Sunday, December 14, 2008

The 2008 Sears Wishbook vs. the 1979 Sears Wishbook

Has anyone taken a look on the Sears website at their 2008 wishbook? (You can view the whole thing online.) I ordered one but it hasn't come in the mail yet. Am I the only one that has noticed Sears has lost the catalog focus that made it so wonderful? They really don't seem to remember who their core customer base is that made them a successful company for so many decades.

What's my biggest Christmas gift-giving problem? From looking at the 2008 Sears Wishbook, Sears seems to think my biggest holiday gift problem is deciding what to put in my new home movie theatre/game room! I don't know about you but I don't happen to have a home movie theatre/game room. Now to be fair there are some in America who bought new homes and do have massive, empty spare rooms however by watching the latest news I'm sadly guessing that many of those families were only able to buy huge homes by getting in over their head mortgage-wise. Right now they are probably more concerned about trying to pay their mortgage and avoid foreclosure as opposed to buying pool tables and full size popcorn machines.

My biggest holiday gift dilemma and also shared by almost all Americans is: Buying presents on a budget for old ladies who own everything and various relatives that won't appreciate what you get them anyway! The old Sears wishbooks were chock full of reasonable gift giving solutions for the impossible to buy for....but the new wishbooks seem to only focus on buying things for your own immediate 'nuclear' and rich family. I mean its fun to look at those big ticket items but priorities are priorities....all of us have to buy something for a grumpy Aunt Edna or some other relative that we have absolutely nothing in common with but have to see once a year! Please Sears...give me a gift idea for the relative who always buys me a notepad & pen writing set each year?

Honestly although I know I'll never, ever get anything from my relatives that I could use or enjoy this holiday season...I do get this perverse joy in trying to rise above that knowledge and buy them something they might actually like or find useful. Am I the only poor soul with this affliction to try to do nicer unto others than they would do unto you? I know I don't always succeed but I do keep other people's interests in mind and I do try. It's nice when you get the gift spot on and see that look of surprise and non-fake appreciation...but most of my relatives don't even bother to try. They say I'm so hard to buy for (do you ever hear that?) but what I've really learned is to translate that into: "I know you don't like the things that I like and I think it's just horrible of you to not have the same taste as me. I really don't value our relationship enough to find out what you really like or to go out of my way to shop at one of the stores that carry things you like so I'll just give you this generic body lotion set that I found at Walmart instead." Now I'm sorry if that sounds unappreciative but seriously I do appreciate gifts that might be way off mark but I know the person put even some tiny bit of thought into it and at least tried. I suppose this holiday season I should be grateful that I do have at least a few relatives and friends in my life who care enough to at least try....so at least I have that going for me!

Take a look at the new and an old wishbooks and let me know what you think! Do you have people in your lives that you wish you could order out of the 1979 catalog for their Christmas gift this year?:

Link to the 2008 Sears Wishbook Catalog

Link to the 1979 Sears Wishbook Catalog on Flickr

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