Dec 19, 2022
What did you want for birthday/Christmas that you never got and might be bitter about? Have you bought it for yourself?
Back in the days of yore, companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward would send out “Christmas catalogs’ with toys, clothing, and gift items not available in their normal catalogs. Yes, those were the days before Amazon, when people shopped by flipping through massive paper catalogs to find clothes and other items they needed that couldn’t be found in the local stores. The Christmas books were smaller, but still held a world of dreams for us kids.
We’d spend hours flipping through the pages, picking out items for our lists for Santa. We knew he had a limited budget and many kids to take presents too, but we always put extra items on our lists in case he ran out of something.
One year, an item on my list was a Carrom board. This was a wooden toy that had a checkerboard, a backgammon board on the other side, and pockets in the corner for a miniature-type pool game. Well, Christmas came, and the board was under the tree – with my brother’s name on the gift tag. Turned out, he’d requested the same thing.
I was disappointed, of course, but he shared—sometimes. I won’t say I was bitter about it, but it hurt for a little while. When I became an adult and got married, our first Christmas together, my husband and I bought our own copy. We had it for many years.
By the way, I find it amusing that Amazon sends out paper catalogs. Yes, on-line ordering is convenient, but there’s a lot to be said for flipping through a small book you can hold in your hands.
Did any of our other authors not get a gift they really wanted? Find out by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Dec 19, 2022
What did you want for birthday/Christmas that you never got and might be bitter about? Have you bought it for yourself?
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I remember the excitement of browsing catalogues and making lists. And the excitement of seeing if any notice had been taken of the hints.
Yes. and now that I have enough space, I’m browsing flower catalogs in much the same way and dreaming of what I can plant where!
I remember those big catalogues – my mum used to have them. I’d use the old ones to cut out pictures of people and paste them into a scrapbook and create little worlds for them.
You were writing stories even then!
Yes, I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t.
Never heard of that game board. Yes, flipping through the Christmas catalogue is something current kids may never know the joy of.
Tweeted.
Sounds like a lovely game. Those kits that allow you to buy one thing and play several different games are fun. @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
and it’s still for sale all these years later!