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Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Swipe Left

There are many things I love about the Christmas season. The music, the bright lights. The charming Christmas story. 


It’s the malls and the technology that seem out of place. Necessary, I suppose, but our kids and grandkids are 


missing a real treat ~ shoving me into the generationally challenged category ~ but that’s all right. I earned 


every second of these decades. If I hadn’t been from 

this technology barren time, 

I would have missed out on 


the Christmas catalogue. Do you remember 

Simpson Sears and Eaton’s catalogues? 

Eatons was “Canada’s Christmas Store”. 

Shiny colourful pages with beautiful models, 


airbrushed too perfectly at a time when that 

was okay. Full of everything a kid could 

want and more. Sleds, dolls, and toys some 

no longer on the market because of perceived 


or real danger. But for me I wanted to see 

the latest fashions, especially the New Year's 

gowns. Getting ideas for the next gowns

would sketch and colour. I never could get 


past the same full skirt and strapless bodice. 

Paging through a cold screen with a swipe left, 

can't have the same thrill with childhood dreams 

and hopes. I do hope that when a child swipes 


left, they file in their memory the dream that 

wafted from the screen, making their generation 

one of wonder when swiping left 

has become a memory.


“Whether you shop in person or by ‘phone, you’ll find the people 

at Eaton’s friendly and helpful…in the true spirit of Christmas.”

From an Eaton’s Christmas Catalogue, 1960

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