.jpg)
I'm scanning photos from all our family albums again. I'm in the 1980's now with about 15 more years to go and saw this photo. It brought back a LOT of memories.I remember all the mothers going nuts trying to find a Cabbage Patch doll for their little girls. The dolls came with a little adoption paper, a special name and a hefty price tag. (About $50.00, I think it was.)
I thought they were rather homely dolls, but it didn't matter. Every little girl had to have one!
Then out of the blue, a friend called and said there were three dolls at K-Mart and did I want her to buy one for Tif? It even had dark brown hair instead of blond.
I could not believe it! Tif's birthday was coming up in a couple of weeks and suddenly here was this doll. The hardest thing was keeping it a secret.
I have a poor memory, but I remember this moment as clear as if it happened yesterday.
We shouted out to Tif on her birthday telling her to come to the kitchen. Her steps could be heard padding down the stairs. Art, Jon and I held our breath as she turned the corner and saw us waiting for her with her presents.
At first Tiffany smiled happily and then she saw the wrapped box. She knew the possibility of what a box of that shape could hold. She seemed to hold her breath as well and came over to open it. When she saw the doll, tears welled up in her eyes and then overflowed.
I don't think I've ever seen her that happy over a gift since.
.jpg)
Tiffany even wanted our holiday photo to include the doll that year. Do you remember loving any toy that much as a child? I'm afraid we couldn't afford many toys when I was little. We made our own toys out of sticks and whatever was lying around.
OK... never mind... my kids know I'll start talking about walking barefoot, miles and miles to school in the blinding Hawaiian snow, etc.
I was thankful that I had two boys when the Cabbage Patch doll craze was going the rounds. And, equally thankfully, they were neither of them ever really into any of the crazes like Ninja turtles, or Power Rangers, though they did like transformers. I think the toy I remember most from my childhood was a doll called Angel. And then there was the little stove that worked with methylene spirit tablets and really cooked things. And the little trainset that worked with batteries. I've seen the same stove that I had in a toy museum, but never found the trainset anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI remember Cabbage Patch dolls but I think the craze came missed my daughters. I thought they were quite plain, too, and rather expensive, but your account of Tif's birthday brought tears to my eyes - how lovely!
ReplyDeleteLike Amanda, I had a cooker that worked - it was fun but didn't set a trend for me to become an avid cook ;-)
fun story. being the mother of 4 sons-we had star war figures galore and legos! But i remember the cabbage patch dolls but never had to buy any dolls.
ReplyDeleteJill was never into dolls. She didn't even have any Barbies! She spent so much time "mothering" her little brother that I guess dolls we unnecessary. Legos were always Jake's favorites, and now the grandkids play with them when they visit. Irene isn't into dolls that much either.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Cabbage Patch Doll craze like it was yesterday! My oldest daughter, Megan just had to have one (Jenny, my youngest thought they were too ugly!) she said for Christmas! Well many stores later we found one and her wish came true! Now she thinks they are the ugliest things around (she is now 29 years old!). Thanks for the memories!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that blinding Hawaiian snow, barefoot, and don't forget "uphill both ways"!!
ReplyDeleteI remember my nieces and Cabbage Patch dolls. One just had to have it, and the other didn't much care. Of course, my sister had to "adopt" what seemed to me an inordinate number of dolls, no matter which of her daughters wanted them.
I agree, Kay, I thought they were rather homely, but what does an aunt know? LOL
Kay
Alberta, Canada
Kay;
ReplyDeleteI remember standing in line at my favorite toy store in Chicago on devon. That waas the place where the Grinch tried to steel Christmas every year. I digress, anyway, I managed to get a CP doll for Julie.
She opened it at Christmas, and never really played with it again. She liked the legos and cars that the boys had. As you would say"tisk"!
I remember the Cabbage Patch craze, glad Tif was able to get one!
ReplyDeleteSimply wonderful. You two are lovely then and now....but I liked your hair length in that year's Christmas Picture. Yes, I had a stuffed fabric doll I loved so much that I still have the remenents.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful birthday story for the day, Kay! I love it! I was always big time into dolls when I was little. I had no brothers or sisters, but I had a playhouse full of dolls and I always had four at one time, two girl babies and two boy babies for my play-like games! Little did I know that one day I would fill my grown-up house with two girls and two boys. Strangely enough, my girls never cared anything about dolls -- just stuffed animals! Talk about predicting the future, neither of them have kids, but they do have pets. Your pictures always stir up my own memories and that's fun! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
Beautiful memories -- brought smile to my face.My mom used to make dolls for me and my sister by stuffing cotton on a white cotton cloth piece-all parts were made separately,the head,the body,the legs and finally hand.She stitched all the parts so finely together-used buttons as eyes and black wool as hairs.Later ,she used to dress up the doll with a beautiful handmade frock .No other doll matched up the beauty of that.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is not that fond of dolls but when i told her about how my mom used to make one for me,she got all interested.May be this coming vacation i will make one for her.
your pictures are very beautiful !
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I remember the Cabbage Patch phase in life. I suppose my blue bicycle was my favorite toy. We were constant companions.
ReplyDeleteCute family photo. I refused to buy Maria a CP doll, because the price was insane. Lisa didn't care for it; she preferred My Little Ponies, wanting to brush their tails. Later, Lisa became a professional hairstylist.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite toy when I was a kid was a Magic Tricks set. It was fun tricking my friends into drinking a glass of water when the glass had slits near the rim, and the water leaked onto their shirt. Yeah, I got my thrills that way. LOL.
I don't recall any major fad toys when I was a kid -- perhaps Barbies. I remember all my friends being envious when I got the Francine doll with the growing hair. (There was a little knob in her back so one could make her air long, short, or somewhere in between). It seems like my friends and I were most interested in bicycles and clamp on roller skates.
ReplyDeleteI well remember the Cabbage Patch craze. I still have a couple in the basement, and my 8 yr old granddaughter has one that belonged to my daughter and one of her own. I have a pic of my 2 daughters with their Cabbage Patch dolls making faces trying to look like the dolls. I'll have to find that one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! I've never heard of Cabbage Patch dolls, but now I see it on the photo and I understand that girls loved them. They are so unique and more attractive then Barbies.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are also very beautiful. Every one looks so happy!
What a great memory! Yes, I remember those dolls -- and what a super friend you had to pick one up for Tif.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite memories are when I managed to pull out a really special birthday or holiday for the kids -- they have so few to remember, when we think of it, before they grow up.
I remember trying to get one of those darn things for Christmas for my daughter...what a mess...
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Chow-Wang haircuts!!
ReplyDelete:) sorry, couldn't resist.
walt
PS: for the rest of you guys, a chow-wang (I'm most definately mangling the spelling, doing it phonetically) is a rice bowl. To get a haircut, you invert the bowl and wear it on your head. Then trim away any hair that you can still see.
Walt: I guess that's why after a few years, they refused to let me cut their hair.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. I think I used that line with my mom, too. But then she gave me The Look. You know, when the eyebrows almost meet in the middle of mom's forehead. If the Unibrow makes an appearance, you know you're in trouble.
ReplyDeletewalt
Walt: Oh MY gosh! It IS inherited then? My mother had the nastiest look when we were growing up. Yes! The LOOK was terrifying. I did inherit it from my mom and used it in my classroom. One of the kids told their mother that I never had to yell at the class because all I had to do was look at them. ;-)
ReplyDelete