Merry Christmas from an American Girl

Mom, I'm sorry for the following, but it is fact and I still love you very much and very much enjoyed my childhood.

Every Christmas, I had two requests for Santa Claus (I believed in him to a uncomfortably old age all thanks to a hoax letter post marked from the North Pole in 1993). One was for a Power Wheels, preferably a Jeep, but I wasn't picky. This wish ended in 6th grade when my mother explained that I was over the 80 lbs. weight limit, so it was useless to keep asking. However, each year I received wonderful presents, including a few bikes from time to time. So be it that some of them were used or were accompanied by elaborate stories, like the year Santa got lost and I woke up on a February morning to find my new bike sitting in my bedroom. So, I wasn't deprived, but I learned the most valuable lesson you can teach a child, which is, you don't always get what you want. Unless you went to TimpView High School, in which case the opposite is true. ha.

Besides a Power Wheels, there was always one other wish in mine and my sister Lacy's letters to Santa that never seemed to make it under the tree. We always got dolls, partly because my mom loved dolls as much as we did. But, I'll admit that I was a little disappointed the year we got Cabbage Patchs and mine was a Hispanic with glasses named Tina, she was on sale. Of course my wish list doll never went on sale and she has yet to go on sale to date. She has always cost $88 and that's how much my parents were unwilling to pay for an American Girl Doll. But, they were willing to give us the paperback books that told the stories of each of the girls, so we are well-versed in the world of American Girl, but alas I never owned my own. So, this year, I dedicate these photos to Chelsey of 1990-1996. Whoever said that dreams don't come true?