A few weeks ago, we received an American Girl doll catalog in the mail. Emma saw it before it went into recycling, and thought it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen. She wanted it all--a doll, matching pink and purple outfits, and other assorted accessories.
She has one of the dolls, purchased from the church garage sale, as well as a knock-off of the same size & awesome hand made clothes from my Aunt Esther and Mom. My pointing that out didn't dissuade her from wanting another one.
I suggested numerous things we could do as a family instead of buying one of the dolls. She didn't care, she'd go without to have a doll.
I suggested other toys she'd been wanting that would add up to the price of one doll. That didn't matter either. The catalog had done its trick.
Then, I told her that, for the price of that doll, we could buy 10 dolls for little girls that didn't have any dolls. She said okay, put the catalog down, and never mentioned it again.
What a gal!
My train of thought while writing this led to two other doll/Christmas stories that are worth sharing.
1) One year during the Great Depression, my Grandmother received a doll chair for Christmas. It had belonged to her sister (aka Aunt Emma) and had been lovingly reupholstered by her mother. Her parents must have felt certain that she would think this was a gift purchased just for her--because when she came down Christmas morning and told her mother, "Emma's chair looks nice," her mother cried.
2) Our woman's group at church occasionally has a dinner where we all bring dolls and share their stories and meaning to us. Some years ago, Genelle, who just turned 97, told her son about going and not having a doll to share--not just because she didn't have some left from her youth, but because she had never had a doll. The next Christmas, Genelle's son bought her a doll, which she proudly brought to our last such dinner and told the story. None of us made it through without tears.
ttfn.
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2 comments:
ww...what great stories! Don't those moments when the kids have clearly been listening to us all along and really *do* know the right thing to do make so many of the other moments in their lives worthwhile? With my kids, I have one of those moments each fall when I remind them that Christmas is coming and that we need to sort out some of the less-favorite toys to give away to the less fortunate. They always surprise me with their generosity and perspective in clearing out their own stuff.
Awesome. Way to go, Mama. And way to go Girl Child for being so immediately selfless.
That's a beautiful story about Genelle. Of course just reading it made me tear up ( but WHAT DOESN'T make me tear up??)
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