Saturday, July 14, 2012

Blast from the Past

We are watching Taylor's dad's dog this weekend. (follow that one?)  He is always cleaning out his house and finding more of my stuff from twenty years ago.  Last night's find was this:




This is my old doll trunk from WAY WAY WAY back in the day.  I obviously went through a "M*A*S*H" obsession, and made my trunk out to be like the tent of Hawkeye, Trapper and BJ. 



The dolls I played with in this time of my life were Velvet and Chrissy.  Do you remember them?  They were the ones who had adjustable hair.  You could make it long or short with a simple twist of a button that was attached to their back.  (ouch!)    I also had a Shirley Temple doll who was about the same proportions as the other two, just a tad bit fluffier.



I opened the trunk and it was an immediate catapult back to my youth.  My grandmother made all these clothes.  She used material that she had used to make smock tops for me.   Most of the pants are bell bottoms.  (still my favorite today!)  One year, when the Missouri Tiger football team went to the Sun Bowl, she made an outfit for me and my doll that matched.  Here's the doll's:



I'm sure I never thanked my grandmother properly for making all these outfits.  I look at these now and am amazed that she did all this for me. It must have taken her so much time to sew these. 




I'm guessing my love of polka dots started with this little number.



I love the moving company sticker that is still affixed to the trunk.  



My grandmother has been dead for almost twenty years now; probably as long as the last time I looked inside this trunk.  What a sweet little reunion I had with my dolls and with Grandma last night.  Grandma J, thank you so much for all the love you gave me and all the time you spent with me when I was growing up.  And, thanks for helping me have the best dressed dolls in town.



4 comments:

angie128 said...

Love love love love!

I especially love the little Missouri Tiger suit.

Isn't it a neat feeling to see those clothes - it just takes you right back, doesn' it?

I feel like that when I pull my Barbie stuff out. My mom made lots of clothes for our Barbies too.

Good times.

KB said...

What a treasure! I found an old hatbox full of my mom's paper dolls. Such fun!

sherri s. said...

Awww, so sweet! I LOVE the MASH decorations--that is so whimsical and cute. And the clothes are fab--what a talented grandma. I had Chrissy, too...but I think mine had red hair? Or was that some other poor doll whose hair you yanked out of her head?

mel said...

Now, huh.

After all this time, your ex is still finding things?

did you live in a big super duper mansion with so many rooms he is just now getting to them?

Did you keep your things in secret storage spaces?

Did you put it under a bed and he is not so good at vacuuming?

Hm.

I love the dolls. I wanted a growing hair doll but got a Chatty Cathy instead. I also had a Big Bertha....at least, that is what we called her because she was about 4 feet tall. Seriously. Not exactly your cuddling doll but if I still had her today I could probably drive in the carpooling lane on the highway....