catalogs, or help me, I'm drowning! Going to the mailbox each day has become dangerous in our household.  We are being inundated with an avalanche of catalogs and requests for end-of-the-year funds for numerous charities.

We don't get one or two catalogs a day; we get more like seven or eight.  Our recycling bin overflows with them weekly.  We get the usual catalogs from Lands' End, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Victoria's Secret, Hanes, and other clothing lines.  We also get general gift catalogs like Signals and Think Geek. We get food catalogs, too.  From Hickory Farms to Cheryl's Cookies to Emu Chips-a-hoy*, we get them all.  This, in spite of the fact, that many of the odder ones I de-selected at Catalog Choice, a website geared to cutting down the number of catalogs a person receives. So far, it hasn't worked. 

Actually, I have decided that the reproductive habits of catalogs are to spawn as many new catalogs as tribbles produce troubles (and themselves).  Opening a catalog to just glance at an item or two is the same as a bee to a flower.  Pollination occurs, and another new, different catalog appears in the mailbox within a week.  Added to that, the original catalog also produces another of its own breed (cross-pollination, it seems).

Don't get me wrong.  I do purchase presents from catalogs online, and some of my favorite gifts come from them. But is it necessary to send three or four catalogs from the same company in the same week?  Will the glossy red cover of one catalog tempt me more than the flashy multicolored catalog? Or are all the daily emails from each company going to produce in me a frenzy to buy, buy, buy?

And then, of course, are the last minute appeals from all the charities.  From requests from our universities to fund scholarships and defray costs to those who want help curing all kinds of diseases to those who want funds to help Laplanders with snow removal**, we get them all, too. 

Again, don't get me wrong.  We support those charities that we believe in, that we feel are worthwhile, and use our dollars wisely.  But is it necessary to hit us up four or five times a year?  Is it necessary to call us every other month for this "particularly crucial funding drive"?

Today, I was actually pleased to get three pieces of mail.  One was from a bookcrossing friend who sent me a card and thank you note.  The other two others were bills (and relatively low bills at that).  Gee, when a bill is welcome relief from catalogs, w-e-l-l  (as my Dad would say) ... On the other hand, we received several envelopes with free gifts of address labels plus a slip to (please) send them just a few dollars (or a thousand) to pay for the address labels and for their cause. I also got a request from my alma mater for a yearly bequest. But then, I knew it was expected; it has been a year since my last gift to them, but I digress.

I hope the avalanche stops soon.  Perhaps I need to figure out something to create with all the catalogs.  Maybe use them as wrapping paper or use them to further insulate the house.  Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Of course, after the holidays the catalogs won't stop coming.  The after-holiday sales catalogs will start arriving along with the next holiday's must-have items. Whatever...

Regardless, however you celebrate, happy holidays to all! 

*   okay, made that one up just to see if anyone was really reading this

** wanted to see if anyone was still reading