The Gift Of A Childhood Toy For Christmas

About 10 years ago my Granny and Papa gave my Mama a gift that was so very special to her, a doll similar to her favorite one she has as a child. My Granny also included a letter to my Mama about how much she loved the doll as a child and also about how much my Mama meant to her, I think it was my mom's favorite Christmas gift of all time.

My Mama still has the letter my granny wrote to her, but her doll was stolen out of a storage building several years back. The object is gone once more, but the memories of that very special gift remain fresh in all of our minds, especially my Mama's.

You can read all about my Mama's doll, Judy Rutabegger (Rutabaga) at My Favorite Doll, a lens (Squidoo Article) my Mama wrote.

A little over a year ago my step dad was diagnosed with Cancer. He has been fighting his disease since, but there have been many complications along the way including a mistake in what stage the cancer was in from the beginning.

Before the Cancer weakened him, my step dad was a woodworker, a very talented woodworker. He got great satisfaction from building something beautiful with his hands because it allowed him an outlet for his creativity. He always taken great pride in the craftsmanship of any item he built.

Several years back he suggested we begin to make homemade Christmas gifts for each other and we all agreed that it would be fun. He always used wood as his canvas, but the rest of us changed our materials depending on what we wanted to do.

Once the Cancer weakened him, homemade Christmas didn't seem as fun because he was unable to participate. This is the first Christmas we haven't done our homemade Christmas gifts since the tradition began, but Mama and my step dad wanted to do something meaningful for us. They decided that it was time for them to give us our childhood toy.

Almost every year I received a new Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas as a child. I have always, for as long as I remember, loved Cabbage Patch Dolls. When I was a little girl I played with them, but once I got a little older I began to collect them.

I don't know how many I had at one point, but it was a lot. They always brought me such joy, even after I had moved into my first apartment with my son and his dad when I was 18.

I kept all of my dolls until my family was forced to move because my son's dad couldn't find work. . Since we were young and very broke we couldn't afford to rent a uhaul to move the 800 miles we had to go, so I was forced to sell my dolls along with many other things I held dear. We needed the money and we needed to down size because all we could take was what would fit in the back of a Ford Ranger.

I sold my dolls off one by one in front of my house at a yard sale. I kept only one doll out of the many I had, and I never resumed collecting them after that even though I still loved them. Somehow it just wasn't the same for me after that.

My new Cabbage Patch Doll came with a letter from my mama telling me how much she loved me and how proud of me she is. She also mentioned what my sisters were getting, one a Barbie and one a Big Bird. I am not going to write what she wrote to me because it is a very personal thing, but it is a very special letter to me, one I will keep for years to come.

This Christmas could have easily been one of sadness, but this gift has helped to turn it into one of the best I have had in a long time. Instead of thinking about how sad it is that my Granny isn't here with us (she passed away earlier this year), I can remember how wonderful she was and how she cherished "making memories". Instead of being upset about how sick my step dad is, I can be thankful that he's still with us and that he got out of the hospital just in time to make it to our Christmas celebration. Instead of being upset about a Christmas tradition coming to an end, I can rejoice and celebrate a new Christmas tradition. The tradition that began in my Granny's heart has found it's way to mine through my Mama's, and one day it will find it's way to my children's hearts as well.

Buy the Pop N Style Cabbage Patch Doll here