It’s Christmas Eve…
Not a lot exciting is happening here. We’ve plans to head out to Christmas Eve church services. It’s our family tradition. It’s one of my favorite services the entire year.
With my cancer treatments, I haven’t been going to church but I don’t have the heart to miss Christmas church. I’ll wear a mask, come in late and sit in the entry then leave ASAP. I don’t want to seem paranoid…but I’m this far along in my cancer journey that I don’t want Covid or a silly cold taking me out.
To me…Christmas church is what makes Christmas for me. As a kid…I did love Christmas church but I also love the Christmas catalog.
I laughed when I saw this on Facebook.
Oh, my word. I LOVED the day the Christmas catalog came.
We initially weren’t allowed to write to ours. I’ve heard many people say that as a kid, they were allowed to circle the things they wanted for Christmas.
I spent hours and hours looking through the catalog. I memorized the pages.
I was a little kid who loved playing with dolls. I played dolls for a long time. If you’re a long-time blog reader you might remember that my niece was only four years younger than me. We played like sisters. Being she was younger than me and wanted to still play dolls, I played dolls longer than most kids did.
That’s my niece Jody, wearing a wig, on the left in the photo…her brother Jeremy on the right. They are holding my dolls.
My favorite Christmas will always be the year I got my second Drowsy doll. My first Drowsy doll is in the middle of the picture. She was really old. She was my first doll ever. My other Drowsy doll is just left of her.
I always went immediately to the doll section of the catalog. I don’t really remember getting much from the catalog but the year we got our Drowsy dolls, she got one too, we also got a doll stroller that could hold two dolls. We also got matching sleeping bags. That year, our things were from the catalog. I thought we were the luckiest girls ever.
I still have my Drowsy doll. I called her Sloppy. It was the name I called her as a baby and it just stuck. Everyone in my family knew who Sloppy was. HA!
Oh, my word. She needs an updo. I didn’t realize how bad she was until I took a picture of her. Her voice box doesn’t work anymore. SAD.
Did any of you have one? I can still remember some of the things she said when her string was pulled.
-I do sleep now. Night-night.
-I want another drink of water.
-Mommy kiss me goodnight.
Here is a Youtube clip of the doll…
So tell us…what was your favorite Christmas toy? Was there something you circled in the Christmas catalog that you really wanted? I’d love for you to share a happy Christmas memory.
Merry Christmas, Jo. And love.
Oh how I loved that Sears Christmas Catalog! I found a babydoll in it one year but, I wanted the dress she was wearing. My mom said that I even cried for it. On Christmas morning while opening our presents my mom handed me a box and inside that box was my babydoll dress. She made her own pattern and worked on it at night after I went to bed.
Merry Christmas Jo & family! Dolls were always my favourite too. Whenever I pick up a 3-ring binder I think of Christmas because that’s the same plastic smell that all dolls had when I was a kid! Wish I had kept some when we downsized and moved. Wishing you happiness and good health in the New Year!
Oh my! I never knew of Drowsy. I remember Christmas catalogs, but I don’t remember if getting anything from them. I remember one Christmas receiving a baton that was a favorite. I have to admit that most of my memories are the celebrations with relatives, the Christmas program at Sunday School, and also the school program, (a one-room school), so all school program. Good memories though!
Being cautious about your exposure to any bug is not paranoia-it’s plain smart! Too much covid, and too many practicing zero caution.
Enjoy the Eve service.
My favorite Christmas doll was Raggedy Ann, who was looking out of my stocking one Christmas morning when I was pretty small. We lived in a suburb of Los Angeles, and didn’t shop from the Sears catalog. When I was a bit older, my sister and I always asked for “A Storybook Doll and a charm (for our charm bracelets).
I loved dolls! My favorite was Suzie Smart! She had a string pull, she sat at a desk and there was also an easel with a chalkboard on one side. She was a large doll – probably 18 inches.
Merry Christmas to you and your family Jo. Many prayers coming your way from this cancer survivor! ❤️
I don’t remember a favorite toy of mine, but one Christmas I bought my brother a gun that was all soft plastic and you put a ping pong ball in the end and squeezed it to shoot out the ball. My twin cousins spent that Christmas with us – I think they were in their first year of college, 10 years older than I was. They LOVED that toy so much, I don’t think my brother got to play with it!! They ruined it by shoving the ping pong ball in the gun so far that there wasn’t enough air to get the ball out. Thanks for the wonderful memory…both my cousins have passed from Parkinson’s Disease from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. Brought a laugh and smile as I spend Christmas alone trying to finish up my dad’s estate – the weather here in the west is too crazy for me to drive the 750 miles home. Merry Christmas, Jo! Thank you for being a constant in my life that always looks on the bright side of life!
I love your dolls. I had 2 dolls that I named when I was little. Really one was a tall skinny stuffed cat about the size of a doll. He was “Judd”. The other one was “Lester”. I named them boy names & ironically enough I had 3 boys. No I didn’t name them Lester or Judd though . I spent many hours looking through the sears catalog & sears Christmas catalog. I don’t really remember actually getting anything from it though. It was so fun to dream though. Merry Christmas to you & I hope you enjoyed your Christmas church service. May God bless you abundantly. Thanks for your blog. ❤❤
I remember the catalog but not necessarily getting something from it. I do remember picking out a Christmas dress from the catalog and my mom would make it! Every year I got a doll….Cinderella, ballerina, a wedding doll and eventually Barbie! Merry Christmas!
Bunk beds for my Muffy and Ginny dolls.
I didn’t have a drowsy doll, but I had a Mrs. Beasley with a voice box. I just threw it away recently. It was in good shape, but the voice no longer worked.
Enjoy the church service. You’re still being careful with your health, but I think you’ll get a little sense of normalcy which can help you physically and mentally. I’m definitely keeping you in my prayers.
Merry Christmas, Jo.
I remember getting a necklace and matching bracelet from one of my grandmothers when I was about 8. I remember looking through the Christmas catalog and wishing but don’t remember if I ever got anything from it.
we lived on a ranch, so we did get Christmas from Sears catalog. How I loved it when it came in the mail too! And picking out favorite things. We didn’t get all of our favorites, but we loved what we got.
I got my daughter a drowsey doll when she was two. She loved it, but the voice box broke except for the doll saying “I don’t want to go to sleep”. ha ha. That was my daughters first sentence. Happy holidays!!!
I loved those Christmas catalogs too! I remember having a Mrs. Beasley doll from the show Family Affair. One of the best Christmas gifts I got was a 10 speed bicycle. I loved that bike and rode it all over town and to the swim club during the summer. Fun times. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and many blessings and good health in the new year.
I loved dolls a lot longer than most girls, too. I got them for Christmas until I was in my teens. I remember being kind of embarrassed for others to find out I still got dolls for Christmas. I always liked to put real baby clothes on my dolls. (And when I had children, I used some of those same clothes for my babies. They had been my baby clothes!) One of my favorite dolls was Pat-a-Burp. I still have her and she still burps! I loved the Sears catalog too. I used to make a list of things I wanted….always dreaming. I don’t remember getting anything specific from the catalog except clothes and shoes for school. (My birthday is in September, so back to school clothes were often my present!) I can remember how the Sears catalog smelled! I hope you have a nice Christmas evening, Jo. Your blog posts are a gift for many of us. Thank you!
Merry Christmas Jo. This isn’t a real happy memory but it was memorable. I’m the youngest of four, coming 5 years after my closest brother. When I was young, maybe 5 or so, I had mumps at Christmas. I was laying on the couch feeling miserable while the other 3 are dancing around being idiots when mom gave me this doll she had just made. It has a sad face because I was sick and it cheered me up immensely. I don’t know how to attach a pic on comments.
Our 5 grandchild were born between 1989 and 2000. I have a keepsake box for each of them and one thing in each box is a Christmas catalog of their birth year. Also a newspaper from the day they were born.
Merry Christmas Jo! My favorite dolls were small ones, about 8 ” I can’t remember what they were called but I loved making clothes for them (think ribbing on old socks that I cut holes for arms in, etc). And we had long metal bins that I turned on their side and created homes for them, using spools, bits of wood, etc. Sadly no idea what happened to them.
Here in Portland serious snow weather is expected so I elected not to travel south to Corvallis to spend Christmas weekend with my son and family. I live in a hilly neighborhood with a steep driveway and I might not be able to get home for days. So we are keeping our fingers crossed for next weekend celebration. My church is doing an in person or Zoom service tonight. So that is next tonight. My prayers are with you on this cancer journey. Sending hugs. PS and you got me looking thru my old cross stitch boxes/books. It has been years since I touched them (quilting kinds of overtook everything), but I know I had things that I still wanted to stitch. Plus you have me looking at new ones! I love your anniversaries of the heart, and all your personalization.
My older sister got a Little Miss Echo for Christmas one year and I received a doll that would pee when you gave her a bottle. How crazy is that. Lol. ..we used to get new coloring books too and there was something special about new crayons and a book. Loved Barbies too!
Sisters and I looked and circled what we wanted. But like the others we never missed getting what we circled. Our grandma sewed fabulous clothes for our dolls. Only when we were older were we amazed at the sewing. I still have them.
I had dolls but don’t ever remember playing with them. My friends and I spent a lot of time sewing clothes for our dolls by hand. The beginning of my love of sewing. My favorite gift was the year my mother made me my cowgirl outfit. There were a lot of western shows on TV when I was that age. I so wanted to be Annie Oakly. My mother made me a skirt and vest out of brown denim with lots of felt fringe. I also got cowboy boots, western gloves with fringe, a cowboy hat and my favorite – a cap gun and holster set. Everyone played with cap guns then but there was never the lawlessness of today. The 50’s was a different time. I can still remember that Christmas. I wore that outfit way past the time it actually fit me.
I loved looking at the Sears catalog. My brothers and I would fight over who got to look first. I usually won as I was the oldest. I don’t remember if I ever got anything from it, though. I did have a lot of dolls growing up, mostly Barbie. Learned how to sew making her clothes. My favorite Christmas present was a ruby birthstone ring that I got when I was almost a teenager.
Hope every has a healthy, happy Christmas and New Year!
Merry Christmas! I too had the drowsy doll. I think I named her Jill. That was so long ago. When our daughter was small my mother in law got her a doll that cried and said Mama. It was so cute and on video tape of her opening it and saying “oh she’s crying for me” and hugged the doll tight. I hope my folks got delight when we, my brothers and I opened our gifts. God bless
Jo, A person needs to be cautious as some don ‘t consider covid a threat. We also use masks a lot. We had
rubber types of dolls so they didn’t last through the years. Here’s wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Sears girl here! My dad worked for them. Everything we owned came from Sears. He could buy anything displayed on the floor so my mom always had the newest appliances and all of our furniture came from Sears. My mom made all of my clothes with fabric purchased at Sears. They sold the best bluejeans ever for boys. The Catalog was a big deal in our family too. We would circle what we wanted and my younger brother would actually prioritize his wants with numbers, haha. I know I had dolls growing up, but I don’t really remember playing with them. I do remember getting my BB gun when I was about 8. My brothers were jealous because I had a pump action gun, and did not have to cock it. I also got a pair of Days of the Week panties that I loved. Hmmm, maybe that it where the OCD comes from, haha. Best wishes with your cancer journey, my prayers are with you. I was able to watch Midnight Mass at the Cathedral here on Facebook last night. Really enjoyed it.
I may be old enough to remember the Sears catalog, but I’ll never admit it! :P
I wasn’t ever into dolls, but I pored over the Sears catalog looking at the dogs for sale! So you remember that? I wanted one so badly and didn’t get a puppy until I was 16 years old…my two sisters and I told our parents that all we wanted for Christmas was a puppy and we were so excited (cried with happiness) to get a little poodle puppy for Christmas…kids get too many gifts now and don’t appreciate any of them as a result. I’ll save you my sermon on that! Merry Christmas, Jo! I hope you get only good news this year!
Christmas was always a big deal with us. Christmas program at church with bags of candy, an apple and an orange. Then on Christmas day After breakfast, opening presents. My most memorable gift was my 1st. Shorty night gown pajamas with matching sleeping shorts. It was my favorite color too. I was 10. Glad you got to go to church taking proper precautions.
That’s the right thing to do. It’s not selfish or crazy. We all want you to beat this cancer and losing you to something avoidable just doesn’t make good sense.. Praying always for you always.
I remember Sears and Spiegel. Boy that was a bonus when the Spiegel catalog came. My sister and I would go on a trip. And pick out all the clothing we would need along with suitcases to make our trip. At 8 or 10 I was picking out fancy grown up clothes and at some point, wanted to be a fashion designer. Those were wonderful memories. No staying in bed all day with a cell phone as company as my teenage grandson did over Christmas.
I was so excited when the Sears and Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalogs arrived. My favorite was actually Wards vs Seats for some reason. I remember circling the items I wanted for Christmas. One year I circled the Easy Bake Oven and the Spirograph Deluxe version along with a large puzzle I wanted. I received all three and was ecstatic. My love for baking was already in full swing and the Easy Bake Oven only increased that love. The Spirograph Deluxe set increased my love of crafting and satisfied my yen to draw. I can sketch but that’s about it, I’m not a pencil/paper artist in the remotest sense of that title. The puzzle increased my level of patience as I was lacking that quality. I finished the puzzle with my parents participating as well and it was most enjoyable. That was the Christmas just a few short months before my Grandpa H passed away and still remains a wonderful memory for me. Thank you for asking us to share with you, Jo.
I had a Velvet doll and you could adjust her hair length. I also had a Baby Go Bye bye. She had a pink car she rode in, battery operated. My younger sister had a Mrs. Beasley doll. I loved looking through the Sears catalog. I remember getting some things from it, such as clothes for school. We also had Barbies, and a plane for them. My older sister had a Midge doll, and there was also Chatty Cathy doll. Nice memories.