I bought this catalog a couple years ago, tried to get something written about it both last year and the year before and completely failed. So, finally, I will be highlighting a few goodies in the JCPenny 1991 Christmas Catalog. Now, this is from 1991 which would make me 2 years old at the time of it's release but I had an older brother and sister above me who handed A LOT of stuff down to me... just so you know I'm not talking complete crap here. Also, I can't bring myself to chop out the pages to zerox them so there may be a little glare in a few places. *Ahem* so anyways..

BART SIMPSON SLEEPING BAG

Bart was the man in our household when I was a kid as with many other kids in the early 90s. I can remember a cousin of mine and my older brother jamming out to the cassette tape "The Simpsons Sing the Blues" fairly often. On numerous birthdays, we "did the Bart Man" until we puked out our ears.

So, I was a huge fan but, did I have this particular sleeper? No... and in a house of four kids and an absolute gargantuan mountain of sleeping bags, it's very surprising at least one of us didn't have the luxury of bed wetting one of these Bart bags half a dozen times before it was thrown out. And man.... take me back to the days when I felt that sleep was for wimps. Also, shout out to the other cool sleeping bags in this mix. While they're all cool and definitely seem a bit more thought out art wise, it would've been Bart for me.

WWF SLEEPING SETS AND TENT

One thing that ALWAYS managed to find it's way in our house is wrestling stuff. Most people know I didn't really get into it as a kid. All of my friends had their Sting and X Pac shirts and there I was in the middle not knowing what the fuck was going on. I didn't get the hype then like I am learning to now but I was fond of 3 wrestlers in particular; Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior. Even knowing close to nothing about them, I liked them.

As I said before, we were a family who undoubtedly had every sleeping bad ever made and the Hulkster "Hulkmania" bag was for sure part of the lineup. While he was either my older brothers or a cousins who left him behind, I'm really not sure but I definitely remember a few wintery sick days spent in this bag with some Oodles of Noodles.

I don't believe I had any of the other items in the listing and now that I'm looking, if I had a choice I still think I'd pick the Hulkster sleeping bag. The tent is amazing but the colors of the sleeper really pop and still catch my eyes to this day.

TMNT SEWER AND TECHNODROME PLAYSETS

I look at this listing with shame as I have never owned a sewer or technodrome playset. The envy I feel for this child who had the opportunity to be photographed with both of them the year they came about is at a level I can't even explain.

So, no, I didn't have a technodrome. What I did have was a shop vac that I pretended was a technodrome. At that point, I barely even knew there was such a technodrome toy in existence. I was probably 3 or 4 once I started to really get into the toy thing having been passed down all of the hand me downs which was also mostly turtle stuff. I wasn't really around much to see either of these sets on shelves but it hasn't kept me from dreaming about them. I'm 32 now, still neither of these are in my possession. The market keeps going up in price and I just haven't had the space, to be real. Maybe next year will be the year.

SUPER NES

This is the BIG ONE, folks; the Super Nintendo Entertainment System! Selling at $199.99, the SNES was the next notch in the Nintendo belt of home consoles; a true force to be reckoned with. It was the #1 gift for the 1991 Christmas season.

Keeping it real, we had a regular Nintendo and a Genesis and probably one of the random Ataris that barely worked and that was probably enough for us kids at that point in time. We actually had a PS1 before we had an SNES. I think I finally bought my own with paper route money in 97 or 98. I remember being stoked to finally buy one. It came with Super Mario World 2 Yoshis Island but I bought it just to play Turtles in Time which was only available to me via video store rental at the time. When I finally got the chance to rent Turtles in Time, it was gone! Someone rented and ran off and never returned it. Luckily, about 3 months later, a friend of mine let me borrow it and I was able to see what I had been missing. I was familiar with the arcade version but having it in a home console was a whole fucking vibe.

STEVE URKEL DOLL

Oh, the Urkel Doll. While we did watch a lot of Family Matters in my family and Urkel was one of my favorite characters ever, I wasn't on the radar much for an Urkel Doll though I knew plenty of kids who had him. It wouldn't be until 70 years later when I became an adult that I'd really be interested.

Last flea market season while cruising some booths, I was lucky enough to find one still in the box with his glasses in tact and pull string still fully functional. He may need a battery change and the box may be a little mangled but for 10 bucks, I'll take it!

As you may have noticed in the title, this is only part 1! These books are full of goodies and I'd hate to only gloss over it quickly just once this year so stay tuned for part 2 and possibly 3! As always, thanks for reading! Now go out and buy that one aunt you never see a bottle of wine and a cheese board!