Dear American Girl,

Oh American Girl.

Remember when days were simple?  When it was just the Pleasant Company sending out an extra large glossy catalog with three different dolls each with three different dresses?

I do.

But things have changed.  There are American Girls of the Year, My American Girls, huge stores, online shopping, Bitty Babies, Bitty Twins, it goes on and on.  Most of the changes are wonderful.  I longed for the days my American Girl doll could be dressed in jeans instead of Victorian dresses.

However, I have a huge issue that I feel needs to be addressed.

You must stop retiring every single American Girl Doll that I have bought or was planning on purchasing in the near future.

Seriously, it's got to stop.

My beloved Samantha, gone.   

My sister's Kirsten, banished.

And now, just when my almost 4 year old has fallen in love with the doll she shares a name with, Elizabeth, too, is being sent to the archives along with her bestie, Felicity.

There were no plans to get our Elizabeth her own AG doll until she was at least 5.  But now with Elizabeth being sent to the archives, we're thinking Santa will bring her this year instead. 

On our last visit to American Girl Place I made a rookie mistake.  So excited to walk Ellie through the historical character section, I was dishing out my expertise left and right.  Here is Molly from the 1940's and look!  There's Julie!

When we arrived in the 1700's and Ellie asked who the beautiful redhead was having a tea party with her most favorite Elizabeth, I didn't hesitate to say, "Oh, that's Felicity.  Elizabeth's best friend."

Yep.  Rookie mistake.  Now Ellie thinks that she needs them both.  She even saw them packaged together as a set.  Did you know that everything is more appealing as a set?  Of course you did, you spend gazillions in marketing I'm sure. 



So, American Girl, I would like to know your plans so I can make mine.  If I buy up Felicity with all of her accessories and keep her locked away until our Madeline is ready for a doll of her own, are you just going to have a 2012 Girl of the Year named Madeline? 

Will the archives ever be opened so I can buy Samantha's trunk or is my only option to shell out hundreds on ebay?

Help me, please.  I can't make a decision and I'm sure I only have hours left until the dolls are sold out. 

Yours truly,

Kristin

AG Doll owner since Christmas 1988

PS  I think my sister-in-law and niece have their eyes on Molly & Emily so if you could keep them around for a bit that would be super. 

xoxo

Scared of Santa?

Elizabeth's first visit with Santa was epic.  So epic it made the Big City Paper in color with the title "The Yanks are Comin'!".

2008?  Yeah, not so great.

In 2009, Ellie tried to be polite but really wanted nothing to do with the guy.

And 2010?  Success! 

At least for Ellie.

While she didn't mind that she almost slipped out of his lap last year, this time Mads is not a Santa fan.

And Ellie was totally embarrassed to be sitting next to her.  Don't get me wrong, she tried to be the good big sis and hold her hand, sing her a song and make her laugh.  But when none of that worked, she looked down and had a 'I don't know who this baby is sitting next to me crying her head off' look on her face.

Do you have a favorite Scared of Santa pic?

It's beginning to look a lot like....

CHRISTMAS!

Unlike some of our neighbors who had their Thanksgiving dinner lit by their Christmas tree, we wait until the day after. 

At 6:01 am, Ellie ran into our room screaming, "I'm ready to deck! I'm ready to deck!"

Ryan and I looked at each other confused and asked, "Huh?  Deck what?"

"DECK THE HALLS!!!!  With holls of bolly and stuff."

Right.

So deck we did.

On her way to 4, Ellie is an expert ornament hanger.

Last year Baby Madeline was not even 12 weeks old when we put up our tree.  She is much more interested this year.

She is also now know as Cinderella.

Taking picture of two kids in front of the tree isn't exactly an easy task.

One is much easier.

Unless she is screaming "Deck the Halls" at the top of her lungs, then she gets a little blurry.

The stockings are hung. 

 And our tree is covered with ornaments old {my baby's first Christmas from 1980!}

and new.  Isn't Hello Kitty so stylish?  Ellie thinks so.

And while we wait the next month until the real Santa comes, we have a stand in.

Growing up we only had 'classic' Christmas decor.  In other words, no plastic or colored lights allowed.  With my first paycheck in 1996 after a Saturday shampooing at our neighbor's salon, my dad drove me to the local nursery and I picked up my very own, very first piece of Christmas decor.  48 inches of plastic. 

Every year until Ryan and I got married, I propped him up on my overturned garbage can and placed him in my bedroom window where he watched over our cul-de-sac.  My dad still misses him though their neighbors stole borrowed my idea and have one in their attic across the street now.

Plastic Santa now sits in our front yard, close to the house.  You can only see him if you are directly in front of our house, I don't want to commit HOA suicide.

As you can see, our halls our decked.  How about yours?