Dear Santa, I want Brenda Breyer Horses.

When I was a kid I remember the COMPLETE JOY of scouring the JC Penny toy catalog. I L.O.V.E.D. it.

My top toys were ALWAYS the Brenda Breyer Horse Stables and those creepy big ventriloquist dolls. (Thank you mom for ignoring that on my wish list.)

Anyways, These pictures reminded me of something I heard once that was just like BAM! SO TRUE. I thought it came from the famous Paul Harvey poem which I love but it didn't. So I don't know where I heard it but it is this....

The majority of the joy of Christmas (concerning the gift department concerning the kid department) is the DREAMING of what they might get. Kids love to scour the toy catalog and dream. At my house they circle everything they want so I know. It is a joy. The actual getting of the gifts is not near as fun as the dreaming. That is also why one shouldn't give them everything they want or things before they are ready for them. Because then they never had the chance to wish for it. Which is the fun part.

Just sayin'.

We kept this catalog around for a month and it became shredded from wishing kids loving on it. Then I chucked it and my oldest son dragged it back out of the trash and kept it. Funny.

Since I mentioned it...

Paul Harvey’s Wishes for Children:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandma/grandpa and go fishing with your uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hanukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you — tough times and disappointment, hard work, and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.