The Wonderful Memories of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog

Yep, kiddies...believe it or not it’s only 9 weeks until Christmas. But you probably already knew it was getting close since Home Depot and Walmart have all of their Christmas decorations up in their respective stores.

But around the Kender household in Dayton, Ohio when I was a lil' Skeeter boy growing up, the first sign that Christmas was near was the arrival of the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. The holy grail of catalog shopping.

Click to view the Christmas catalog online

I'm not sure how we ever got on the mailing list. Mom certainly never ordered anything from the beautiful magazine. Even still, it arrived every October. And it was just pure magic. I did my best to leaf thru each page and try to act like I was interested in the clothes and furniture stuff....I didn't know the term Home Accessories at that time, all I wanted to see were the His and Hers gifts that only a gazillionaire could afford.

And now, the 2016 edition is online in its full dreamy world.

I remember one of the things we did when I came to Dallas for the first time with my mom and dad. It was 1965, and my niece, Kimberly, was born in Waco and we drove down from Dayton to see her as well as my brother, Dave, and his wife. We spent the night in Dallas and stayed at the Holiday Inn near downtown. The next day we walked through the famous store and were dazzled by the beautiful items. Little did I know I would move here 13 years later.

Anyway, back to the catalog.  

I was always very careful turning the pages because I knew this was something I would treasure until a few days before Christmas hoping that maybe, just maybe, I might get one of those special gifts. Maybe a ride in an Indy car or my own airplane.

It wasn't like I was living out in the sticks. We had a wonderful department store, Rike's, in Dayton, but this was Neiman's. The best of the best.

I can remember His and Hers boats. His and Hers cars. His and Hers trips. His and Hers jewelry. His and Hers helicopters.It was exciting...but then when I saw the prices!....wow...now that was some Christmas present.

So once again. I fell into my dreamy world when I looked at the catalog this year. A lot has changed. You can view it online.  You can have your gifts delivered overnight. And, yep, you can dream about that "special" gift. How about a trip for two to the Grammy Awards for just a mere $500,000.  Time to dream...and shop....