Catalog day. That's what it was. The day after Thanksgiving, big catalogs came in the mail. It seemed the major stores had a deal with the post office to hold them and deliver them on that day. Sears-Roebuck, J.C. Penny, and Montgomery-Ward had big Christmas catalogs, full of all kinds of gifts,,,,,and toys. There was a pecking order in our house when it came to the catalogs. My Mom got them first and no one touched them till she was finished. Then came my older sister, Sara, ten years older than me. Vickie, my younger sister by sixteen months, and I "Shared" them after that. We just couldn't wait! We'd been thinking about what we wanted Santa to bring us and these books of treasures opened our minds to even more things. Now, little girls and little boys don't get along during normal times, but on catalog day, a war begins. I don't want to look at the dolls and baby buggies, doll houses, and kitchen sets. I want to look at the army guys, tanks, trucks, scooters, football stuff, and electric trains. Sooooo, whoever touched the catalog first, got control of it. This was the start of phase 2 of the Santa list process. Phase 1 being your own imagination. Phase 3 would be actually seeing the toys in the store. Phase 4 is making the list that will be trimmed down. Phase 5 is writing the letter to Santa. So we're on phase 2 and fighting to look at what we want to look at. This phase will continue for days as we race to the catalogs to control them. That is, until Mom gets tired of hearing all the commotion and puts the catalogs out of our reach for some peace and quiet.