I remember the day she first entered my life… I was almost seven years old. My aunt had come out for Christmas, and as usual, the holiday was filled with anticipation. Beneath the decorated tree in the corner of the living room were numerous “packages, boxes, and bags”, each exciting wonder and interest in me. When no one was looking, I would crawl under that tree and feel some of the packages to see if I could guess what was in them.

There were two boxes in particular that drew me. They were equal in size—about 21” by 8”. One was addressed to me. The other was addressed to my older sister Amanda. What could be in them? I had only to wait for Christmas Day to find out.

It came with the usual Christmas excitement and long waiting that Christmas mornings always seem to bring in books—and I always viewed my life as a book. Amanda and I hurried out of our beds as soon as we woke up and ran to see what we had in our stockings. Daddy Clause had been there during the night. We found a fun assortment of goodies—Riesens, a toothbrush, a TY beanie baby, and some other things. We had to wait a little while longer before we could find out what was under the tree.

Once we finally had everyone gathered, we began to open gifts… and as usual, the most intriguing was saved until last. In my usual fashion, I tore off the green wrapping paper, and to my delight, saw the emblem written on the white box: The American Girl Collection. With a gasp of rapture, I ripped off the tape that held the box closed and lifted the top. There, sleeping comfortable with her mouth parted slightly and her long, dark lashes brushing her cheeks, was the doll of my dreams—Kirsten. Her smooth blonde hair was braided on either side of her part and looped up just like I had seen in the catalogue, and she wore her lovely blue sprigged dress. And there was the first book in her series, and a separate box of her accessories! What thrill!

Oh the fun we had, Amanda and I, with Kirsten and Felicity! I remember going on a summer holiday to the seaside with our cousins, and purposefully driving my cousins crazy with Kirsten’s voice (which at the time was very high-pitched and obnoxious). One of my clearest memories of our childhood friend Megan was playing dolls with her—she had Samantha—and when the boys would come bother us, we would start undressing our dolls to get them to go away. (Terrible, I know!) Grama bought me a new outfit for Kirsten every birthday and Christmas, until I had collected almost all of Kirsten's wardrobe.

Then the day came when I began to grow out of dolls, or so I thought.  I believe it was the year I turned fourteen.  I received a lovely pink doll dress, sold by Vision Forum, and I remember telling an adult friend about it and getting the impression that this friend thought it odd and immature for me to still be collecting doll clothes as a teenager.  There stopped my collecting... until last year.

Having picked up sewing in 2008, I had begun to consider sewing and selling doll clothes to make a few bucks.  I realized, however, that my Kirsten, as dear and as special as she was to me, couldn't really model for online selling.  Her hair was in more condition, some of her face paint faded, and her eyes had developed a cloudiness in the pupils.  Besides, she was my lifelong friend, and it seemed almost unfair to make her a model now.

So I began to look in the American Girl catalogues again and consider purchasing a doll for modeling.  Then one snowy day the big brown truck pulled up in our driveway with a box from Wisconsin, and there in the box was my first American Girl purchase: Rebecca Rubin, a.k.a. "Becky".  Before I knew it, I was not thinking of Rebecca as a model, but as a little friend.  Then I joined the American Girl Fans Message Board and was further "enabled" by other sweet, crazy ladies like me who like dolls even though they're techincally "too old" for them.  The August after Becky arrived, my little Indian girlie, Sonali Mathews, joined us.

Thus is our little doll family now.  I also look after my sisters' dolls, Felicity and Samantha, for them, seeing that they've grown out of childish things like sensible people. :-)  At this point, I have not adding clothing and accessories to my collection, as I cannot justify the cost.  However, I do sew doll clothes to sell, as was my original plan.  Click on the "Doll Clothes" tab to learn more about that!

And now, for those who have patiently taken the time to read through this whole ramble, I wish you a good day and happy explorations on my little weebly.  May the Lord bless you.

Joyfully in Christ,
Melanie

known as mollygibson on AGFMB

Picture
Kirsten and me, the year she came to live with me :-)
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