And the second thing: (I could not bring myself to put the two together in a single post): They've modernized Holly Hobbie!.

That is wrong. That is JUST WRONG. Holly Hobbie was a pioneer girl. She let those of us growing up in the bad ugly 1970s fantasize about a time that was nicer and purer (and didn't exist, but we didn't know that at the time) and where you could make quilts and stuff. She was the doll of choice for those of us who were fans of The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.

I remember spending hours with my childhood friend M. playing with either Holly Hobbie dolls or with her Colorforms set of the characters, and trying to imagine what life was like back in the "old days" before electricity and cars. (And that was part of the fun of it. Of course, we never imagined what it REALLY would have been like, with milk-sickness and lynchings and death-in-childbirth, but it was still fun, at least when we were 8, to try to imagine what it would be like having to sew everything by hand and read by kerosene lamp.)

(oh, wait - it's even worse. Holly Hobbie is DEAD - this brat that's going to be in the new tv show is her 'great-great-granddaughter'. And, just coincidentally, her two best friends are the great-great-granddaughters of the REAL Holly Hobbie's best friends.)

I'm sorry, but it's too sad and jarring to me to see something wearing flared jeans and a newsboy cap being foisted off as Holly Hobbie.

I don't know. It makes me feel old and sad to see the toys I knew as a child (and even not so much a child) being repurposed and "updated" - the Care Bears (which always creeped me out a little any way), and Strawberry Shortcake, and I don't know what else - Disney, in particular, seems devoted to strip-mining the memories any Baby Busters had of its products, with things like "Bambi II" (what is it? an interlude that supposedly occured in the middle of the original movie? Because as I remember it, Bambi was grown-up at the end of the movie. Or is it Bambi and Faline's kid?) and with the "Little Princesses" line where the different fairy tale heroines are presented as little girls with multiple outfit options and Easy-Bake Ovens. (as if a Princess would do her own baking. Or eat the products thereof. Or use a piece of purple plastic powered by a 60-watt bulb)

The only tiny shred I ask American Greetings or whoever to leave to me? Please don't make it "edgy." Please don't put the phrases "Whatever" or "Oh My G*d!" or "SHUT up!" of "you go, girl!" into the mouths of Holly and company. Because if you do - I swear I will go back to making my own greeting cards.