to the present day.” Rabbi Jacob Neusner, quoted by Norman F. Cantor, The Sacred Chain: A History of the Jews, page 112)

                The Talmud was first written TWO CENTURIES AFTER Jesus Christ’s Incarnation, Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Talmud “closed” FIVE CENTURIES AFTER Jesus.

                PHARISEES FIRST, THEN THE TALMUD, THEN “JUDAISM.”Got it?

                Phariseeism is Eactly what Christ so Condemned!
                —————————————————-

                JESUS was NOT a “Jew”!

                Jesus of Nazareth was a Gallilean. NOT a Judean.

                Jesus of Nazareth and His Holy Family practiced God’s commandments as delivered by Moses, NOT the Pharisees or others that Jesus damned for “mak[ing] void the commandments of God for the traditions of men” Mark 7:6-9

                Judaism FOLLOWED the Pharisees and JESUS HIMSELF damned the followers of the Pharisees as “two fold children of Hell” more than the Pharisees themselves. Matthew 23:15 Jesus did indeed “repudiate Judaism.”

                Jesus did not turn His back on His people, but many of them turned their backs on Him!

                The word “Jew” has many fluid meanings. Even through the Gospel of St. John you can appreciate how the meaning of “the Jews” changed from meaning the whole of the people to meaning those who conspired against Jesus, murdered Him, and now defame Him and persecute His Church and His new people.

                It is diabolical indeed that the synagogue of Satan pretends that Jesus was one of them. They now use the Holy Name of Jesus, the One they hate most, the One whose blood they called down on themselves and all their generations, the One they say was an idolater [Sanhedrin 43a, 107b], the One they say was a mamzer [bastard] conceived adulterously in niddah [menstrual filth] by a Roman soldier named Pandera [Kallah 51a] of a whore [Sanhedrin 106a] and that He is now in Hell boiling in feces and, in some editions because Jesus is accused of sexual perversion, semen [Gittin 57a].

                Do not be suckered by those that God warned are “the synagogue of Satan, those who SAY they are Jews, and are NOT, but do LIE.” Apocalypse 3:9

                Jesus and the Holy Family were most emphatically NOT one of them

                • Yes, the Pharisees were ONE group of Jews at the time of Jesus. But guess what? YOU ARE WRONG! JESUS was a JEW! Deal with it!!!!!!!!!

                • Them (anti-Semitic) Guys

                  Don’t pretend you know anything about Judaism. It’s obvious to those who DO know, that you are a disinformation agent. The only question that needs answering is: who do you work for? I have a few ideas, but I’m going to go with the most likely: Lucifer.

                  Them (anti-Semitic) Guys: doing the work Lucifer just doesn’t have time for.

                  • Rabbi-oft.

                    You & zio-pak epitomize the old truism that goes thus:

                    ..Hate speech is everything…you khazars HATE to HEAR!

                  • HunTurd: also doing the work that Lucifer just doesn’t have time for. Good thing he has reliable minions like you & Them (anti-Semitic) Guys.

        • In spite of breeding like rabbits, Islam is doomed to extinction. Name one major invention to come from the Islamic culture in the last 1000 years (the car bomb and suicide vest don’t count).

        • 🙂

      28. Daisy,

        Great story!!! Thank you and Merry Christmas!

      29. I am a combat Marine Veteran. This story made me cry at what
        we have lost !

        • How. The story describes something you work your ass off to get out of.

          • Anyone who ever had to use an outhouse want’s no part of going back to that. Sometimes the old days are best left there. Liked her story though.

        • Nam Marine,
          That makes two of us .

          SEMPER FIIDELIS BROTHER!

          Semper Fi 8541

          • Lets take a head count
            How many of US marines are there here?
            Kinda thought WE might just have THEM
            Surrounded already..
            Semper fi brothers 0321 here

      30. Daisy

        As always

        job well done!

        possee

        • Yes a cute little readers digest story.

          • Maybe they can make it into a movie on the Hallmark channel?

      31. Received a Christmas Call Last Night from the President of the Hunt Club.

        Informed me that he had the Police investigating an abandoned truck, stuck in a mud hole on our property. Might be the Poacher we have been having trouble with.

        • time for some target practice!!!!!

      32. Great story, Daisy.

        I agree with others, if there is time, you could write a novel similar to One Second After, and it may help many prepare.

        ~GV

        • hey GV, in case you miss my reply on the other page here is a place that will program your scanner with all the trunked frequencies.. http://www.scannermaster.com/?Click=20907 🙂

      33. Local Day After Christmas Sale Idea For Preppers

        by David Morris on December 26, 2011

        I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks to all who sent me such heartfelt emails and notes. I’m trying to spend as little time in front of my computer as possible for a few days, but I wanted to get this quick TIMELY tip out to you today.

        It’s a tip that I’ve suggested for the last couple of years on the day after Christmas that a lot of you have taken advantage of…

        If you’ve got the time, head to your local Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Target, etc. and buy some LED Christmas lights on closeout.

        Home Depot even has sets this year that are solar powered and come with a solar charger, Lithium Ion battery, a light sensor to turn them on automatically at dusk and a timer to turn them off 6 hours later!

        If you’ve got 120 volt emergency power, these are a great cheap way to keep your house lit during an emergency.

        A great accompaniment is the SMALL 1 plug cigarette adapter inverters that you can buy from Radio Shack so that you can power the lights with a 12 volt battery. (FYI, the inverter probably draws about as much power as the LED bulbs do.)

        And, if you want more adaptability, you can spend another $3 and get a battery harness that will hold 8 AA batteries (1.5vx8=12v) so you can run your LED strings on AA batteries. The model I like is from Radio Shack, has a 9v type connector, and works like a charm. It’s current model number is 270-387.

        As you’re searching, you might want to look for these features:
        -strings of lights rather than “icicle” lights
        -a female plug at the end so you can run multiple sets in series
        -wired so that the set will still work if a bulb goes out
        -LED

        Survive the Coming Collapse

        • good idea…..have to skip the target recommendation though……hope you had a Merry Christmas

          • speaking of target…i just heard the news…those crop circles are just ADS for target!

        • Good advice KY. I hope you had a good Christmas and I hope you and yours have a good new year. Keep the tips coming.

        • Whenever I come across solar landscape lights on sale, I pick a few extras up. What do I care if they all don’t match? They came in great use when the power went out. I didn’t have to burn my candles. 🙂

          On another note…I can’t implore the prepper enough to make sure if you are stuck in a situation where you need to heat your house without electricity present, you MUST exhaust the gasses being produced. I am saddened to see so many articles of people dying of carbon monoxide poisoning from generators and grills in houses used to keep families warm. Remember, you won’t smell carbon monoxide. You may not even realize how sleepy you are becoming until boom, light out.

          Happy holidays to everyone! May God bless all of us.

          • Today’s paper had a paragraph about one home back East, they had the generator outside, like they should have, but a window was open and sucked the CO gas inside the house. Three dead overnight.

      34. This story reminds me to add small items to my preps for children. Holiday themed items such as pencils, coloring and story books that go on sale after a holiday can be had for pennies if you shop right. Small things will be very appreciated then not like now. My nephew got his two and six year old kids tablets for Christmas. They could not comprehend my objections that children and electronics did not mix. It makes me very upset at what parents are teaching their kids now. I know that my nephew and his family will come to us when everything goes sideways in the near future.

      35. Daisy…….thanks.

      36. KY Mom
        thanks for the Prepper Tip of the Day !

      37. Thank you for that Daisy , wishing you and yours a great holiday and many more
        And all well wishes to the SHTF clan

      38. The purpose of me mentioning the Holodomor in the Ukraine is that the survivors said they (the NKVD)came in the middle of the night and took everybodies food. They also dragged off known oppostion members and took them to the Gulags in Siberia. There they were worked and abused to death. The DHS and the TSA along with “volunteers” from NGOs like Acorn, do have the manpower to target the oppostion in this country. Don’t under estimate the size of law enforcement agencies. The Marshals service, local police, sheriffs police, state police, etc. During Katrina they brought in police from all over the country. Not to mention the Natl. Guard. All my life I’ve heard people say, the government can’t do that, only to watch them “do that”. Law after law. The Patriot Act. The NDAA. You can be held without trial indefinately in this country. No more Bill of Rights.

        • Most will always do what they can get away with.

      39. @ buttcrackofdoom. Over in saudi arabia blogger Raif Badawi is going to be tried for apostasy for denouncing islam, which carries the death penalty. Orginial punishement was “only” 7 years in prison and 600 lashes. I don’t see Christians or any other religion executing someone for speaking out against a religion, other than maybe some primitive tribe of head hunters or something. This is saudi arabia, the country that the world puts up with because of the oil. Russia is more than ready to take care of these sand worms if they try to build that pipeline to pump natural gas from Qatar to Europe and kill the Russian economy with competetion with their natural gas exports to Europe.

        I am all for anyone trying to fight for their freedom against an occupying army in their country. To go after a bunch of innocent people serves nothing, and is an act of pure hate and evil. What these camel tapeworms are also doing is trying to frighten people enough so that they will not go and worship and find God the best they can. Trying to prevent people from reaching towards God is just about as evil as you can get. True coawrds that attack people when they are most at peace, Christmas, and most vulnerable.

        Like I was saying about the planet taking a rest from earthquakes on Christmas, one day of peace without stress. Yet a bunch of rag heads decide to murder a group of people that are not preventing them from their own freedom, not condemning their cult, not doing anything other than living. Not one day could they find it within themselves to let others live in peace. This hatred towards Christians and ALL infidels is becoming very frequent and widespread all over the islam world.

        These people talk about what American imperialism has done to the muslim world. Yet how has American or western influence done anything to a number of people that already live over there, trying to exist in the same conditions as the muslims in the same countries. They are attacking helpless people because it makes them feel good to kill and bully those that don’t fight back. It is also that they want to wipe the planet of all non muslims.

        I do become upset over this because I hate it when someone takes out their frustrations on those that are helpless. The bully that beats his wife, children, kicks his dog’s insides in, because his boss rode him at work and he could not fight back. The diaper heads take that beyond this, they want genocide against all non believers in their devil cult. Just like someone like Raif Badawi that will likely be sentenced to a beheading for simply talking against islam.

        This is why as long as America remains free enough to talk against islam I am going to do just that. You are so right about stopping the political correctness in this country, it is poison against what so many have died for fighting to preserve, the Constitution. And there is a huge growing number of Mongoloids that want to change or totally dismantle the Constitution, especially the First Amendment because it offends too many people, free speech. The daily attacks on the 2nd Amendment are a prime example of this by idiots that prefer a police state than being free.

        Some things really get under the skin like a burr, this was one of them. Not only because of innocent people being murdered but because I can see a day when they will “attempt” to tape up all our mouths and block all writing that are not first filtered and okayed by the government. It is amazing how close we are all to martial law on a planetary level and the masses are actually happily not only accepting it, but helping it along.

        God help us all if we are one day having a post Constitutional and freedom collapse Christmas with all the government monitoring, everyone microchipped and connected to a mainframe and not allowed to have anything that is considered a weapon. That is a story that horrors are made out of and a story that Daisy could write about that would frighten many.

        • Daisy is incapable of writing a dark story like some have said above.

          And hopefully she will not have to live so she can..

          • FBP, you need to get off those meds. Don’t tell that lie about Daisy.

        • good post BI. one of the things you speak of is the guns being taken away. i think most don’t give any thought to what yamamoto said after ww2 about not invading america because”there would be a gun behind every blade of grass”. if these damned, no, GODDAMNED liberals get their way there won’t be a gun behind every blade of grass….then what happens when we are a POOR nation and someone invades US…this debt we owe that we can’t pay back is going to cause WARS. there’s gonna be a LOT of countries that are pissed at US. hawaii is a good example. i hear the anti-gunners are winning over there, and it’s the first step to invading america if you are russia, or china, or…….i see the muslims are making inroads all over europe too. there’s a presentation a guy gives with gumballs in glass jars out there on the internet about what the world’s population of muslims will do in the next few years, and it’s quite sobering if you watch it….a bunch of backward wife-and-kid-beating ANIMALS. why don’t they try to help themselves? i think if their I.Q.’s were any lower, they would have to be watered daily! maybe if they would let their women get an education, it might help to raise themselves out of the middle-ages. they have minimum skills, minimum education, show minimum motivation, and provide a minimum contribution to the workplace, how can things POSSIBLY get better?

        • Be Informed:

          Before we take your posts as gospel we need to ask ourselves: OUT OF THE 500+ PEOPLE IN CONGRESS THAT ARE CHOMPING AT THE BIT TO TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS AND OUR LAWS THAT PROTECT OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH, ETC., HOW MANY OF THEM ARE MUSLIMS? HOW MANY MUSLIMS OWN THE MEDIA, THE TV CHANNELS, THE NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, CONTROL HOLLYWOOD that are spewing their unAmerican bs. How many are Muslims, Be Informed?

          The ones that shtf posters despise the most seem to be Feinstein, Chuckie Schumer, Barbara Boxer, etc. Let your fingers do the walking, BI, and find out how many of our ESTEEMED politicians that are sponsoring these UNAMERICAN LAWS are dual citizens of Israel or owe their souls to the AIPAC money donated to their campaigns.

          Please, BI, I am waiting for your response to this post.

          • @ Pissed off Granny. I have been off the computer all day helping people today. Evil has many tentacles. There are only a couple of muslims in congress. The government is full of elitists that want to take away our freedoms. They are white, black, spanish, asian, most other races. They are satanists, people that pretend to be; Christians, Jewish, muslims, Hindus, ALL religions that people are affiliated with. Those are the evil, granted.

            My point is that a religion is hell bent on GENOCIDE are ALL non believers. This following has influence in the plans of those elitists because of the vast wealth that comes from the OPEC oil and natural gas. Don’t think for a moment that those planning this nightmare coming to us are not a significant number of sheiks that are part of this. People blame only the Jewish people for the banking systems and the taking away of freedoms past, present, and future, but there is a whole smorgasboard of ALL faiths and beliefs in this toxic mix.

            Let’s face it money corrupts, power corrupts, and near absolute wealth and power corrupts absolutely. This is why the ancient Greeks had the ideal of perfect leaders that were not influenced by money and power, and only lead based on wanting to do the right courses of action for the people and the society as a whole. People that only seeked the reward of the satisifcation of being a good leader. How wonderful it would be to have leaders of this quality.

            Again, what pisses me off is seeing the religion of islam that conditions over a billion people to be as close to satanists as possible. It is based on Sharia Law that says that women are nothing but slaves and have no value other than a slave and to breed like rabbits. This is why they cover women from head to toe and not even allow bit the eyes to pear out. This is worse than any victorian torment that women had to endure as sub humans. Forgetting about the Jewish mafia, Jewish women are highly regarded in the Jewish community and treated with respect as their voices mean something. They are treated as equals. I have not known one Jewish family that belittles the females like muslims do, not even close.

            I thought this Christmas we could have some peace, one sticken day out of the year everyone could leave each other alone and let people feel so harmony. Even in World War 1 the fighting stopped mostly on special holidays. NO, some rage heads took advantage of the quiet to go out and end 38 lives to vent their hatred. Not against a foreign occupying power trying to gain freedom. No, against a bunch of helpless people trying to feel God and a holiday to celebrate God. This is what irritated me so much. This is why I went off, because islam is pure rot.

            To tell the truth I would rather try to figure out why the earthquakes have yet to hit when the precursor zones keep saying that something huge is coming. When I look at the news to see what is happening and I see that 38 people lost their lives on Christmas because they are Christians and attacked by muslims that I regard as the garbage scow of all religions it set me off. No compassion or empathy for the innocent, just kill off non muslims and take every opportunity to do so. Islam has 1 and 1/4 billion followers and trillions of dollars behind it. Perhaps all of us should be looking at this threat as much as the other threats as dangerous to freedom of all of us more closely.

            • BI, another great post. I, too, am disgusted by the Christian persecutions and murders that are taking place in Muslim nations. I was once friends with a man who emigrated to the US 30 years ago from Egypt. He was a Coptic Christian and told me many stories about the persecution of Christians at the hands of the Muslims. The secular MSM turns a blind eye while innocents are slaughtered for their beliefs.

            • Genocide to all non believers. That’s exactly what the Christian crusaders did in the holy land. kill them all and let God sort them out was a common statement. Those folks remember the Crusaders and some still try and extract revenge when they get the opportunity. And more reciently the Christian,s in the USA did the same to the native americans. Manifest Destiny was the excuse. The only good indian was is dead indian was a common statement. My point is christian,s wherent in the past and are not now any better or any worse than any other religious superstitions. Remember what the Christan henchmen under Janet Reno did to the Branch Davidians at Waco Tex. If thay had been a main strean religion It likely wouldn’t have occurred. The actions of Janet Reno are not a reason to condemm all Christans or Government employees during the Clinton Adm. Many innocent very good folks died both at Waco and the Federal building In Oklahoma. A person needs to try and take care of their soul. there are very good folks and very bad folks in every religion. Villfying a person or group based upon their preferred religious superstition is very narrow minded. Blaming a religion for the bad things some of its followers do is just like blaming all gun,s & gun owners for the bad things a few bad folks with guns do with some guns.

          • Yes, the Jews are also blood suckers, but that doesn’t mean the Muslim swine are any less barbaric. Anybody who has lived in any country that has a sizeable Muslim population hates them. Maybe the same goes for the Jews.

      40. Thank you Daisy,
        Sometimes it is easy in this day and age to overlook the blessings that we have, and the wisdom that we have been given, to plan for the days that may be in our future. It is a real blessing to be in contact with friends on this site. I’ve learned a lot from you. Thanks to all and thanks Mac for this site. You have joined together a lot of great people. May the Good Lord take a liking to you all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year no matter what it may bring.

        • Doesn’t the cabin appear to have an electric porch light?

      41. Nice story. Reminds me of warm cozy mornings.

      42. Good post crash story,tis only 7 months yet folks at least in story seem to have their act together,bet they do much better as time rolls on.Informed,for post constitution crash /martial law is what a large amount and growing folks readying for,they may have chip but won’t get me chipped except say to manage/track my corpse!Saw on outside cabin wall definitely old style bow saw,seen em a lot in my on going research/purchase of hand saws.

      43. In keeping with the holiday spirit and all this story will give folks a little hope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4GCTLunpAg&feature=youtu.be ,sorry,I know it is on u tube and hence goog owned,a company that cooperates with fed way too much but a good story non the less.

      44. Daisy, that is an excellent story. You have written some good stuff, but this is far and away the best I have ever read from you. I mean that. Merry Christmas to you and your family Dais.

      45. Thank you for the story. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

      46. A nice story…..Well written

        But lost on the true meaning of The Christmas Spirit in that we celebrate the birth of the savior of the world who was not born on 12.25. but who is the reason for the season. When the lights go out, the cars can’t travel due to lack of fuel, no internet, no cable, no sports. Where does a person go to…….?

        It will be during this time possession of unimportant material things will cease to become important and living each day will be a task, but spiritually, people will reach back to those things that that been disregarded and will do a self analyses.

        That time could be coming……..Everything thing that can be shaken will be shaken…….We live in a world of change……

        In the end, the only thing that will sustain us will not be our collection of ammo/guns/food etc……
        It will have to be in a higher power…….The reason for this season…….

        I do not condemn…..I am merely challenging all of us to include myself to look beyond the material,social,political issues that are before us because I believe we are not going to be mentally strong enough to put on and sustain that RAMBO spirit for what we may see and experience.

        I believe we will see how we have missed it in regard to
        reason for certain seasons and refocus where our attention should have been.

        Again, no condemnation….just my thoughts….

      47. Merry Christmas to all.
        The story and Poem was the Cherry on top of my hot fudge sundae. That was the type of Christmas I had.
        Got to spend time with Family and friends, Got some neat gifts. Got to hold my wife last night and have her fall asleep in my arms.
        I hope and pray that all of you had the same.
        Sgt.

        • :)…amen!

      48. Awaiting the followup story detail of how several months later around Easter, a defunct military unit, primarily made up of Negroes, newly ‘citizened’ Mexicans and white trash ‘wiggers’, entered the community, having run out of fuel, food and shelter themselves (but still plenty of ammo).

        As a lone survivor who escaped into the woods after several days, the account of what happened should be interesting, if not horrific.

        • You’re correct to point it out. Misplaced ‘civility’ the day after Christmas. No excuse. My apologies.

          • James didn’t mean to be a smart alec and also don’t mean to be racist. But the ones that will be coming to take what ain’t their’s, won’t be negroes. If you know what I mean.WASP

        • My account would include the local hunters who know the land/ex military neighbors and such that would mop up that band if they tried to attack neighbors in region,they are low on food and energy and thus an easier hit.That said,might also see if they are reached out to might actually be a good addition to the local region,really would depend on them.

          • I would of course hope that this would be the case in all such instances. But from gist of her portrayal of the community in the story, they seem more like the Keebler elves than former Operation Phoenix retirees.

      49. Uh,sarge,hope and pray we all had the same?Uh,does this mean your wife falling asleep in my arms?!Glad to hear you had a good holiday,I am kinda spreading it out a few days visiting different folks ect.,work slow till after New Year.

      50. I think at times, I think too much. Which leads to, I read too much and finally say too much. Have I become my own worst enemy?
        As Kulafamer stated to get back to the basics but is it possible to reap the benefits of technology without the pitfalls. We have mapped the human gene. Can travel in hours what took months to traverse. Everything at our fingertips. With all these advances we are still as vulnerable as the caveman before he discovered fire. Disease, war, famine, drought, floods, storms, cold, heat and shelter.
        Could it be that we have grown too depended on false securities. That we expect to live for eternity. We have long forgotten how we got here and in so, one day, lose the ability to maintain what we have now.
        The Great Rebuild will not be of cities or transportation or communication, it will be how we live with ourselves and others.

        • Well said.

      51. From my perspective, this XMas had less of Christ than any I remember. Thus, in future I will skip the holidays, except for its real meaning. I am not going to shop just to sustain an economy that relies on 70% consumer spending.

        The rich are getting richer because of an inflated propped up stock market, while the poor have less monies because they are not playing the stock market game.

        What is ahead? Don’t know….

      52. My son was brought to the Principal for saying Merry Christmas to a student. My son goes to a Canadian public school in Ontario.

        On topic the story looks more of a rural environment because if cities were to lose a week of electricity, Martial law would have been imposed. And I wonder why Canada has so much land, but over 80% of the Canadian population live in urban centres?

        I know Agenda 21, communism, unholy topics, corporatism and New Age cosmopolitanism are being taught in Canadian public schools, but what can a parent do when the Canadian government pays people to monitor the internet?

        Why do you think Canada brings in 250,000 people every year mainly from dictatorship countries? Because once those people and refugees live here, they look at Canada as a paradise. If Canada was allowing 250,000 Texans to migrate to Canada every year…the government fears Texans and for a good reason! Jesus Christ and God helps those who helps themselves.

      53. I went to Los Angeles for Christmas. City Hall there has a large Menorah in front, to go with it’s Jewish Mayor. No Nativity Scene of course – that would offend our Jewish masters. Of course, in my rural mountain community, we would tar and feather anyone who dared try to impose this on us.

        • ‘Mongo’, ignore the ‘thumbs down’ Yid[Z].

          ADL’S Jewish War On Christmas
          http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=348

        • MONGO: Yep same goes for the Whitehouse DC front lawn. They got rid totally of all forms or mentiones of Jesus or Christmass and manger scenes…But they have a 95 ft Tall Minoarah(Devils Pitchfork)…Errected. And the usa Prez goes up in that man lift to assist Rabbis in lighting it.

          Yet BI thinks Moooslims and sharia are the real problems?!!

          Well only if he can keep ignoring EVERY evil wrong, every murderous isralie military abuse of Christians as well as muslims inside Palestine areas.

          When it comes to phys violent abuse and Murder of innocents them israli jews care not weather they abuse or kill christians or muslims…To jews everyone Else is just a Goyim gentile aka an Animal in human skin.

          PS BI, You stated how swell Jews loves animals etc!

          Is That why so many of world jewery along with phony jewdeo christian zionists donate so much cash for a 3rd temple rebuild so jew rabbis can Resume the slitting of throats and Burning of hundreds, thousands of Animals per day in that new jew temple?

          BI maybe You need research Kosher mandated slaughter rules imposed upon slaughter houses in usa…Compared to a more Humane method of steel Bolt hydraulicly imapled into a cows head to kill it for meat use…Kosher methodfs are Cruel, Mean spirited, and cause an animal to Suffer needlesly and in abject Fear awaiting final death.

          Like Hunter says BI needs do Much More talmudic.judiac research if BI really consideres himself fair etc…So Far all I have ever read by your posts BI that relate to such issues, you always take sides in a one sided viewpoint that always favors israel and jews. But you claim to not do so. Overlooking their wrongs IS takeing sides BI.

          • Them Guys is a Muslim troll. Isn’t it obvious?

          • BTW, all that stuff you posted about Kosher rules is lies. Killing an animal to comply with Kosher law is the MOST humane method of slaughtering animals. Keep slingin’ that bull, Muslim troll.

            • Zio-pak.

              Yep, you said it!

              ..sorta sheds a whole new light on your fellow-tribesmen “harvesting” of Palestinian kids….

              ….KOSHER indeed!

              • I think your mother dropped you on your head when you were a baby. Intentionally, of course.

          • I believe in seperation of church & state. The Christian religious shrines have no business on public property. the same goes for the so called Devils pitchfork. state sponsored religion is fine & dandy for many folks as long as it is their preferred religious superstition that is promoted? the solution is simple Have the government treat all religion equally. Simply ban all religious promotion from the public domain. The US Supreme court made that ruling in 1962 . Contrary to what many would like to think.The USA is not a christian nation. We don’t have a national religion. We have freedom of religion that’s a good thing. We also have freedom from religion that’s a better thing. When government & religion are entwined all Freedom is compromised.

            • Wow old guy, funny ain’t it, we even had a Supreme Court way back in the 1700 and they didn’t think to rule that way. I’m pretty sure they weren’t like Pelosi, and think like her, you have to pass this Constitution to find out whats in it, I think they knew what was in it, and what it meant. But 200 years later in the 60’s our country became so much more enlightened in “many ways”. But you are right, the USA ain’t a Christian Nation, it was founded as one but not anymore. That’s the reason we’re all on here talking about fighting and killing each other. But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD. Trekker Out.

              • Many of the framers where agnostic. The framers didn’t establish a national religion or a national language. The supreme court ruled against the forced removal of the 5 civilized tribes. But The christens who had a majority in government decided in that case we had a democracy rather than a republic. So led by the leader of the mob rule Andy Jackson they ignored the US counstition & bill of Rights and Dispossed and removed them anyway. Kinda sounds like Obama and his hench men. Why are many Christians so pushy? Why must you try to impose your superstitious beliefs on others? Why cant you do as Jesus Recomended on the sermon on the mount? Why do you want the government to sponsor your religion ?and sponsor only your religion? You and I have no clue as to what the supreme court,s thoughts where of the separation of church & state at any time prior to 1962 as they never where asked to rule on it. As to why it took until 1962 for the Supreme court ruling on Seperation of church & state. Its because its such a touchy subject and no single person had the resources to pursue a lawsuit. It took the combined resources of the Civil liberty,s union to get a lawsuit all the way to the supreme court. The supreme court has ruled in favor of separation of church and state three times. Contrary to many folks wishes We still have a Republic and that means the counstitional rights of the few cannot be infringed by the wants & wishes of the many. Even if the few is just one person and the many is every one else. I have no problem with you serving the LORD. Go ahead you have my blessings to do so. Im ready to defend your right to freedom of religion. When you do you pay for it. Don’t expect me to be ok with government sponsored or endorsed religion no matter whose it is. Its apparent that you want majority rule & government sponsored and endorsed religion. All I can say is be careful of what you want and wish for you just might get it. I wonder if you are ready to defend my right of freedom from (your or someone elses preferred) religion.

      54. Good Post Daisy ! It reminds me of the ole day’s, back in late 50’s , when me and my sisters use to get off the bus at my Grandparents house on an old lane and a halve gravel road . The old single story house (with attic & basement) had two dormer windows on the roof with a white picket fence out front . My grandad would be sitting under a basswood tree in his old wooden chair,whittling on a piece of wood ,then my grandmother would come out on the porch and welcome us home . She would then offer us a choice of spiced or unspiced apple turnovers ,hot out of woodstove oven, with a big glass of cow’s milk (as long as it wasn’t onion milk)and sometimes we would sit on swing and eat, other times we would go in and watch CountyFair on TV .(still don’t remember what this was about)And to this day ,I miss my grandparents and those simple times when all you had to worry about was the ‘Cold War’ ,whatever that was !……mm

        • “onion milk”…lol…do you mean when the cows go on to pasture in the spring and the milk gets a “wild” taste?

          • The cattle would eat wild onion or bitter weed and taint the milk. I grew up thinking that’s how milks should taste. About twenty five years ago My wife has two dairy cows a holstien and a jersey. She raised bucket calves and the jersey was a nurse cow and the holstien raised a couple calves and she also milked it. the holstien rarely ate bitter weed or onion. That jersey made it a part her main diet. A older neighbor lady came by and wanted some cream from the jersey to churn butter. My wife laughed and told her it would taste like bitter weed & wild onion. The neighbor told my wife to put a table spoon of sugar in the cows feed when you milk her. After a couple of days the onion & bitter weed would taste so bad the cow wouldn’t eat it any longer. And guess what it actually worked! We and the neighbor lady got to have good tasting jersey butter! I grew up around milk cows and thought I was an expert and I learned something new! Im of the opinion you can learn something from the dumbest person around if your not too smart to learn from someone else!

      55. The turkey hunter shoulda brought a jug of that home made spirits along for an amoure’ time.

        Just broke out that gallon of Apple Pie drink I made exactly one year ago. Good stuff.

      56. Nice job Daisy. Very good

      57. Good story…guess Im from a bit different world in that this Christmas described is similar to the ones I do have…my Christmas gifts this year?…two small boxes of Old Dominion peanut brittle and books #1&5 of the Foxfire series(Im thrilled!!)…that’s it total…not a lot of stuff per sae but the best gifts were my family…my Lady…the kids and the grandbabies…and the peace that God has given me in my heart that no matter what happens Im a winner!…so glad I never got much stuff for Christmas and that I and mine never got trapped in all the hoopla that surrounds the season…these are the best of times…the ones Ill remember…hope y’all had good times too this Christmas… 🙂

      58. Good story
        BUT it’s fiction.
        There may be a few who scavenge and barter to get by but most will suffer terribly, IF – IF they survive at all.
        You want to stay warm? You cut firewood in the spring, summer and fall. You want to eat, you grow your own garden and chickens and if you can’t or wont, YOU DO NOT EAT! The guy with a pocket full of gold coins will starve as he will not be able to buy, trade or sell his coins for food. Could GOLD become worthless? YOU BET. During the Dark Ages it was worthless and useless.
        So be warned all you gold hoarders… Don’t end us saying “I should have bought food”.

        • Gold was worthless to the native americans. The black hill,s where full of it. the souix , crow ,blackfeet ect could not find any practical use for it. at one time Tulip Bulbs where considered extremely valuable also. I do save my change but I hoard practical useful items. building materials, Hand tools, seeds, nails , glass jars & bottles ect. I have buckets full of door hinges, lots of axe & hammer heads, a dozen hand push garden plows ,picks, hoes ,shovels ect. Even today they are worth more then PM.s

      59. You don’t think FOOD is a good investment?
        My wife works at Walmart for 7 years and 7 years ago a can of Campbell s soup was .25 cents a can NOW it’s $1.44 Now that is an investment. And consider those were relatively good years. I bet the next 7 years will see a 50,000 % increase in that same can of soup.
        One day people will kill for that can of soup.
        So now how much gold can I get for my can of soup???
        I bet a LOT…

      60. Nice story. The human in me prays that all we have to do is keep warm, hunt, fabricate, eat, drink, and sleep to survive any event. A lot of people may go a while without having roving bands of marauders show up at the gate. The harder it is to live the more ferocious your visitors will be. Forget the larger cities and metropolitan areas, they will be war zones or camps. Keep in mind that people living in rural areas will thin out a lot of the bad guys once they show up. I think we all will have different experiences in a SHTF scenario. It depends on where you are…

        • Farm Boy your correct it a nice story. A feel good fiction. To be realistic it will never be as good as the story suggest. without a protector that family will be at the mercy of the bad folks. There wont be anyplace to hide. Its like any secret if one other person knows it everyone knows it. Even today in the remote Ozarks almost every hunting cabin left unattended is broken into. Sometimes the Meth cookers will take up residence. Fly over any rural area in winter in a small airplane at about 1200 ft @ 100 mph. You can see everything. the white faces on the cattle , deer,dogs,chickens any structures ect. Im of the opinion 90% will die within the first year those Who survive will at many times wish they where dead.

      61. Blessed Christmas, power came back on at the farmhouse at 3PM on Christmas afternoon. We lost power for 2 1/2 days, my orchard trees are covered with 1″ of ice. Woodstove kept everything from freezing up. The local general store openned up, there was a traffic jam to pump gas! Could of been worse, all my preps are in order. Although I need more ammo, never have enough ammo!

      62. BRAVO !!!!!DAISY MY FRIEND job well done

        snake

      63. Merry Christmas everyone!

        I appreciate everyone’s input here, even the grumpy ones.
        I never have a lot to share, but this is a great place to pick up ideas and insight!
        No matter how small your contribution, you never know who you may be helping!
        Godspeed to all.
        006

        • I had not thought about using clothing for barter until I read this story. My online selling days are ending today and I was going to donate my inventory of clothing. But I think I will keep the outerwear and jeans. Probably not much need for cocktail dresses when the SHTF!

      64. Come home Daisy. You are American.

      65. Yet another fluffy story of utopian prepping. It aint gonna go down like this story. When the real shit goes down,were gonna have a few billion dead bodies reeking of disease and no one willing to bury them. There are gonna be a few hundred unmanned nuke plants melting. All the animals that are edible,will be eaten within a few weeks to a couple months. If the nuke plants explode,there will be so much dust suspended in the atmosphere that it will block out the sun. No gardening for you. Your preps WILL eventually run out. Your friends and family WILL turn on you. There will NOT be any governmint ta come and help you. There will be NO hospital to go to,when you get sick.
        Enuf of the fluff. Bring the pain. Hit that reset button and may the best man win!

        • Dirty Greek You are holding back. It will be much worse than what your describing. you left out the cannibalism and other unspeakable acts.

      66. Y’all dont forget the bible and Jesus’s teachings. When did you see Jesus get really angry??? When he turned over the tables at the temple and threw the ‘money changers’ out!
        Now you guys take the time to figure out the lesson he was trying to teach,and you will find that this thing called life,as we know it,is all wrong. I dont want to live the bankster’s version of life,and if there needs to be a SHTF scenario to get back to an honest life,so be it.
        No more banks,no more royal families,no more elite,no more debt slavery,no more complacence,no more raping of this planet. Id trade it all for an honest life.

      67. The venison comment was interesting. After a few months, there won’t be any venison to eat, as poachers are going to shoot everything that moves, for food.

        • I grew up in the Ozarks during the fifties and sixties. Back then we never had to worry with deer destroying gardens ect. There weren’t any deer. same for raccoon opossum ect. Everyone hunted them. my family where very good hunters we had everything killed off for miles around. I never saw even a deer track until 1966. never seen a turkey until the seventys. not many squirrel or rabbit in the sixties. if ya didn’t have a good huntin dog chances of eating squirrel or rabbit where slim. There where less people also. I think the game & wildlife would get really scarce very quickly. Then after the first year (winter kill) 90% of humans will die. then wildlife will quickly rebound due to the lack of hunting and increase of habitat.

      68. hmm, I hate to sound harsh, but just cause it’s about interesting subject matter doesn’t make it “good”

        there was just no way into that story, for me. what 11 year old talks that way? if you’re gonna write like an adult then take a moment to specify that this is a memory or something. i’m trying to be concise with my criticism and am afraid it’s coming-off as just a “little thing” but that was too big a fault for me to force my way through the rest of the narrative. kids just don’t talk that way!

      69. Some things in this story are not so realistic.

        1) The man who hunts is getting turkey and venison. In a realistic collapse scenario people will quickly depleate deer and turkey. Roger would be hunting squerrels and crows for meat.

        2) In the current industrialized world there is an abandance of durable garments. As the number of people using them will decline because of hunger and violance, the availability of these will be pretty high. The characters of this story would not waste their time making a scarf from an old sweater. They would have simply got it for an apple.

        Heavy boots will run out within a year. The characters of the story should have been making improvised footware.

        3) What are these people feeding to their chickens? There is no way they could support themselves with a small garden, especially because they did not know the Change was coming in the Spring when they planted stuff.

        4) I am really surprised the local government/militia/warlord/gang is not collecting taxes/dues/protection payments from these people in exchange for providing conflict resolution and some degree of protection from looters.

        5) There was no talk of multiple families moving together to conserve fuel.

        6) There is hardly any mention of religious life going on.

      Commenting Policy:

      Some comments on this web site are automatically moderated through our Spam protection systems. Please be patient if your comment isn’t immediately available. We’re not trying to censor you, the system just wants to make sure you’re not a robot posting random spam.

      This website thrives because of its community. While we support lively debates and understand that people get excited, frustrated or angry at times, we ask that the conversation remain civil. Racism, to include any religious affiliation, will not be tolerated on this site, including the disparagement of people in the comments section.