(*Lottie dolls, which are a cute brand aimed at being "pro kid" and having "modest" and functional clothing on the dolls - so they are dressed for things like going on hikes or helping out at an animal shelter, and the clothing is super cute and is what I might have wanted to wear when I was 10).
Our across-the-street neighbor, though, stood in line for HOURS to get them for her kids. I can't remember if she managed to score one for all four, or just the younger two (Scott, the second-youngest, was a boy my age and I am not sure how he'd feel about a Cabbage Patch Doll. Though maybe he was OK with it? Scott was a nice guy and wasn't as snarky as some of the boys so maybe? Or at least he appreciated his mom's effort even if the doll wasn't the thing he wanted most....)
Later on, someone asked (as a "quote tweet this and add your response") "What was the gift you always wanted for Christmas and never got?" (The person I saw it from said "Snoopy Snow-Cone maker," which....I think Vermont Country Store still sells? So you could get one as an adult? Maybe? Or at least they are still made...apparently Target has a listing for them*)
(*Target seems to have a thing about selling reproductions of vintage toys. I've gotten several My Little Ponies - both the G1 and G3 throwbacks - there. And the Simon I sent my brother's family for Christmas came from there. I approve of this.)
But I got thinking about it: I don't remember any one thing I wanted and did not get that I am still sad and bitter about today. There were little things I wanted and that even now I'd be pleased to get...
I wanted a Grumpy Bear, for example, when the Care Bears first came out. But I was like 13, and it felt....babyish? to ask for one. So I never did. But a couple years ago, when Build a Bear workshop made their versions - which were acceptably-enough like the originals**, I bought one
(**the newish cartoon - which I guess started on Netflix and now is on Boomerang - is super disappointing; they slimmed-down and de-cute-i-fied the Care Bears, and the whole POINT in my mind is that they were round and cuddly and not snarky (Well, except for Grumpy Bear) and the show tries for that sort of "edgy tween humor" and in my mind kind of falls flat. And they've redesigned the toys - I had a few of the older blindbag ones and they were cute and in the Care Bears Trad Style mold....then I bought some this spring and they were the weird lollipop-head (big head, skinny body) bears like the cartoon and it seemed wrong.)
I also kind of wanted more Strawberry Shortcake dolls....all of her friends. I did save up my allowance and buy a Strawberry Shortcake but....then I decided I'd be made fun of for it if people know (how much simple fun I have missed out in my life because I worried what people would think) and the only other ones I have are either yard-sale purchases, or the "retro reboot" ones that Basic Fun did the past few years. (I *DID* finally get an Orange Blossom, which I had always wanted)
Going further back? The Honey Hill Bunch. I would actually have been an actual kid when these were around and now I don't know why I never had any....did I just not ask for them? Or did my parents go for the bigger flashier gifts on my list? But again....I probably would have wanted the whole "bunch" - I tend to be a completist when it comes to sets of toys where there are "friends," or at least, I want to get enough of the "friends" for it to feel kind of complete....so my lone Strawberry Shortcake made me a little sad, because she didn't have Blueberry Muffin and Orange Blossom and the others to play with, and I looked long and hard in the stores until I found all the little Muppet Show figures that they made so I had all of them...
And now I wonder, could that be part of my psychological make-up? That I tend to be a completist when it comes to things? Or is it the reaction of someone who was frequently lonely as a child and who dreamed of having a whole "squad of friends, even if she wouldn't have quite known how to interact in a "squad" (and also: squads can often wind up with divisions in them. A friend of mine once commented, "Three girls as friends often means two are ganged up against the third" and sadly that is sometimes true)
I also wanted various dollhouse-type playsets as a kid, ranging from Fisher-Price stuff (some of which I did get) to fancier bigger dollhouses (I got the build-it-yourself shell of a dollhouse when I was 12...)
But I can't think of any one thing that I wanted so badly and desperately that getting it NOW would bring me great joy....oh, it was fun to finally get an Orange Blossom and a Grumpy Bear, but it didn't feel like some great injustice of my childhood had been righted, or something.
Though I also admit: I wish I could be as excited about some kind of small, inexpensive gift as some kids are about getting a certain toy they want (I suppose now it's the flashier, more expensive toys, but there are probably some kids who get excited about, I don't know, a particular stuffed animal or simple toy car or a box of Lego). But maybe I never was that way? I don't know. I look at old Christmas pictures of myself and I remember being happy (like the one I've posted here, where I'm hugging the two stuffed mice and the Pink Panther) but I don't remember the sort of jump-up-and-down-and-scream excitement that is portrayed in ads and in movies. (Maybe most kids actually aren't like that?)
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