When I was growing up, my birthday was, naturally, a very special day for me. But do you want to know what was just as special? The day after my birthday, because it meant we would be getting the JCPenney Christmas Catalog in the mail. Yes, really. It came that early. And I loved it.

Look, if you aren’t familiar with these, it may be hard to describe just how magical it felt to have them. Feeling the weight of the catalog in your hands, flipping through it, and even smelling the pages (they had a unique smell) was a wonder in itself. And yes, by now it probably sounds like I’m describing a fetish (are catalog fetishes a thing? Well, probably), but the point is, these catalogs were fucking amazing. Especially when you were a kid looking through the toys section.

These catalogs were a pretty big deal, too. JCPenney (and other department stores as well, such as Sears, but they stopped doing them long before JCPenney did) would market them heavily, running TV ads throughout the season.

Weirdly, I don’t think my family ever ordered from these catalogs much. I know we got at least one Christmas tree from them, and I got a talking Cookie Monster plush as well, but that’s about it. In any case, as the internet became something everyone started having in the early 2000s, JCPenney and others must have viewed these as impractical to keep producing, and alas, they are a relic of the past now, which I’m sure broke Cathy’s heart at the time.

Have a magical night, y’all! And remember to start your holiday shopping early!