Pictured above is Maryanne Schaub, who has resided at this address, sitting on the blue cushion in the left-hand corner of the deacon’s bench, for almost four decades.
As I pondered about Maryanne’s exact arrival date, (since my memory about same apparently failed me), I decided to ask Mr. Google, who, in approximately one-half second, answered my query for “Maxwell House instant coffee rag doll promotion” and I learned that promotion was in 1985. I remember that for a few coffee jar inner seals, Mom and I had ourselves a sweet rag doll in a red gingham dress and pinafore, the perfect complement to our country kitchen. I am always impressed by Google and I am not easily impressed. 🙂 I was even rewarded with a picture on picclickdotcom for my efforts. Maryanne was just a gangly teenager in those days and showing a little too much leg in my opinion.
For over a decade I admit I have been remiss in decorating for the holidays, despite the fact that red and green Rubbermaid totes downstairs are filled with Christmas décor, plus tucked in every available nook and cranny are items from various Christmas country craft shows, two ceramic trees and two miniature trees with trimmings. I used to spend every Black Friday … an entire day, creating a festive flair, then whisking it all away New Year’s Day. It’s a small house, so some regular knickknacks and doodads would be put away for safekeeping during the holidays under the couch or the bed … sometimes we’d forget about those items ‘til way into the new year.
But, there has been one constant at Christmastime and that is swapping Maryanne’s red wool cap …
… for her Santa cap (seen in the top image).
My mom thought Maryanne looked a little plain, even a bit pasty-faced, so once when we were shopping we bought her that hat and mitt set (the mitts adorn her feet).
Maryanne is pretty exclusive these days … the only doll I own, but, at the age of 66 ½, it’s highly unlikely I’d be buying any dolls, right? But, I must add that I have 52 teddy bears of assorted sizes, a collection which was started in the mid-80s, only after many years of allergy shots. You see, I was allergic to stuffed animals as an infant, so this is the one and only photo of me with a teddy bear (or two).
My affinity for those plush bruins will be a Christmas post for another year, as I want to write about my fuzzy friends as well as two treasured Christmas gifts from my mom: a ceramic Boyd’s Bear Christmas tree and a tapestry Boyd’s Bear jacket. So bear with me and hopefully, I can get that tree up and aglow in the spirit of Christmas next year.
Reflections on Christmas past.
I decided to write about dolls for this year’s holiday remembrance after some of you commented on my doll that rested on the bumper of the 1957 Monarch Lucerne (pictured below) in a Wordless Wednesday post featuring photos from a local classic car cruise and a few baby pics of me as well. Fellow blogger/car enthusiast JP identified that vintage car where a vintage me sat atop the hood and Tilda Jane gently rested on the bumper.
In several comments I mentioned Tilda Jane and decided her story would be a fun post for Christmas 2022.
Why I named my doll Tilda Jane was always a mystery to me.
With no family members to pose that question to, I resorted to asking Google. After typing “Tilda Jane” I quickly discovered the origin of my favorite doll’s name. There was a book by the same name, by a female Canadian novelist (Marshall Saunders) and the book review website Good Reads, summarizes the plot as follows: “Tilda Jane is a rambunctious orphan in search of a home, fleeing the orphanage that won’t allow her to keep her rescued dog.” This book was written in 1901 and the author was renowned for her commitment to a better life for children and animals and was famous even before fellow Canadian novelist, L.M. Montgomery, wrote her first book in the “Anne of Green Gables” series in 1908.
I found the book “Tilda Jane” online at the free reading site “The Gutenberg Project” and you can click here to read it if you’d like.
I decided to be a bit frivolous, so I splurged and I bought the book, a little homage to my once beloved doll.
My parents were avid readers and they passed that love of reading onto their only child. I had a basket of “Golden Books” memorized before I moved on to “The Bobbsey Twins” series and many animal books, some which were spun into Disney movies. Likely “Tilda Jane” was in my repertoire of books read to me, or devoured by me.
I went down a deep rabbit hole on Saturday afternoon while perusing all my digital photos. Sure I was enamored by other dolls, paper dolls (cutouts) and a Barbie doll, but Tilda Jane was special.
But what made Tilda Jane so special?
Sometimes I cradled her in my arms, or she was nestled in the crook of my arm, but a lot of the time, I dragged Tilda Jane by her feet. She had a soft and pliable, almost rubber-like, body and head, but I had a bad habit of carrying her by her feet. I may be 5’ 9” tall today, but back then I was a lot shorter of course, so that poor doll’s head was often dragging along the ground. Oh Mom warned me that carrying Tilda Jane upside down wasn’t a good idea but I was young and … well, you know how that goes.
The damage to her “skinned head” was done and my mom decided Tilda Jane would soon be headless if swift action was not taken. She sent my father to the store to buy a new doll with the intention to swap heads. Many times over the years I heard the story that instead of my father returning with a doll that resembled Tilda Jane, he brought home a yellow-tinged, hard, but somewhat pliable, plastic doll with a hard head and a ponytail molded right into the back of her head. Of course it looked nothing like Tilda Jane.
The “surgery” took place after I was in bed and sound asleep. Mom carefully lopped that molded head and neck off and sewed the neck portion to Tilda Jane’s body. Post-op, a piece of white flannel was sewn over that gaping “wound” and tacked down with many stitches.
Before-and-after photos – well, oh my gosh.
The earlier photos versus the later photo … well, you take a look for yourself. It’s probably difficult to tell at a casual glance, but Tilda Jane wasn’t winning any doll beauty contests which you see in the last photo, showing that ugly ponytail and me, with a wan look on my face from my grandfather’s cigar smoke wafting towards my nose.
BEFORE … taken the same day as the pose on the Monarch:
AFTER … note the molded head/ponytail:
Well as I understand it, the mismatched head did not diminish my love for Tilda Jane.
Mom made us matching dresses on my grandmother’s old Singer treadle sewing machine. She even knit us fuzzy cardigan sweaters that sported “pearl” buttons. Though I scoured the digital albums for pictures of those outfits, I could find none. I can remember some of those outfits vividly.
Yes, there were other dolls who at least deserve honorable mention.
Every year when the Eaton’s Christmas Catalog arrived, I was allowed to pick two items to ask Santa for. Those chosen items were divvied up between my grandparents and parents.
I got a pram or a doll bed or doll clothes, plus a new doll each Christmas. My parents and/or grandparents bought the popular dolls like Betsy Wetsy, Thumbelina and Chatty Cathy.
Betsy Wetsy drank from her bottle, then needed a diaper change as the liquid ran through her … hmm, that’s not so cute now that I think of it.
Thumbelina was a soft and life-sized baby doll, whose head would move around when a dial on her back was wound. Her head twisted and turned at odd angles and it rotated back and forth … years later I think that is kind of creepy to be honest.
Chatty Cathy had a pull ring at the back of her neck and said various phrases. Mom would tell me years later, that after listening to my best friend Linda Crosby and me both pulling our respective Chatty Cathy doll’s string within earshot, she thought she’d lose her mind. This coupled with our parakeet’s non-stop uttering of “Hi, I’m Skippy Schaub!” Poor mom.
Here’s a few more doll pics through the years; some might have been these aforementioned dolls.
(Years later I wonder why the plush tiger PJ bag in the next two photos was not problematic with my allergies – guess it was not stuffed with anything but my PJs. Apparently it was a hit on that Christmas morn.)
There was a Barbie doll too. Mom knit outfits for my Barbie and I had cardboard furniture for her, something that was all the rage for that buxom blonde in the mid-60s. I never had Barbie’s friends like Ken, Midge or Skipper, but I wasn’t hard done by – even though I was an only child, I was never spoiled.
It’s always fun to reminisce … photographs and memories are such a treasure. Thanks for steppin’ back in time with me in this holiday post.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I love seeing your old photos and the last one is the one I saw before with the silver tree and went and got the one I have now. I drag out our old photos now and then, so much fun to look at them. I remember getting to pick 2 things out of the catalog as well. I think it was a sears catalog. Sometimes we got it and sometimes we did not, the things we picked. But the presents were so much more special because we did not get as much as children get now I think. 🙂
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Thank you Sandra. I did use this picture before, plus I have a picture I used that was taken the following year with Peppy, our poodle. Did you get the one-color bulbs and color wheel too? That was the style in the early 60s … this was taken at Christmas 1964. People had all one color bulbs and a color wheel in the same color. It was all blue, all green or all red. Some people got a color wheel with multiple colors. We just had all blue. We gave it to my grandmother when we got an artificial green tree. I remember the aluminum color rubbed off on your hands while putting it together – made your hands black.
We had two major department stores, the other was Simpsons (which was a Sears) but I only remember the Eaton’s catalog. Two things to ask for only. I don’t think kids got as much as now either and other presents back then might include clothes for me or doll clothes.
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Aw, Linda, I love everything about this post. All of your old photos are so fun to look at. I had several of those dolls you mentioned too and the tradition of a new doll at Christmas sprinkled with my past too. Since we had two girls, my mom and my MIL both bought our girls dolls for Christmas because it was a tradition they wanted to carry on. I still have my mom’s childhood dolls and buggy and photo of her with her and her doll buggy hanging on my wall next to the buggy. Talk about dust…🤔Needless to say, there may have been too many dolls to play with over the years for my daughters, so they didn’t attach to them as much as they did to homemade bears and toys I sewed for them instead. The doll you still have is so cute, it’s fun that you kept her around and still change her hat for the season. I look forward to seeing your bear collection photos.
PS – I’m glad the critters let you stay safe and warm while you created this post.
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Glad you liked this post Shelley and I had fun compiling it and going down the rabbit hole on Saturday afternoon to pick pictures (and I had more pictures, but decided the post was getting too long so reluctantly I left them out).
That’s amazing you have dolls and buggy from your mom. My mom used to say that she wished she kept her Shirley Temple doll if she knew she would have a little girl. My mom did not plan to marry and have a family, then she met my father and changed her mind, but had given those dolls away in the meantime. I do have a felt monkey made by my mom. When she was in the hospital for four years, from age 11 to age 15, the patients did crafts and one was to create a stuffed monkey from felt. It sat on the back of the couch in the den for years. It is missing a tail and I always told my mom we could get some brown felt and wire and make it a tail. She didn’t know what happened to it but “Joe” is in the drawer now but in good shape. She was in the hospital from 1937 to 1941, so it would be at least 80 years old … maybe a blogworthy tale?! A fellow blogger has a stuffed monkey her and her husband take it with them in their RV as they travel in Canada and pose “Trum” in their various nature settings, thus her blog name is “Trum’s Travels”.
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It’s so fun to read how much you know about your mom’s history. Did she tell you all of that or did you ask her lots of questions?
I still have the sock monkey I made with my mom. It’s decorated like a girl scout with a sash as we did that as a project in girl scouts when my mom was the leader.
I think a blog post about your mom and that monkey you have would be a fun post to create and read! Wow – 80 years old is a long time to keep Joe well preserved. My mom’s buggy and dolls are from 1947…a long time to hang onto them too.
Aw, that’s a fun blog companion and very creative to use it as a prop for their blogging travels.
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My mom did tell me a lot of things and especially when we went thru the photo album. She had a photo album of old pictures, a few pictures of herself as a baby, one on a bearskin rug I think and when she made her communion too … alongside my grandparents. I actually have a photo I have used in the past of my grandparents near some water holding my mom as a baby – she would have turned 96 this year and that picture is in remarkably good condition. It’s too bad that picture of me with the teddy bears was damaged. The pics of my mom as a baby have a tear at the side. Should I repair the tail or leave him tail less? He used to sit on a corner of the couch then when we got all the bears, my mom took him off. That’s a long time for the buggy and dolls – they are well preserved.
My mom and I were at Hallmark I think it was buying cards or getting puzzles and she saw a monkey and bought it for me … she said “here, you could collect something else besides bears.” Maybe I could factor that into the post.
Yes, the monkey is a cute prop and she uses a shot of him every few posts. One time her husband and her were hiking and Trum fell out of one of the backpacks and they had to go back and look for him.
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It warms my heart to read of your time spent with your mom and that you have special photos to remember events that happened as you grew up. It sounds like you have many potential posts to write about. Yes, factor in the monkey and the bears!
Aw, glad they retrieved Trum!
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Yes, I think I can do a few posts a year about non-nature/non-walk items. I did my Christmas post last Sunday to schedule it in case of power issues. I have a few posts that will be a year-end wrap up for walking miles, plus in the new year I have a fun post still tied in to the holiday season, my birdie bucket list 2023 and then my 10-year blogiversary. When will I fit the walk posts in? I looked on Amazon and can buy soft brown felt for a tail for ol’ Joe. I knew another blogger I met in my “Patch” blogging group years ago. He and his wife are now retired by they had no kid, just a monkey and we are FB friends still and they’d do holiday decor for all the holidays around “Monkee”.
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Aw, I wish I was so organized with my blogging efforts. I’d say I should add it to my resolutions for 2023, but I come up short enough without that extra pressure 🤣😂🤣
I’m looking forward to all the posts you’ve described and the surprise ones along the way! Let’s hope for a wonderful 2023 and be thankful the generator is FIXED and working!!
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I should probably be more organized in the house, than with my blogging efforts. I was going to sort out more photos from the Summer this weekend, but the table I have that old laptop I use for pics is in my room and it’s against the wall and it will be too cold, so I’ll use other pictures I have for now. Stay tuned (likely late January at this rate)!
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You’ll have plenty of inside time this weekend apparently with the storm and it’s follow-up winds.
I’ll enjoy your posts no matter when they appear!!
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I enjoyed that post, especially as regards your love for dolls. I had two or three dolls, but I didn’t like them and didn’t play with them. My mothering instinct was missing that far back!
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Ha ha – Anne, you are a great mother now and we all got to see your mothering abilities back in all the England letters posts. I never went anywhere without that doll and even the other dolls in those days. I would make up for the lack of teddy bears when my mom and I were shopping and she saw a cute bear and said “since you missed out as a kid, here’s one for you now” … she later would live to regret that impulsive move as we added to that collection.
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Your mom made up for lack of teddies!!
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Yes, it was kind of funny how that turned out Anne! I took some pictures a few years ago of the whole gang as they are in different rooms. You almost need a wide-angle lens!
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This has been an interesting read. Like Anne Mehrling, I didn’t pay much attention to dolls – probably because as the only girl with three brothers, there were so many other interesting things to do. Still, I had my sheepskin teddy bear until it finally disintegrated when I was in my early thirties – what a sad parting that was! It is a good idea of yours to take stock of a particular aspect of our past 🙂
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I am glad you enjoyed it Anne. Since I had no siblings, I amused myself with my doll(s) and I read a lot. One day I will return to reading like I once did … I want to read over the upcoming holiday. We are having stormy weather, so no walks and reading will be nice. I can imagine after 30 years it would be difficult to part with that teddy bear. My mom and I were shopping around 1984 or 1985 and she saw a bear and said “you missed out, so I’ll get this bear for you” and I kept adding to my collection. That was a big bear, but 2/3rds of them are small and she also bought me figurines, some Christmas bear figurines. That will be a fun post to compile.
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Your post brought back so many memories for me. The pictures are priceless. They reminded me so much of my childhood. I know you said that you don’t post about recipes but I would invite you to contribute to my Mother’s Day stories and recipes that I run in May.
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Thank you Bernadette … I had more pictures I wanted to add of my friend Linda and me, plus my bird Skippy, but my posts all tend to be on the long side, so I stopped myself. 🙂 Thank you for asking me to contribute a post for your Mother’s Day stories in May – I would like to do this. I always do a Mother’s Day post, often about my mom and last year it was about a goose that I followed from her sitting on a nest, then me viewing her eggs when she was off that nest, then her goslings. I always try to do something special for Mother’s Day.
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I will look forward to working together in 2023.
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Thank you Bernadette – me too!
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Kapok was often used to stuff bears and other cuddlies during that time period. My brother was allergic and many of my favorite stuffed animals were taken away. I do believe at that time I would rather have had my bear than my brother. Many years later he bought me an Eeyore to make up for the one that was taken away.
I loved dolls, too. I remember the year I wanted a Betsy Wetsy doll more than anything. I don’t think I had her more than a day before I decided she was never eating again and I was never going to have babies. I loved my Thumbelina doll and never found her particularly creepy. She was, most importantly silent.
This was a fun post and a delight to see your pictures and listen to your memories. Slides had just become a “thing” during my babyhood and most pictures after that are on slides. To be fair, we used to have evenings where we had family slide shows and movies, but I haven’t made the time to sort through them and get some digitized.
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Zazzy, I’ve never known another person allergic to stuffed animals before … I’d be upset too if my stuffed animals were taken away because of my brother. Your comment about rather having a bear than a brother made me smile. That’s exactly what my mom did years later with my first bear around 1984 or 1985. We were in a department store and they had a cute bear and she said “since you missed out on teddy bears when you were a kid, here’s one for you now” … she later would regret that purchase as we added to that collection for birthdays, Christmas and a few people helped add to the collection as well. A friend of the family worked at the Ganz Bears factory in Toronto and would send me bears, one a huge Grizzly bear. I named them all too. It will be a fun post, hopefully for next year.
I think that’s why we loved dolls so much. I was looking at YouTube videos of these three dolls to see if I could tell what dolls were in the photos with me, but I could not. I was sure Thumbelina had a pink knob on her back and wanted to confirm it. She did and you twisted it to turn her head. Maybe her head movement seemed strange now, but not then.
And Betsy Wetsy WAS messy. Funny what you said about deciding you never wanted kids after that doll – I never babysat, had no siblings, had three cousins I only saw at my grandparents’ funerals, so I was never around younger than me, just my own friends. My mom and I went to visit a friend of hers once when we were in Toronto visiting my grandmother. I was probably in my late 20s/early 30s. This woman boarded babies for the Children’s Aid Society in Canada. She took in newborns and raised them until they were adopted. She and her husband adopted four or five babies as they grew attached to them and they got older without being adopted. Anyway, the last baby, a little girl, was getting her bottle and the phone rang and Mrs. Gibbs passed Christina to me and said “here Linda, let her finish her bottle” so I looked at my mom who was sitting there and said “no, I don’t know what to do – here take her.” My mom said “for goodness sake, she won’t bite, give her the bottle.” I had my purse next to me and it was opened up as I was showing Mrs. Gibbs some photos. That baby had the bottle and promptly spit up in my purse. I handed her to my mom like she was a hot potato. First and last interaction with a baby and I made the same decision as you (and kept my word).
Chatty Cathy and her litany of phrases I now understand why it drove my mom up the wall, especially if my friend and I both were pulling the cord at the same time.
I sat down over Thanksgiving weekend 2017 and digitized all the photo albums, but very few of them are ready to use. Some are very tiny pics as that was the format back then. And I had trouble scanning some pics. The photo albums began falling apart – pages fell out of the binder, overlays came loose and the plastic was yellowing. The only albums that were intact were my mom’s from years and years ago as they used photo corners. So I digitized them. It is fun to look back at memories. I digitized my trip albums too – maybe I will incorporate some of them into posts at some time down the road.
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I did not have a Chatty Cathy but I had a Mrs. Beasley from a Family Affair! I’m not sure if she drove Mom crazy but she kept her for me as she was supposed to be worth some money but her voice box no longer worked and she was missing most of her clothing that was not sewed on. My Thumbelina had a string pull, by the way.
My family tends toward collecting things. When I pared down during the big move from Wyoming to back here I made a lot of hard decisions and donated or sold most of my cows and bears except for a few special ones and kept my moose collection. Everything else had to go. I kept Mom’s mooses and a few things from the chicken collection I tormented her with. She kept telling me she did not collect chickens and I kept giving her some. 🙂
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You are younger than me Zazzy because I do remember watching “Family Affair” and seeing Buffy with hr Mrs. Beasley doll. I thought that doll was so cute and Buffy was never without her. I had thought Thumbelina had a pink knob on her back … so I Googled and found a video of her and an article and people commented that the later version of Thumbelina had a string pull. I’m wondering how long that string pull would last until it broke. That may have happened with my Chatty Cathy as I pulled that string a lot.
I am nostalgic for those dolls and wonder why my mom never saved any of them. The bears aren’t vintage as I didn’t start collecting them until the mid-’80s and stopped at 52.
Your mom’s chicken collection and my mom’s duck collection. I am going to do a Mother’s Day post sometime on her ducks she collected, (although she also liked roosters, chickens and geese and there are a few of each of those birds around the country kitchen too). I liked the country decor so I just kept it and I always have eyes looking at me, no matter where I go in the kitchen, or the rest of the house. 🙂 A moose collection sounds interesting too. My mom liked cardinals and blue jays so I used to buy her Christmas ornaments or items with those birds on them.
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You have a great assortment of Teddy bears Linda! Such great memories to be sure. Seeing you with your little Teddy bear was your “Rosebud”.
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I love doing these look-back posts Wayne. I had this post in mind for a while and even took off a few photos as I thought it might be too long. I had a picture of Linda Crosby and me – we were inseparable as she lived next door and she had two younger siblings, so she spent a lot of time at our house, plus I had a picture of Skippy, our parakeet, sitting on my shoulder.
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The old photos are fun! I had a few dolls but I only remember my Saucy Walker. She kind of walked along when you pulled her arms certain ways.
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I love looking at old photos Kate and went down a rabbit hole for hours perusing each of those old B&W photos looking for doll pics. I did not have a tall doll that walked – I know I would remember that, but we lived in Canada until age ten and had different toys and kids programs than over here in the States. My mom used to say if she knew she would have a little girl, she would have kept her Shirley Temple doll.
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Ah memories are so much fun to remember. You had several dolls for sure – each with an interesting story. You were a cute little girl. You and your mother were very close – I am sure you miss her – just as I miss my mother who has been gone for decades. A lovely post Linda. Have a great Christmas.
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Yes Peggy – glad you liked the post. Thank goodness for pictures as they help you to relive those special memories and it is amazing just how much you recall from your youth. I could picture those outfits my mom sewed and knit for Tilda Jane and me like it was yesterday. I even remember how she felt and looked – it was not like the other dolls. Thank you but I have some pretty homely pics in my collection of photos too. 🙂 I do miss my mom and it will be 13 years in January since she passed away – we were very close. Without our moms, we would not be here, nor who we are today. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
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My mother has been gone 18 1/2 years. I lived in Arkansas and she livesd in Arizona – I travelerd out there twice a year to see her. She died in a nursing home with dementia. Was so sad to watch her slip away from us for years – dementia changes them so much.
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That’s a long time Peggy for you for your loss. Sometimes it seems longer to me. That’s rough being in different states. My mom missed her mom very much after we moved here. It was 240 miles each way to go to Toronto to visit. Watching a loved one who suffers with dementia is very difficult. Our long-time neighbor lost her husband of 60+ years and within six months she went downhill. She would call across the street to me to ask what day it was and didn’t know my name. I’d answer and she’d go in the house and come back out. It was very sad – a woman I’d known for over 40 years. My mom called her and she would hang up or ask “who are you?” She finally went into a nursing home as she could not live alone. I watched the progression which changed her in amazement.
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Yes, dementia is a terrible disease.
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I wish scientists would worry about cures for dementia/Alzheimers and cancer. There are many other diseases that are heartbreaking but, if only they would put the effort into finding cures for them, that they put into space travel, mankind would benefit immensely.
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Yes mankind spends money on all the wrong things. Take the space travel money and build shelters for homeless people. Or find the cure for diseases.
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I’m all for both of those options Peggy. There will be many people outside in this cold weather, so hopefully there are enough places for them to stay and sleep and eat.
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One of two teddy bears is way bigger than you!
I confess that I never had much interest in baby dolls. I like my Barbie okay and paper dolls for a while. Stuffed animals were always a better bet.
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Yes it is and something funny Eilene … I knew I had that photo of the big teddy bear, one of about five photos that unfortunately were damaged and this was one of them. I never knew there were TWO bears until I used the photo for this post. I never noticed the smaller bear. I was only four pounds, eleven ounces when I was born. I wasn’t a preemie, just small and had to stay in the hospital for two weeks until I gained some weight. My mom was healthy, but lost a lot of weight due to morning sickness that she never gained back and the doctor blamed that on my low birth weight.
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This was a fun post.and a delight to see your pictures and listen to your memories. Beautiful pictures childhood with dolls. They remind me so much of my childhood. All of your old photos are so cute look at . I look forward to seeing your beer collection. I enjoyed that’s especially as regards love your doll.
Have a Holly Dolly Christmas photo.
Happy Christmas!
God blessing, Linda 👍
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Glad you liked that post rajkkhoja. I suspect since you are already retired, we may be around the same age, so no wonder those pictures remind you of your childhood, even in different countries. Happy Christmas and God’s blessings to you as well rajkkhoja.
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Thank you so much, Linda! Iam so glad ☺️!
We are around the same age.
Same to you!
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I thought that might be so rajkkhoja. It doesn’t matter what continent you live on, little girls almost always played with dolls … I think (and hope) that’s still true anyway.
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Many welcome 🌷, Linda.
Iam so happy. That’ remembering school life to me . 🚵🤼🏌️⛹️🤸
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The good ol’ days always seem golden don’t they rajkkhoja?
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Thank you so much, Linda.
Yes, you are right little girls almost always played with dolls. May be played with some toys.
God bless you 🙂!
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Yes, I had books and some toys like an Etch A Sketch or a xylophone (which was in one of the pictures) and board games, card games … always something to do and seemingly endless time until school started and then there was homework. Thank you rajkkhoja.
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I really enjoyed reading this post. How interesting to hear some of the history of your dolls and see your photos. Your Mom sounds like she did a lot of fun things with you and made life interesting. I, too, was a doll person. My favorites were Kissy, and of course Barbie, Skipper and later PJ with her wild ’70s clothes. I still have my first Barbie that had hard hair and came with wigs. Unfortunately, the others and their accessories disappeared when my parents did a house remodel. 😦
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Glad you liked this post Rebecca. I had a lot of fun putting it together. I had a few more photos I was going to include, but the post got longer and longer, so I reluctantly left them out. I’m betting you are younger than me as I don’t remember a Kissy doll and Skipper and PJ and their 70s clothes were after I no longer had my Barbie. I didn’t know Barbie had wigs … lots of changes after I stopped playing with her. I always carried my Barbie and her clothes and accessories around in that black vinyl case and when I was working at the diner, my boss’ son and his family came in to eat one time and the subject of Barbie dolls came up. Their little girl was about eight years old at the time and had never had a Barbie doll, so I asked if she wanted mine … her eyes lit up, so I brought in the case the next day. She was excited about that. My mom said she had a Shirley Temple doll someone gave her and she wished she had kept it for me.
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How kind of you to share your Barbies with the little girl. I know she enjoyed and appreciated them. I remember seeing the Shirley Temple doll. It would have been special if you could have had your Mom’s.
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It made me feel good doing that Rebecca as I was too old to play with them and I do think she enjoyed them. My mom used to tell me about the Shirley Temple doll and that they had to be careful with it as it was made of porcelain, so she more or less admired it, rather than playing with it, so it was carefully preserved on a shelf. My mom went into the hospital in 1937 after being hit by a car at age 11 and was in the Hospital for Sick Children for four years, so when she returned home again she was 15 years old, so no longer played with dolls. That was unfortunate – it would have been a nice keepsake. I used to watch all of Shirley Temple’s movies when I was young.
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Oh, that was a fun post! What a cute smile you have. Wishing you wonderful holidays, Linda!
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Why thank you Jeanine – I think I was a pretty happy child and loved my baby dolls back in the day. Same to you Jeanine and I hope they are restful holidays for you!
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A new doll each Christmas! 🙂 I enjoyed reading all your dolly memories, Linda, and especially loved the sweet pictures. The one with your mom, you and your doll in a line on the couch is my favorite. My grandmother made me a Raggedy Ann doll one year, with a little “I love you” embroidered over her heart. I still have it. ❤️
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Thank you Barbara. This was really a fun post to write and in compiling the photos it was hard not to include every photo I originally picked. I was glad that photo of Tilda Jane laying on the bumper of that classic car in this Summer’s post about the classic cruise event made me decide to delve into the history of her name, a fun rabbit hole for sure. I like that photo too Barbara, plus the one of the three of us on the front porch steps. I think some doll, even if not Tilda Jane, always had to be close by. That is so special having that Raggedy Ann doll with its embroidered “I love you” after all these years. Keepsakes like that are to be treasured forever. I don’t have any of my dolls anymore and wonder why? Did I wear them out?
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I love your old photos! So great to reminisce. I had a Chatty Cathy Doll, but I don’t remember what happened to her. I did not know about Tilda Jane or the Canadian author that wrote about her, Anne of course I do know. I am in my 60’s too and still love Stuffies. I did get rid of a lot but I have kept a few which sit in a wicker chair in our bedroom, it’s hard to let go of certain things regardless of our age.
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Thank you Susan! This was fun putting this post together. I knew I had a lot of photos taken with my dolls through the years and was surprised there weren’t as many with Tilda Jane. I have to assume that book is what made me call her that name which admittedly is kind of an odd name. I don’t recall reading it as a child. I loved the Anne series and I think all Canadian little girls read those books. I started collecting bears in the mid-80s and stopped at 52, but many of them are the six-inch tall Boyd’s Bears so they don’t take up too much room. It’s hard to let go of some things, especially ones with sentimental ties. My mom kept a small brown felt monkey she made as a craft while in the Hospital for Sick Children where she was from 1937 to 1941 after being hurt in a car crash. So, I still have that monkey and you sure can’t tell that it is at least 80 years old. I will have to make a post about it sometime.
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Oh that’s wonderful! Yes show us a photo of that monkey, that is so awesome!
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I’ll have to think of a way to work him in a post Susan, then I’ll do it. And funny she had bought me a monkey years later too. 🙂
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What lovely memories Linda! I enjoyed your doll history and remember some of them – Betsey Wetsey and Thumbelina. I loved my Chatty Cathy doll and kept it for years. When the Cabbage Patch doll adoption rage was on in the 80’s I let my niece adopt it, (she still talked and my niece seemed to enjoy playing with it) but I was sorry after that I had gifted it to her, as I don’t think she really appreciated it, and I’m sure it got thrown out later. I love Midge and Skipper too. My sister had the black Barbie case in your picture – mine was a blue one. Skipper was my other favorite doll, as I got her when I was 9 and had to go into the hospital for a few days after Christmas for dental surgery, so I think I got spoiled that Christmas. She came with nine boxes of outfits with matching accessories, including a raincoat and rainboots. I kept her, she still resides in the basement. It’s nice Maryanne has a festive look for Christmas. Hilda Jane’s surgery sounds interesting and complicated! I enjoyed the photos too. Don’t feel bad for not putting up any decorations. I just got mine up today, and only a few, not like I used too. I will respond to your gmail tomorrow. One more day and then you’re off – hang in there. I hope you don’t get too much blizzard!
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Glad you liked this post and it was fun to put together Joni. Next year I definitely have to try harder as to Christmas decor, but I just have so much clutter and part of it was me as I over-bought pantry items to ensure I had enough to stay away from the stores except for perishable items – then I went with the Medicare supplement that you get free grocery delivery. Plus I spent so many weekends in October/early November enjoying the Autumn weather while walking/taking pictures, something I feel I need by week’s end. I felt we were lucky to have good weather so many weekends, so I just got out and enjoyed it. Now we pay the price for that good weather unfortunately. I only have Maryanne looking festive and one little green M&M character my mom bought me years ago. It is filled with mini M and Ms.
Maryanne’s surgery – I noticed it right away as I was not that young, plus she had this white flannel my mom had sewed the necks together. She did a good job considering she had asked my father to try to match the body and he came back with something totally opposite. I played a lot with dolls and Barbie dolls too – I don’t know why I never saved them – did I wear them out? I intended to put the bears’ photos in here too. I took pictures of them a few years ago as a high school friend of mine had a collection of dolls her parents bought her and then she married and her husband bought her – they were a yearly collectible. So she took pictures of them, so I shared my bears. They are all over. So I decided to save them for the post with the bear tree and bear jacket. It is a dressy blazer-type jacket and I feel badly as I only wore it once.
Don’t worry about the gmail – I just wanted you to know about the status of broken things … the car leak is now my next worry after this storm which I’m dwelling on a lot … I sure hope it is not some antifreeze coolant. I couldn’t tell from the color on the paper. This could have happened a week or two ago. I have focused all my energies on worrying about the generator when they started talking about this storm. Maybe next year is calmer – I sure hope so.
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You certainly deserve a calmer and more peaceful New Years……I hope you got your generator fixed? This storm warning is worrisome – it is supposed to hit here tomorrow (Friday) morning and last into Sat. 4-6 inches but blowing and high winds. I hope your hydro holds out. I didn’t get the gmail written as I spend the whole day cleaning the house – I had to cancel the maids in early Dec, for mom’s eye appoint, but gave them plenty of notice to rebook but haven’t heard from them since despite leaving 2 messages and several emails and only getting a reply that the scheduler would get back to me but no one ever did. Not very nice – they probably don’t have enough staff which I understand, and said a date in Jan would be okay. Anyway I decided to clean myself today as even though we’re having a quiet Christmas, I was sick of the mess. The next few days will be more restful….movies and eating and reading. I hope you enjoy your time off! Joni
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Hi Joni – cleaning this house will be a priority in 2023 as we will then be in the heart of Winter, so I’ll get out for a walk, then come home and get things done. I won’t do it all weekend though as I have to have at least one day to myself … the last four months, but especially the last month have been trying. So far no issues with power loss and I am relieved that they found the source of the generator’s problem – that was/is good because this would have been just another part but not solving the problem. I am glad this tech contacted the manufacturer and did some troubleshooting first. I now have some peace of mind, but still, going into this storm, I had the issue of the car leak and last weekend, I don’t know if I mentioned it, but there was a huge water main break (a two-foot pipe) and the City guys could not fix it after working all day, so they had to call the Detroit DPS in. They had already turned off water for that street, but then lowered the water pressure for the rest of the City. That happened 2X last weekend. So on the Facebook site for the City, people were discussing if there would be more water main breaks from this brutal cold. If so, I could not have washed clothes to warm the pipes, nor kept the water running all day long – so worried about the pipes. If I did not have the car issue, I would feel like 2023 might be worry free but now getting it over there after this storm and any icy streets is worrisome. Here, a week from today, it will get to 49F. That is just plain crazy. Had it been that temp today, I could have taken it over after the generator tech left on Wednesday or on Tuesday, the day it leaked. I am sure it would not have taken more than two-three days. I hope to have a restful remainder of the holiday, though the high winds and brutal temps will continue tomorrow. I made my goal back earlier in the month, so I will skip walking for a few days, but I worry about my critters at the Park. Latest is some woman who waits til I am gone and picks up peanuts to give to them herself. The logic escapes me and saying something would be I give them extra when I know I won’t be around – you will toss one or two the following day. I know sometimes when I won’t be there – I’ve missed a lot of walks due to contractor issues, handyman, etc. I need to confront her as I overfeed them in Fall/Winter for a reason and I pay for them. It irritates me whether they end up with them anyway. I don’t understand this. I quit trying to understand people. I want to watch “Titanic” (most-recent one) and “A Star is Born” (most-recent one) before “ACG&S” starts on Sunday, January 8th. I did get a movie watched with Nick Nolte and Robert Redford called “A Walk in the Woods” and it is based on a book, which I think I’ll get for when I have more time. Plus I hope to read the Nicholas Sparks’ book “Dreamland”. I’d better get crackin’.
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It’s probably better you didn’t get a chance to take the car in – I had to do that once and it took longer than expected and I had to pick it up at 5pm on Christmas Eve when all the drunks were on the road! Forget the cleaning and read your books and watch your movies. The cleaning can wait until later in January. You need a good long break!
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Yes, it might look good next week, but I’m in no hurry and won’t be going very many places this Winter, unless it is clear and dry. Not so easy going for 6:00 p.m. when they close now because it is dark by 5:00, so will have to ask them to hold it til the next morning. Not like arrangements in Summer/Fall weather. I agree with you. I was just typing a reply and nodded off.
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I’m signing off now….get some sleep! Good night!
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Me too Joni. I am putting one more load of wash in, then that’s it. It’s just a matter of pushing the start button. The anxiety has caught up with me. Have a good night (and Christmas).
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Don’t worry re the deleted gmails Linda….I don’t remember what they were and have to go back to look. If it’s anything important I’ll resend it. It’s 10:30 and I want to sign off soon. Writing this on Wed.
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I remembered a few things, not all Joni. I feel badly. Right now my Comcast is down. Happened right after I left work tonight. If everything worked perfectly for one day I would be happy. Now I’m off for four days and I know (also hope) this four days will be less worrisome than last week’s weather worries. The time will go quickly of course. I am looking forward to it. Lots of rain, so I don’t know how much walking I will get in. That’s okay, my goal is met and hope the critters can find some of the treats they stashed. I haven’t seen that woman who keeps picking up the nuts this week. After two days of walking, I went out this morning, happy that the fog they predicted didn’t happen and I’d walk for the third day in a row, but I didn’t get too far. There was black ice and the melting snow from the warmer temps Wednesday afternoon caused lots of slick spots on the sidewalks and roads, so I just turned around and came home. Not chancing a fall … given my year, anything could happen.
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PS. I worry about your critters too – I don’t understand how any creature can survive outside in this!
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I hope they stay up in their nest, but I left a lot of seeds and nuts for them yesterday and some apples as well. I think they won’t even come down from the nest – they sleep all curled up together, the whole family to stay warm.
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Sorry Linda….I just read your second gmail this afternoon – I must have skipped checking gmail yesterday as it was from Dec21? Glad to hear your generator is finally fixed. That must be a huge relief, considering the storm. We did not get too much snow, but it’s blowing and whiteouts, so it’s making me anxious anyway. I feel bad for anyone having to go out. No walking for a few days, other than to retrieve the garbage cans which blew down the street.
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Yes, what a relief Joni … the month of December just overwhelmed me … too much going on and I need to just relax and recharge and hope to do that this weekend. Yes, walking won’t happen for me either although we didn’t get a lot of snow the last time I looked before the sun set. We are now going toward Spring – thank goodness!
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Linda, these pictures are gems!! Your smiles and curls are too cute. Can tell that you were so loved.
It’s special how your parents went on a tag team to fix Tilda Jean’s head and your mom made matching dresses for you and your dolls. Sewing is a gift, and if you have kids, could have so much fun making things together. I can only temporarily hem pants and still, kiddos have to make sure not to get their toes stuck through the thread when putting it on. Lol. I was not blessed with handiwork skills.
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Glad you like the pictures Esther … this was a fun post to put together and I had more pictures but left them out (reluctantly). Yes, my parents fixed Tilda Jane up, looking (almost) good as new. I used to make all my own clothes until they startrd selling tall pants. But my mom always finished off the hand sewing/hemming as I was no good at it then nor hand sewing now.
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It’s great you have so many pictures! You were adorable as a kid and lots of memories from your childhood. And your mom’s dress is so ladylike and pretty.
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Thank you Esther. My parents took a lot of photos of me when I was growing up. My father used a 35 mm camera and my mom had a Baby Brownie camera for years before she met him, so they documented my “formative years” … and, I got all the family albums on my mom’s side! I kind of like how the moms used to dress up for everything from grocery shopping to just being in the house. It is refreshing to see.
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That was a fun read Linda. I remember having a Drowsey doll. She was another one that talk when you pulled the string. One year my older sister and I each got Dawn dolls. They were like a smaller version of Barbie.
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Glad you liked it Ruth – I had fun putting it together. Those are two new doll types to me, but we never moved here til I was ten and you are younger than me. Dolls were a big part of my childhood memories and looks like part of your memories too.
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Yes – my sister and I still talk about our Dawn dolls.
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Good clean fun back in the day – paper dolls too!
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My aunt liked to buy us paper dolls so she could cut them out for us. 🙂
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I remember they had a large flat “book” that you had to punch them out on the perforations. And years ago, my mom read “McCalls” magazine and every month there was a page to cut out Betsy McCall and her clothes.
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When my parents were do looking through the catalogs (Sears, Montgomery Wards and such) they would give us the catalogs and we would cut out any of the models that were full length and use them for paper dolls.
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That was a good idea to use catalogs – I played with paper dolls a lot and I remember as soon as the “McCall’s” magazine would com, I’d wait to see what Betsy would be wearing this month – simple joys Ruth.
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This was a great read. I remember that my sister had dolls, but I don’t remember any of them in particular. Probably because I was too busy playing with my toy cars. 🙂
I loved the old pictures too, and remember how everyone in the family would be dressed up for Christmas, even if we were just staying home.
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Glad you liked the post JP. I think it is nice to reminisce about our childhood sometimes. I wavered on whether to include the photo of my father and me, but having the doll sitting between us on the floor and my gleeful face in that picture made me decide to use it – the post was about dolls so that firmed up the decision for me. In your Christmas post you showed your sister with the toy washer and dryer – I know for sure I never had that toy, nor the Easy Bake Oven. I wonder if the latter was for fear of fire, but not sure. Yes, people dressed up for holidays and Sundays even if just home – we have lowered our standards for dressing up, that is for sure.
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