remember

When you were a kid, and it was getting close to Christmas, and the Sears catalog came out? All those toys, and you could study the pages for hours, unlike any toy store that your parents would want you out of ASAP. Ahhhh we showed such restraint, my brothers and I, narrowing our choices down to one.... per page... Although I mostly remember the looking, I'm sure we did the sharing as well, and our folks were quite patient with our litany of possible gifts year after year. By the time Christmas rolled around, we narrowed our requests a little and it probably helped them feel like pretty much anything would do as a gift... which was close to correct.

This evening, Uncle Carl gave Raine a catalog to peruse. It was filled with fantansy weapons and reproductions. She didn't want it at first, but when she realised what was inside... woah! She was thrilled!All those things looked so very cool, and she would be ultimately cool if she owned them (oh yeah, and wore them). They were pretend, she explained to us, and although she might be too young for them right now, they would be perfect presents when she was 8. She picked out a sword, a knife, an axe, two different claw things, a gun, a mask, and I'm probably forgetting something. She said she would be wearing all of them and she would wear white, red and black boots, as well. She would get some tattoos, too. uh huh. "When you're grown up," Mama explained, "then you can get tattoos." "Yeah," she replied, "When I'm 8, and taller than Ezekiel."

She showed her choices to anyone who would sit still for it, and enjoyed herself thoroughly. We enjoyed her enthusiasm as well. See. A catalog can still do it for you...