Buyer's Recourse: There's a Catalogue to Fit Your Whim

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By Monica Hesse

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Christmas catalogue's days are almost certainly numbered. Dead-tree mass mailings are moot when everyone's Amazon 1-Clicking their holiday presents. Already, most circulars are available online. Neiman Marcus's can be viewed free this way; if you want the paper version, it now costs $15, shipping and handling included -- paying for the privilege of spending.

But there's something about the glossy heft of the original that is so soothing and seasonal. Something about the useless abundance of the contents that makes it feel like Christmases of yore, back when we were up for buying a little useless, back before we were broke, back in Christmas 2007.

This holiday season, we stuck with paper and found a catalogue for every mood. Then we perused, so you didn't have to.

If you want to feel . . . proud of America, and all that it has to offer.

Flip through . . . "Gifts You Never Knew Existed."

Reading like the reject pile from SkyMall, this is where you find everything from a "remote control beer pager" ($19.98) to a 22-inch "museum-quality" Indiana Jones statue ($109.98). Question: Can something be described as "museum-quality" if the only collection it fits with is the set of "Sanford and Son"?

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