Little Girls Want a Doll for Christmas - doll 1

Baby Doll

My cousin and I had sound alike names, Sherry and Shirley.  We often got the same dolls for
Christmas, although hers sometimes were the newer model.  I’m not sure when this trend started with my mom and her sister buying us similar gifts (BTW: the dads were also brothers).  I am sure it has something to do with the fact that we were best friends from toddlerhood (yes according to the internet that is a valid term) through adulthood.  The earliest I can remember matching toys was a baby doll we got when we were really young.  On this blog, I will share stories for three special Christmas dolls that my cousin and I shared.     

On the last Christmas that I remember with Grandpa D, he gave Sherry and I each a plastic Baby Doll.  He told us he had shopped with Grandma for the dolls and helped pick them out.  Sherry’s was in a blue blanket and mine was in a pink blanket, each was wearing a diaper and came with a matching bottle.   Although mine was in pink, the baby was very generic looking so I decided mine would be a boy too. (No anatomically correct baby boy or  baby girl dolls back in the old days.)  I named mine Tommy.  Our baby dolls were so special to us at the time and even more so after Grandpa passed away.  

I still have my baby doll.  It lost the blanket and diaper many years ago.  When my son was a toddler, I made him a couple of pairs of overalls.  Even though I am not the pattern-maker my Grandma was, with the scraps from that sewing project I made overalls for my doll.  For about a year, my son loved carrying the mini-version of himself around the house.

Come back for part 2 tomorrow.