Now that we’ve selected Christmas gifts for friends and family (which we hope were good choices) and have spent more than we could afford, it may be fun to look at Christmas around the turn of the last century.

First of all, if you lived in a rural area, shops could have been miles away or virtually out of reach. The logical solution: The Sears, Roebuck catalog. It virtually took the place of a giant department store with so many choices that it was mind-boggling. It doesn’t seem possible that one catalog could have offered everything from parlor stoves to fancy horse-drawn wagons, upholstered Turkish three-piece parlor suites to guns and ammo, ladies high-button shoes to milking machines.

Thousands of rural Americans depended upon Sears for their every need, and they didn’t use credit cards to make their purchases — Sears accepted cash only. Their 1902 catalog contained 1,160 pages chock full of everything you could imagine.

If you were looking for a special gift for Christmas, you’d find it in your Sears catalog. Nary a home was without one. In fact, until a couple of decades ago, Sears catalogs could be found in most homes.

For the small businessman or woman, a “visible writing machine,’’ known to us as a typewriter might have been on your wish list for $22.50. Others might have had their heart set on a new rocking chair for the front porch for $2.95 or the latest in hammocks for $1.10.

For entertainment, you might consider a football for $3.50, basketball for $2.75 or a baseball mitt for $1.25. Young boys would probably be thrilled if they received a Bowie knife for 85 cents or a fishing rod and reel for less than a couple of bucks. If you wanted a change from horseback riding or a horse and buggy, you might splurge and get a new bicycle for $8.95.

Of course, books were special treats with how-to subjects including, but not limited to, farming, butter making, horseshoeing, canning, cheese making, flower gardens and cooking. You could also purchase a book of Kipling’s poems, a set of encyclopedia for $2.35, a new Bible for $1.10, or a wide variety of other offerings.

There were endless jewelry selections, such as an Alaskan silver all-American open face watch for $2.40, a solid gold pen for 70 cents or a gold-filled wedding band for $1.30. Also you could find a sterling silver hairbrush for $2.75 and a matching comb for $1.25 or a coffee set of six spoons and one pair of sugar tongs for $2.12 to impress your neighbors when you entertained, especially if you had occasion to show off your new pure silk 22-cent hankie.

You could further wow them with your new Delmar 4x5 camera for $3.95, a Gem Graphophone talking machine for $10 or a German cuckoo clock for $7.95. Of course, if your family had just ended a prosperous year, what better way to show off than with an American Home Upright parlor grand piano, yours from Sears for $98.50, or a Happy Home organ for $22. If violin music was your thing, $6.95 would get you a genuine Stradivarius. If that was a bit too extravagant, a simple guitar could be obtained for $2.45, a harmonica for 21 cents, or a banjo for $1.75.

For the man of the house, a genuine Meerschaum pipe would have been just the thing for $5 or a gold-filled tobacco jar for $1.50. If he spent a great deal of time on a horse, a western saddle for $25.30 would always be appreciated. At the turn of the century, most rural homes had a gun over the fireplace or in a gun rack. Remington’s new model double barrel shotgun could be yours for $20, an Ithaca for $21, Winchester repeater for $17, and Colt revolver for $11. One hundred bullets for your 30-30 would set you back $1.80.

Just like today’s online shopping, folks in 1902 could sit in the comfort of their own homes and mail in their Christmas orders to Sears, prepaid, of course, and wait for the mailman to arrive, and there were no bills in the mail come January. Imagine: a pay-as-you-go society. Think we’ll ever see it again?