Tuesday, December 10, 2013

All I want for Christmas...

Three or four hours later...

FINALLY!

That's about how long my parents waited in line to get me my Cabbage Patch Kids doll.

Might be her, not sure, my sister eventually destroyed her!

The year was 1983, or somewhere around then...

I can still hear my mom telling the story of now long they stood in line, the fights that were erupting around them. But lo and behold, they walked out with my doll.

Really, that's all I cared about. My dad was tough, he could take down any other parent that got in the way of getting my doll.

That's my story.

What's yours?

I enlisted the help of some blog buddies to share their stories of getting that must have toy for Christmas. Here are their stories.

Ann from Such a Mama
I sooooooooooooo wanted the Barbie Dream House!  My parents NEVER got it for me!  While my daughter is only 18 months, it is taking all my will power not to start buying Barbi stuff.  However, I am still very conflicted.  Since growing out of my Barbie phase, I became a pretty liberal feminist and even went to a very liberal all women's college.  I am pretty sure I am going to cave and get her that giant pink sparkly house of plastic as soon as she is old enough!

Tenns from New MamaDiaries
My favorite childhood toys were Barbies, my pink Barbie corvette powerwheels, and my Fisher Price kitchen. I literally think I played with all of those until they either broke or grew out of them. I still have my Barbies tucked away somewhere at my mom's house. 


I had quite a few favorites but the one that will always be special is my 6 foot Barbie house. Here is the URL to the post I did earlier this year:
I can honestly say “no other child got what I got for Christmas that year! and highly doubtful any other year!” LOL

I don't recall a particular toy that was a "must have" item.  Toys were marketed differently in the 60s and 70s.  I do remember going through the Sears "Wish Book" and putting my initials on the things I liked.  One item that stands out for me was my Crissy doll.  She had red hair that you could pull out to make long or retract for shorter hair.  I remember she had a mod dress and go-go boots.  My sister had a blond doll and my cousin had a dark haired one.  My mother had a grand time sewing clothes for them.  We played with them for several years until we outgrew them.

In 1976, I was eight years old and all I wanted that Christmas was a Bionic Woman doll. I was thrilled when I got it; she had that lever on the back that made her swing her arm that held a tennis racket.  I played with that doll until it literally fell apart!

Wanda Ann from Memoriesby the Mile
I remember the Christmas when I was 10, I wanted a Chatty Cathy Doll. She talked, walked and was so cute. I loved playing with her. It was a very special Christmas,  most of all because my Grandparents were there.

Nicole from Design It GirlBlog
My favorite must have item was a Cabbage Patch Doll, her name is Letty and I still have her. My mom put her layaway because $75.00 was a lot of money for her! She was a single parent. 

This is going to really date me - Nancy Drew Mystery Books. I remember having to look high and low for the Cabbage Patch Doll for my daughter though!

I am a native of Bulgaria. As a child we had an exchange program with a school Germany. We had a student assigned to be our pen pal. We would write letters to each other. This was a great cultural exchange for me from a very early age.  I loved hearing about the different customs in a different country and make a friend at the same time. I also spent some quality time with my grandmother as she was a Language Arts teacher with German minor, she was helping me write the letters. I became quite good friends with my pen pal. We started exchanging gifts as well. One Christmas we had purchased and sent a Bulgarian traditional folk doll to my German friend. In exchange she sent me a Barbie doll. It was the time where Barbie dolls were actually hard to get in my country... so I was beyond myself. I still remember this gift as well as the wonderful friendship that brought it. 

Karen from Sour Dough Native

Believe it or not, my must have toy from childhood was a Creepy Crawler Maker! 


Think our kids will have the same memories my blog buddies and I have? 

Let's hear your story, what toy did you just have to have when you were a kid?



post signature