The Christmas Catalog

When I was a little girl, one of the most exciting times of the year was right after Halloween when we received our Christmas catalog.  Glossy, color pictures of everything from clothes to toys to outdoor decorations were in this book.  When it would arrive in the mail, I would always turn to the pages of toys and start thinking about what I would write on my list to Santa.  Bikes, games, dolls, train sets, anything that you could possibly want was in this book.  I sometimes wonder if I ever earmarked the top of the pages that had my 'wants' or if I took a big marker and drew a circle around the picture of the item.  I am sure that I had been talking about what I wanted and 'Santa' already knew, without us even getting the catalog. 

When our sons were growing up, we encouraged them to write a letter to Santa.  Most of the time, they inquired about Mrs. Claus and Rudolph.  And they usually said that they had been good all year.  We had Christmas catalogs at our home and one year, they skipped the letters and just cut out pictures of what they wanted.  I don't recall if they got what they wanted that year but they were happy when they came downstairs and saw everything laid out. 

I wonder if kids now just go to the website of their preferred gift, print out the page and leave it laying around for 'Santa'.  How sad that they can't sit on the couch and flip through a book with their brother or sister and excitedly say 'Wow, I want one of those for Christmas' or 'I'm asking Santa for one of those'.

And I wonder if Santa has to go to 'Google' to find out exactly what it is that a child asks for.  If they had a Christmas catalog, it would be so much simpler.