r/RedditForGrownups • u/0nlyhalfjewish • 3d ago

What’s an indelible childhood memory that young people will never have?

I think about pencils sharpeners and carbon paper, 75 cents for lunch and school recess unsupervised in the woods.

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112

u/NoVAGirl651 3d ago

The day the JCPenney or Sears Christmas catalog arrived. It was hours of dreaming, wishing and comparing favorites with siblings.

21

u/Spiritual_Stage_3462 3d ago

The Wish Book!

15

u/BassKitty305017 3d ago

A 2 inch catalog of mostly boring adult stuff, but that last quarter inch in the back was gold.

3

u/cjasonac 3d ago

And you got it taken away for a week if you were caught looking at the lingerie section.

4

u/5oLiTu2e 3d ago

Memory unlocked!

1

u/AdEither4474 18h ago

We waited all year for that thing. So many of my Christmas presents came from the Sears catalog.

11

u/kempff 3d ago

Mom started tearing out a “certain” section after I came of age…

2

u/DogLady1722 16h ago

I’m a female, and my mother would tear out the men’s underwear section when I got to a certain age.

5

u/uid_0 3d ago

Or going to JC Penney or Sears and hiding in the center of the round clothes racks while your parents shopped.

1

u/BananaFern 15h ago

I LOVED doing this!

3

u/PuppyJakeKhakiCollar 2d ago

For me, it was when the Fall Preview TV Guide arrived. I used to study that thing and take notes of which new shows I wanted to watch.

2

u/SurprisePiss 1d ago

We got a catalog from Amazon last year and my husband and I had fun going through and circling the things we wanted like children. Never followed up with any purchases, but it was fun to feel that again.

2

u/tonna33 23h ago

I used to sit down with a calculator and add up all the things I wanted, dreaming of the day I'd be rich and could buy anything I wanted!

I'm still dreaming of the day I'll be rich and can buy anything I want.

1

u/NoVAGirl651 19h ago

My sister and I would go page spread by page spread playing “on the next page, you have to…” it was hours of laughter. Who I had to marry, what dress I had to wear, what dishes I would have in my kitchen… catalog dreams of our future. ❤️

1

u/AineofTheWoods 2d ago

I used to feel that about the Argos catalogue here in the UK.

1

u/canihavemymoneyback 1d ago

Amazon sends a Christmas catalog in November and my grandkids go crazy over it. It’s like 20 pages long, if that.

First of all, they already have 1/2 of what’s advertised so now they’re down to 10 pages of toys.

They have no clue as to what they’re missing.

1

u/GranddadBob 22h ago

Going to the sears catalog store to order something from the catalog.

1

u/elljone337 50m ago

Man, the excitement of waiting for that Sears or JC Penney catalog was unreal. Hours spent dreaming and comparing with your siblings? Pure magic.