Saturday, April 07, 2007

Payment for a Deprived Childhood ... Or Acting Like a 5-Year-Old

Some little girls want ponies. When I was a little girl, all I wanted was an American Girl doll. I had read all the books, I salivated over the catalogs, I collected the trading cards. I knew which one I'd get--Samantha. I envied my friends who had the dolls. I remember back in the day when the American Girl enterprise was comprised just of three dolls and their books. (It now has eight historical figures, plus three friends, plus choose-your-own doll, plus a magazine, plus three stores, plus a million other things.) My parents told me they weren't going to spend $100 on a doll.

So, when my mother started talking about buying my younger sisters American Girl dolls, I told her that if she got them dolls, I wanted one too as a payment for my deprived childhood. I was joking. Sort of. But on Friday, after a trip to the chaotic circus that is the American Girl Place (I cannot even begin to describe what a Fifth Avenue four-floor store crammed with little girls and their parents dropping hundreds of dollars on dolls looks like) with my mother and sisters, I might just have brought a big red American Girl doll-size shopping bag back to my dorm.

Part of me thinks this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever done and I should take it back. Part of me is more enthralled with my sisters' new dolls (mine is at Columbia and I am home) than they are. Part of me is trying to figure out where to put my new doll in my dorm room ... and wondering if it's OK that she doesn't match my orange-and-pink decor.

3 Comments:

At 4/7/07, 8:32 PM, Blogger Scraps said...

When I was younger, I wanted one of those dolls in the worst way--I, too, read all the books, pored over every catalog, and envied the girls in my class who had them. But my fascination with them waned some time ago, and now I'd be weirded out if my mother got me one (and she very possibly would, if I'd mention that I led a deprived childhood for the lack of one).

Shavua tov and moadim l'simcha!

 
At 4/10/07, 7:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh but they are so fun to collect and get sll the cool outfits to dress them in. You can even get them at college student prices if you search. My favorite places are Target and http://www.dollsclothes-emilyrose.com

 
At 7/1/08, 6:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't worry -- I was married with kids before I got Samantha, as a birthday present from DH. :)

Just pretend you've had her since you were a kid, and you're saving her for your own daughter. Even if you don't plan to let her touch the doll till she's 10. ;)

 

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