Before Toys r us and Walmart, flyers, there was the annual Sears Christmas catalog. Baby dolls, fashion dolls, trains, erector sets, chemistry sets, roller skates, wagons and bicycles…those pages were dog-eared and worn thin as my sisters and I revised our wish lists for Santa Claus.

Dad was home from WWII and finishing college while working part-time at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, though, so we knew the fashion doll with full wardrobe was not likely to appear under the tree, but it was fun to pretend.