Bill Speer

Oh the anticipation. I remember it well.

As I look back on it now, the anticipation perhaps was the best part of getting the Sears Wish Book in late summer every year of my youth. The Wish Book was so thick it could double as a book end and so heavy you could use it as a door stop.

In its heyday the U.S. Postal Service would deliver over 7 million of these books come late August or early September of every year. As I think about that now, I wonder how mail carriers could fit those books into their sacks without stopping to re-pack every five houses or so.

But I digress.

The Wish Book contained something for everyone in the family. From jewelry to winter coats, tools to toys and underwear to refrigerators, you could find it in the Wish Book. Once the Wish Book arrived in the house, there was a contest to see who would get it first to review.

Dad would always turn to the tool section, while my mother would flip to the latest kitchen utensils. For my brother and I, however, it was straight to the toys – by far the largest section of the catalog.

Wish Books really were made for children. It was the children in the family who totally embraced the Wish Book experience and who would spend hours on end evaluating the toy section and circling those items which interested them the most.

I know that was the case in my house. My brother and I would fight over who would look at the catalog first.

While over the years I have enjoyed some awfully great Christmas days (and some very sad ones as well), if I was forced to select my best Christmas as a child, it would have been the Christmas of 1961.

As a 5-year-old I can remember the Wish Book arriving to my home. And I also remember that for that Christmas one item above all the others jumped off the page of the Wish Book, and that was the Remco Mighty Matilda Aircraft carrier.

Oh man, I had to have it. My body still shakes thinking of the fun that would await me with that toy. It was the bomb!

And big … Oh my, my outstretched arms still were not wide enough to pick up the whole toy. After all, we’re talking about an aircraft carrier here for Heaven’s sake, not some little frigate or destroyer.

The carrier was battery powered and could both launch a missile or catapult an airplane from its deck. Literally a hundred sailors and accessories made up the toy, including planes, helicopters and bombers. The carrier had functioning motorized elevators from one deck to the other, as well as a battle alarm. For $11.88, it seemed like it would be worth every penny.

Not only did I circle it in the Wish Book with pencil that year, but for that item I borrowed an ink marker from my dad and circled it in red.

Visiting Santa, I told him my number one wish that Christmas was for the aircraft carrier.

And you know what? Santa delivered. Imagine my delight on Christmas morning when I ran downstairs and found the aircraft carrier underneath the tree. It was a glorious Christmas morning.

I sure do miss that era and the Sears Wish Books.

But maybe all is not lost.

A few weeks ago, I watched two of my granddaughters in Indiana argue ever so slightly with each other before agreeing to a compromise over “first dibs” on the Amazon Holiday catalog that arrived in the mail.

And like their parents and grandparents before them, they went to work circling toys on the pages. It put a smile on my face seeing them review the toy selection, ponder a toy, then a half hour later go back and view it again.

This was serious business for each of them, and you could tell by their questions to their parents and their interaction with each other that some items carried more weight in their equations than others.

No, the Amazon catalog wasn’t as big as the Sears version.

But it didn’t matter. Dreams are still dreams this time of year as candy canes and sugar plums dance in their head.

Anticipation is anticipation, regardless of the holiday catalog and regardless of the year.