We went to Walt Disney World on Wednesday morning and spent the day at one of our favorite places …. EPCOT Center. Before we left our rented townhouse, I peeked at my daily FaceBook ‘Memories’ which included this unforgettable post from exactly 5 years ago … The funny this is, I had forgotten it. You would think like a birthday or anniversary, you would remember … Continue reading Suddenly … Five Years
As I do every year, over the last month I’ve used my personal Facebook feed to countdown the days from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I’m sharing the countdown more broadly through this blog post.
2017 Countdown: Vintage Christmas Advertising
2018 Countdown: Christmas Classic Toy Countdown
2019 Countdown: Illustrated Christmas Magazine Covers
This year’s countdown is a trip back in time through the 1970 JCPenney Christmas Catalog. My Dad worked his whole career as a JCP store manager and my brothers and I memorized almost every page.
I hope you see some favorite toys, mod outfits, entertaining gifts, and wonderful memories in these pages from 50 years ago. Note on the cover of the catalog it says that “toys and giftware orders need to be placed by August 28th” … already more than 90 days ago!
All scans are from the amazing christmas.musetechnical.com archive
🎅🏻 27 Days to Christmas – Snoopy & his Peanuts Pals earned a 2-page spread in the 1970 JCP catalog. To adjust for inflation, multiply the prices 7x. No doubt all of these toys & watches would be vintage ‘collectibles’ worth more than that on eBay today.
🏈 26 Days To Christmas – Uniforms for the newly merged NFL + AFL were popular fifty years ago in the JCPenney Christmas Catalog. The Chiefs had beat the Vikings in the Super Bowl the previous season and the Cowboys were on their way to beat the Colts in the January 1971 championship. Did they photograph the same kid in all 26 team uniforms?
⭐️🥃 25 Days to Christmas – Drinking & smoking were a big part of the 1970 holiday season. Lots of sophisticated bar sets, decanters, and lighters – with a full length fencing foil (left) to add to the fun!
🎁 24 Days to Christmas – 1970 fashions from the JCPenney Christmas catalog put Mrs. Roper from ‘Three’s Company’ into context with ‘quilted culottes’ and ‘shimmering caftans’ …
Continue reading “Vintage Christmas Catalog Countdown” 
My uncle posted this cute ‘copy & paste” on Facebook a few days ago. I don’t know who wrote it, but they did a wonderful job capturing the craziness of 2020 and our collective hope going forward. It doesn’t really have anything to do with financial planning or early retirement, but I thought I would share it here anyways. I hope to look back on … Continue reading Christmas COVID 2020
Our son’s college graduation ceremony was cancelled in May due to CV-19. They had a simple online video acknowledgement of the occasion with a few speakers, which was the best they could do during the global pandemic. Our son wasn’t too disappointed, but Mrs. Fire Station was not happy at all. She was really looking forward to seeing him walk across the stage and get … Continue reading A Different Type of Retirement
We are very proud of our son who graduated from college this past weekend with his degree in computer science. He finished ‘on-time’ – completing his studies 4 years after first walking through these arches as a Freshman. He’s all set to start working a week from today as a software/web developer at a local software company. He interned there last summer and got a … Continue reading Post-College ‘Raise’?
On a recent sunny day, I was picking up a friend at my former MegaCorp headquarters building to go out for lunch. I was pulled up in front of the visitor entrance in my sporty, summer car with the top down. I must have looked pretty relaxed sitting in the convertible when a woman – who looked like she worked there – walked over and … Continue reading Funniest FIRE Reactions
About 10 years ago, a product scientist that worked on my team at MegaCorp was getting ready to retire and bought himself a bright red Pontiac Firebird with the big hood scoop and body flares. He was a fun guy to work with and said he wanted to treat himself to something fun for retirement and figured that if he only drove it in the … Continue reading What’s Your FIRE Splurge?
Tomorrow – April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough – marks the one year anniversary of leaving MegaCorp for early retirement last year. The year has gone very fast and filled with a lot of fun and terrific memories. I don’t have any words of wisdom to share other than TIME is the ultimate luxury and the sooner you can reach financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), … Continue reading FIRE Milestone – One Year Anniversary of Early Retirement!
The whole Fire Station Family is out spending our money on good times this week. We are on our summer vacation (to Tokyo & Kyoto) and not thinking this trip is money spent foolishly at all. We each have our priorities that we budget for and travel is a big one for us. Check out this post from last year on our early retirement travel … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Good Times
This is the second cake photo that I have shared in just a few weeks. As you can see, last week was my 50th birthday and my wife was kind enough to organize an awesome birthday party for me on Saturday night, which came just 19 days after my early retirement party. It has been an embarrassment of riches for sure and I am so … Continue reading Another Cake? – The Five Phases of Retirement
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