One of the girls’ dolls
Blind Pig reader Don Conn has a question for us.
“Around Christmas time, I like to ask people what their favorite Christmas toy was from their childhood. It always brings a warm response and fond memory from each person I ask. Could you put this question to your readers and let us enjoy their comments?”
My favorite Christmas toys were dolls. I just loved them. I combed their hair and dressed them in various clothes Granny made for me. I still have a couple from those days.
One year I got a Baby Come Back doll. You moved its arms and it would walk (sort of). Another Christmas I got a ballerina doll. If you pushed the crown on her head she would twirl. There were others, but those two really stand out.
Please leave a comment and answer Don’s question. You might have been like me always hoping for a new doll or maybe it was a new toy truck or board game.
Of course not every family had means to buy gifts at Christmas. Granny’s mother usually gave them a little poke of candy and Pap’s family got oranges and on a good year a piece of candy.
Granny’s mother was spoiled at Christmas by her grown children. I remember her getting all sorts of presents—even dolls and stuffed animals from them. They all loved her so much and wanted to give her anything they thought she might like. I’m sure her grandkids ended up with many of the presents after Christmas had passed.
Last night’s video: Heartwarming Christmas Gift in Appalachia.
Tipper
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I remember one memorable gift I got as a little girl was a Tiny Tears Doll. She was one of the first ones made. She had a bisque style head, later ones had a rubber head and hair you could come. You could give her a bottle (water) and if you squeezed her tears would come out these tiny holes at her eyes. Always wanting to be a nurse that doll, as well as my stuffed animals suffered many pretend illnesses and injuries that I would have to fix. I still have that doll to this day safely tucked away in a closet. What wonderful memories just telling this come back to mind.
When I was a young girl, I had a little pony named Domino because she was solid black with one white spot right between her eyes. I would ride her bare back holding onto just a handful of her mane.
I never asked for riding tack because I knew it was expensive, so I just made do. But, one Christmas my Granny and Pa surprised me with a saddle, blanket, and bridle for Domino. It was the best Christmas present ever, and one I remember the most from my childhood.
Of course, it’s a whole other story about getting Domino used to the new riding situation.
My most remembered and loved toy was my Ballerina doll. She had the crown and the prettiest pink TuTu to match the crown. She could twirl on one leg by holding the crown. I can still see her like it was yesterday. That was sometime during the middle fifties.
We mostly got an orange, apple and a peppermint stick. We really thought that was something. I was such a tomboy because I had 3 brothers , no sisters. After I got a little older, my mom did get me some of the paper dolls and the paper clothes. Oh , I would change their clothes with dresses or shirts. I loved it. Then 1 Christmas momma got me a doll. I can’t remember her name but you push a button and her hair grew long. You raised her arm and it went back in. She was a beautiful little thang. And then their was Miss Beasley. She was popular back then. She was a little comfy doll to hold and sleep with.
I remember the Miss Beasley dolls from the tv show A Family Affair where the two little kids and their teenage sister had to move in with their rich playboy Uncle Bill and his butler Mr. French. The little girl (whose name will come to me later) had a Miss Beasley doll. I never before wondered about that name, but I do now.
Of course, the names came to me right after I posted my reply…Buffy had the doll, her little brother was Jodie, and their big sister was Sissy.
Thank you, Tipper, posting this blog. Thank you, Don Conn, for suggesting the topic. And thank you, all those who replied, for sharing your memories.
I am the first of three children born in the early 1950s to a middleclass couple. Our parents loved us dearly, and had strong views about gender-appropriate gifts. Consequently, while my brothers were given blocks, Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, tool kits, bikes, guns and knives, I was given dolls. Every type of doll from Baby Dolls to Rag Dolls to Barbies was given to me. But dolls did not interest me. So my mother played with them (honest!) while I played with the toys that had been given to my brothers. When I grew into my teen years, I was given clothing instead of dolls.
My lack of appreciation for both dolls and the fripperies of fashion is one of the reasons my dear, well-meaning Mother called me a ‘peculiar child.’
Mother never got over her disappointment about having a daughter who was so very different from her: a little girl who did not want to play house with her and, later, a teenager who refused join her in gushing over the latest fashion, movie star or singer. But when Mother was in her mid-seventies and I in my mid-fifties, we learned to laugh together about her belief that she had “brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.”
Mother died ten years ago. I miss her.
The first gift I remember was a Pebbles doll (from The Flinstones cartoon show.) I loved her! By the time I was in the 2nd grade, my birthday gift was a bicycle. Unfortunately, I was still too short to ride it. The good news was that by Christmas, I could ride it, but only by standing up the entire time! I was determined, even though I was still too short to sit on the bike seat.
There is a venerable maker of downhill sleds for snow called American Flyer. In addition to their sleds, they made a version called a ‘flexible flyer’, or just plain ‘flexi’, that had no runners but had wheels. It was perfect for a city boy with streets and sidewalks that rarely saw snow but were available to a wheeled ‘sled’ almost every day of the year. We lived on a long fairly steep hill. I could fly down that hill on my flexi.
I think I got the flexi when I was 8 or 9 years old. I wore the rubber treads off one set of wheels. I think my nephew would up with it and used it for years after I outgrew it.
I always wanted a doll and a book. One year when I was young and spoiled, I wanted a black-haired doll. Nothing to do me but she HAD to have hair like my favorite Annette F. on the Disney show The Mouseketters. Our old RCA black and white TV was always “snowy” but I was a faithful fan. We lived in a small town with a limited amount of stores to buy dolls. I don’t think we got the Sears & Roebuck catalog then, if ever. Anyway, I already realized there was no Santa, but I thought my grandparents and maiden aunt who raised me, could do ANYTHING for me as most often they did. BUT within limits….ie… I NEVER GOT my Chatty Cathy Doll as I knew it was just too expensive to ask for. It took looking and hoping and perhaps prayer on their part, but I got my black-haired doll with curls down past her shoulders. You can guess what I named her! And having two little ladies in the home that could sew pretty clothes to fit her was an extra bonus.
Seeing the face of the doll you posted brings to mind a happening in 1950 when my sister was 4 years old. Mama ordered a doll from Sears Roebuck with a similar face and size. Instead of receiving 1 doll she received 1 dozen (12) dolls. She had sent the payment with the order and was faced with what to do with the other 11. Mama was a very devout and exacting person who believed in doing the right thing. For several days she debated what to do. She finally convinced herself that she was not to blame and that Sears could stand the loss. She soothed her conscience by giving the 11 dolls to children of sharecropper families. These were children that might receive an orange or apple for Christmas . Her good deed brightened 11 children.
The rest of the story involves me. One family lived on a dirt road about a quarter mile from the main road and the house was surrounded by cultivated crops. In June I was plowing corn and at noon un hitched the mule, mounted him and started down the dirt road. Laying in the grass was a head of one of the dolls. The sudden appearance of the head startled me and my heart skipped a beat or two for I thought it was a human head. If this had not happened I probably would have forgotten about the 12 dolls.
Not from my own but from my daughter’s Christmas presents was a memorible toy. Stretch Armstrong! We tried our best to destroy that toy but never even fazed him.
I got my first bicycle when I was in my mid 40s. I had owned 6 cars and a truck before I ever got a bicycle. It was a Christmas present though, from my wife. I wasn’t a child, of course, but I did act like it from time to time! Still do!
I think I must have been about 10 when I begged and begged for a microscope. Not sure why I wanted one but I got it. I ripped that box open squealing “I got it, I got it” the whole while. I immediately took it to the kitchen and put a drop of tap water on the slide and looked thru the microscope. Amazed at “things” moving!! I went crazy actually getting a drop of salt, a tiny bit of dirt, killed a little bug so I could see what he looked like! You name it, if I could get it or a piece of it on the slide I did. Yep, best gift ever!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and hope the New Year is good to everyone, especially Granny!! May God bless and keep us all.
Now, you have gotten me to wanting one too. lol
Two gifts stand out in my younger years; I received my first bicycle at the age of nine. Although not fancy, it was sturdy and I rode it into my teen years. And, as the years passed, so did various parts like fenders, chain guard, ect …… It seems I had a million miles and an immeasurable amount of fun. Life was indeed good! My second favorite gift was as a teen and I received a much longed for a red merino wool sweater that I kept until it was shopworn and holey • still treasure the memories of that red sweater ………
Growing up, and especially after my Daddy passed away in 1973 at the tender age of 35, our Christmas presents consisted of us giving each other our own toys. But my favorite gift was given the year before my Daddy passed, I received a new bike! And being a tomboy, it being a “boys” bike was the absolutely the best!! I rode that bike everywhere and even survived some pretty good crashes! Best gift ever!
The Christmas present I remember the most was coming into the living room Christmas morning to see a me-sized table and chairs with a Weeble Wobble village set out on top. In my memory, it glows like candlelight in the dark. My brother and I played with that Weeble village like crazy, and I had many tea parties with my dollies and stuffed animals on that table. My grandparents and mom grew up without a lot, and we were the only grandkids, so they spoiled us a lot at Christmas and birthdays.
My mother had an uncle that was an alcoholic. He had a 22 rifle that cost $6.95 that he ‘pawned’ to her for $5 and never redeemed it. She gave it to Dad after they married. I learned to hunt with it at about 6 years of age along with Dad or one of his brothers. By age 8 I was allowed to hunt alone. At age 12 I got the rifle and a box of shells for Christmas. I still have the rifle and it still shoots straight. I remember pocket knives and various toys as well as clothes, but the rifle is the only thing I still have 70 years later. It’s probably about 90 years old.
I think I have always enjoyed giving more than receiving and have worked with the local “Toy Store” for the last 18 years. I had to miss last year due to recovering from a fractured neck, but was back at it this year.
Morning everyone. My most fun Christmas’s involved my cousin, who is 12 years older than me. He would find an enormous box. Fill it with tissue paper and wrapping paper. It would take me forever to find the bottom. Then nothing. It was a false bottom. Under there would be a Barbie outfit. I didn’t like Barbie. The joy was seeing this jokester so happy and laughing. My aunt, his mon, would drink her drink only to find a fake ice cube with a fly in it. He had all kinds of fake gross things to find on the floor. He grew up to be a wonderful dentist, who teased me while drilling holes in my tooth. My best gift was a transistor radio. It was small, so you held it in your hand. I couldn’t have been more than 10 yrs old. I listened to music day and night. I still do. Everyone, have a wonderful Holiday season. Anna from Arkansas.
Patricia Wilson, I grew up near Paducah, in Ballard County and I remember going to Rotterings Nursery and seeing all the different colors of poinsettias they had.
I loved dolls too. Baby dolls and then Barbies. My oldest sister was 13 to years older than me and made my first Barbie a beautiful wardrobe from the scraps leftover from the clothes she sewed for her own teacher clothes.
My favorite toy was a dish cabinet my Daddy built for me, when I was 4 years old. It was made from fruit shipping crates, from my uncle’s grocery store, Hilltop IGA.
I had seen Daddy working on it and when I asked what it was, he told me a bench for his tools.
Christmas morning there it was beneath the Christmas tree with a set of moss rose china on it.
I immediately said, look Santa Clause put my dishes on Daddy’s tool cabinet.
70 years later I still have it and the China!
I really liked dolls too. I had one when I was just little bitty that was named Penelope, but me being only 2 years old couldn’t pronounce the name so she was called Elpia (el-pee-uh). Having a brother 10 yrs my senior…let’s just say my dolls didn’t last very long. Some were dollnapped never to be seen again and some were dismembered, decapitated and graffitied lol. He didn’t get away with his crimes though…each time a doll met an unfortunate end I’d run as fast as my little legs would carry me straight to mama and daddy to rat him out. I don’t remember most of the toys I received as Christmas presents. I know I got most all the popular gifts at some point. I got a bicycle one year, an easy bake oven, many many different dolls. One year I had a pet hamster and got a huge cage for him with all the tunnels and hidey holes and one of those clear plastic balls you would put them in to roll around the house safely. More than anything though I remember the feeling of being warm and safe with my family and I knew I was loved. We always had the best time at Christmas growing up.
I also loved dolls! The first one I remember was a Thumbelina, you would turn a small knob on her back, and she moved like a real baby. I also remember a Barbie, Chatty Cathy and the last one I received at home was a Miss Beasley doll. When I was dating, my now husband found out I had never had a Raggedy Ann doll and so for Christmas when I was sixteen, he gave me one. I also remember getting a brand-new bicycle. I had always had my cousin’s hand me down ones and although I appreciated them, getting a new one was wonderful! My brother and I never got more than maybe three gifts under the tree, but we were very thankful for anything we received.
Barbie dolls were my favorite. One year I got the portable Barbie dream house. It was cardboard. It looked like a suitcase, except folded out with the floor which folded down flat and the two walls folded out to the sides to make the floor stay down. The furniture was printed on the floor, as well as the windows and pictures on the side walls. There was a closet to hang Barbies clothes in the back of the case with a built in dressing table, a cardboard stool and foil mirror that she could sit on. Beside that was a built in fridge, sink and stove. When I was done playing with the house I would just fold in the two side walls and pull the floor up over them and flip it over the carrying handle on top then latch the turn locks through the floor lock opening on each side. I hope this give some type of visual, but any of the women who had or seen one will know what I’m talking about. Anyway, this question brought back great memories for me. Thank you!
I remember one year my sister and I both got a baby doll and that Mom stayed up late on Christmas Eve sewing new clothes for our new dolls.
Merry Christmas
My favorite was my Thumbelina doll. If you pulled the string she would wiggle around in your arms like a real baby. Also Lite-bright and craft kits.
Way before any expensive toy was a chap plastic harmonica. That was prized and played–after a fashion–for a good long time. Later I got a Hohner instrument that was the real deal. I don’t know what ever happened to it. I might have traded it for a sack of marbles or a Barlow knife. We boys were bad about that.
I loved dolls. One of my favorite was Tiny Tears. I still have her 70 years later. My Dad built me a bed and a little chest with two doors for her clothes. My Aunt made a quilt for the bed. Good memoried.
One of my worst Christmas was when I was in fourth grade. I got a beautiful bike and the mumps. So there it sat til I was better. I wanted to go out and ride my bike.
My most memorable Christmas “toys” were highly functional–a single barrel Stevens Model 220A choked tight as Dick’s hat band would have to come at the top of the list. I still have it, seven decades later, and while lovingly worn and with the bluing completely gone, it is still as good as ever–real medicine for squirrels and rabbits, and I’ve killed multiple turkeys with it as well. Then there was a series of pocket and fixed-blade knives, because Daddy, thanks to a sad experience involving a hard candy knife in his stocking rather than the real McCoy when he was a boy, always made sure I had one. I wrote about that in “Christmas Heartbreak” in my book, “A Smoky Mountain Boyhood.”
For me, and I suspect for others, this post evokes some grand memories.
As kids growing up, we always would pick up the wrapped packages & try to guess what was in each one. We would shake them, smell them. squish them to try to guess. One year I shook my package & it “rattled”. My guess was that it was a pair of roller skates. That’s exactly what it was when I opened up the gift. I loved them but felt bad because I already guessed what they were before Christmas. It took the joy out of being surprised on Christmas day. I never tried to guess after that.
I really can’t remember a real “favorite”, but it was a very happy day for all of us each year.
Shaking your presents makes me think of a trick I played on my daughter when she was about 10-12 years old. I put a brick in a box along with a little bit of gravel so it would rattle and wrapped it up. I wrote fragile on the box, do not shake and put it under the tree two weeks before Christmas. I knew she couldn’t stand it, she would slip and shake it. I had told her if it rattled it was broke. My daughter was killed in an accident 12 years ago. I would give everything I own to hear her say “Daddy” one more time like she did that Christmas morning when she opened her present and saw it was a brick. I had made her wait until it was last to open it. It was a wonder she didn’t throw it at me!
My favorite was a bride doll with red hair. My best friend and I both got the same doll that year. My grandmother, who could sew anything beautifully and never used patterns, made my doll a sizable wardrobe. Like me, she was widowed pretty early in life and at age fifty had to go to work to support herself as the alterations lady at the one “exclusive” women’s dress shop in Paducah, Ky. – where the wives and daughters of doctors, lawyers, and bankers shopped. She used the beautiful fabric scraps from the alterations to make the clothes for my bride doll. I no longer have the doll, but I still have all the clothes. My daughters and granddaughters played with them and I know they will be passed along. The one thing I wanted but never got was a Terri Lee doll. That doll, which my mother thought was ugly, had a wardrobe and accessories that only wealthy people could afford. There was a large garden center in Paducah which had “everything Terri Lee” and a huge, amazing HO gauge train layout. My dad, a child of the Great Depression, never got the train layout he wanted as a child so every Christmas when we visited Paducah Daddy would take me to Rotterings where we would spend a couple of hours window shopping he at the trains, me at the world of Terri Lee. When he retired, he bought a sheet of plywood and a small HO gauge train and spent many hours building his train world. As a 55 year old widow, I bought myself a reproduction Terri Lee doll. Decades later, it still sits on a shelf in my closet. I grew up hearing about the depression-era Christmases of my parents – the stocking which held some hard candy, nuts, and the only orange they would see all year, one store-bought toy if they were lucky. I think they all grew up determined to make the Christmases they could only dream about for their kids. What they didn’t know was what they really gave us – the values of a generation rightfully called “the greatest generation.”
It’s easy for me to remember what I got as a gift one special Christmas. My grandmother bought me and my brother Schwinn bicycles. This would have been in the late 1960’s. Mine was Royal blue with a white Banana seat. I loved that bike so much and that was a huge gift to receive. I certainly wasn’t expecting it.
I loved dolls as a child and as an adult. I have quite a collection, but I have stopped collecting. My favorite doll was my Tiny Tears doll that Santa brought when I was four. I still have her and all the clothes and accessories. If you gave her water out of her bottle, and squeezed her, she was supposed to cry real tears and wet her diaper. Mama didn’t let me give her water because I guess she didn’t want a mess to clean up, but I pretended. My Nanny (Mama’s mama) always gave me a beautiful doll for Christmas. She knew how to pick out the pretty ones.
Tipper, I remember getting a ballerina doll, too but I’m about a decade older than you. A quick google search showed mine was called Dancerina but there was a Dancerella that came out in the 70s. Dolls were never my favorites, though. I loved playing with my Lite Brite and can still remember the smell of it heating up…I don’t recall if it was a Christmas gift or not, but the toy I enjoyed most was a Super Ball. Back then, they were just plain black but oh, my, how high they bounced! At 63, I have a ridiculous number of them, all different colors and sizes. Everyone in my family knows I’m plum foolish about them, as you would say.
When I was 4 years old, I got a chipmunk .22 rifle to squirrel hunt alongside my daddy. He was and still is such an outdoorsman. He had two girls. I was the firstborn and I don’t think if I had been a boy he could’ve taught me more or spent more time in the woods with me. I’m 46 now and this miniature size rifle stays propped next to my bed. It’s such a treasure.
I had a Barbie and I must have gotten it for Christmas because we only got one toy for Christmas each year. My mama made a beautiful blue dress with lace sleeves for her. She gave it to me one day after school. I used to take it outside and my sister and I used old rags and sticks to make “tents” for our Barbies, and filled a small wash pan with water for a pool. We used what we could find and it was so fun. I always have loved dolls. I saved all of my daughter’s Barbies and accessories from her childhood, and the grandchildren still love playing with them. I showed them how to make a tent with an old piece of material and sticks pushed in the ground. .
We got a set of Jacks every year as most kids our age did. We took them to school and had competitions during recess that were as exciting as a modern day NFL game. I don’t remember getting many dolls for Christmas. One doll I remember had a big bald head, a bottle of magic milk, and a soft gown. She was probably a Gerber Baby that would be worth a fortune today. I was too much of a tomboy to play with dolls.
My favorite gift was a baby doll when I was 4 or 5 years old. He has a cloth body and rubber limbs and head. I named him Knucklehead after a puppet that was on a TV show. Over the years, my grandmother would recover his cloth body because the cloth wound get torn in places and dirty. I dressed him in my old newborn clothes that had been saved. I loved that doll so much and still do. I am 74 years old now and still have the doll. My grandchildren and many other children visiting have enjoyed playing with this baby doll. All sweet memories.
Hmmm my favorite Christmas toy..? That’s a hard question. I think I’ll have to answer it ‘sideways’ with my most memorable Christmas “toy”. (Not big on toys at our house. We got practical items but that’s what we wanted.) My most memorable one was a carbide lamp just like my Dad had, except his reflector was big and made out of a car headlight. The other memorable one was a red wagon shared between us two boys. It was a toy but more of a working hauler. We did a lot of chores with that wagon; wheels instead of feet are an improvement. Then there was once a gray & green plastic .38 Special look-alike that fired white plastic bullets that we played with for hours in our homemade shooting gallery.
there’s only a few gifts that REALLY stand out to me (the doll that would “walk”, Baby Alive, a makeup Barbie styling head), but probably the two that stands out the most was the year i got a portable record player with the 45’s of Do Run Run and Boogie nights and the year i was 16 and got a puppy who i dearly loved.. that was probably my favorite of all….was the first dog my mom EVER let stay in the house.. She went with me to college (i was living off campus) and went everywhere with me riding shotgun in that vega and then the chevette.. She was an Elkhound/shepherd mix and even moved here with me when i moved to the city after getting married…I know she missed the country life, but she lived 10 long wonderful years and was a very spoiled baby..
I had several Christmas gifts that was my favorite. One was my Wedding Doll she was soft skin with a beautiful wedding gown and veil. Next was my Betsy Wetsy Doll I had asked for one but didn’t think I would get it. The next one was my Green Punch Bowl Set this was a surprise that I hadn’t asked for but I just loved it! I had 3 sisters and when we got older mom would get us things like Tupperware and kitchen utensils for our Hope Chest. We loved that.
Praying for Granny!
I was never a doll girl. but I got a Mary Poppins doll once, complete with umbrella, carpet bag, hat and coat that I really liked. My all time favorite gifts were anything to do with horses! Horse books, horse figures, horses, horses, horses. I got a book that described all of the different breeds of draft horses that I loved. Misty of Chincoteague island was a favorite.
My favorite present was a “walking” Bo-peep doll. She had a pink dress with a black corset belt and a lace petticoat and pantaloons and she carried a staff with a hook to gather her sheep! My stocking was always filled with oranges, nuts and a large peppermint stick.
Since writing my first comment, I have been thinking (dangerous). I will be 71 years old in February if God let’s me live, just in the last few weeks since Thanksgiving I have had 6 people I have knew and been friends with to die. Last night I saw where one of my high school classmates had died on Dec. 26, all of these people except one was around 70-75 years old. I have lost many family members and friends over the last few years, including my wife and daughter. I tell my son and two grandsons the best and only present or thing I want from them is TIME to spend with them during my remaining time on earth. Right at this moment, my younger 19 year old grandson is in the bedroom beside of mine spending a couple of days with me and my older 25 year old grandson is already at work but texted me at 6 o’clock this morning to tell me he loved me and enjoyed coming by and being with me and his brother for a little while last night. For me there is nothing I can ever have or receive on earth more important than my relationship with God and time to be with my my family, loved ones and friends. By the way, my oldest grandson believed me and listened to me, he didn’t give me a present for Christmas but has came by to be with me! He is working 10-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week, buying a home and living on his own.
I always loved my toys at Christmas, my mom was so good with picking just the right toy. My favorite Christmas gift was when I was around 12 or 13, it was the prettiest sleeping gown that I had ever seen. It was long, blue , and silky. I felt like a movie star when I wore it. I miss my mom, I am 72 years old and she was the best Christmas gifter ever!
I had to really think about this one. I was a very spoiled kid! We got so many Christmas presents in our family. My grandparents grew up with little, and so they really indulged their grandkids. I always loved dolls, Barbies and baby dolls. But the gift that really stands out is the mini-bike. My parents got my sister and me a little kid sized motorcycle one year. We loved it and rode it all over our neighborhood.
This isn’t a gift from when I was a child, but our family got the best gift this Christmas Day. Our little boy was born Christmas Day this year, healthy and strong. His brothers and sisters love him so much already, and his daddy and me think he’s just the sweetest little present from God. We’ve had Avery blessed Christmas as a family this year.
Meg-how wonderful! Congratulations to you all!!
Dear Meg,
I can’t think of a more precious gift for Christmas than a new baby in the family! May God bless each of you and may 2025 be filled with His Peace, Joy and Love!Jackie
Meg we never had the money for anything like a mini bike, I always wanted a go kart. My wife’s uncle could ride the wheels of a motorcycle, one time he tried to ride his nephews mini bike, before he could get loose and off it, the mini bike had about took his pants off of him. We didn’t laugh at him as hard as we could, but came real close.
Congratulations on your new baby boy, I take it his name is Avery?
I took it that she was saying they had “a very” blessed Christmas! Avery is a nice name for a baby though!
The only toy I can remember ever getting was a cheap plastic pistol. Harold got the same toy. He hit me over the head with his and broke it and then took mine. I cried to Mommy and she took mine away from him. His story was that I had broken mine and wanted his but Mommy could tell where the truth lay and gave it back to me. There was still was no joy in having a toy because then my big brother wouldn’t play with me.
Not a joyful memory but there’s a life lesson in there somewhere!
I had a big white teddy bear with a jingle bell in his tail. I think I got it for Christmas when I was 4 or 5. He stayed on my bed all growing up and then was passed down to my now 10 year old who sleeps with him right next to her.
Good morning from Blount County, Tennessee. There were 7 of us kids and most Christmases we girls got a doll and the boys a Tonka truck. One Christmas me and my sister got a “Dancing Doll.” It was almost as tall as we were. They were cloth, green, red, yellow stripped cotton with built in bonnets around their faces and elastic straps under their feet that you could slip over your feet so you could dance with them. I loved every doll. The last doll I got was in high school. Those dolls people got and had crochet dresses on to lay on your bed was what this doll was supposed to be, but ours was just the doll part. We kids only got one toy a year and it was on Christmas. Christmas was special. The best gift I received was Jesus. God bless.
My favorite gifts were (and still are!) art and craft supplies ,or kits to try making something I had not trued before.
My favorite Christmas present was a Daisy lever action BB gun. With it I roamed the woods near our house and learned gun safely and marksmanship.
One of my favorite Christmas presents was a set of furniture for my baby dolls. There was a little cradle and a highchair baby doll sized and a little child sized rocking chair that I often sat in while watching TV. They were made of wood, not plastic like so many things today. I wouldn’t have had this wonderful gift and so many others over the years, if it weren’t for my mom diligently saving her Blue Chip stamps (trading stamps) through out the year. I just loved that little set of furniture.
I said bulldozer it was actually a road scraper, by Tonka, it had a cab on it closed in, it had a scrape blade, and it really worked,
I had a bulldozer by Tonka, that was my favorite, God bless you fellow readers,
I lived my baby alive doll. it was the coolest thing ever.
My mother loved dolls and bought me more than one, and would make them pretty clothes. They sat on my bed and I admired them. when I was real little, I gave the only doll I had a close haircut and enhanced it’s facial features with a ballpoint pen. I didn’t get in trouble, but I had to leave it under the Christmas tree the next year. I sweated it all that night, dreading what santa would think when he saw it. I was really surprised to find it Christmas morning with a new gown and bonnet, laying in a new toy stroller! I also liked a cute little soft rubber doll that my uncle G.G. got me when we drew names for Christmas one year. I liked it because it was real squishy. My favorite, most played with toy was a red heel sock monkey that one of my Aunts made for me. I named it Chipper. I never named any of my dolls or the 70 year old Teddy Bear that I still have, so Chipper was my favorite.
I have three great toys that I had growing up in Asheville. I had an Easy bake oven and two toys that could make things…”rings and things” and “creepy crawlers”. We didn’t have alot of money but Santa always made sure that I had something under the tree!
Jeanette, I enjoyed my Creepy Crawlers, too- I couldn’t remember the name of it, so thank you. Just like my Lite Brite, I recall the smell of the little metal trays “baking” the goo into bug shapes.
I always liked to get a toy tractor. I don’t know if I got it for Christmas (chances are I did) but I had a toy pedal tractor. It is the first toy I remember. Daddy said I wore two sets of tires off of it. I also remember my joy and happiness when I got a single shot pellet rifle and later on a used single shot 410 shotgun for Christmas presents. After I got older, my best Christmas gift was Daddy being sick and in the hospital right before Christmas and him being able to come home in time for Christmas. That year my aunt bought me the first full box of shotgun shells I ever own, that was all I got that year, but Daddy coming home was enough. I still have two of the red and gray Ford toy tractors from around 1960. My farmer friend has a real one like these toys that he still uses.
I owe a big Thank You to one of the members, she made a suggestion to me to read two books, “The Book Woman Of Troublesome Creek and The Book Woman’s Daughter.” I bought these books from eBay and have read them. They were two books that were hard to stop reading and come back too. To say I enjoyed them is an understatement.
Randy – I was the one who told you about those books. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Have a great day!
I loved my John Deere pedal tractor too. My Gramps found it and brought it home. He repainted it, made it some wooden spark plugs, and built a wagon to attach to it. I could haul my toys or my sister in it. Besides typical girl things, I also got an erector set, Lincoln Logs, a fancy cap pistol, and a good sized Coca Cola truck with miniature crates of sodas. I didn’t realize till years later that those weren’t typical for a girl of my time.
My Dad was in the Air Force, so the family moved all over the country and world. Every year we would get a package from my Mom’s Mom, Grandma, and it would usually include sea shells as she lived by the ocean in Seaford, Delaware. Included in the package would be a Christmas card for each of us kids with a five dollar bill. The cards were personalized, her sharing a bit about herself, and also her hopes and dreams for us. And the $5 was a LOT of money for us little kids AND for Grandma to send in the early 1960’s. Mom would take us to the store and let us pick something out but we were encouraged to save some of it (the choice WAS left up to us). I’m sure I picked out “things” and enjoyed them and of course, we wrote a thank you letter back (I may have many faults, but it isn’t because I wasn’t raised right). I don’t remember, specifically, even what one of those toys were. But Mom opened us bank accounts, started each with $5 of her (and Dad’s) own, and it was neat to add to it. Yes, as a kid, it was neat to see it grow, even a little at a time. And I think it was around 16 or so, it was put solely in our name. It wasn’t a “lot” of money, but WAS a lot of Love and memories. And the Christmas card and $5 bill continued for well into my (and my siblings’) adult life when the money was still appreciated, but the Love and sentiment of a caring Grandma and family, so much more. Hope EVERYONE had a Merry Christmas full of Love and Joy, and I wish each of you a very Happy New Year 2025!
I had many wonderful Christmass’, so it is difficult to choose a favorite gift. My parents worked in factories, with four kids. The pay was low and they did their best. It was the 1950s and 60s. If it hadn’t been for our great-aunt Rose, the packages would be sparse. She was our maiden great-aunt, and throughout the year she would buy gifts. They may only cost fifty cents, but in those days you didn’t care.
My favorite gift was a Thumbelina doll my parents had gotten me. The thing is, I loved any gift I received.
Mine was dolls as well! One Christmas morning, there were two under the tree … I must’ve been about 6 or 7, and still have the picture of me, in front of the tree, holding Raggedy Ann in one arm and Raggedy Andy in the other. A memory I’ll always cherish!
i had totally forgotten about me getting a raggedy ann one year!!! i couldn’t have been more than 5 or so…we didn’t have much and my mom had made me one and made my brother a raggedy andy from scraps of material she found at a fabric dump from the local sewing factory…
I remember getting a Rub A Dub Dolly when I was little. We didn’t get a lot at Christmas because my dad was an alcoholic and his wants came first, but I remember that and my first bike. I was so excited.