Magnify the LORD with me,: American Girls!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

American Girls!

There are things in life that reach across gender, age, race, and cultural differences. For me it's the Catholic Church, chocolate, and American Girl dolls!

Last weekend, most of the girl cousins got together with their American Girl dolls in Dallas. We all have an American Girl doll, so despite the difference in our ages, it is a link for us. We met in Dallas at the American Girl store and ooh'ed and ah'ed over each other's dolls and the new store dolls.

Here's Kirsten! Kirsten is very special to me. When I was seven or eight a magical catalogue came to my house. It featured three gorgeous dolls that each represented a historical point in our country and were each accompanied by three books telling their stories.

I instantly loved Kirsten. She looked like me and I've always been fascinated with pioneer times! Unfortunately, she was $74.99. Yes, a seventy five dollar doll. My mother quickly said, "save your money." So I did. Only problem was my small allowance! When I was eight, I got eighty cents a week. When I was nine, I got ninety. So you can see this was going to be a long process. With a couple twenty dollar gifts from my Grandparents and a couple of years of saving, I reached the goal. Seventy four dollars and ninety nine cents. I was elated. I was beaming with pride. I skipped to my mother to announce the good news. "What about shipping and handling and tax?" she asked. YAKMR. Eventually I had the whole amount and ordered the long-awaited for doll. She was everything I hoped she'd be! I loved her.

My parents were proud of me. Every year I'd receive an outfit for Christmas or my birthday. And my Dad worked very hard to build me the trunk and bed matching the catalogue. I'm sure it ended up being 500x better quality than the catalogue, too! The trunk and bed are hand-crafted and painted and beautiful. Mom sewed up a mattress and pillow and they ordered her special "quilt". It's the most precious and thoughtful present I've ever received. I treasure it.

After twenty years, Kirsten needed some primping! At the store, they cleaned her up and fixed her hair. I had it styled back to the original style and promised never to touch it again!