Tears for Sears

A few weeks ago, I found myself daydreaming while I sat on rock hard bleachers at a wrestling tournament on a very rainy day.  I could not take the whistles or the smell anymore (FAB= feet, ass and butt) so I walked out into the lobby.

I sat down at a table, alone.  Heaven.

Seconds later, she joined me.  Not sure who she was or her name but her birthday is March 12.  I remembered because it was my Great Grandmother's birthday too.

Anyway, she had her mom's IPhone with her.  And, she was ordering away on Amazon.  LOL's, those were her passion.  Don't worry, I didn't know what LOL's were either.  She told me.

So I asked her, "are you allowed to just order things on Amazon?"

"No, this is what I want for Christmas.  I just put them in the cart and then my mom tells Santa."

"Don't you tell Santa when you sit on his lap or send him a letter?"

"Yep, but mom says this makes it easier.  This way I get exactly what I want and there are not any problems and my mom doesn't have to shop."

Omg! "It makes it easier to give you four year old an I Phone and let her walk around with it and put things in a cart and so she gets exactly what she wants"

Then she asks, "do you want to see my North Pole app my mom got for $1.99?"

Of course I wanted to see.  

There is was, a cinematic North Pole with Santa, elves, Mrs. Claus and reindeer.  Not at all they way I imagined the North Pole but she seemed fine with it.

I asked my new friend if she bakes cookies for Santa and leaves them for him and she told me "we don't bake much but sometimes I leave granola bars.  Or I forget."

And then she told me that she already saw Santa and got her picture taken with him and they wore matching outfits.  

I know I just sat there shaking my head.  

I am really just sad.  

When you are a kid, the best days of your life should be (in this order)
1. Christmas
2. Birthday
3. Easter
4. Last day of school
5.  First day of school
6.  Any snow day
7.  Two hour delays
8.  The day the Sears Wish Book arrives
9.  losing your first teeth/Rudolph and Frosty on TV (ok, add Wizard of Oz)
10. Being tall enough to drive the car on the turnpike at Kennywood or ride the rollo-coaster at Idewild.

When we got home from school, my mom would have it sitting in the kitchen on the table.  Proudly.  I swear there was a special light that seemed like it was shining down on it.  

Here were the rules, you had to share and you needed to pick three things.  Three things.

So, you would flip that baby to the toy section and start bending down the pages.  Oh it was torture if my brother got it first.  He would spend hours looking at Hot Wheels, Matchboxes and Tonka Trucks.  Killed me, they all looked alike but he spent hours looking at them.  

I would get my turn and throw myself into a Barbie coma.  Heaven.  The Sears Wish Book was Heaven.

We would fold, unfold, refold and then finally settle on "our final three."

Somewhere, during this time of toy porn, the big night would come. 

Mothers across America said these things to children around 7:10pm, "go upstairs, get your bath, brush your teeth and get you Jammie's on.  Be down here at 7:55pm.  Rudolph is on and I will have Hot Chocolate ready but only if you get your bath in time."

We would sit so still waiting for Santa to come down the snow covered hill on the razor.  Christmas.  Magical.  Rudolph was magical.  And it was the only night of the year we were allowed to stay up past our bedtime.

It was all a magical time.

When I would lay in bed and think about the North Pole, it was my vision.  I had my own idea of what the North Pole looked like and what it was like.  And I loved it.  I loved thinking about it.  

As a parent, I now know how my mom knew what to get us.  She paid attention all year.  She listened.  She watched.  She listened to us when commercials came on Saturday morning and she watched what our passions were becoming.  She had conversations with us too and she didn't have an IPhone.

When Santa visited our home, Franklin and I would get a sitter, go for appetizers and a cocktail, go to usually three stores, go back to where we started, have another cocktail and appetizer and laugh at the ridiculous amount of money we had just spent.  It was so much fun.

Nightly, we read Christmas books and finally, close to Christmas, we made the trip to the Jacksonville Mall to sit on Santa's lap followed by a slice of Tony's Pizza.  We didn't wear matching outfits, I was lucky Addie kept her clothes on.  

I am not judging the mom.  I am not.  I have no idea what is going on in her life. 

I would just like to tell her, when it is over, it is so very sad and certainly not the same.  

The magic of the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa is very short lived, don't do anything to speed it up, any adult with kids over fourteen will tell you this.  

I recently heard that Sears is bankrupt and filing for re-organization.  I would like to suggest they bring the Wish Book back.  It would be different and just might save us all.