Sometime in the 1980s, when he was living on the street, the kid who later became the seminal rapper KRS-One stopped at the Bowery Mission for a sandwich. He doesn't recall what kind, only that it was served with respect.

On Thanksgiving Day, Lawrence Parker, now 44, plans to return to the mission, children and friends in tow, to cook, serve and rap for some of its guests. His message: "This is where I started."

At this time of year, hip-hop artists "can do a lot more, and not just for the cameras," he says. "Homelessness is a pandemic. Hip-hop is big on sending people to the mall at the holidays. Why not send 'em to the shelter?"

At the mall, the shelter and everywhere in between, Americans face another holiday season marred by recession at home and war abroad.

It'll be hard for many people for the homeless and those trying to house them, for the hungry and those trying to feed them. Hard for relatives trying to get home, hard for employees (and employers) whose businesses can't afford much of a celebration or a thank you.

The 25-pound turkey, the office party, the year-end bonus, the family reunion, the second (or third) Christmas tree all are threatened by what employment consultant John Challenger calls "a culture of frugality" and the need to refocus an alluring American dream: a happy holiday.

Many Americans are refocusing by giving thanks for what they have, and by giving some of what they have to those with less.

"People will figure out a way to have a nice holiday with less," predicts Karal Ann Marling, author of Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday, a history of the holiday's evolution. "It's not so much a new austerity as a realization that we've been going overboard for a long time."